In the last week or so the word "culture" has been used a fair bit and in an effort to start some reasonable discussion on the topic I thought I'd create a new thread.

And this is it :)

So, what IS "culture"?

What effects the team "culture"?

How does a franchise change their culture?

And what does an organisation need to do to build a winning culture?

I think we all agree the players are essentially last in line when it comes to culture. It starts at the top - with ownership, with the front office, with the Coaches.

Obviously those people we rarely talk about are the ones that impact team culture more than any single player. What does our owner think about culture? Are there any public quotes from Gores in relation to this topic? Are there any public quotes from him in relation to what this team/organisation is supposed to respresent?

What do we stand for? What values do these people (Gores, Joe, Frank) put high on the priority list.

Building a winning culture is more than having quality talent. Any team can have talent (Charlotte, Minnesota, Clippers etc)

Can an organisation effectively change their culture?

I'm hoping this is a long and thoughful topic - open ended if you will.

I think it could be very interesting too, so get amongst it and let rip :)

Mark Cuban is probably the best example of how a winning team culture starts at the top.

Lakers - it's more than just the location. If it was all about location WTF is wrong with the Knicks? Why did Chicago fall in a heap? Why have the Clippers sucked forever? And New Jersey... WTF?

Miami - didn't Riley start the big turnaround for the organisation. It's not about sunny Florida - cause the Magic rise and fall like the panties of a horny tennage girl

Spurs = how long has Pop been with them? Was he there before David Robinson?

Can losing franchises have a winning culture? Can a winning franchise have a losing culture? Or is the "heart" revealed eventually... like when a major star or stars leave and the organisation falls in a heap?

Can hiring the wrong GM kill a winning organisation?

Can hiring the wrong coach kill a winning organisation?

And conversely: can hiring the right GM/Coach effect change on the entire organisation?

http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com/creating_a_winning_culture.html

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2008/02/creating-and-sustaining-a-winn-1.html

Hope you guys find those 2 links worth reading

It starts at the very top. Ownership. Teams can't have sustained success with poor ownership. It's why I didn't see the Bengals and Lions doing well this year, because even though they have good, young talent, they have terrible ownership. It's why I can't take the Knicks seriously, because of Jim Dolan. And even though the Clippers have arguably the deepest team in the league, Donald Sterling decided to continue to allow the team to be coached by Vinny Del Negro.

So for the Pistons, the question lies with Gores. Does he have the commitment to success the way Bill Davidson did? Is he in this to flip them for a profit, like he does with other businesses?

The jury's still out. Next summer will give me a better idea as to what type of owner Gores is. The Pistons aren't going to be very good this year, and I'm fine with that as long as they don't trade for any contracts that go past this season.

Very good post, right there.

One thing I forgot to mention is that you CAN'T fire the owner. You can get rid of a GM, a coach, players, but you can't get rid of a bad owner. Which is what makes it more important.

Disappointed this topic went nowhere fast

At least I tried :)

I do believe that the Pistons have a winning culture, that Gores and his boys are making moves we don't talk about (like getting into advanced stats) that will help in a major way.

I believe Joe really is a smart mofo when it comes to players and chemistry and that Frank is a quality coach

Throw in Monroe, Knight and Stuckey (taking the vacant leadership roles), plenty of cap flexibility and the future seems bright

So far I like the direction that Gores has taken... unlike Davidson he's challenging Joe... he's implemented an advanced stat system... he's brought in an outside basketball mind to look at the current operations... and major decisions are done by committee... the days of standing back and letting Joe be the lone decision maker are over... I doubt that BG & CV would have been signed under the current regime.

From a team perspective Frank is getting them back to a winning formula... finding the open man... help defense... and quick ball movement.

