Roy Tarpley died in an Arlington, Texas, hospital earlier this month, with little fanfare for a player who should've been lumped with Dirk Nowitzki and Mark Aguirre as the best players ever to wear a Dallas Mavericks uniform.
Instead, the 6-foot-11 basketball savant teased fans with his immense talent and tormented them by regularly failing the drug tests that eventually ended his career in Dallas and in the NBA.
Tarpley, the seventh pick in the 1986 draft, played just 280 games for the Mavs. Really, all that's left from his time in Dallas are the memories of a couple of stellar regular seasons and his dynamic performance in the 1988 playoffs, when he averaged 17.9 points and 12.9 rebounds as the Mavs advanced to the Western Conference finals.
Josh Gordon, the Cleveland Browns receiver who reportedly violated the league's substance abuse policy again by testing positive for alcohol, reminds me of Tarpley.
He's talented enough to be a Hall of Fame player, but he can't overcome the personal demons that compel him to wreck his life with drugs and alcohol, even when he knows what's at stake.
It's not just the money he's losing. Any professional athlete will tell you he'd play for free -- as long as everyone else does the same -- because the sport never changes. It's the drama surrounding the sport that changes as athletes move from youth to high school to college to professional sports. It's the ability to play the game; every athlete has only so many games in his body before Father Time starts kicking his butt.
Well, Gordon is wasting time he'll never get back. And Gordon's story, for now, is every bit as sad as Tarpley's demise.
Then again, it's sad to watch any talented person throw away his career because of substance abuse.
There will always be a segment of society that talks about how stupid Gordon is for tossing away millions and perhaps his career, considering he is facing a one-year suspension for violating the league's substance abuse program. But the reality is we all have addictions.
For some, like Gordon, it is drugs and alcohol. For others, it's work or cigarettes or food or shopping. Maybe it's gambling or exercise or sex or video games.
Anyone who has seen someone in his or her life battle addiction understands it takes more than self-help books and counseling sessions to really topple that beast. All you really can do is hope your addiction isn't something illegal and doesn't cause you to die prematurely because of the damage done to your body, the way it was for Tarpley, who reportedly died of liver failure.
Gordon, who grew up in Houston and played college ball at Baylor, is a phenomenal talent. He should've been at Sunday's Pro Bowl with the rest of the game's elite receivers. He should be every bit as dominant as Dez Bryant, given his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame and skill set.
After all, he was an All-Pro in 2013 after he led the NFL with 1,646 yards in a season for the ages. He's the only player with consecutive 200-yard receiving games in the regular season, and he set a franchise record with seven 100-yard games last season.
But all we ever seem to discuss are his drug issues -- because they're wrecking his career just like they've damaged the Browns. His career is probably over in Cleveland because the Browns can't trust him. The cornerstone piece the Browns thought they had acquired turned out to be fool's gold.
Gordon failed drug tests at Baylor, which led to his eventually getting kicked off the team and transferring to Utah. After sitting out a year at Utah, Gordon entered the supplemental NFL draft, and the Browns took him in the second round.
Do you know how good you have to be to get picked that high after just 43 college receptions for 721 yards and seven touchdowns?
Of course, none of that matters now. If Gordon gets suspended again, as is expected, it'll be the third time he's been suspended by the league. The NFL suspended him for two games in 2013 and 10 games last season. This time, he's looking at a year.
Getting his life together and getting sober must be at the top of his priority list because the Browns certainly can't count on him, and neither can any other team. If you have compassion for others, any thoughts you have about Gordon should be focused on the man -- not the football player.
He's still young enough to be a contributing member of society, regardless of whether he ever catches another touchdown pass. But he has to want it more than we want it for him.
Maybe someone close to him will Google Roy Tarpley's obituary and let him read it.