gay NBA player(s)?

[[Q]]

so thet other day, one of the rumors on hoopshype.com was that a former NBA player was planning to come out of the closet.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... O053Q1.DTL

so today we found out who it was. John Amaechi, a little known center that played for Utah & Orlando.

[Dan's Brain]

Former NBA player John Amaechi is planning to announce that he is gay. He would be the first NBA player, retired or active, to come out.

"planning to announce".... sucks for him that it had to get out beforehand.

[grusom]

You have to be gay with a name like that. Sounds like an Italian hand bag.

[maes]

Hmm that guy was barely in the NBA, although the Lakers try to sign him to a big contract.

The only thing i remember about him was that it was interesting that he considered the NBA his "side job" as he was working on his doctorate in psychology.

[Matt]

he played like a fruit cake too

[Sauru]

big surprise there

[[Q]]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=a ... &type=lgns

^yahoo article.

After the 1999-2000 season, Amaechi was offered a $17 million multi-year contract by the Los Angeles Lakers, who featured Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and had just won the NBA title.

wtf what an idiot. with a decent backup center for Shaq, they would've been a much better team, imo. (although I thought Greg Foster did a pretty good job)

EDIT: I just thought about how great of a situation it was being a gay man in Utah must have sucked big time for him there.

[grusom]

wtf what an idiot. with a decent backup center for Shaq, they would've been a much better team, imo. (although I thought Greg Foster did a pretty good job)

You can't really blame him for not caring about the Lakers succes

[Gundy]

I don't see why this is such a big deal. He's gay...OK...let's move on.

[hammertime23]

Maybe it's a big deal because he's gay and that's rare in pro basketball.

[Anthony15]

Maybe it's a big deal because he's gay and that's rare in pro basketball.

I bet there are a couple, Elson's comments and Weggie Evans come to mind.

[BigKaboom2]

Oh Reggie....

You guys have got that political correctness thing down!

You have to be gay with a name like that. Sounds like an Italian hand bag.

Wow.

[benji]

with a decent backup center for Shaq, they would've been a much better team, imo.

Yeah, but that doesn't describe Amaechi. The only season he was passable was that 2000 season with Orlando. He was worthless the rest of his career, and never was even an average offensive player. (He's 6-10, 270 and shot 40% from the floor for his career...with terrible turnover rates)

Of course, those Lakers teams would've been better (can you really get better than three titles and four Finals trips in five years though?) if they had good players outside of Shaq and Kobe also. Spending $17 million on a poor man's Isaac Austin isn't the way to improve your team. I would have preferred to have a lousy overpaid center like Michael Stewart instead of Amaechi, Toronto was trying to give him away, and at least he blocked shots.

On a less (or more?) serious note, how can we be sure Amaechi is even gay? After all, he is British.

And the only reason anyone will even care about this book is because of the possibility he outs other players.

[Indy]

Amaechi scored the first basket of the new millenium.

[Matt]

^^^that's his only claim to fame.

[Nick]

^^^that's his only claim to fame.

That, and that he's the first NBA player to announce he's gay. Can't forget that, lol.

I think it's all pretty silly to be honest. I'm looking forward to the days when it's socially acceptable for a sports player to have a different sexuality preference without the headlines and all that garbage.

It's all very thilly.

[-Young Buck-]

I really dont get why everyone is making a big fuss? Why does he even need to tell anyone that he is gay in the first place? oh thats right, he is trying to sell a book. It doesnt matter if you are gay, straight, or bi on the basketball court. There really is no need to even tell anyone which way you are. But for some big reason, gay people have to tell the world which way they flow. For some reason this ends up being big news, even if you are a scrub basketball player that no one remembered until you decided to "come out". You want some prize for telling it to the public? Sorry i dont feel bad for you, and i dont really care.

[KDawg295]

I bet there are a couple, Elson's comments and Weggie Evans come to mind.

Elson's comments?.. what comments?.. perhaps he and Reggie Evans were up to something when Elson was still in Denver.

[lilnate4]

Evans isnt gay

[---]

John Ameachi used to be extremely hated by some NBA coach, I can't remember who but comments went back and forth. I actually hardly remember anything

[dada]

Evans isnt gay

Thats not what he told me last night...

[---]

"You hate white people, you hate Americans and you think you're smarter than everyone else."

- Jerry Sloan, to John Amaechi, according to Amaechi.

Maybe it was Sloan...

EDIT: I searched "John Amaechi gay" in google and found this... Link. Thats why gay people piss me off.

[dada]

HOOP HOTTIE OF THE WEEK: Tracy McGrady. Orlando Magic. 6’8”, 210. Hey, he’s legal. Granted, just barely. But if you’re old enough to play in the NBA, you’re old enough to bounce around in bed with those gangly, late-adolescent limbs flopping around like a over-excited giraffe. Anyone up for being zookeeper?

@Flite
Man you need to remove that link,so not an basketball related comment.

[Anthony15]

I bet there are a couple, Elson's comments and Weggie Evans come to mind.

Elson's comments?.. what comments?.. perhaps he and Reggie Evans were up to something when Elson was still in Denver.

about KG being gay, back in 04 or 05 when he was still with Nuggets.

[benji]

back in 04 or 05 when he was still with Nuggets.

http://www.nba.com/nuggets/roster/