Former 5-Foot-9 NBA dunk champion: 'The NBA gave me depression'
Former NBA slam dunk champion Nate Robinson was an electrifying player during his 11-year NBA career.
At 5-foot-9, he was one of the shortest players on the court, but his game was much bigger. While he spent most of his career coming off the bench, Robinson was an offensive and defensive spark plug who could get red hot and carry a team at times.
Robinson, 34, played for eight teams in his 11 seasons, his last being the 2015-16 season with the Pelicans. Last year he played in the NBA’s G-League with the Delaware 87ers and he’s also had stints in recent years playing in Israel and Venezuela.
This summer he’s playing 3-on-3 games in Ice Cube’s Big3 Basketball League with the hopes of getting back to the NBA.
Robinson, in a feature article on Bleacher Report, discussed his complicated relationship with the league that made him famous.
“The hardest thing in my whole life, was dealing with 11 years in the NBA of trying to be somebody that [NBA coaches] wanted me to be.” Nate Robinson questioned himself, God and the NBA. Can he make it back? My story @BleacherReport #BRmag: https://t.co/l3g64AFzuO
— Mirin Fader (@MirinFader) June 18, 2018
While playing for the Bulls in 2012-13, Robinson started seeing a therapist for the first time in his life to deal with depression.
The sadness he felt belied his outgoing personality.
“Part of [his] personality is, he’s a clown. And he just doesn’t stop. He can’t turn it off. He almost can’t be serious,” a veteran assistant coach told Bleacher Report. “And so as much as you love him … that is also what kills him.”
Robinson said he went to therapy, in part, to try and adapt his personality as he felt his clownish persona was holding him back.
Coach Larry Brown allegedly called Nate Robinson “the little s–t,” demeaning him in front of teammates. Another believes “he’s a clown. And he just doesn’t stop … He almost can’t be serious.” https://t.co/BomNRUwaEf pic.twitter.com/WPOgChvZ0N
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 18, 2018
“I was trying to change,” Robinson told Fader. “Nobody would ever know the real struggles that I had to fight to try to be somebody that I wasn’t. That was the hardest thing in my career. Not basketball, not working out. Not my children.
“But the hardest thing in my whole life, of my 34 years in existence on earth, was dealing with 11 years in the NBA of trying to be somebody that [NBA coaches] want me to be.”
While with the Celtics in 2010, he took the advice of his teammate, Ray Allen, who recommended a disciplined routine.
The regimen continued when Robinson went to the Bulls. On team trips, he began sitting at the front of the plane so he couldn’t be tempted to crack jokes. He’d show up an hour early to meetings. He’d stay an hour after practice to get up shots.
“He wanted people to know he was dependable. He was trying to grow as a man,” said Carlos Boozer, a teammate of Robinson’s in Chicago. “He always came prepared.”
At 34, Robinson believes he can still not only play in the NBA, but be a key piece for a team off the bench.
“There’s not one person in the NBA right now that can come off the bench and do what I do,” Robinson said.
While he waits for that call, Robinson said he’s not going to let his past struggles keep him down.
“I live by Peter Pan,” Robinson told Bleacher Report. “You can’t fly without happy thoughts. If you are going to continue to be left in the dumps, you will never be able to fly. You have the right to change your life if you don’t like it.”
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