Iowa State power forward Royce White has apparently been given a promise by the Boston Celtics that he will be selected with the 21st overall pick. Chad Ford reported the news via Twitter.
Looks like a team may have promised Royce White. He's pulled out of all remaining workouts and gone silent. Not injured.
— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) June 22, 2012
More on Royce White. Now hearing more definitely promise is from Celtics at 21.
— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) June 22, 2012
White's an interesting story: He was originally a player for Minnesota, but after a laptop stealing incident, decided to leave the school by posting a melodramatic YouTube video saying he'd never play college basketball again. He ended up at ISU, where he averaged 13.4 and 9.3 in his only collegiate season, including a double-double against UConn in the NCAA Tournament and 23 and nine in the next round against Kentucky. Most mockers have him somewhere in the 20's, so a promise by Boston at 21 would make some sense.
However, there could be another explanation: White has long suffered from a severe anxiety problem, mainly surrounding getting on planes, which could be an issue in a potential draftees' schedule of jetting across the country from team to team. Jonathan Givorny of Draft Express had this to tweet:
Its possible that White feels good about where he's getting drafted, but also possible that he really can't get on a flight to work out.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 22, 2012
Hopefully, that isn't the case -- it would be sad to see White's career derailed by his anxiety. Even if he makes the NBA, it's unclear how his fear of flying will work out.
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