The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Robert Covington On Basketball & Opening About His LIfe

Episode Date: April 21, 2020

Right now, let's say hi to our favorite newest rocket 103 here on Sports Talk 790, the Matt Thomas show. We say hello to Robert Covington, who joins us on behalf of a great group called The Elephant in the Room. And their website is The Elephant in the Room, Inc.org. We'll talk about that, and his life is a rocket. Robert, it's Matt. How are things, my friend? How are you doing?

Hey, I've got to ask you questions. Since you've been with us, this is your second go-round, I'm your PA announcer in the arena, and I do the radio on the road. I haven't called you Roco in the arena. Am I supposed to do that, or is that just a taboo phrase? I mean, that's just what everybody calls me. So, I mean, it's what's been my name and what people that know me by. Okay, because I just haven't called Russ Brody yet.

I just don't feel comfortable doing that. I just want to make sure Roco was okay with you. Oh, yeah, it's been established for six years now. Okay, very good. Hey, thanks for joining us today. Tell us a little bit how you got involved with this group, the elephant in the room. It's mental health. And let's be brutally honest here. We need some of this right now because I think depression can certainly kick in with this COVID hanging over a lot of us right now. Yeah. Well, I got into it. It's actually my sister's foundation. It's someone that is very close to me that I consider them. family. I've known for years and like you said, what I just dealt with over the last couple years, you know, was really the reason why I got involved because I didn't really realize

I was going through it all until like the second phase, you know, just like last year. But just the beginning of last year, once I got injured and, you know, my season was taken from me. So, you know, that's when, you know, I kind of got into the whole aspect of it, because I did, understand why and how everything was going on. But it took for me to, you know, talk to a therapist and, you know, deal with everything that I was going through because, like I said, I just couldn't, I just couldn't find them all the stuff that was going on that was going through. And I just didn't know how to deal with it. So that's a point where, you know, like I said, I wasn't a dark place. I wasn't myself. And, you know, I didn't know what to do. And I had a couple moments

for our lifestyle of people. And it was just, you know, it was just bad. And like I said, and I understood it. And I got to a point where I got through it and, you know, it all worked out. And then once my, you know, sister had came up with the idea of, you know, the elephant in the room, you know, it was a no-brainer for me to be a part of it. Because I just realized how big mental health was and not a lot of people talk about it. Yeah. It was easy for me. Like, I wanted to be a game changer in all of this to put people on, you know,

and let them know that it's okay to talk about this stuff. And because we all have every day, we all have problems. We all have issues. But, you know, we're put on this pedestal and we're looked at that we shouldn't have because, like you said, people say, you know, you're an NBA player or your athlete and all this other stuff. And we did with everyday issues just like everybody else. So, and first of all, I'm glad that you're,

able to speak about this. This means a lot to a lot of people that may be suffering through similar situations you are. Was it largely because of the fact that you went from this NBA player living this great lifestyle playing in front of 15, 20,000 people every night to being hurt? Or did you see some effects of this depression you speak of even before you got hurt? It was even before I got hurt. But I didn't realize that I was dealing with all of it. You know, I was dealing with, you know, an aspect of stuff that happened between, you know, family issues, relationship issues, but I didn't understand the magnitude of it until I got hurt and realized that all that stuff. I thought I had got past it all. I thought I got past it all, but it lingered and it just was in a different form and it came about.

So once it got to the point where I got hurt, like I said, different things. I started to affect me. My mood started to change. My energy, I was drained. I was, you know, sleepless nights. And, you know, that's a point where I used to sit up here and I used to, you know, act like I was sleep in certain nights just so my apartment at the time could go to sleep and just wouldn't talk to me, but I would be up all night.

