Talent Versus Love

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Houston Rockets and the fact that their coach, Mike D'Antoni loves and supports his players and actually tells them so ("Every once in a while I need to hear it" is the plaintive cry). The Rockets were locked in an intense battle with the Golden State Warriors for the championship of the Western Conference of the NBA that was decided in a hard-fought seventh game. It wasn't easy but, the talent-laden Warriors prevailed. So, I concluded, love only goes so far and talent ultimately wins out.

I guess understandably I heard from Warrior fans about this conclusion. I admit that I had no idea whether their players were loved or not and I was enlightened about this in a very clear fashion. "Are you kidding? The Warriors are swimming in love, both from the coach and the fans!" a writer informed me. I'm glad to hear that and It's really no wonder that this is the case. They are a terrific combination of both talent and team spirit. 

Kevin Durant now plays for the Warriors along with the likes of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Enough talent to cause real problems if egos got in the way, but such is not the case at all. Thanks largely to Curry ("Our best player is also our best person." says Warrior GM Bob Myers) the team is the deal. The stars support each other. All of that talent might well be toxic in nearly any other environment, but not this one. Mistakes are shrugged off. Bad breaks are batted away. The team comes first. 

A lack of team spirit was starkly evident in a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the NBA championship finals. The Cavs arguably could have and should have won the game in regulation if it were not for a bone-head mistake by J.R. Smith who dribbled the ball and failed to take a shot in the last few seconds with the score tied, and the Cavs lost by ten in overtime. LeBron James, maybe the best to ever play the game, was furious with Smith and the Cavs fell apart in overtime. James is an incredible player but maybe not the best at supporting his teammates when they screw up. We'll see what happens in this series, but if the Cavs are not united as a team, beating the talented Warriors gets very close to being impossible.

I once interviewed Brian, a very successful business owner, and complemented him on the job he was doing as the CEO. "It's not me, it's the team" Brian immediately insisted. I persisted with my praise and he persisted with his disclaimer. It was a great example of a talented leader giving all the credit to his employees for the success of the business.

I would submit that the success of that business was due primarily to Brian's willingness to share the credit. The fact is that success is never the result of one person's contribution, it's always the team that wins.

We will soon see who is the NBA champion, but based on game one, my money is on the Warriors. Best talent,swimmingin love, and possessing exceptional team spirit. Even if they don't prevail, we can all learn from this example.

As the old saying goes; "It's amazing what we can accomplish when we don't care who gets the credit."

P.S. The writer informing me about the Warriors swimming in love? That would be my sister Mary Duryee, a resident of Oakland and a happy Warrior fan!