Why Stars Make Bad Coaches

[Hoosierhoopster]

8 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I don't know why, but I always try to fight the perception that the great players don't work hard and just get by on natural talent. I think for the most part that's way off. I think hard work and work ethic is what generally separates the great players from the average/good players. Most guys at the high major D1 level or in the NBA are talented and athletic, it's work ethic and dedication to the craft that's the difference in most cases. 

That's why you always hear from former teammates that nobody on the Celtics worked harder than Larry Bird. Nobody on the Bulls worked harder than Michael Jordan. Nobody worked harder than Kobe Bryant. Nobody's pregame shooting routine was on par with Ray Allen's. Etc., etc. The greats work their tails off. It's what makes them great. 

You see it with recruiting too, I see posters say things like, "give me a team of 3* guys that are going to work hard over a bunch of 5*'s". I'm not talking about the one and done issues here, just the perception from some (nobody in particular, just posts I see in general) that the most talented, 5* guys don't work hard. I think it's mostly a fallacy. 

Just a general rant, proceed on with the discussion.

 

Agree. And Reggie Miller was always -- always -- the first in and last to leave the gym. He was one of the game's best perimeter shooters / scorers largely because of his relentless work ethic. Greatness requires work.

To me, guys like Vince Carter are even better examples. He was either the or one of the best attacking dunkers in the game. Then he knees were destroyed. And he became a legitimate outside shooter / perimeter player, while already in the NBA, a part of his game that he did not have before, and has had one of the longest NBA careers. That's really something, and it's all about his exceptional work ethic and drive.

[IUFLA]

54 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

I'm really not a LeBron fan (not at all a hater of LBJ either, just not particularly a fan). But his dedication to memorizing/understanding other team sets, his knowledge of the game, and his overall incredible work ethic, is well known and really beyond question. He's a true student of the game.

I acknowledged his basketball IQ and his work ethic in this post..

 

17 hours ago, IUFLA said:

think LeBron and Jordan were both athletically blessed, have basketball IQs that are off the chart, and were maniacal in enhancing and maintaining their bodies to compete

I'm not sure how anybody is coming away with "those players don't work hard."

To me, it's more they historically (and because neither LeBron nor Jordan have ever coached it's hard to tell how well they would have faired at that job) stars have had trouble relaying what they know to other players...

[FKIM01]

All jokes aside, I wasn't suggesting that the best in a given sport were lazy or anything like that.  I'm simply saying that the incredible God-given talent they possess might allow them to have more success than typical players without the necessity of as much preparation.  Without question, the best usually still spend plenty of time studying and preparing, although Jordan was known to party and gamble pretty hard at times even during the season.

In the end, it's just a theory I advanced to attempt to explain why the best players often don't translate to being the best coaches.  This is just one of a lot of plausible explanations.