I re-read the article in the "Gores Buys Pistons" thread where they talk about having someone at the Harvard thing for advanced stats... the guy doing the talking for the Pistons seems rather bright

He said something about value... I'm hoping next off-season we sign some quality players and not blow our wad on 2 or 3 2nd or 3rd tier players

Ideally we'd sign 3 guys for $7 million each (starting salary)... which only spends $21 mil of our $30 mil "wad" - but I want to pocket some of that for Monroe and Knight's extensions (and Drummond's too eventually)

Drummond, Monroe, Stuckey (maybe), Knight, Jerebko + 3 guys getting $7 million each = 8 deep

This is why I want Prince dealt for cap space... the extra $ 7 million gives us more to spend on another free agent and would "complete" our top 9 - all young, all developing (except Stuckey it seems) and the idea would be they'd grow together and stay together in order to combat the "super" teams around the league

Drummond, Monroe and a $7 million free agent as our PF/C combo - with Jerebko playing some PF too

A $7 million free agent as our SF with Jerebko capable of playing here too (plus some time from Stuckey depending on the match up)

Knight, Stuckey and a $7 million free agent would be our 3-guard rotation

Depending on what free agents we can get for $7 million that's a pretty good line-up with reasonable depth. The other 4 spots would go to Slava, Prince, TWill and whomever survives out of the British Invasion (Middleton/English)

When Tayshaun expires you'd save his cash in order to help pay for extensions too... I'm trying to think long term

some quotes I found via links in the Gores Buys Pistons thread:

From the man himself:



The Pistons had lost Bill Davidson, the owner for 37 years, a couple of years prior. He really was very critical to the franchise. Culturally, the Pistons are a deep organization with a lot of pride. But when Bill passed away, they lost their way a little bit. His family was very clear they hadn’t stepped into Bill’s shoes and that someone needed to. The Davidsons and I developed a very trusting relationship. I went back to Detroit and saw them many times.

Bill’s son, Ethan, and his widow, Karen, didn’t just want to turn it over to anybody. That relationship was vital to ultimately working together to get the deal done. As my team and I studied PS&E, what really hit me is this is not just a sports team. It’s a reasonably complicated entertainment company. It has a stadium it owns that holds many events, two other concert centers, and it owns a little imaging company. The venues really are incredible assets, and other buyers weren’t really paying attention to them. Once I saw all the pieces I said, “Geez, this is right up our alley. It engages all the things we do in the LBO business.” While others might have looked at the fan base and the economy here and been concerned, I wasn’t that worried.

Just like any target company, we look at how the assets should be working together. For concerts we have to make sure we’re constantly out of the box. Detroit’s got such a good base to work with—big corporations, music, the storied franchise. We’re looking forward to mixing it up in the city and generating good activity.

What’s unbelievable to me is the impact I can make given that I’m from Detroit, I know the business, I have a reasonable understanding of sports and people. This is a community asset. If all I do is make a few bucks and the community isn’t happy, that’s not good. The beauty of this is that the fans are the customers. If you buy a company, you have to make the customers happy or they’re going to leave you. Winning brings folks in—so we have to figure out how to win, how to compete. I know this city needs that.

Bold section sounds good to me!

selected quotes from Robert Wentworth - the dude interviewed in this link http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/blogs/nba-point-forward//2011/09/27/the-pistons-are-getting-smart/


This is our first move into professional sports, both for the firm and for Tom Gores, and we approach this like any other investment that we make. We will really try to understand best practices and be forward-thinking as opposed to reactionary. Getting heavily into statistical analysis seems quite natural to us.

Sounds good to me :)


The advanced stats just ought to be a part of your tool kit. It’s equally important to have really solid basketball people, and Joe Dumars has obviously been in this league for 25-plus years now. He has tremendous basketball intellect. But we’re just trying to make sure we use every tool in that took box, even if it means you just do a better job at finding that 8th, 9th or 10th guy.

From the 2 links these quotes came from it seems like the plan right now is to:

1) have every tool every other (smart) team has in order to compete

2) do as much as possible to return the Pistons to greatness using everything they can think of to do so

Sounds good to me :)

First order of business is simply getting back into the playoffs. That's where it starts.

Your top young guys need to learn to come into every game expecting to win.

