I have been watching other teams a lot lately, and one thing I've observed is that most teams have a definable leader...Ok, maybe most teams is a stretch, most teams I've seen would be more accurate. As much as I hate Jordan, I would have to say that the biggest thing he has added to the Wizards this year is unquestiones leadership. I am not talking about who is our best player, that's fairly obvious...but is Francis a leader ? Ok, if he's not, it's too early to say he won't be...Besides, leadership is an odd commodity...You can be a great player, and a great guy, and not be a leader. I'm talking about the kind of guy who rallies other player in the tough times, kicks ass when he needs to, strokes egos when that's needed instead, and instinctively knows which is needed. Sure, a coach does a lot of this, and some leaders are only good at one or the other...but do we have one, yet? A rock in the storm, a hand on the tiller..whatever cliche you want to use..do we have one?
Francis has been the leader ever since Charles got hurt in 99. He hasn't been the best leader but he is definately the leader. This year he has taken it to a new level starting when the allstar voting results started coming out. He has been our goto guy in the crunch with mixed results partly due to injury and partly due to bad coaching (3 guard lineup).
I wasn't going to...but...well, he does have some fans, and unlike Torres, etc., is enough of a veteran that someone might think he...er..qualifies.
Well, you don't have too many legit replies yet, so I'll tell you what I think. I think Steve is definately the leader. He has taken over games and tried to take over others. Right now, he is the point guard and initiates the offense. Defensively, we don't have a leader. I think Steve thinks he is here, too, by trying to come up with steals late in the game. However, that is not defense. If he put in the effort defensively that he does trying to force things offensively, he could demand better defense from the rest of the team, but he doesn't. Cat and Mooch think they are leaders, but if any other Rockets looks to them to lead, we are in more trouble than I thought. Supposedly, Walt is some kind of a veteran leader, but I think a leader also has to lead by example to be effective, and Walt is an awful example of an NBA player. Willis is somewhat of a leader and does lead by example. I think he has been a good influence on Cato. However, Steve could do just about anything he wants on the floor, and Willis couldn't be effective in influencing it. Steve needs a lot more experience to be a good leader, but he is the leader right now.
I think Rudy is the team leader right now. Steve definitely leads at sometimes and has the capability to lead all of the time. I think that Steve's friendships on the team may right now somewhat conflict with his leadership, but they may eventually be an asset to him in this concern. Furthermore, I see steve mostly leading the team when he is playing well and scoring more. When he is struggling, his leadership seems to decline. He needs to assert his leadership more when the team is struggling. It seems as though, considering steve's superior abilities compared to the rest of the team, relatively he doesn't provide as much of a spark when the guys are down as other players do (cuttino sometimes, sometimes he just gets us in a bigger hole). So, at some point, I would love to see steve start becoming more of an assertive leader. Michael
