NBA: Basketball and Its Leaders

A new era of the NBA has dawned upon us: A new generation of leaders.

Well, it’s possible that statement is an exaggeration. However, some of the leaders that the generic NBA fan has known and loved for the past century are quickly exiting the picture.

In a league dominated by superstars, you would look foolish to say that all great players are leaders, simply because that is not the case. What is a leader in the NBA anyway?

Is it someone who cares more than every other player on the floor? Someone who tells players, younger and older, where to be on the floor, what to do in this situation? Somebody who isn’t worried to state their opinion on the floor, and is respected for it anyway? Someone who reminds themselves where to be? A player who is a coach on the floor? Someone loyal to their teammates and organization?

In short: all of the above.

For instance, LeBron James is no longer a leader. Leaving Cleveland meant being No. 2. It meant he followed. That should disqualify him from the running of a possible NBA leader.

(I don’t want to harp on the Heat because this post is not about them, but it will be interesting to see how James and Bosh contract to their new roles as followers. In my mind, Bosh was always a follower anyway.)

The NBA only has 30 teams and it goes without saying that every team does not have even one leader. The NBA is based off superstars and without them, it is almost impossible to win a championship.

From an outside perspective, it is extremely difficult to interpret who is a leader in the locker room, but on the court, it is much easier to determine. As a blanket statement, teams that don’t produce on-the-floor leaders, are teams that generally do impeccably bad during the regular season. The Clippers and Nets last year qualify as two teams that couldn’t find an on-the-court leader. These two teams came up with a vast majority of “followers”: guys who didn’t want the ball in their hand within the final seconds.

Every era of basketball, and every generation, has their set of leaders. If the 2010-11 season marks the turn of a new era, James, Bosh, and Gilbert Arenas all proved leaders of the past. New players must step in to fill their role, but who?

One of those leaders will be Kevin Durant. Durant’s drive, work ethic and up-to-date morals makes him one of the proficient leaders in the NBA. Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook (by the way, how great of a job did the Thunder end up doing drafting-wise?) respect his presence. The whole league’s fanbase loved how he handled his contract signing. Hell, he even apologized on Twitter for cursing while being mic’ed up. This guy clearly cares about his fans and his fellow players. The United States national team will need him in Turkey to rise as a leader in order to take home the gold.

The second rising leader is John Wall. The point guard from Kentucky has shown he is ready to take the reigns for the Wizards. Him not going to ESPY’s shows how he clearly has his head on in the right place and how much he cares about the team. Impressively, he showed every other rookie up during Summer League with his superior play. And to add on top of all of that, he already knows that Washington is “his team.” There is no doubt in my mind that Wall will be one of NBA’s next great leaders.

And finally, the third young basketballer to be on this list is a man you probably know, and hopefully love. Danilo Gallinari showed extreme potential last year co-leading the Knickerbockers with David Lee. I think one of Gallinari’s advantages is how passionate he is. Of course, he has that long ball, but he can also throw it down. The guy gets hyped, and when the Knicks are winning, everyone else will get pumped up as well. One of the major reasons I don’t think he should be traded is of how much potential he has as a leader, not just a basketball player.

Well there you have it, my three new leaders in the league: Durant, Wall, and Gallinari. (I think I was cheap with Durant since he is already the captain of the Thunder, but I’m giving myself a pass because Beasley got called a pot smoker while I was writing this.)