To me, that's a winning culture, when you can draft a guy anywere in the top 40 and just plug him in, and he plays as well or better than the guy he replaced.Obviously you need talent at the top for that, but it also has to do with having the attitude n the locker room where everybody plays an important role 1-12 and falls in line.

I don't think making the playoffs has much to do with your scenario.

I think if an organisation has a winning culture through ownership, the front office and with the Coaches the players you draft will come in to a settled locker room and the standards will be obvious.

I think organisations fall apart or breed a losing culture by bringing in people and allowing those people to dictate the work ethic or the standards in that environment. Human nature is a funny thing - not every person will work hard regardless of the situation they find themselves in. Some people will go above and beyond, some will do what is required and others will do as little as possible if you let them.

The key is to only have people who are willing to go above and beyond. That IMO is the secret to a winning culture in any business. Any time you hire someone new they usually take a little while to settle in, to get the lay of the land as it were. During this time they see how other people operate, see what the standards are, see what is required. The same way the people in charge get to see how this new person fits in, how they respond to the new environment... basically how they handle everything.

IF, during this "feeling out process" this new person sees some people doing as little as possible, goofing around, leaving early every Friday that sends a message IMO. IF this new person wasn't driven, wasn't the kind of person who goes above and beyond regardless then you could have yet another loser working for you.

Who is responsible for this new loser? The new guy? Or you for putting this new person into a poor environment?

Imagine taking that same guy and putting him into a positive environment. One where everyone starts early and finishes late. Where everyone goes above and beyond. One where the effort is praised, where his successes are celebrated by all, one where his opinion is valued,....

Where would you rather work?

IMO the playoffs are an after though. Right now the organisation should be more worried about putting into place the structures and standards that will ensure long term, sustained success. Once those things are in place the playoffs will come. Playing to win every game will come. Winning division titles will come.

But first comes the basics. Gores and his boys need to create a positive environment, a place where good people around the League want to work. Front office staff and players too.

If they do that then everything else follows.

A positive environment is reinforced by winning. The 2002 Pistons set the foundation for the 2004 Pistons, even if only 2 guys remained from one core group to the other.

I agree it's re-enforced by winning - but you've got to build it first

I don't think the organisation is too far from that

But not this season

IF things go to plan I think we'll look back at the 2012-13 season as the turning point, the first step towards the end goal, the season we finally move on from the aging vets and instead embrace our youth

They aren't building it; it's built. They have their young core. They have to win, and start now.

If they want to purge the rest of the veterans from the last decade, the new guys have to prove they deserve it by showing they can win games.

IMO it's not built - half of our roster probably won't be here next season. It's a transitional season again

This is the season where the young players fill the leadership void - which has begun but is an on-going process

This is the season where the front office rebuilds/builds knowledge - recovering from a couple of years due to "no" ownership. We've just started getting into advanced stats! We're playing catch up in that department. There surely are other areas that need to be addresses now we've got a new owner, areas that were in limbo after Mr D's death.

The young core you mention includes a 2nd year pro and a rookie. It's not built... the foundation has been laid.

Next off-season serious renovations will be made to the roster ... free agency holds the key

Wojo article about Dumars, he's part of the culture, isnt he?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--joe-dumars-sees-promise-in-pistons--difficult-rebuilding-project.html

good comment about it

But from a news perspective, this tidbit was interesting:

In the end, there’s a connection that Dumars has had to Detroit and the Pistons that transcends everything. Two league ownership sources told Yahoo! Sports that they tried to hire Dumars away during the ownership unrest between the Davidson and Gores eras, and he wouldn’t meet with them. He grew up as a young player in Detroit, raised his family there and sent his two children off to the University of Michigan.

Honestly, say what you will about Dumars’ decisions over the last few seasons (and trust me, plenty of people have and will continue to weigh in with opinions that are all over the place on those). But that type of loyalty is pretty unprecedented.

