Leader
- Thread starter Moose
- Start date
Class of 72
Active member
D'Lo exhibits no qualities of a leader. A leader does not get disciplined twice in 2 weeks. He does not talk back to the coach. He makes others around him better.
Harrison appears to be playing selfishly at times but lacking guys that are pure shooters, he is the best (and worst) of our offense. Karr is a magnificent athlete and a better talent but not mature enough to lead. I am hoping Branch fills that role sooner rather than later.
STJClass_2013
Member
Branch is next years leaders. He has the right maturity you can tell from his presume interview. He is a true pg and he is the one that will be leading this team over the next two years.
Moose
Well-known member
Harrison is playing selfishly?
Yeah see what happens when he doesn't, he passed the ball to Greene and it was intercepted. He is the only sure thing we have when the ball is in his hands. He has unlimited range and can draw plenty of fouls and hits a 85% clip. Karr is good threat as well but only in certain positions and areas of the court.
I'm dumbfounded as the amount of flak Harrison has taken lately. Maybe he doesn't want to be a leader. Nothing wrong with that. Lav shouldnt try to hammer the square into the circle.
Lets accept Harrison for who he is. A guy we should love to have on this team and hate if he was on the other.
As for the leader the closest we have now is Amir, Branch seems to be the leader to be and Karr I think has the potential to be.
Feel the term is over-blown .There could be multiple leaders on the team expressing the coaches philosophy and giving players a boost and direction Personally we should be more worried that we are not playing up to Big East caliber and get better at our shooting rebounding,defending the middle getting beat off the dribble run better sets play better zone better outof bounds plays
Coach has worked with hall of fame coaches it had to rub off perhaps the players are just not performing the instrctions given Not to be negative Maybe we exoected too much to soon Or just maybe payers were over-rated
Hope they get it soon
That is what I always thought.
Last night's loss was just bad, no other way to describe it.
MarkRedman
Well-known member
The point guard should be an extension of the coach on the floor
I want to see Branch evolve into the starting PG and leader on the court
I envision a starting lineup of Branch, Harrison, Garrett, Sampson and Obekpa
beast of the east
Active member
There are players who lead by quiet example, and other who are vocal. Keith Hernandez literally lifted the Mets to contention by his play and his words. It's amazing he wasn't offered a managerial job. Example of vocal: Ron Darling shook of the catcher's call for a breaking ball 4 times in a row. Hernandez called timeout, jogged to the mound, and told Darling, "You throw the effing fastball and I'll beat the **** out of you right here on the mound".
Respected.
Joe DiMaggio was the undisputed leader of the Yankees. He felt it his personal responsbility to win a world championship, nothing less. He didn't cheerlead, but if everyone didn't follow suit, they heard from him. In return, he detested many of his managers, including Joe McCarthy, who played DiMaggio despite an eye infection and a big lead in the standings in August 1941. DiMaggio was hitting .430 or so, and had he be given a chance to recover, we wouldn't be talking about Ted Williams .406 seventy years later. DiMaggio believed that at least.
Magic Johnson, literally lifted the Lakers as a rookie, elevating even the iconic Jabbar out of the doldrums of a fading career. He played with exuberance and did what no coach could do to inspire teammates.
Maybe we should cut Harrison a tiny bit of slack as a fiery street kid, and give him a chance to mature. Perhaps he could become a leader before we cast him off as a troublemaker. Remember, in baseball, that's the tag applied to Frank Robinson, who turned out to be a pretty good manager.
There are a few kids w/ leadership. potential, but I thought Phil Greene's demeanor and hustle was something that could make him a team leader.
Class of 72
Active member
First, I agree with you that Harrison is not the leader of this team....at this time. Maturity, or the lack of it, have a lot to do with that. You are also correct that he may not want to be the leader and rather just be the team's "star".
