ESPN aired "Unguarded" on Tuesday night, a documentary on former Boston College and Boston Celtics basketball player Chris Herren. The film focuses on the drug addiction that plagued the high school basketball standout from Fall River, Mass.
Hit the jump for the doc trailer, director commentary and more on this compelling story.
Here's some more background on the story from NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullen:
In an ESPN Films director's statement (which you can watch here), director Jonathan Hock said, "Never a selfish athlete. Never turned his back on his home town. But couldn't function without the drugs."
But don't take my word for it. Over at SB Nation's CelticsBlog, I found this comment in one user forum:
It's astonishing what this guy had, and then threw away. I knew some of his story, but this doc did a great job of putting his whole story out there. One of the stories he told was about how he met his Oxycontin dealer 20 minutes before tip-off, in his Celtics warmups, right outside the (then) FleetCenter. Crazy.
He's been sober for 3 years now, and looks to be doing well. Definitely try to catch this when it airs again.
Without games to watch (thanks, NBA Lockout), consider "Unguarded" a good basketball viewing option.