Fansided

Nuggets president: You could smell Ty Lawson’s drinking at practice

By Cody Williams

Mar 4, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) looks on during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Nuggets won 100-85. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) looks on during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Nuggets won 100-85. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke had some unsettling things to say regarding Ty Lawson’s drinking.

Ty Lawson is now a member of the Houston Rockets. From a basketball perspective, this is a good thing for Houston. The Rockets get a point guard tailor-made for a fast-paced offense and who could be the type of player to take the team to another plateau. There are problems as Lawson arrives in Houston, though. The biggest of those issues is Lawson’s purported drinking problem.

Two DUI related arrests in the past six months is enough of a red flag to say that Lawson may have a drinking problem, but more evidence is coming to light that paints an even bleaker picture regarding Lawson. As Lawson is currently a part of a 30-day rehab program following his latest arrest, Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke opened up regarding Lawson.

Speaking with Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Kroenke said that Lawson’s drinking had been an issue in Denver for some time, even saying that the organization had quietly been trying to help him regarding the problem over “the past couple of years.”

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Kroenke spoke candidly on the issue with Lawson, revealing that the problem may be more substantial than anyone could have suspected. In Kroenke’s word from the Spears interview:

"“He always had an affinity for burning the candle at both ends,” Kroenke said. “We want to give our players freedom to be young guys as well. We’re not going to be drill sergeants. But we want our guys to be able to handle their personal lives on their own.“Ty … there were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.”"

The phrase “you could smell it” in regards to Lawson at practice certainly stands out. Given the context that Kroenke’s saying this in, the instant inference is that the Nuggets staff could smell the alcohol on Lawson’s breath while he was at practice. That’s a harrowing notion to think about concerning Lawson’s issue with alcohol.

Even now that he’s out of Denver, this issue with Lawson seems like something deeply rooted and like something that he won’t be able to get out of overnight. The scene described by Kroenke and the arrests aren’t the tales of an NBA party boy; rather, these are the stories of someone who sadly has a problem that he needs help working through.

Basketball should not even be a concern for the Rockets or Lawson at this point. Ty Lawson as a human being has a problem that is potentially dangerous to himself and possibly to others as well. No matter how much money he makes or how many times he appears on national television, he’s still a person with issues that he needs to resolve before returning to work (even if work is playing basketball). Let’s hope he finds the help that he needs and is able to tell a story of triumph on the other side instead of a story mired in sadness and tragedy.

H/T to Deadspin

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