Sugarless wrote:Forget about every guy's feelings, and focus on putting on the floor a group of 5 guys that will show constant effort on both ends and try their best. You'll get more with good coaching and 5 less talented guys that give their all than you will with a bunch of me-first wannabes that could not care less about the team. Bench whoever you need to bench, don't mind the names on the back of their jerseys.
This is how I feel in my heart, but I question if I am out of step.
I’m older than many here, and one cardinal rule I was raised with was, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” My coaches drove me, called me all sorts of names that would get them canceled today if Twitter existed back then and recorded their comments. And I can only imagine the ridicule I’d have faced if I went to others and said, “but the coach hurt my feelings!” And that style of coaching made me a better player and person.
So today, while I don’t go around trying to hurt the feelings of the younger generation, I just secretly roll my eyes at these cream puffs, and how every organization (not just basketball) seems to rush to coddle them from anything negative, including even an opposing opinion.
But the kids on this team weren’t raised in my time period. They were raised in the current system, and they expect to be coddled — and probably even moreso, because they probably grew up with extra attention because of their basketball skills. Today’s NBA has more player empowerment than at any time in NBA history, and we continue to see big stars “take their talents” to one of a handful of teams. And we aren’t in that handful. Do we risk alienating talent, by treating them as equal basketball players? We know Thib’s style did not work with our players, but Ryan’s buddy-relationship style didn’t bring wins either.
I don’t know the answer. I will add that I just watched Hoosiers, like I do before the NCAA every year. I loved the scene where a good player didn’t listen to the coach, he benched him, and didn’t put him back on the floor, even when they only had four players out there. I miss the days when a coach could say, “you don’t want to play defense? Have a seat.”
