<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">?You always have room to improve as far as basketball goes, but it?s not all about basketball for me right now,? Whaley said. ?It?s about how I act and my maturity. It?s about showing that I?m a changed person. The big issue is my past. I have to show that I?m a mature person and that I?m really focused and I?ve put a lot of time and dedication into it.? Whaley is the poster child for when it comes to second, third and fourth chances. Time is running out on a life filled with a troubled past. Whaley, from Benton Harbor, Mich., was so mischievous that when he was in eighth grade, a judge was ready to send him to detention for 18 months but decided against it when Whaley?s high school coach took him in. Several years later, Missouri rescinded Whaley?s scholarship offer because he was on trial for third-degree and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. A Michigan judge declared a mistrial and Whaley was free. Whaley, one of the nation?s top high school players, signed and played at Barton (Kan.) Community College. He was a two-time junior-college All-American. Whaley averaged just under 17 points and about seven rebounds a game for two seasons. But once again, trouble found Whaley when he was involved in a brawl at Barton in which two people were hospitalized. Whaley entered a plea of no contest and his original felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors. </div> Source
People talk about the drug, gang, attitude, or academic issues with Pierre Pierce and Sean Banks so much that Robert Whaley goes unnoticed. Here's a guy who was the #1 High School player in the nation for a while but hasn't really had a stable season yet due to stupid decisions he made off the court. I tend to have a lot less pitty on Whaley though, just because of how heinous his crimes were (including allegedly raping a 13 year old friend of his sister). Unlike Pierce and Banks, I'm not so sure if I can see the NBA in Whaley's future. He most likely won't be drafted, so his best chance right now is making a team's Summer League roster and impressing there.