JrZyHuStLa wrote:loweyecue wrote:One personm cannot change a culture that has been in place for the last 10 years and D'antoni is the wrong person to try to change it. Certain people are not geared to do certain things and this is one of those situations. Larry Brown couldn't change this with all his antics and criticisms, in fact he got run out the door. If you want this organization to act professional changes gotta happen at the top, we may well blame teh coach or point fingers but that is not going to acheive anything.
I think it starts with the players. The guys at the top (Walsh and D'antoni) are OK besides that imbecil of an owner we have. I think we're all upset here because of what the players have done for the past 2 games, and that is nothing.
We don't have anyone on our roster right now that can transform into a leader. I'd like to see Gallo become one but he's years away. Our best chance is this offseason.
I agree with you about Gallinari as a future leader. I also think that Douglas has some potential.
This is a player's league, and ultimately you have to have guys on the floor who are willing to do what the coaching staff wants them to do and have guys on the floor who are willing to push, or pull their teammates in the right direction.
However you also need players who are willing to be led. In a strict sense, a leader is someone who has followers. When I was a organizer back in the days we had two kinds of leaders. We liked, and were always looking for a person in the organization who could be a front person with the public (something Harrington seems to be trying to do), but we loved the person who could make some calls and bring 10+ people with them to a protest meeting. If you don't have people willing to follow you and do what they tell you to do, you can't be a true leader.
I am not sure that we have any players at this point who fit into the second leadership category. Garnett seems to have become the kind of leader we need on this team, but he came to the Celtics with a history of great play and a leadership attitude. Guys like Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Wade, and even Ewing were leaders, and not only because they put up the numbers. Perhaps Duhon is attempting to take some control and responsibility as a leader, but guys have to be willing to follow him, and if the coach likes what he is seeing from him, he has to be willing to minimize the playing time of the guys who are not falling in line.
Ultimately, unless we import a leader type player, you have to hope that Gallo continues to improve and gains acceptance with his teammates so that he can become a floor leader. He is vocal on D, and seems to understand what is going on both ends of the court, and it looks like he is going to be one of our late game go to players as he continues to evolve- all being things which make it easier to be accepted as a leader. He also makes mistakes, but he is surprisingly combative with opponents who seem to have instructions to intimidate him physically. Don't think that teammates are blind to the fact that he is mixing it up with guys who are trying to rough him up and not backing. He is earning his respect in the trenches, and his own players and those on other teams see this.
Douglas has to crack the starting lineup, of course, but he has the kind of intensity and silent confidence that may allow him to emerge as a leader. He also hustles his butt off, and leads by example with his aggressive play. I think he will emerge as a legitimate rotational player at some point in the first 3rd of the season, and be a 10 PPG/ 4 APG/ 2 SPG 20 MPG rotational player by the end of the year. PG's are natural leaders on a team, and I think that Douglas, because of his game and hustle, will eventually rise to a leadership role on this team, hopefully sooner, rather than later.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
10/31/2009 10:36 AM