Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant has two weeks of his four week suspension remaining. The 2nd year standout failed multiple marijuana tests earlier in the year. It was recently reported that the Steelers approved Bryant’s request to work out out of state during his suspension.
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As it turns out, Bryant is in Houston, Texas receiving counseling from renowned drug counselor and former NBA star John Lucas. Lucas abused cocaine while with the Houston Rockets, but saved his career after drug rehabilitation. Lucas has helped rehabilitate many athletes and celebrities at his facility in Houston. One of the most recent success stories was Tyrann Mathieu, who sought help from Lucas after he was dismissed from LSU.
Here’s an excerpt from an article on Lucas that was written a couple years ago.
He’s like Mike Tyson with the real, backing you into a corner until you can’t dance around it anymore. You’re forced to admit that you need help.
Help is a 12-step concept of each one helping one another to get back and no one is bigger than the whole. Lucas’ Miyagi mantra is simple: in order to beat drugs, alcohol and overcome any issue, you have to surrender to win. Thing is, you can’t just tell a professional athlete to surrender. It’s foreign, like Rick Ross’ MMG fleet. And to Lucas, no matter how many cheers you get when you tomahawk dunk in the lane, or how many dimepieces troll you on Twitter for groupie love, you’re just another Bozo on the bus. Your ‘Big Dog’ status doesn’t compute in his house. You’re just another guy that needs to improve, get better, overcome flaws and the best way to do it, is believing in a higher power, a spiritual being, someone greater than yourself.
Lucas hammers all of this home while adhering to his four tenets of coaching: motivating, mentoring, counseling and positive confrontation.
“I am the last house on the block in sports,” Lucas says. “When they come to see me, most of the time, they’re not coming on a winning streak. They’re just about a step away from it being over. And the few that we get that are coming like that, get what they want. And those that do the work, come back; and those that don’t, we’ll run you away. We call our gym ‘The Lab’ because we’re gonna put you back together.”
The Steelers hope that Bryant will get the help he needs and will be able to produce at the same level he did last season. It would seem Bryant is serious about taking the necessary steps to be able to do so.
