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Very little went as planned in the basketball life of Clifford Rozier.
A man among adolescents in high school, he committed to the University of North Carolina and legendary coach Dean Smith. After one year he transferred to Louisville, where he earned two conference player of the year awards.
He was selected in the first round of the 1994 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. More on this later — safe to say it was a weird evening which hinted at the upheaval and chaos that would visit Rozier on and off for the rest of his life.
That life ended July 6 when Clifford Rozier died of a heart attack. He was 45.
“Clifford Rozier had it all,” wrote Rick Bozich of WDRB Sports, “and then he had nothing.”
“He was once the best high school basketball player in Florida, an All-American in college, a first-round draft pick in the NBA,” wrote Chris Anderson in a riveting 2010 story for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
“Then the voices started.
“Now he was a man on top of an apartment building, his mind tormented by a snake speaking as God, yet wishing for death.”
“Rozier is 37 now, essentially broke and on heavy medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.”
Back to that draft.
Warriors coach Don Nelson was, as ever, looking for a dominant big man. In his first four drafts with the team he had selected the likes of Les Jepsen, Shaun Vandiver, Victor Alexander, Chris Gatling and Matt Fish.
And in 1994, with the 16th overall pick: Clifford Rozier, whom Nellie hoped could play center, allowing Chris Webber to play power forward and Billy Owens to play small forward. The coach’s remarks after making the pick were what you might call restrained.
“Like a lot of young guys, he’s made his mistakes,” Nelson said. “The more he’s matured, the more highly he ‘s been thought of. I wouldn’t call him a risk.”
But when the subject of effort was raised, Nelson said: “One of the things that happens to gifted players is the game comes so easily to them that they don’t always work as hard as they should.”
And when the subject of desire was raised, Nelson said: “There’s room for improvement there.”
To be fair, when Nelson wasn’t maligning Rozier, he was dousing him with praise. When the subject of Rozier’s final two college games — NCAA Tournament games in which he scored 2 and 5 points — was raised, Nelson said: “There was a reason for that. He was double-teamed, and when he was he passed the ball every time.”
By and by, the Warriors got Rozier on a conference call with Bay Area reporters, who inquired about an incident in which Rozier, riding in a car that was being followed by police, threw an open can of beer out the window.
“Littering,” he said by way of explanation. “That’s all it really was. It was a certain policeman who didn’t like the idea of the way basketball players get treated.”
It was a messy first impression, which got messier after the draft had concluded, Nelson had left the building and reporters were packing up their state-of-the-art Radio Shack TRS-80s. It was then the Warriors public relations director announced that the team was actively working on a trade, the specifics of which, for some odd reason, could not be divulged for at least nine days. So at the end of the evening it was no certainty that Rozier would remain a Warrior.
Turns out he stayed (the trade sent Byron Houston and Sarunas Marciulionis to Seattle for Ricky Pierce and Carlos Rogers). But he never really stuck. He averaged 6.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in 66 games as a rookie. (Bozich wrote that Rozier blew off the mandatory exit interview at season’s end.) His production fell by more than half in his second season. He played one game for the Warriors in his third season before being traded to the Orlando Magic in the Rony Seikaly giveaway.
He was waived by Minnesota two days before Thanksgiving in 1997. His NBA career was over.
His struggles were not. From Anderson’s story:
“It’s extremely sad,” says Chris Ward, a former high school teammate. “He should have had a 15-to-20-year stint in the NBA. He was good. I mean really good.”
No one knows if failure as a pro contributed to Rozier’s mental condition or drug use, but everyone agrees it stung.
“I knew how badly he wanted to play and be successful in the NBA, but it got to a point where it was not going happen and it was hard to face,” says Bob Carroll, his coach at Southeast High.
From Bozich’s story:
“Rozier moved back to the Florida Gulf Coast but was difficult to reach. I tried. Several times. Talked to his former coaches. Talked to former teammates. Talked to Dick Vitale, who lived in the area and was one of the first to recognize Rozier’s skills. They weren’t sure how to reach Cliff.
“He gained weight. He lost weight. He played recreation ball and pledged to make a comeback. It never happened. It couldn’t happen.”
