Written By Jay Mohr (@jaymohr37)
Coaching in the NBA had usually been an either or scenario. To coach successfully in the Association, you either had to be great at X’s and O’s or you had to be a great communicator. You either had to be a players coach or a disciplinarian. You were either an offensive mastermind or a preacher of defense! Defense! Defense!
With the arrival of more and more “one and done” players and the decreasing age of today’s star players, a third party coaching style candidate has been emerging with tremendous success . Coaches like Billy Donovan, Steve Kerr, Scotty Brooks, Terry Stotts, and Brad Stevens may not seem like revolutionaries, but they are, and in a way you might not have of.
White, middle aged coaches have an uphill battle ahead of them and it’s not necessarily because of race. It has a lot more to do with the generation gap between player and coach. However, the racial and cultural divide shouldn’t be ignored. Today’s star players are multi millionaires before they turn 23.
They’ve grown up in a post Kardashian, YouTube, Instagram culture where everything is immediate. As a coach, to walk into a locker room and start your process you must have a new skill set. The ability to communicate with a young, proud black man. And communicate quickly.
Offense, defense, disciplinarian, players’ coach, X’s and O’s are all effective but they won’t get you anywhere unless you have what young players want and deserve. Their respect. Many of us think respect is pocketed at the same time you receive the title of coach. Sometimes. The NBA has a dozen or so very good coaches. But the men mentioned above, middle aged white men, have something coaches before them didn’t. They have the ability to sit across from a black man and essentially say, “I am in charge of you.” The response to this half the time with 20 somethings would be a flat out, “The hell you are!” But these coaches have an awareness inside them.
Kerr, Donovan, Brooks, Stotts and Stevens have an awareness and knowledge that they have no possible idea to know what it is like to grow up black.
They never struggled like their players. They didn’t go to Dunbar high or play at Rucker Park or on West 4th street. They don’t know Watts Towers from the 5th Ward.
The silent admission and concession of this to the players is what makes a team respond to them in ways afforded to no other coach. Simultaneously with the progression of the coaches, the players that listen to them are to be praised for receiving the message and it’s true intent.
“I am in charge of you.” You can’t say it. You can’t write it down in a note and pass it down the aisle on a team flight. These coaches have the ability to simply be honest and quiet and convey their understanding of what players may be thinking, “We come from two different worlds. What could you possibly know about me and how to get me to my best?” The new generation of coaches, like the new generation of players, are well aware of the ocean between them.
To be not good – but a GREAT coach today you must cross that ocean. You must speak in a way that puts a player at ease, and allows him to put his guard down.
Through communication, get him to trust that you’re not like the others. Players will sense this and respond. Word spreads quickly around a facility. Word on the street is word on the street. The best thing for a coach is for that word to be, “He gets it.” If you’re not a person of color, this may ring hollow but for people of color, this is a new, shorthand message to family, friends and teammates that you’re alright. You’re not like those other guys. You don’t say, “Homie” or “Brotha” to your guys. You don’t try and speak on things that are singular to the black experience. “You get it.”
If you’re white, and you have black employees beneath you on the totem pole, try and explain to them that you’re in charge. You will never be listened to again. This is your own fault. Manager- guy at loading dock or Coach – player, it’s already known. To try and communicate it is guaranteeing deserved resentment and disinterest.
It’s not only middle aged white guys that face this scenario. Age again is the primary variable. Byron Scott got tuned out early by his twenty somethings and he got fired for it. Young black men tuned out Byron F*cking Scott. B Scott, if nothing else is an O.G. that, above anyone, should COMMAND the respect of african american males. If those males are under the age of 35, as it was proven, they’re not interested in your stories of Showtime and the glory days. You ever meet Ryan Seacrest? Common? Bun B? Have you ever hash tagged #Trill? You know Drake?What are you even telling us old man?
Race goes out the window here because who’s blacker than Byron Scott? Morning Side High School in Inglewood. Worked up and out of his environment. Inexplicably averaged 15 points on the same floor as Magic, Kareem and James Worthy. Multiple Championship rings. Who in their right mind wouldn’t listen to this man? Kids.
D’Angelo Russell may have filmed Swaggy P in a hotel room admitting infidelity but what no on seemed to notice is that the two of them were watching E! television. It’s on in the background in the hotel room during the recording.
The Lakers team that tuned out Byron Scott weren’t black, white or pinstriped, they were children. E! Network? BALLERS! Nick “Swag” Young 11 pts per and an underwhelming Russell should have been watching some game tape. Maybe even pop in an old VHS of their coach threading dimes to Big Game James on a fast break. Byron Scott was and is a big deal in Los Angeles. His team didn’t care. What’s his Twitter handle? They couldn’t even find him on SnapChat.
“I am in charge of you” from Byron Scott was met with a bunch of giggles and selfies. Maurice Cheeks had the nerve to call out Darius Myles in a film session and D Miles lost his mind. Cheeks walked out to go upstairs to management and Darius Myles yelled after him, “Yeah, n*****! go see your daddy!” For the record, Mo Cheeks was a straight up MAN. Old School. Fired. Darius Miles was very, very new school. Now he’s out of the league and getting older.
Staying away from black/white and keeping with age, Tyronn Lue, as reported first by BSO, reportedly told LeBron James “Shut the fuck up! I got this!” during a few timeouts. ‘Byron ran David Blatt and we all thought Lue was his puppet. Tyronn Lue cut those marionette strings as soon as he could. He demanded LeBron’s respect. LeBron gave it. Cavs have won 10 straight and Tyronn Lue is 10-0 his first tim through the playoffs. Tyronn Lue. “He gets it.”
“I am in charge of you.” What’s not said and doesn’t need to be said is, “But I respect you as a man and someone older and whiter is in charge of me.”
“If you do what I ask, I will never lie to you or dress you down. I will make sure you have cover with the media. I will never try to act like I know what it’s like to grow up in Newark N.J. or Decauter Georgia. I will never assume you are doing things you shouldn’t. I will always, ALWAYS let you be you. Black, young, rich, powerful and magnificent.
These coaches, “He gets it” are going to win most of the NBA Championships in the next decade.
This is pure speculation, but I don’t see retread coaches like Jeff Hornacek or newcomers with nothing in the cupboard like Luke Walton making any power moves.
These cats work in New York and Los Angeles for once proud franchises that are now the laughing stocks of the league. This happened slowly but inevitably. There cannot be any other result when your team is coached and owned by older white guys like Jim Buss and James Dolan. If you ask my white ass about either one of them I would tell you, “He doesn’t get it.”