Darrell Armstrong and vocal leadership - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

dude1394 · 03-15-2009, 10:14 AM

So I'm listening to Mavs insider and they are doing a piece on Darrell Armstrong. We always call him "Mr. Horizontal" because of one play where he basically dove into someone and got horizontal. Anyway...

They are interviewing the Dirkster and his comments struck me. He was talking how vocal DA was..his quote was..

"Well you hear him, so..He's been great..he's very vocal and I think that's something that we needed...I'm more of a quiet leader and so is JKidd actually and Josh is even more quiet than both of us so for him to come in, in practices and speak up and sometimes in the huddles he speaks his mind and I think that is something that sometimes this team needed so he's been a great influence".

Now...That bespeaks of a concerning issue to me. You cannot make guys be what they are not but a team that's lead by "quiet leaders" all across the board seems to have some problems. What's weird is that watching the games...dirk seems to be THE most vocal leader of the bunch.

Possibly a lunatic like artest/jackson...or my favorite bdiddy/kaman is really needed to shake up the hierarchy. Dirk's going nowhere..but having you point guard also be quiet and arguably your second best player also seems like there is an issue here.

LonghornDub · 03-15-2009, 11:58 AM

Yeah, I also find it problematic that we don't have a particularly vocal leader on the roster. On the other hand, I think there are certain players out there whose vocal leadership only works for so long. The Celtics won a title last year, in no small part due to KG's--ahem, intense--vocal leadership, but that wears on players after awhile.

me770706 · 03-15-2009, 02:04 PM

True, he made Big Baby, well a big baby

nikeball · 03-15-2009, 03:31 PM

FML

BGMaverick9 · 03-15-2009, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

Yeah, I also find it problematic that we don't have a particularly vocal leader on the roster. On the other hand, I think there are certain players out there whose vocal leadership only works for so long. The Celtics won a title last year, in no small part due to KG's--ahem, intense--vocal leadership, but that wears on players after awhile.

It's a problem but I still wouldn't peg it as the big problem. I like the fact that Dirk, Kidd and even Jet lead by example. It's just that 2 or 3 of those kinds of guys don't equal out to a vocal leader on the court.

The problem is that those guys aren't very easy to acquire, unless that's part of the deal that we're hoping to find this summer. We find a bigger contract guy who still has a good amount in the tank but the team has to let him go. I just don't think we'll find someone, outside of that route, who can fill that void we have.

I really don't have a "list" that would actually fit the bill. Artest definitely wouldn't fit that qualification. There is a difference between vocal leadership and vocal disturbance.

Kidd Karma · 03-16-2009, 11:03 AM

Interesting stuff, in Kidd's NJ days he had KMart and RJ(once he got his comfort level) as the 2 talkers.....I guess here it's Dirk and he really wasn't much of a vocal leader.....but when they do speak....the guys ears will perk up....that's the one benefit of not going overboard on the vocal leadership bit. You look at the great teams, Bird, Magic, MJ.....they all had reason to undress teammates NOT giving their all.

SMC0007 · 03-16-2009, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kidd Karma

Interesting stuff, in Kidd's NJ days he had KMart and RJ(once he got his comfort level) as the 2 talkers.....I guess here it's Dirk and he really wasn't much of a vocal leader.....but when they do speak....the guys ears will perk up....that's the one benefit of not going overboard on the vocal leadership bit. You look at the great teams, Bird, Magic, MJ.....they all had reason to undress teammates NOT giving their all.

REALLY? Who would have thought that.