Great Teams Need Great Benches
Photo courtesy of Sporting News

Great Teams Need Great Benches

On July 4th, 2016, Kevin Durant announced to the world that he was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder and signing with the dominant Golden State Warriors. But Durant wasn’t just leaving Oklahoma, he was leaving Russell Westbrook, his partner since 2008. Suddenly Westbrook was the sole star left on the team. Coming into the 2016-17 NBA season, all eyes were on Westbrook to see if he could keep the team competitive singlehandedly.

The results so far have been mixed. The Thunder aren’t in the bottom of the standings, but they aren’t likely to win the Western Conference either. In fact, they might consider it a victory to simply make it to the playoffs. This isn’t all Westbrook’s fault, or Durant’s. The fact of the matter is, Oklahoma’s bench simply isn’t deep enough to replace Kevin Durant and Westbrook struggles to help the bench develop.

 I’m going to try for an analogy that might help. Everyone knows that Robin can’t be Batman. Robin was talented but he didn’t make other heroes better like Batman could. At the risk of extending my metaphor too far, Durant is a superstar and has the rare ability to step into any situation, whether in Seattle, Oklahoma, or Golden State, and improve the players around him. Jordan had that. Shaq had that. LeBron has that. These guys are Batman, superstars who lift the entire team and make an oversized impact on and off the court. 

Now, guys like Scottie Pippen and Russell Westbrook are the talented support for their superstars, but it’s hard for them to step into the superstar’s shoes. Superstars are a rare find that can’t be created, only found. Stars like Westbrook typically play to the limits of their talent and expect the rest of the team to up their game. For example, Westbrook has been playing incredible basketball, with six straight triple doubles, but the Thunder are still only 6th in the Western Conference.

Many great teams are no different. They can rise to amazing heights on the backs of top performers and superstars, but if these people leave the organization, who will step into their shoes? The question is; have you been training and building your bench for the day when your best performers aren’t there? Great teams need great benches that can rise to the challenge when called upon. 

When you take a great employee off your roster, and everyone shifts up to meet the demand, how will they do? Unless your bench is solid, talented, and well trained, you are going to see team performance suffer. Now is the time to train your bench and bring them alongside your best performers so that your organization is best prepared for any future to come.

 


David Dutchen

Regional Sales Director - hear.com

7 年

Great article Don Yaeger

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