Shawn Respert

Posté le: Jeu 06 Jan 2005, 0:29

Bon, ce n'est pas une légende, mais son histoire vaut la peine d'être racontée. Je mets l'article en VO, donc désolé pour ceux qui aiment pas trop l'anglais.
En résumé, Shawn Respert raconte son histoire lors de son passage en NBA où, après une belle carrière a Michigan State, il fut considéré comme une déception. Il explique que des examens suite a des douleurs au ventre ont révélé qu'il était en fait atteint d'un cancer. Il ne l'a dit à personne sauf à Mike Dunleavy (alors GM et coach) et quelques membres du staf des Bucks. Il voulait vivre son rêve et faire carrière en NBA malgré tout...

Detroit - For years, Shawn Respert swallowed his pride when he heard or read his name mentioned as an NBA bust.

Now, the former Michigan State star is ready to tell his side of the story.

“I had cancer,” Respert said quietly in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t want people to feel sorry for me, or think I’m making an excuse about why it didn’t work out for me in the NBA. I just want people who have wondered, ‘Whatever happened to Shawn Respert?’ to know that I wasn’t strung out on drugs or anything bad like that.

“Maybe my story will inspire somebody who is struggling for whatever reason in their life.”

Life was great for Respert 10 years ago.

He was averaging nearly 26 points per game as a senior for the Spartans and the shooting guard impressed enough people to be the eighth pick in the 1995 NBA draft. Picked by Portland, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks and looked forward to his pro career.

Everything changed toward the end of his rookie season with the Bucks. His stomach started bothering him, so he altered his diet. But that didn’t make the unbearable cramps go away.

“One day I felt a lump the size of a marble below my belly button,” Respert said. “After I finally saw a doctor a couple weeks later, the lump had gotten bigger.”

When medicine didn’t make the lump go away, Respert went through a series of tests at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Milwaukee in May 1996.

“When the doctor said, ‘You have cancer in your abdomen,’ I said, ‘C’mon. There’s no way. I’m 23 and I’m in the NBA,’ ” Respert recalled during a telephone interview from Houston, where he lives and works.

“I was in denial, so I got a second opinion. But then another doctor in Milwaukee verified that I had cancerous cells in my stomach.”

Respert underwent radiation therapy every day for three straight months, but his condition didn’t improve.

“When doctors then said we had to do more radiation and medicine, that’s when reality hit me that this was truly for real,” he said. “I had been optimistic before that. . . but then I started concentrating on just getting healthy.”

Respert said that while he was dealing with the ordeal, the only people who knew about it were the Bucks’ trainers, doctors and Mike Dunleavy, then the general manager and coach.

“It’s crazy, but I didn’t tell my mom or dad, my grandparents, or my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife,” he said.

Respert, who lost 20 pounds over three months of treatment, still was determined to make it in the NBA.

“On a Sunday morning, I had a treatment then flew to Los Angeles that same day because we were playing in a summer league out there,” he said. “The Bucks had just (acquired) Ray Allen. Even though I could only eat soup and crackers, I was behind only Ray in scoring on our team that summer.”

Just when Respert thought he had turned the corner with his health and career, Chris Ford, who replaced Dunleavy as coach for the 1996-’97 season, didn’t play him in the first two games.

“That took the air out of me,” he said. “I started feeling what most survivors feel, alone. It devastated me as a player and a person. . .

“I figured that what I did at Michigan State was more than a dream come true, so I didn’t care about anything other than my health and my family. That pushed me away from the mentality that made me successful as a player, but it helped me become more happy as a man.”

Respert’s cancer went into remission and hasn’t come back, but his NBA career never was revived. In his second season, the Bucks traded him to Toronto, where he averaged 5.6 points a game.

Respert played briefly in Dallas the next season and had a second stint with the Raptors. His NBA career ended quietly in Phoenix during the 1998-’99 season.

In 172 games over four seasons, he averaged 4.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game.

“It killed me every time my name was associated with being a bust,” Respert said. “I really wanted to say, ‘Look. This is what I’ve had to deal with.’ But people don’t want to hear excuses in pro sports, even if the excuse is cancer.

