The Importance of Comradery

[dnbman]

After watching several interviews from the past week, one theme emerged: the significance of high character guys who work hard and play together. The result seems to be that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

How important do you think this comradery is to the development of our players? Given that our guys are young and starting to establish this culture, is there something to be said for leaving these guys together for a couple of years before trading them?

Obviously, if there's a chance to get a great piece, you do it. But, if it's a minor upgrade is it worth it to maintain what we have?

The simple answer seems to be that if the culture was strong enough, then you should be able to change a piece and continue forward. I'm just wondering if with such young guys who are all going through this process together if perhaps we should be very cautious about trading any of them unless there's a really good reason to do so.

Thoughts?

[spectre]

Great thread and absolutely...give them the tools and the way (Dunlap) and see what they can be. If ever there was a time to do that it's now.

[dnbman]

Great thread and absolutely...give them the tools and the way (Dunlap) and see what they can be. If ever there was a time to do that it's now.

With Mike D's system being so intense and unorthodox, there seems to be a "band of brothers" vibe emerging, a sense of comradery that you don't see on many NBA teams and one that might not be easily understood if you didn't live through it.

While I know we have to get better players if we're ever going to get better, I'm kind of excited about the idea of Mullens kicking a guy in the chest and then screaming, "This. Is. CHARLOTTE!"

[ziggy]

I'm kind of excited about the idea of Mullens kicking a guy in the chest and then screaming, "This. Is. CHARLOTTE!"

Somebody needs to splice together some 300 clips along with Mullens and make an animated GIF or YouTube video of that.

It would be awesome.

[notdeadyet]

And playing defense TOGETHER in team sports develops that camradarie probably better than any other activity.
From what I'm hearing and seeing, Dunlap came in for his interview with a very detailed plan of HOW he would further develop each guy on the roster, complete with separate video clips of each guy. He explained where each guy had the potential to improve, and how that would help the whole team be more successful. MJ was understandably very impressed. That PLAN has been underway the last few weeks, and some improvements are already starting to show. Gonna be a fun year to watch them improve over the season!

[dav7z]

My worrie is Dunlap ,,when we go on a long loseing streak.[ WHAT HAPPENS THEN ] Will ever body continue to buy in . If Dunlap can keep them beliving in his system in bad times we might really have something hear.

[Charlotteisthebest]

Very good post!!

[BlockParty]

This will be contagious with the fanbase (in time), and then we can welcome a new crop of bandwagon fans to the Planet!

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2

[dnbman]

My worrie is Dunlap ,,when we go on a long loseing streak.[ WHAT HAPPENS THEN ] Will ever body continue to buy in . If Dunlap can keep them beliving in his system in bad times we might really have something hear.

I wonder the exact same thing. I'm also wondering how you preemptively address the reality of the season ahead if you're the coach. He seems to be a realist, so my guess is that he gives the team obtainable goals (ex.: 2:1 forced TOs to TOs ratio) and focuses on development.

[Mustachio]

Ok. If camaraderie is that important (which I fully agree with) are you guys willing to take the good with the bad? Because it seems to me that Cory Higgins is a very well liked guy on the squad. The bench loses their mind everytime he scores and he seems to becoming friends with most of our core guys palling around with them everywhere. Without arguing whether or not Higgins is one of those guys, yall ok giving a roster spot to an otherwise scrub if he is important to camaraderie? As an example, the Packers used to keep Doug Pederson, an otherwise talentless retread of a backup QB signed on the 53 man roster because he was great friends and golf buddies with Brett Favre. Kept the leaders spirit up, so they felt it was a wise use of a roster space.

[spectre]

I've just never been that upset Higgins is on the squad TBH. We probably could do better...but we are talking 14/15th man here.

Remember the 1st couple seasons under Bernie. We continually lost but we also continued to work hard and stay in games. Being known as the team others don't want to play is something to hang your hat on too.

[dnbman]

Ok. If camaraderie is that important (which I fully agree with) are you guys willing to take the good with the bad? Because it seems to me that Cory Higgins is a very well liked guy on the squad. The bench loses their mind everytime he scores and he seems to becoming friends with most of our core guys palling around with them everywhere. Without arguing whether or not Higgins is one of those guys, yall ok giving a roster spot to an otherwise scrub if he is important to camaraderie? As an example, the Packers used to keep Doug Pederson, an otherwise talentless retread of a backup QB signed on the 53 man roster because he was great friends and golf buddies with Brett Favre. Kept the leaders spirit up, so they felt it was a wise use of a roster space.

Essential point.

If he is that tight with the group, that likely means he's working hard and buying in also. For a third string point guard, I don't mind having him around. But this whole conversation definitely starts to change once we need guys to step up and play bigger minutes.

[ND22]

I think its definitely important. You can see the results in OKC, the players respect the coach and get along with each other. I think Brooks even compared them to a close nit college team. They struggled through losing together, and now they're winning together.

