When the NBA season ended for the Chicago Bulls last spring, Mike Sweetney became a restricted free agent. Any team in the league could try to sign Sweetney, but the Bulls had the right to match any offer to keep him in Chicago. Unfortunately for Big Mike, there hasn’t been much interest from any teams, and with opening day about two weeks away, Sweetney is still without an NBA team. There is still time for Mike to be in uniform for opening day somewhere in the NBA (it seems like the Phoenix Suns have had the most interest), but it’s almost a tragedy how far Sweetney’s NBA stock has fallen since he left Georgetown in the summer of 2003.

The 2003 NBA Draft was a solid one, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade. Sweetney was the #9 pick for the New York Knicks. At that time I remember thinking (as many Hoya fans did I’m sure), “Oh great, now I have to go get all my old Knicks stuff out of the closet.” Despite being a lottery pick in New York, he never seemed to be a part of their long-term plans and after two years in the Big Apple, Sweetney was sent to Chicago. Sweetney’s playing time decreased steadily during his time with the Bulls. Sweetney’s put on a lot of weight over the past season and a half or so, and now it looks like teams are unimpressed with his physique.

There’s a lot that can go wrong for players in the league, so it not exactly a shock that Sweetney’s career is in jeopardy after only four seasons. The talent level in the NBA is so high across the board that an individual’s success rarely depends on how good they are, but most players need to find the right fit, with the right franchise, the right coaches, and the right teammates. There’s a great example here in D.C. of a player who struggled in his early years in the NBA before finding the right circumstances to become a superstar: Gilbert Arenas. I don’t think Sweetney could make the kind of impact that Agent Zero has for the Wizards, but the point is that sometimes you need the right environment before you can flourish. Let’s hope Big Mike can still find that environment.