Who can hold a king accountable?
Six years ago, when names like John Salmons, J.J Hickson, and Antawan Jamison were of significant importance, LeBron James ruled the East as he does now. In a late-March game that’s no longer of any larger consequence, James scored 23 points with nine rebounds, seven assists and one game-saving steal in the final seconds to preserved Cleveland’s 101-98 victory over the Bucks.
But a single event from that night still resonates: a designed play in the last minute gave LeBron James an easy go-ahead layup. For it, Cleveland’s coach Mike Brown was complimented. Brown, who was routinely criticized at that time (perhaps justifiably), was vindicated.
That is, until we later learned LeBron James actually called the play.
”When he brought it up, I kind of chuckled because I was like: ‘Really? Are you kidding me?’ And lo and behold, they went out there and executed the play to a T,” Brown said. ”I don’t know if we’ve ever run the play before in that situation.”
The scene underscored James’ intelligence. He can see the floor like a coach while executing like the King of basketball.
It also confirmed that James wore the pants in the relationship with his head coach. Through no fault of his own, Brown was a figurehead. That notion that was confirmed by Shaquille O’Neal, a former teammate of James’, in his self-titled book. Shaq detailed a film session that showed Brown refusing to call James out for getting back on defense after a missed shot. In the next clip, Brown lambasted Mo Williams for the same thing. Delonte West objected: “Hold up, now,” West said. “You can’t be pussyfooting around like that. Everyone has to be accountable for what they do, not just some us.”
For several reasons, Mike Brown couldn’t hold the King accountable. He was a servant, not an equal.
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After a few college years in Miami and a return home , Mike Brown became David Blatt and history repeated itself.
As he did against Milwaukee, James superseded Blatt by erasing the coach’s play that made James the inbounder for a critical last–second sequence against the Chicago Bulls in the second round. Instead, James drew up one that turned him into the shooter. He made the shot, the Cavaliers tied the series with the Bulls at two and James’ role as the true leader and coach of the team was obvious again.
The same stories of a lack of accountability crept up again. The criticism was that Blatt turned his gaze away from James’ failures while calling out others. He would have been pampering his superstar if James didn’t view him as irrelevant. The King would yell at Blatt, push him away and dismiss his coach’s game plan. He believed he knew more than Blatt and had more power. The title of coach was once again ceremonial.
The same thing threatened to happen with Erik Spoelstra in Miami. In one infamous incident, James even bumped into his coach during a game.
But Pat Riley, with his years of championship experience as a player, coach and executive, stepped in before it got any worse. Pat Riley could hold him accountable.
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So can Tyronn Lue. So far into his coaching tenure, his greatest achievement has been holding James to a high standard. His assertiveness paid off for the team, but more importantly, it also brought the relationship between coach and player to a higher level. James has championed Lue, his methods and his acumen in a way he never has for any other coach.
That’s been the case ever since Lue arrived as Blatt’s lead assistant. Even then, James was close to Lue. When the rumors of Blatt’s firing began to circulate, they were met by whispers of James wanting Lue replace him.
Brown, Spoelstra and Blatt didn’t have the instant respect that James offered Lue right off the bat, and thus it was difficult for them to call him out. Some of that, whether right or wrong, is because of the knowledge issue. If James thinks he knows more than you, he checks out. That quality isn’t at all unique to James. It goes for every athlete and most humans.
Because Lue had a long and fruitful NBA career unlike the other three coaches, he instantly related to James on a level they never could. Lue understood the hardships of the game and the stress both on the court and away from it. He’d seen basketball from the role of a player and that of a coach; as a tool and its user. That gained knowledge and shared experience laid an immediate foundation of respect and affection that makes it easy for Lue to speak to James as an equal. James’ other coaches simply didn’t have that luxury.
It sounds silly, but many players really do gravitate toward coaches who were former players themselves. They understand the player’s struggles. They’re one of us.
In a greater context, this view seems ridiculous. Think of all the great coaches who weren’t former players, then remember all the former great player who became bad coaches. Yet on a smaller level, it’s reasonable for a player feel more comfortable speaking to and learn from a teacher who went through the same trials and tribulations as them.
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The same phenomenon is happening now in soccer with Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. Like James, Ronaldo is an occasionally-difficult superstar paired with a novice coach who is a former player in Zidane. Both teams are likely headed to the finals of their respective sports, assuming one more Cleveland victory over Toronto. Both Lue and Zidane were given their jobs after their teams fired coaches their superstars openly disliked.
Read Ronaldo’s quotes praising Zidane, and they sound familiar. He loves working with Zidane, he loves his methods and feels like it’s easier to talk to Zidane. They even have free-kick competitions during practices. Because of that initial respect, Zidane can also hold his superstar to a higher standard than the outgoing Rafa Benitez.
Ronaldo also loved former manager Carlo Ancelotti, another coach that was a former player. Yet he hated Jose Mourinho, who, for all of his accolades and winning ways, could never relate to Ronaldo. Mourinho’s efforts to hold Ronaldo accountable as Zidane does now were seen as slights.
Mourinho, by his enemies and colleagues, was often dismissed as a “translator,” a reference to his only previous job in high-level soccer. Benitez, for all his strengths, was and is viewed as an outsider like Blatt.
Again, this is silly in a larger context. Arrigo Sacchi, a legendary soccer coach who was criticized with this same flippant dismissal because he never played professionally, once famously responded that you don’t need to have once been a horse to be a good jockey. There’s enough evidence in all of sports to support that.
Yet the “played the game” view still remains a bias.
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I understand this from personal experience.
I practice in a private training facility near my home, along with several high-level soccer players. We’re trained by coaches who were former players themselves and accomplished a lot in their day. Earlier this year, we were required to go through several cone exercises with the ball in a tight time window. One of the players thew his hands up in frustration because he was so upset at our constant failure to make time. He told the coaches that it was impossible and demanded they do the drill themselves to show them.
Our coaches, ever the competitors, took him up on the offer and easily beat the required time. That was the end of the back talk.
When your trainers can or have done the same things as you, when they can relate to you on that personal level, it’s easier to believe their methods. That also lays the foundation for them to be honest and hold you accountable.
It’s not required and the best coaches are often not former players, but it’s easy to understand why James and Ronaldo have so much affection for their new bosses. Like me, they both love being coached by one of the guys.
This article was written by Kizito Madu from SB Nation and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
