Wells’ season is over: Rockets bench guard for duration, will assess fine for latest absence
OK, let’s see if I have this straight. You’re an NBA basketball player, you get to play a kid’s game, and you’re paid an obscene amount for doing so. All you really have to do is show up and play hard. Then again, if you’re Bonzi Wells, you’ve always had difficult grasping those two simple realities. This is why Bonzi is our latest DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener.
I suppose I should own up to not exactly being President of the Bonzi Wells Fan Club. I saw what he did in Portland for years, and to call Wells a “head case” would be something of an understatement. Most professional athletes seem to possess at least a bare minimum of maturity, enough to recognize just how tremendously blessed they are to be in the NBA. They’re doing something most guys would love to do- and they’re paid obscenely well for doing so. Talk about living a dream, eh? Well, it seems that one man’s dream is another’s air of entitlement.
Wells, who played in Sacramento last season, turned down a $36 million extension to come to Houston (Yeah, I know; turning down $36 million AND moving to Houston? Now here be a DUMB@$$….). To say that this season hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses for Wells would be something of an understatement. Sidelined for a good portion of the season by injuries (this after he showed up in Houston out of shape), and for another portion of it because Coach Jeff Van Gundy didn’t like his attitude, Wells has been a fish out of water for most of this season. (Man, $36 million? To live in California? Who’s kicking himself now, eh??)
PORTLAND, Ore. — After months of insisting he wanted a chance to play more, Rockets guard Bonzi Wells chose not to. Now the choice has been taken out of his hands.
A day after Wells skipped Monday’s game in Seattle, the Rockets decided he will not play again this season, a person with knowledge of the team’s decision-making said Tuesday.
Wells left the team Tuesday to return to Houston. He will be fined for the “unexcused absence” from the game he missed. He will not be suspended or released. But after returning to the court Friday and Sunday after 18 games on the inactive list, he will be back on the inactive list for the final four regular-season games and the playoffs.
That’s right; Wells just up and left. WTF? If I just got up and went home from work, there’s a very real possibility that I’d be out on my ass…and I’d deserve it. Bonzi Wells, being a professional athlete, is of course different from you and I. Yeah, he won’t be playing for the Rockets in the playoffs, but he’ll still be paid his salary, even though he really doesn’t have to even show up for work? Cue the spoiled, pampered athlete clip, willya??
That will end Wells’ rocky one-season Rockets tenure, which, though it began as a surprising windfall for the team, was marked by a series of injuries and issues, from the training camp he missed to his walkout in Seattle.
It will be the second season in the past three that Wells’ team effectively jettisoned him before the season ended. Memphis dropped Wells from its active roster during the first round of the 2005 playoffs. He was dealt to Sacramento, where he struggled with injuries before finishing the season well and excelling in a losing playoff series against San Antonio.
After some of Wells’ antics in Portland and now in Houston, he’s managed to develop quite the reputation around the NBA as a Grade A head case. He could have come to Portland, thrown himself into the season and attempted to redeem himself. He then could have opted out of his contract and perhaps signed a more lucrative contract elsewhere. Now Wells has to come to grips with the reality that it’s highly unlikely that any reputable NBA organization will want a lazy, out of shape, immature head case to pollute their roster.
General manager Carroll Dawson said he could not comment on the Rockets’ decision until speaking with Wells. Coach Jeff Van Gundy said there was “nothing new right now.”
“I don’t have any reaction,” Van Gundy said. “That’s got to be more of an organizational thing.”
Wells’ agent, Bill Duffy, did confirm Wells left the road trip and will talk with Dawson in Houston.
“He felt he was hurting the team,” Duffy said. “He did not want to be a distraction with his play. It was not his actions. He was frustrated with his play and did not want to hurt the team. His methodology was wrong, but that’s what he was trying to do.”
Man, you have to know that the New Yorker in Van Gundy is thinking, “WTF? Was I right about this head case, or what??”
Bonzi Wells is managing to piss away what was one a promising career. A talented ball handler who could easily handle playing shooting guard or small forward, with a decent 3-point shot, Wells could have been a real asset. He could have made himself a TON of money. Instead of displaying even a bare minimum of maturity and professionalism, Wells just left. Jeebus, what a DUMB@$$….
