Jalen Rose was just one of many former and active players who are struggling with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD, a mental health issue that has proven quite common in professional sports.
Now a TV analyst at ESPN, Rose noted his former coach Larry Brown was the one who first peeled the onion of his eventual diagnosis.
“Larry was not fond of me as a person or a player,” Rose told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. “I think he decided, ‘There must be more to this.' He was the lead domino in a series of events that led to my so-called diagnosis.”
Rose says he was summoned to the training room, where a team doctor asked him a series of questions. He was told he had ADHD and needed medication.
“Now, I probably had [ADHD] then, and I probably have it now,” says Rose, “but in my mind, it was [Brown's] professional way to justify not playing me.”
Brown, an old-school coach, had watched Rose's success as part of The Fab Five at the University of Michigan but saw how he struggled to adapt to a more rigid system in the NBA.
Rose's career was on the upswing with the Denver Nuggets, the team who originally drafted him, during his first two seasons — but struggled under Brown's strict coaching and with his lack of playing time, getting only 18 minutes per game in their only season together.
The Michigander would eventually bloom into his stardom two seasons after Brown left, averaging 18.2 points per game under Larry Bird and later 20.5 per game in his last season in yellow-and-blue.
Rose's battle with ADHD has been rather unknown until his talk with colleague MacMullan, as now many former and active NBA players have opened up about their struggles with previously undiagnosed mental issues.
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