Best leaders today? top 10

[LiquidFire]

Rank the top 10 leaders for there team in todays game.

my list:

1: Kevin Garnett
2: Tim Duncan
3: Lebron James
4: Jason kidd
5: Kobe Bryant
6: Steve nash
7: chris paul
8: Chauncy billups
9: Allen Iverson
10: Tracy mcgrady

whats your list?

[Doctor MJ]

You've got some questionable people on your list I'd say. Top 10 leaders in the game don't traded addition by subtraction style in my book, and they don't throw their teammates under the bus publicly while trying to force a trade.

For #1 on my list, it's tough. My first thought is to put Duncan at #1, but he's clearly a guy who wouldn't be a leader if he wasn't so damn good. The best leaders lead by more than example. Thinking along those lines Nash comes to mind as someone who had a tremendously beneficial impact even before he was a star. Only problem with Nash though is that I don't think he can quite sell leadership like a Duncan-type player. Put it this way, if Michael Jordan were Shawn Marion's teammate in Phoenix, I think there's a decent chance that Marion just shuts up and plays rather than put his team in a position where they felt like he was dragging morale down.

[LiquidFire]

i think i put garnett first because mostly the media has been following him around ,and you can see how he teaches his teamates, on and off the court. this list is only for this year, not previous.

[Doctor MJ]

i think i put garnett first because mostly the media has been following him around ,and you can see how he teaches his teamates, on and off the court. this list is only for this year, not previous.

Hmm. I don't know if it really makes sense to say "only for this year" when it comes to such a mental attribute. Take Garnett for example, he seemed like a great leader to me during his heyday in Minnesota, then seemed weak from the point where Cassell and Spree started acting up, and now that he's in a hopeful situation again, he looks good again. I think Garnett is a good leader, but how good he looks as a leader this year has a lot to with the effect of the situation on him rather than just vice versa.

I've always thought it interesting to compare KG with Kobe in this regard. I'd rather a player quietly say he is unhappy than go to the press (+1 for KG), but I'd also rather a player be very assertive in getting everyone to do what he wants (+1 for Kobe). The ideal leader would do both.

[farzi]

LeBron too high. Roy should be on that list somewhere

[penbeast0]

I'd put Antawn Jamison on the list. Ever since he went to Washington, he's been the team's emotional and spiritual leader keeping things together through the injuries, Arenas's flakiness, pretty much everything . . .

[kooldude]

You've got some questionable people on your list I'd say. Top 10 leaders in the game don't traded addition by subtraction style in my book, and they don't throw their teammates under the bus publicly while trying to force a trade.

For #1 on my list, it's tough. My first thought is to put Duncan at #1, but he's clearly a guy who wouldn't be a leader if he wasn't so damn good. The best leaders lead by more than example. Thinking along those lines Nash comes to mind as someone who had a tremendously beneficial impact even before he was a star. Only problem with Nash though is that I don't think he can quite sell leadership like a Duncan-type player. Put it this way, if Michael Jordan were Shawn Marion's teammate in Phoenix, I think there's a decent chance that Marion just shuts up and plays rather than put his team in a position where they felt like he was dragging morale down.

But doesn't Jordan berate his teammates constantly?

[ponder276]

Obviously this is extremely subjective, but I think Kobe should be higher, everyone feeds off his passion, and he leads by example. I'd put him at #3.
I agree Antawn Jamison should probably be on the list this year, he's been a rock for the Wiz. I'd put him in and take Iverson out.
Good list though.

[LiquidFire]

Obviously this is extremely subjective, but I think Kobe should be higher, everyone feeds off his passion, and he leads by example. I'd put him at #3.
I agree Antawn Jamison should probably be on the list this year, he's been a rock for the Wiz. I'd put him in and take Iverson out.
Good list though.

i put kobe so low becuase of this past offseason, throwing everyone under the bus, demanding a trade, demanding players to get traded, ect.

[G35]

-= original quote snipped =-



i put kobe so low becuase of this past offseason, throwing everyone under the bus, demanding a trade, demanding players to get traded, ect.

That is one way to perceive it and I understand that line of thinking. But what were the results? How has the team responded this year. You can't just look at one part and not the result. If the team imploded, they didn't make the playoff's, if everyone wanted to leave I would agree......

[PDXKnight]

Roy belongs somewhere on this list. He's been Portland's leader on and off the court and is the main reason the Blazers won 41 games this season and improved by 11 wins the season before.

[Doctor MJ]

-= original quote snipped =-



But doesn't Jordan berate his teammates constantly?

Publically and without intention to help them? I don't think so.

That said, Jordan does deserve some criticism for the Kwame Brown ordeal.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I'm missing what makes LeBron or McGrady such great leaders, actually. The leader is not necessarely the best player, see Avery Johnson in SA.

[Rasheeed!!!]

take Billups off the list

[nate33]

I'd put Antawn Jamison on the list. Ever since he went to Washington, he's been the team's emotional and spiritual leader keeping things together through the injuries, Arenas's flakiness, pretty much everything . . .

Yup.

[TheOUTLAW]

I'm missing what makes LeBron or McGrady such great leaders, actually. The leader is not necessarely the best player, see Avery Johnson in SA.

Little things for LeBron like being by far the teams hardest working player. But more importantly, things like coming off the bench on Varejaos first game back after the hold out so that he wouldn't get booed when he came into the game.

[crkone]

Sheed is Detroit's heart and soul.

[AIfan3]

It's difficult to rank a person's leadership abilities.. Especially in a sport where you're only as good as the team that surrounds you..
That being said, i've attempted to make a list.. Only top 5..

1. Duncan
2. Nash
3. Paul
4. Shaq- Say what you want about this, but he's won everywhere
5. Andre Miller

[Doctor MJ]

4. Shaq- Say what you want about this, but he's won everywhere

Probably has something to do with him being an order of magnitude more talented than everyone else in the league, and probably has very little to do with him being a child mentally.

[TheSecretWeapon]

How would any fan know who's a good leader and who isn't? Back when I went into locker rooms and talked with players, coaches, execs, and whatnot, I engaged in several conversations about leadership. One assistant GM said some interesting stuff.

He said that media generally presents a team's best player as the leader, but that usually it's not accurate. The best player -- the star -- is often too selfish, sensitive and insecure to be a good leader. It's great when the star is also a leader, but it happens less often than you'd think based on media reports.

One example he gave was Jordan with the Bulls. Jordan was widely portrayed as the team's leader, but according to this front office exec, the real player leaders were Bill Cartwright, then Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen.

I'm not trying to impugn the leadership abilities of any of these guys, but look at KG, for example. The past few years, his T-wolves teams have been terrible despite him being touted as one of the league's best leaders. Did he suddenly become a good leader when he got to Boston? Did Jordan suddenly become a lousy leader when he got to DC?