Here is a good past article:

Posted on: May 21, 2020 at 14:10:16 CT

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1989-04-08-8901180592-story.html

Derrick Chievous hit the NBA running. Full speed ahead. No regrets and certainly no doubts.

Then he put on a Houston Rockets uniform, a few days late for training camp.

The big-scoring big-talker out of Missouri opened his first news conference in Houston last October by insisting that he wasn't cocky. He then said, "Hopefully, once I get my feet wet and get a little water slapped in my face, I can slap some water in some other people's faces."

When drafted in June after a record-setting career at Mizzou, Chievous said he could "score on anybody at anytime."

The 6-foot-7 rookie small forward, whose Rockets play the Heat tonight at 7:30 at the Miami Arena, lived up to those statements for the season's first couple of months. He scored 27 points in a preseason game against Washington and equaled that mark in the regular season's fourth game, against Utah.

On Dec. 15, the Show-Me State's Chievous showed up Golden State rookie Mitch Richmond, formerly of Boyd Anderson High, by scoring 12 points in double overtime to push his Rockets over the Warriors.

Chievous was flying high as a rookie Rocket, taking advantage of every precious off-the-bench minute with a dazzling array of 360-degree spins, diving saves, long jump shots and an infectious personality that led to his being affectionately termed a "court jester" by Houston coach Don Chaney.

But the Band-Aids Chievous wears to salve superstitions might now also be needed to cover his exposed ego, wounded in a near-dizzying fall to reality.

Chievous has equaled or bettered his 18-point performance against Richmond and Golden State only twice since, with 20 in early February against Portland and 18 a month later against New Jersey.

He has played in all of Houston's 72 games, but Tuesday went scoreless for the fifth time. In his last three games before Friday, Chievous scored a total of nine points.

For the first time in his life, the word "average" is being used to describe Mr. Outlandish, the man who once poured 25 packets of sugar into his iced tea during an interview with Sports Illustrated.

"He's basically going through what any average rookie will go through," Chaney said from Atlanta. "Now things are getting tight with us jockeying for the playoffs and a home-court advantage, so I have to be careful how I use a rookie. Derrick tends to make some mistakes, which any rookie would make, and right now we can't have mistakes.

"Early on, he was playing at ease, a free spirit. That's changed."

Even against Miami, Chaney likely won't be ready to let Chievous loose for one more rookie bash.

"Hey, we play Atlanta tomorrow," Chaney said Thursday, "and Miami Saturday, and right now I'm more afraid of losing to Miami. Guys go in the Miami Arena and look at the record, not at the guys who play."

Chievous seems to accept his new role, finally allowing that he's actually a rookie. Maybe he's finally maturing. Maybe he's giving in to overwhelming reality. Whatever, it's a point of view he's never been forced to consider.

"The most important thing for me is not my minutes, but whether the team wins," Chievous said. "I can't dwell in the past. In the NBA, you are only as good as your last game. It's a business now, and you always have to be mentally prepared."

Mentally prepared? Chievous talking about preparation, not humiliation?

"Everybody who comes into this league is confident," Chaney said. "Then everybody gets their ego shattered. The difference in those who make it and those who don't is how well they put their egos back together.

"Derrick's ego is shattered, and the question now is how quickly he'll pick up the pieces."