I see a similar thing happening here. Dunlap's system may not be for everybody, but if these players buy in and grow into it, the long term benefits could be huge. A mutual respect between the coaches and the players would certainly establish the culture Charlotte is trying to build.

[Mustachio]

I wonder the exact same thing. I'm also wondering how you preemptively address the reality of the season ahead if you're the coach. He seems to be a realist, so my guess is that he gives the team obtainable goals (ex.: 2:1 forced TOs to TOs ratio) and focuses on development.


This is an excellent post dnb. And I have some video of Dunlap doing this exact thing as the perfect example. http://www.nba.com/bobcats/video/2012/07/14/120714dunlapm4v-2156354 Starting around the 1:25 mark, but I will transcribe it. Its Dunlap tempering expectations, while demanding effort and improvement... in this example it was Mullens.

Dunlap on Mullens.

*On his impression of Mullens so far: "Our only goal for Byron is to have one good practice... and Byron has now had double digit good practices. But we don't want these grandiose goals for him. What we want him to do is be a multi-dimensional scorer. He comes from a jacket of a guy who's been used to just shooting the ball beyond the 3. And we want him to be an offensive rebounder, be a guy that can score on the long post, which I think he can, and then go to the free throw line. So he can dip from different areas when his shot isn't going. And that's exactly what happened last night. In the second half we started posting him, and he got going." *On Mullens effort: "Yeah hes been a great student, hes just been nothing but pliable, and that's a tribute to him. But we also don't wanna get carried away you know, and so our measurements are on the day. All were trying to do is get to one good day and then stack it on top of another one. Because I think sometimes the hyperbole or the exaggerations can be too much for the player, and so our goals for him are very simple."

how can you not like this.

[dnbman]

Dunlap on Mullens.


how can you not like this.

Loved the Mullens quote.

And this should be the team's mantra:

All were trying to do is get to one good day and then stack it on top of another one.

Reminds me of the inch by inch speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk

[westbrook08]

This is exactly why guys like andre blatche won't be picked up by this team.The locker room is going to be tight under dunlap.And i personally think we can do better than higgins,but i don't think he's played horrible.I've definitely seen worse guys in a charlotte uniform.

[Scottley Crue]

I'm with many others...Great idea for a post, dnbman! Camaraderie is very important, I believe. You can see evidence of it in many ways. On the court, perhaps the most important place where it shows up is on defense. Part of camaraderie is trust, and a huge part of playing team defense is trust. You have to trust someone is going to back you up if you leave your man. You have to trust that your teammates will make the correct rotations right along with you. That's probably the place it's most evident on the court.

It plays an important part overall as well in that when you know, trust and like who you're working with, the job becomes easier to enjoy and accomplish. When you put together a group of high-talent, high-character and hard-working people and get them on the same page of the same book that they all like...so much more can be accomplished than if parts of that are missing.

[notdeadyet]

Awesome thread, GREAT posts!!

[Plowright]

I think since the draft last year we have really been looking to add guys who have a crazy good attitude and also people who are winners. I think MJ has realised we might not be the best team in the world, however people are going to respect us if we give 110%. Also people with great attitude are usually more likely to improve, it is almost like as soon as we signed TT we realised that attitude is just as important as talent. Look at our draft picks: Kemba, Biz, MKG, Taylor... they all have a grade A attitude. Biz and MKG have A+. Thats why part of me always thought we might take MKG as we really have been implementing this great attitude them for the last year or so, since we started tanking actually

[SWedd523]

This thread blows

[dav7z]

Didn't want to start a new thread for this but it looks like T Rob is having truble in the summer league . If hes having truble hear hes going to have big time truble in the regular season . MKG , brings all the things we heading tword , A smart by Cho,, and i think MKG is the glue putting things toghter.

T Rob trubles
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/222494/Thomas_Robinson_Struggling_To_Score_Inside_Attempt ing_Too_Many_Jumpshots

[TheBeagle]

I think comaraderie will be huge this season, especially for MKG. The losing will be inevitable, and from what I hear, MKG has never experienced losing, and in the rare ocassions it did happen, it hit him hard. Kemba and Biz, having gone through what they did last season, need to do all they can to keep him up during the rough times.

In the larger picture, I'll just echo what others've said: comaraderie is big with this group because of the age and pro experience of the core of the roster, which exluding Gerald, are just starting out or have finished their first season in the league. And with a new coach, instilling a pardigm shift, they're all on this journey together, learning along the way.

Also, the hiring of Dunlap shows that the organization is committed to acquiring a young nucleus, and teaching them, coaching them up for the near future, so I don't imagine any of our core being moved whatsoever; instead we'll just add to it.

[teej]

If anyone wants to see comraderie, go look at the Panthers, especially their offense. They all care about each other and, ever since they brought in Cam, the whole group is passionate about playing well together. If the Bobcats can do half that, then I wouldn't mind Higgins at all.