“I just had to swallow my pride because I knew there would be a time that I would get my story out when my career was over and people didn’t think I had something to gain.”

Respert played professionally in Greece, Italy and Poland over the next four years before retiring in 2003.

After being a volunteer assistant coach at Prairie View A&M last season, Respert was hired in August to be director of basketball operations at Rice University in Houston.

“I really enjoy it,” he said, “but my ultimate goal is to work in an NBA front office, perhaps as a scouting director.”

Déserteur Inscrit le: 27 Sep 2004 Messages: 5632

Courageux le bonhomme. Il avait été assez bon en Europe, non? En tout cas, merci de l'article Wink

Posté le: Lun 08 Jan 2007, 11:55

Sacré bonhomme.. Si quelqu'un pouvait mettre aussi ses Stats en carriére et son parcous parce que je doit pas etre le seul a pas vraiment le connaitre ! Wink

Posté le: Lun 08 Jan 2007, 17:42

Hawks Powa a écrit:

Sacré bonhomme.. Si quelqu'un pouvait mettre aussi ses Stats en carriére et son parcous parce que je doit pas etre le seul a pas vraiment le connaitre ! Wink

allez je m'y colle

4 saisons mais que 172matchs à 13min, 4.9pts 1.3rb 1.0 ast en carrière de 1996 à 1999 (Mil, Tor, Dal et Pho)

Dallas fut sa meilleure saison (mais 10matchs seulement) 21min 8.2pts 2.7rbs 1.7 ast

Malatras serbo-grec Inscrit le: 29 Nov 2006 Messages: 196

Alphonso Ford avait lui aussi voulu vivre son rêve à fond.. c'est beau.

Respert avait des stats vraiment incroyables à Michigan State, et je me rappelle que c'est vrai qu'il decevait pas mal aux yeux du public lors de ses debuts avec les Bucks.. Quand il est arrivé à Toronto j'y avait vraiment cru au debut il faisait des bons matchs (merci Pontel au passage Very Happy

) !
très belle petite carrière en Europe tout de même !

pour les puristes...

Career:
born in Detroit, MI
1991-1992: Michigan St. (NCAA)
1992-1993: Michigan St. (NCAA)
1993-1994: Michigan St. (NCAA): 24ppg, 20.1ppg, "3"BigT-1(2.64)
1994-1995: Michigan St. (NCAA): ScoreNCAA-8(25.6)
1995: drafted by Portland Trail Blazers (NBA,1rd(8th))
1995-1996: Milwaukee Bucks (NBA)
1996-1997: Milwaukee Bucks (NBA): $1.42mln
1997-1998: Toronto Raptors (NBA), was waived in Mar.'98
1998-1999: Phoenix Suns (NBA), released in Mar.'99
1999: Vancouver Grizzlies (FILA Summer League)
1999-2000: Olympiakos Pireus (GRE): applied for POR passport, but was not apporved by FIBA, so was waived in Sep.'99, in Nov.'99 joined Milan (ITA-A1), but was injured, supposed to be back on the court in Jan.'00: 18 games: averaged 18.3ppg, 3.6rpg, 2.4 spg
2000-2001: Los Angeles Lakers (NBA): cut just before the season, in Nov.'00 replaced Donny Marshall at Near East (GRE): got injured and was released in Feb.'01: 16 games: 10.5ppg, 3.5rpg; Korac Cup: 2 games: 8ppg, 2.5rpg
2001-2002: In Nov.'01 played for Magic Johnson All-Stars touring team, which played exhibition games against NCAA teams, at the end of that month was signed by Fillattice Imola (ITA-SerieA): 21games: 10.5ppg, 3.0rpg, 1.2apg, 2.0spg
2002-2003: Komfort Kronoplus Stargard Szczecinski (POL-PLK): 27 games: 20,50ppg, 3,15rpg, 2,15apg

Posté le: Mer 10 Jan 2007, 21:30

Merci Königsberg Wink