It would be some nights like that. So, like I said, it was that, that's where, and that's where the biggest, thing came from. And like I said, I went to therapy. My coach in Minnesota had told me a story about how it helped him and, you know, dealing with his, you know, whole demeanor with, not demeanor, the death of his dad. So, you know, I was like, at first I was skeptical about senior therapists because I was just like, you know, what's the therapist going to do to help me?

like I was I felt like it was just simple issues but it actually it goes deeper than that so and I was just like I got to a point where you know it came to me first time again it was another moment where like I said I went into my work job and I snapped one day and I knew that wasn't me my team or my coach and them all knew it wasn't me so you know it just was like all right now we got to do something to to help lead because this is not the person that we've seen since you've been here. And so I sat down with our coach and had a moment and he told me the story about him and how it helped him. And I was just like at that point, I was like, what can it hurt? Plus, you know, I had just underwent surgery. I had to, it got so bad that I had to send my ex-girlfriend and her son away from me. So, like, I went through my whole process of, you know,

have and getting back like from all crutches I went through that whole process by myself that's how that's how gone I was in my mind like I didn't want my mother there like no one to come visit me it was to I was so frustrated and so

like torn that I used to get bad that people when they were asking me like are you good like that's how bad that's how bad I was like that will bother me like that's powerful stuff Robert I frankly did not know much of this going in.

And it sounds like, and having seen you a little bit since you joined the team, you're in a much better place today, which is obviously very good. What was the turning point for you? When did things come a little easier to you, that the days were much brighter than they were, say, you know, a year and a half, two years ago? The days were much brighter. you know, once I, you know, started to unload when I actually began seeing a therapist. Because the first session was supposed to be like an hour. And I started to, instead of it being an hour, the first session turned out to be three and a half hours. And listening through all the stuff my therapist at the time was like, like just mind-blown because of all the stuff that was going through.

And it happened back to back to back to back to back. Like all, every time it was an issue, like something happened right there, and it was for two years straight. Like, it was so much going on within this timeframe that, you know, it took a toll on and it was slowly, slowly taking the toe. And it was like I said, for two years straight. Like I said, from having issues with my family and my relationship, Then, you know, moving, having to move and go to another city, dealing with trade rumors, and you ask the team whether, you know, like what's going on so you can prepare yourself because you're, you know, you're moving, you know, your partner and her son into your, into your element.

And that's a different fact. It's easier. It's easier to move components is, you know, it's just me. Like, it was just me, my dogs, and then my reptiles and stuff. But, you know, that's easy. I can manipulate that by myself. But when you add in other factors, it's a lot difficult. And then on top of that, packing up a house, like, it would have been easy,

but then once they moved in with me, that's when things change. And then things change so rapidly in this league. Like, you know, it doesn't, you know, phase now. So it just, it just, it just, was at a moment. Like I said, then that and then, you know, playing well with a good team and then having a setback.

You know, I injured my knee again. Getting to a point where everything is starting to take the toll, then relationship takes another hit. Then working my way back through that and

working my way through all the you know, the issues of my injury. Then, you know, I'm working myself. Everything's going good. And, like, I'm on the verge of coming back. And then they're still watching out of games not being able to, you know, be a part of them. They were dropping it. And then I play out hopes are slowly diminishing. So it was a lot that, you know, played a part of being I go back. I was, I had a return date. I had a return date. Then I go and I work out with the G-League team. And, you know, I do everything with that.

have a great couple days and then I get to a point where like I go home to visit my my ex-diff and her son for his birthday for a couple days and because there was the team was on the road and they allowed me to go home so I went down there and then the couple days when I went back to Minnesota I get back into the into the gym and my knee is swung like a bloom so and I mean I had endured swelling, like throughout the process. They said it was going to be back and forth, but it was not like this. Like my knee, you literally had no definition with my knee. So it was that swollen.

