Kenny Smith:Humble Superstars Elevate 2015-16 Warriors and 1993-94 Rockets

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">One player from 1993-94 Rockets begged one of his old teammates to spark Clippers to stop the Warriors' win streak. <a href="https://t.co/E2PHJtnPWy">https://t.co/E2PHJtnPWy</a></p>&mdash; Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/669562016198057985">November 25, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Kenny is talking from a personal experience from playing with Dream, who is perhaps the most humble of ALL basketball legends. But as already said, Jordan, Kobe, LeBron... the list goes on.

 

Loved the article. Thanx for posting it tinman.

 

Hakeem is a great example of a man that had to learn humility. He was a belligerent hot head at the beginning of his career and single-handedly ran Sleepy Floyd out of town and clashed with many of his teammates along with losing his temper against the opponent and wasting energy engaging in counterproductive fighting. Pride/lack of humility manifests itself many times in rage.

Hakeem finally learned enough humility to incorporate himself into the team concept and win a couple rings. But...his pride/arrogance continued to manifest itself throughout his career in his multitude of clashes with the front office over money. Even in his off-court business life he was ruthless to employees and business partners. His own selfishness is what led to him finishing his career in Toronto. Had to have that extra couple dollars that they were willing to throw at him.

Love Hakeem. Greatest center to ever play as far as I'm concerned. But his pride/arrogance hindered him from winning more. He should have won even more than he did.

 

Wow, a 15 yr old shooting 3s is a superstar? Humble too? Right.

He is amazing at utilizing illegal screens and the league coddles him for sure as the desperately need a super power in the league and it's quite obvious so stfu if u disagree.

 

So much anger in this thread

 

Yeah, I feel, ya. We all do. We all know the difference between Akeem and Hakeem. But I have a hard time thinking Akeem could have accomplished more than what he did. No one could have beaten the defending champion Magic/Kareem led Lakers in 1986 like Akeem did. No one. And in his second year in the NBA.

What more could Akeem have done with the team he had in the '80s and early '90s?

Sounds like you are referring to what more the humble Hakeem could have done in '93, '96 and '97. And note, much of our reason for not advancing in '97 was due to the lack of Humility of one Clyde Drexler.

Also, many of us do not agree with your assessment of Toronto. Many of us think that was the arrogance of the owner. But what does business have to do with anything basketball related, especially Hakeem's business ventures after retirement. Even if what you say is true being ruthless to business partners, that is business. It's not like he conducts business without moral standards. He is noted for that in business circles.

And don't forget they had to talk him into a "statue" at Toyota Center.

 

Kenny is just saying you have to be humble among teammates, not necessarily the rest of the NBA.

Basic things like making the pass and trusting teammates to take big shots. But also don't think you're above the team when it comes to doing the dirty work like playing defense, maybe even guarding the other team's best player. And that also means showing up at practice and giving full effort like the rest of the guys.

Sure, Jordan was arrogant as hell but he was tireless on defense and was known for his intensity in practice. The team will have no choice to respect that and listen to what you have to say.

But if you don't do those things...

 

A lot of armchair theorizing going on. I'd just like to add my own.

Different teams have naturally different dynamics surrounding them. This is due to each team's players exposure to varying influences like people (teammates, coaches, etc) and team culture. Curry's approach is a very diplomatic style of leadership. Every player in GSW knows that every one of them plays a huge part in the success of their team. As good as they know Curry is, they are well prepared to pick up the slack if Curry has his off nights and it shows in how well they share the ball and how well they shoot.

For the comparisons to MJ, he employed a totally different approach. MJ had to make sure everyone knew he was the alpha and that the Bulls were HIS team. As a result, the Bulls played harder than anyone as it was fed by MJ's intensity and love for the game.

If prime Rodman in his bad boy days replaced Bogut, do you think Curry can keep him in check? I certainly don't. Curry would probably back down and Rodman wouldn't play as hard for him as he did for MJ.

If MJ would've replaced Curry, I can see GSW still being one of the best teams but I don't think it would be as effective as Curry has handled it. Other players might not appreciate being berated by MJ (who could cuss you like there's no tomorrow) and the team could lose their sync.

So GSW is more of a "harmonious balance" causing their transcendent play while Bulls had more of a "fueled by a very strong and tough alpha leader" that caused theirs. Harden doesn't seem to be emotionally mature enough to be like MJ so I guess he should try to emulate whatever Curry's doing to lift their flagging spirits.