That said, if being the team's star, comes at the expense of the team, and its common goal....to win the game, then driving to the basket and forcing a shot, being blocked and forgetting that 2 of your teammates were in better scoring position is......quite simple put.....selfish. Harrison does this frequently as opposed to rarely. I will leave it to the coaches to teach him better judgment.
Right now he is a one-dimensional player who likes to get his points. His passing skills are almost underdeveloped at his stage (as you pointed out in his lazy pass at the end of the UNCA game). If Lavin intended to develop PG skills in D'Lo, it has failed to date. You may recall that when Dwight Hardy was a first year player as a junior, Norm used him at his natural 2 position and he excelled. When Lavin was hired he was moved to the PG position and he almost became the BE Player of the Year. Hardy's "leadership" trait was taking charge....effectively.....and that mental trait led St. John's to its first national ranking in years.....with Norm's recruits. As highly ranked as Harrison was 3 years ago in high school, I do not see him as our next Dwight Hardy, yet.
As far as this "Leader" topic goes, I will not pretend to be Victor Vroom or Peter Drucker but as of this moment, this team does not have a floor leader. Jamal Branch was brought on board to provide that floor leadership and guide the team to a common goal-----to win. I was at the UNCA game and my guest, a former HS coach, asked a good question in the latter part of the second half.......why is Branch on the bench, while the team is falling apart? Our leader on the bench ( or should I say, standing at the far end in front of his coaches and not conferring with them) has to answer that question. Good luck getting a straight answer!
No Moose, I believe there should be a leader on the floor at all times but some teams just lack that leader. I happen to think that we are one of those teams. If you don't have the leader on the floor there is a greater onus on the coach to fill that role. As you are aware I am not at the games so relying on what others post it seems that our staff is deficient in that area.
Moose
Well-known member
He might grow into a leader your right. The crux of the issue is most people just don't like Harrison's demeanor. So they hang that over his head and use words like selfish. Moe was a leader IMO. I think him and Harrison had a good yin and yang thing going. Also Dunlap and Harrison got along great, go figure. Two fiery personalities.
Moose
Well-known member
What games did Harrison cost us this year? You say he does things at the expense of others. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked or I'm watching another game. Would you rather Dom or Amir start stroking 18 ft jumpers? Sorry but if my best player looking for shots is being selfish when the rest of the team is offensively challenged in the half court then by god write selfish on his jersey as I'm all for it.
I agree about Branch. All 2nd half I was wondering why he wasn't playing more. Phil is obviously hurt as Lav mentioned prior to USF game. And while Branch is cute and gets sloppy he still can lead a team. remember Omar averaged 8 assists a game when he was here but he also averaged 5 TO's. Gotta take the bad with the good with dynamic PG's like that. I want to see more of it.
Near the end of the game Amir had the ball and DLo was asking for the pass. Amir didn't make the pass. I don't recall if a TO was called but there was a dead ball. DLo yelled at Amir "just pass the effing ball!" That is not the trait of a leader. It is inexcusable that Branch was not on the floor in the last 5 minutes of the game.
Class of 72
Active member
So what you are saying is that other than Harrison, the "rest of the team is offensively challenged in the half court" and this is OK in year 3 with 7 top 100 players on the team? Well, who is designing the half court offense with players not capable of playing it??
As for Harrison costing us a game, then you are welcome to re-watch the last minute of THIS game----if your eyes can take the 1930's porn quality picture supplied by ESPN3. In that short span, all the good offensive things he did were erased by two bad plays in the last 40 seconds......(1) was the devil-may-care drive to the basket where he was swallowed whole by the UNCA defense (Pointer committed a foul in the process by being out of position as usual) and a few seconds after that play where, acting like a PG, he passed the ball "straight." into the hands of a UNCA player.....game over....lights out! No time out by Lavin in that short haphazard period, just your best player committing the last two turnovers of the game.
But don't take my word for it, you can also view FUN's soliloquy on BigEastBoards about the last few minutes.