Yeah. So let's fast forward to a more pleasant time. You've been healthy this year. You did eventually get traded. Take us through what that was like getting that phone call from the rockets and determining that you were going to come here and be a part of a very interesting, albeit smaller five-man rotation at the very beginning. I had kind of known, like I said, I tell people, somebody told me, like, beforehand,

like, what was it being worked on, like, and they were just telling me to be prepared. So I set up here, and I typically, like I said, like I said, I was preparing for it already. I had bags packed I was working on I was looking at houses and everything I was just waiting for the moment to sit up here and you know

headline and you know what has helped me you know throughout this whole process of this year and you know the real turning point

when I really realized like everything with me was actually once I started to go back to church and I started to develop understanding and the relationship my father and savior.

So that's what allowed me to get over the hump and, like, have a whole new mindset on everything in life. And, you know, that was the greatest day, that was the greatest day of my life, like, for me to sit up here and endure that and go through that moment. And that was the releasing point of all that negative, that negativity, like, everything I had endured. That was the releasing point because they gave me a new outlet. They gave me a new understanding of it all.

And, you know, that's what has helped me throughout this entire year. And, like I said, prepared for, you know, I had a different mindset going into getting traded because I didn't, I wasn't in the same place that I was before. So, you know, like I said, I was able to, you know, prepare early on, you know, I had, I'm no longer with my partner, my ex-girlfriend. So it was a lot less components that I had to work to work through. I could just pick up, you know, go get everything together. The only thing I had to worry about was my dogs and my reptiles.

How many reptiles do you have? I currently have seven. Seven? Yeah. Do they have names or are you? What kind of reptiles are there? I got four leopard geckos and then I have three snakes. I am not coming to your house.

I mean, we can go. out have dinner once we can go out and have dinner again. But I, seven rip, okay. Well, you know, are they happy?

Do they like Southeast Texas? Man, they're actually right here in my living room, play with each other. Like, they, they don't have a problem with everything. Like in Minnesota,

just they didn't go outside. But now them being here, now that them being here, you know, they go outside in the back yard. I let them go out there for about 30, 45 minutes. Nice.

They come out, that come in and they'll sit up here and they'll, they'll, they'll, they'll, they sleep a lot because of how hot it is. Well, so do you. They play around all day. Like I said, they're just, they're just so, like, energetic now. Like, they have so much more energy. But instead of them having energy in the house, they have it outside and they come in and chill. All right.

I've learned more about geckos and snakes that I have. my entire life as a radio host. These are things that I'm glad you brought to the conversation. Hey, I loved your debut. I love the fact you're blocking shots like a mother. I cannot wait to see you back on the court doing that, hitting the threes. Last question for you. How ridiculously anxious are you to start playing basketball again?

Man, I'm beyond anxious. I've been, I found a gym here that I was able to get some shots up in. and he's about to work on finding a personal trainer to someone to keep me in shape because like I said, I've been doing stuff on my own, but it's not the same magnitude as, you know, actually having the right equipment and everything. So we just, like I said, I'm anxious. I'm about to get ready and go back home to Nashville. That way I can be able to work with my trainers, and I'll be, I have a,

a strength coach there that I'd be able to work with, because like you said, we don't know when this whole highest don't deal with it. So I'm going to go, just going, I've been here this whole time, and I've had, like, a set, family here. Like, I want to get back into some type of shape, like I said, because it ain't, it ain't the same when you don't, like, when you're not playing, like, especially around this time, you need to playoff. Playoffs we started. I know. I know. I'm, I'm, I got Beyond Cabin fever. Robert, uh, the website, for those that would be interested in checking out ways to improve overall mental health and something that helped you out big time was the elephant in the room inc.org. That's the elephant in the room ink, I andc.

Roca, I really appreciate you and kind of giving us a little insight into behind the scenes of who you are beyond the basketball player. We wish you nothing but the very best. Tell all the reptiles we said what up and we look forward to seeing you on the court, wherever it may be in a very short period of time, my friend. Thanks for joining me on my show. Thank you guys for having me. All right, Robert Covington with us here. on the Matt Thomas show with his seven reptiles.