Culture

[Pharaoh]

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

[Glenn]

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

[Pharaoh]

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?

[Pharaoh]

http://www.coaching-businesses-to-su...g_culture.html

http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2008/02/cre...-a-winn-1.html

Hope you guys find those 2 links worth reading

[shags]

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.

[Glenn]

Very good post, right there.

[shags]

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.

[Pharaoh]

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

[mercury]

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.

[Pharaoh]

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