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Components of being a leader
Posted by: Ben Hoeksel on October 29th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.So, I was at the game last night. I arrived at the arena feeling a little bit cranky, partially due to the delayed late start, and partially due to my irritation of the team’s performance the night prior. I felt as I drove the arena like this game would be a much better reflection of where the team is current at as a unit. I felt like the Denver game was a bit of an enigma and that the Jazz would really come out and establish themselves against an Amare’-less Suns team that seemed ripe for the picking. Sure they have Steve Nash, and that Dragic seems to hurt us some, but aside from that I wasn’t too nervous about a lineup of Warrick, Childress, and Lopez.
I’ll spare you all of the details about the game. We all saw it. Suffice to say start to finish, that crankiness I rolled in with never quite went away. Getting back to the topic at hand, I saw the whole thing with D-Will and Hayward. It played a lot on my mind as I left the arena. I had some pretty immediate negative feelings towards Deron’s behavior initially, as those who follow me on Twitter will attest.
Now that I got to sleep on it and think about it a little more, my feelings about the incident have changed a bit. Before, I dive back into it, I want you all to think about a time in your life when you were called to lead in some fashion. You were the leader. Think about it. I’ll give you 30 seconds…..
Ok. It’s been 30 seconds. How were you as a leader? What were your methods? Was it different depending on who you were leading? Or was it consistently the same?
On the flip side, obviously we’ve all been put in a position where we were led. What types of leaders did you admire? What types would you do anything for? What types would you NOT follow?
For me, leading is not only about example but about being respected. There are those that I was told to follow, but I didn’t necessarily respect. And in that situation, I feel my natural tendency is to rebel in some fashion. We can all think of NBA teams who clearly did not respect their coach, and as such rebelled against him, and his way of coaching. Conversely, those who I greatly respect, if they have to get in my face to get me in line, I’ll do it. We also all know teams, like the Jazz, who have coaches who demand respect, and you never see players rebel against it. If there are (cough, Snyder, cough…) they are gone. And they’re worse off for it.
As you know, Deron is taking a little heat for how he handled the situation with Hayward last night. What we really don’t know is the full context of why he got to that point. Was it simple frustration with how the game was going? Was it just due to the fact that Hayward wasn’t hustling like he should? Was it due to early misplay by Hayward? It’s hard to say.
This much we do know: Deron is a winner. He will do whatever it takes to win, and he does not like to lose. His play speaks for itself, and as such is a player that demands respect from all those around him.
I can’t really say one way or another if the way he handled the situation was correct. But what I can say, is there’s not a team in the NBA who wouldn’t want Deron Williams leading the team down the court.
Suffice to say, I’m not as negative towards how Deron handled it as I was initially. If it helps Hayward get his mind right and run harder and play better, then that works for me. I think it shows Deron knows how good of a player Hayward can be. What do you guys think?
Replies: 9
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9 Responses
I liked but I think Deron needs to step up. I know that sounds crazy. But if the assists aren’t coming because of missed shots I think he needs to be more aggressive and take over the scoring. Yesterday he kept distributing which was what normally he should do but the shots weren’t dropping. That is the one reason i think people say Chris Paul is better, because Chris knows when to take over a game. But believe me I don’t think Chris is even close to as good as Deron but I do think Deron needs to take over sometimes.
Deron is our vocal leader now so what he did was maybe not the best way to handle it but is was a good way to handle it! He is amazing!
I’m not mad about Deron’s response at all. I love Hayward, but I just don’t think it was a big deal. You’re in the NBA… you’re going to get yelled at once in a while. It was an emotional outburst, but it’s sports.
People are making WAY too big of a deal out of this. Hayward is a big boy. He’ll be okay.
Nice article.
From what I heard today, Hayward was Ok with the “instruction” which says as much about him as Deron. I think Deron is frustrated with the whole team and Hayward was just in the wrong place at the wrong time(isn’t that what Deron was mad about?) My question is, are the other guys (guys who have played in the system for years) not in the right places either, is that why Deron’s assists are down so far? I guess if the guy doesn’t make the shot, it does not count as an assist. Deron is 20th in the league in assists so far, I know only two games, but I really feel like something is just not right with him.
Yes deron got pissed, but its because he is crazy about winning. via twitter (tribjazz): Williams end Hayward-outburst explanation by saying “I want to win”
If you were the teams Captain and All-Star, you would be pissed too if your team is playing like crap. The Jazz have always been a team that if even one player is out of sync, it affects the entire team. It is like that for all the good teams, look at Miami’s opener in Boston, Wade was off, everyone else followed and they ended up losing to Boston. The rest of the team needs to pull there head out of there ass, come into games with the same attitude they did during the preseason and get the job done! Also, its quite obvious that Williams wants Sloan out as coach just by the way he was responding to the media’s questions, hopefully the Jazz upper management was smart enough to catch onto that and will tell Sloan, its been a great run, but its time for us to move on.
Thanks for this perspective Ben. I was upset about it longer than I should have been. I also didn’t like @tribjazz’s tweets regarding Deron today but then someone tweeted how they saw a video of Deron’s comments and they were totally different than how it was conveyed in text.
I think it is hard with so many new guys. But we do have the talent and coaching to succeed.
We’ll be alright. Deron will be alright. Everyone is learning new roles that would be hard especially in a complicated system like the Jazz.
Darren is the best point guard in the NBA but right now he is sulking like a child, he needs to show the leadership skills that have been given to him. He needs to lead and direct the rookies who after all have only two nba games under thier belt. I say Darren grow up and lead this team
Like the commment Larry. I agree. I don’t care how long you sit and “cool off” about it. The fact is Deron threw a hissy fit on national television…uncalled for. Rifling the ball at a rookie like that during his SECOND GAME and then continuing his tantrum into the timeout…uncalled for. Really mature Deron…great leadership style. Why don’t you look in the mirror? You haven’t exactly been playing great yourself. Lead by example. That doesn’t involve acting like a spoiled little 8 year old on national television.