Think about it this way — the team was for sale, so who knows what type of ownership would come in and who they’d want to retain. The team was under-performing. The team had invested a lot of money in some bad contracts (granted, that was Dumars fault, but still … he could’ve walked away). He obviously had opportunities to leave that behind and start fresh elsewhere. Regardless of what you think of the basketball moves he’s made, that’s worthy of respect that he didn’t take the opportunity to bail. Plenty of people in his shoes would’ve done just that.

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2012/10/adrian-wojnarowski-two-teams-tried-to-hire-joe-dumars-prior-to-sale-of-team-to-tom-gores-but-he-wouldnt-meet-with-them/

If you hire the right management and they bring in the right talent then you can get out of the revolving door conundrum... consistency allows you to take basic proven concepts and expand on them each year.
Next on the agenda is adding team oriented players that can shoot & defend.

I think Joe is the "right" management... You can't question his character!

Looking back on the Nova and BG signings I think he wanted to replace Sheed and Billups... and the guys he bought simply weren't up to the task.

To the day I die I will believe he had a trade ready for Rip... and we would have got a big man... and then had the following:

C : more than just a defensive presence acquired through Rip trade
F: Nova = stretch 4
F: Prince = glue guy
G: Gordon = perimeter scorer
G: Stuckey = big strong guard

That line up works well together in theory but in reality Nova, BG and Stuckey didn't live up to expectations and the Rip for Big trade fell through... leaving us FUCKED!

It's taken a little while to recover due to ownership changes but now we've turned the corner thanks to 3 lucky Draft Days... come July 2013 Joe should be King again... and I can't wait to see what moves he makes.

http://d1i4h08udxkh6.cloudfront.net/the-fairy-tale-of-workplace-culture.png

LMAO - that's actually true of where I work (not the group hug thing)

It's easy to talk about having a "good" culture, much harder to follow through every day, day after day

Here's hoping the Pistons are developing a "good" culture...

From Real GM's wiretap:
Parker Explains Why He Has Sacrificed Money To Remain With Spurs

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/224337/Parker_Explains_Why_He_Has_Sacrificed_Money_To_Rem ain_With_Spurs



Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili each have signed contracts with the San Antonio Spurs for less than they would likely receive on the open market.

The Spurs have had those three players as their core for a decade and have successfully been able to reload their supporting cast.

"Everybody asks me that," Parker said Thursday. "I was talking with a couple of my friends and they were asking that. I was like, I don't know. I think it's just the atmosphere here, the family atmosphere. For me personally, why I did it was because, deep down in my heart I know Pop will take care of me until the end of my career. So that's why I felt like I can take less now and help the team out. And we were able to sign Danny [Green] and Boris [Diaw]. And I know when I get a little bit older, I know Pop will take care of me. I really feel that."

The Thunder were unable to keep their core together as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook signed max contracts, and Sam Presti was unable to agree on terms with James Harden.

"On the one hand, you can take less money like I did, like what Manu did, and stay with a winning team," Parker said. "Or you can do your own thing and be your own man, like [Tracy] McGrady, and try to be a superstar and want to make the All-Star team, and [Harden] decided to do that. I wish him luck. Both ways, you can't go wrong. It depends who you want to be.

"A lot of people ask me, 'How are you so successful in San Antonio?' Because, I say, we did a lot of sacrifice. When you look at Manu, Manu did a lot of sacrifice to stay here. I did the same thing. Sometimes when you want to win (http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/224337/Parker_Explains_Why_He_Has_Sacrificed_Money_To_Rem ain_With_Spurs#) championships, you have to do that."

The Spurs are usually the team held up as the "example" of good management, of a small market team made good... and yes it's easy to make good when you draft David Robinson and then Tim Duncan but I found it interesting that Parker stated he has faith that Pop will take care of him later...

No mention of the team owner looking after him later... it's all about Pop in San Antonio

It's interesting that I can't recall reading an article about how good Joe has been to his players. I can't recall Joe screwing anyone out of coin... if anything he should have a reputation for overpaying!