Now quick. In the NBA, what do Golden State, Phoenix, and Miami have in common?
And in the past, what do Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant have in common?
For NBA oldtimers, you can include Bill Russel, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and Wes Unseld.
Before giving the answers, if you remember, last week, I wrote about passion and leadership but limited it to PBA teams, but I promised to dwell on a similar angle, but for the NBA this time.
But with a little twist, this time. I would like to share my personal observations, to which you may or may not disagree, on some of the NBA’s owners, faces, and again team leaders, current and past.
Fact is, my son already disagreed with me on my factors that will define a player as the face of a team. He thinks each team has a face, normally their leading scorer, but I told him I was looking for something higher than just being the leading scorers of their teams.
By owners, I do not mean people like Mark Cuban, the brash owner of the Dallas Mavericks. I mean players who “own” their teams by virtue of their personality, power, and influence on the team, for some their leadership roles and public perception as the factors. LeBron James easily comes to mind.
Then, the “faces” of teams, meaning those whose teams are automatically identified with the players, in this case, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls would be a prime candidate.
The last would be those considered as the true leaders of their teams, factoring in common characteristics of leadership, coupled with passion not just for the game but for willing their teams to win with their on-court, even off-court performances.
For me, Boston Celtic Larry Bird is a very good example during his era, just as Jordan was in his generation. And revisiting videos on YouTube on these two great players will bear me out on this, in fact, some would argue for the inclusion of Magic and Kobe Bryant in this elite list.
There are players, who actually may fit in all three factors, the elite of the elite I would say, and again Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kobe and in his prime, Russel, are easy choices. I would even say John Havlicek and Dave Cowens, even Isiah Thomas, deserve to be here. Okay, throw in Kareem Abdul Jabbar, too.
For current generation of players, people would normally include Warriors Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo from defending champion Milwaukee, Joel Embiid from the 76ers, Kevin Durant from the Nets, and my favorite blue-collar superstar Jimmy Butler from the Heat.
A sidenote on Jimmy, I remember the time last year at the NBA All-Star weekend when Butler refused to suit up unless teammate Bam Adebayo, whom he felt was deserving of a slot, too, was also named to the All-Star Game.
I do not think Jimmy was acting for himself here, rather he was showing his team where he stood with them, earning him even more respect from them.
As I was tossing things around with JM, while we were driving back home from Liliw and Pagsanjan with the family last Tuesday, there was another point of disagreement with him was about the current Phoenix Suns.
For me, Devin Booker is the face of the team, the future of the team even, but the leader is indisputably Chris Paul, and even Devin himself would not contradict this, I think. Chris has certainly led the young Suns, including to the finals last year.
For my son, Chris is both the face and the leader, while Devin is the future, but we readily agreed that for LeBron is not a true leader, though he acts the part with the Lakers, he is the face of the team, on that we also both agreed.
Now does this piece make sense?
To me, of course it does, I write it after all, I guess with a lot of people, too, but the disagreement with me will be in the choice of players I made, at least for some of the players I may have omitted or named to the wrong group.
Ask any LeBron James or Julius Erving fan.