Mavs have a leadership problem | Cuban and Harlabob argue on Twitter

[mavsluvr]

If he's trying he's sure not doing a good job. He either can't or doesn't play defense. He's beaten like a drum off the dribble. He hunts shots. He hangs his head when he misses. He tosses his hands up when guys make defensive mistakes. 

THJ is a shooter who can get as hot as anyone. He's a fine player. But to reuse a phrase someone else posted earlier "he's no leader of men." By that I mean elder statesman, talking in the huddle and saying the right stuff to the media aren't the aspects of leadership this team is missing.

There seems to be a fair amount of equating having a particular job-related skill with being a leader. You started this thread, so I guess you have a good idea of what you envision leadership to be, but I would submit that it doesn't consist of being a good rebounder, for example. In the sense of the word I thought you were using, I took it to mean a guy with wisdom, experience, the ability to shape a culture, being able to take a group in a certain direction, having skills in helping to set group goals and evaluate realistic plans to accomplish them. 

Those things usually wouldn't have much to do whether a guy can dribble, for example. Usually, leadership skills of that sort would tend to come more with age, perspective, seeing a lot of different situations, talent and expertise in dealing with people, and so forth. 

The type of things you describe as the elder statesman role are exactly the type of things Kidd says he does. I don't know for sure whether Tim is such a guy or not. Maybe he isn't. But a guy can be beaten off the dribble and still be an effective leader, and a guy who can hit threes at a high rate isn't necessarily an effective statesman.