Heat vs. Nuggets: leadership duel in the final

DENVER — Just weeks after Caleb Martin started playing with the Miami Heat, he still didn’t have much social capital with his teammates. But for most of his career he’d been a backup player, so he knew it was important to get along with the stars, and Jimmy Butler—six-time All-Star selection and leading scorer on the team—was the team’s leading scorer. biggest figure in Miami.

Martin had heard that Butler had an aggressive personality, that he was known to yell at his teammates and coaches. But during an impromptu game in his early days, Martin didn’t think about the possible consequences of upsetting Butler. He made a move just as he was giving him a pass and the ball went out of bounds. Martin could see that Butler was frustrated. He approached her and said, “Whatever seems like a problem for you, come and tell me.”

For a split second, Martin wondered if his audacity would upset Butler. He didn’t even have a full-time contract in the NBA yet. But it was not like that.

“He didn’t see it as disrespectful or anything like that,” Martin said. “Just as he imposes responsibility on other people, he also submits to it. It’s reciprocal. Accept the feedback.”

Butler’s reputation for being brash and aggressive is not without merit, and he has pointed out Martin’s mistakes many times. Butler doesn’t shy away from airing grievances at him, yelling in team talks, at opponents, or, on occasion, into the void. And he’s just as loud when he tries to motivate.

The Heat’s rival in the NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets, have Nikola Jokic, a different type of leader who is more laid back. He doesn’t make speeches or scold his teammates and rarely shows much emotion during games.

Their contrasting styles illustrate ideas that leadership experts have highlighted for decades. The underlying spirit in both players seems to matter more than how their leadership manifests itself.

“It’s a great example of avoiding the static concept of ‘what does it mean to be the best kind of leader?’” said Peter Bregman, a writer and executive consultant who works with leaders of large corporations. “Because you have two completely different people leading in very, very different ways and with the same effectiveness. So that kind of betrays the concept that there’s a better way to do this.”

Professional basketball offers a useful guide to better understand leadership. The best players in the NBA make split-second decisions in front of thousands of people present live and millions more watching on television. Their actions off the pitch are scrutinized and sometimes blamed for their teammates’ mistakes. But, regardless of the results of their decisions, the next day they must lead the same people again.

When Nuggets players are asked about Jokic’s style, they say he leads by example rather than words.

“He’s a professional in every aspect of the game,” Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “Just seeing that, seeing him on the court, makes everyone want to play basketball with him and want to play better.”

When Butler’s teammates are asked about his leadership, they allude to the risk-taking side of his personality, but that aspect stems from a passion they can understand. They say Butler holds people accountable, but his collective goal — to be the best team in the NBA — is clear from Butler’s criticism.

He also accepts the responsibility that comes with being the team leader.

“He’ll do anything for you,” Miami Heat center Cody Zeller said.

Some scholars might explain those differences using leadership language centered on the difference between tasks and relationships. Afsaneh Nahavandi, a professor of management at the University of San Diego, sees Butler as a more task-oriented leader and Jokic as a more relationship-oriented leader.

“Every leader has something to do, so everyone has a task in mind,” Nahavandi said. “But do you approach it by driving the task and the people? Or do you approach it through an attitude focused on letting people develop their own projects and focus on making sure they are happy?

This trend in leadership was analyzed in the 1960s by psychologist Fred Fiedler, who studied leadership in high school basketball players. Basketball offered a space to understand how a group of people who had to carry out a task together responded to different styles of leadership.

Fiedler also discovered that the success of leaders depends, to a great extent, on their environment.

Butler’s style hasn’t worked everywhere. When he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, his teammates did not respond well to his demanding nature, and Butler left the team after insisting on a trade.

But, in Miami, the culture of the Heat demands excellence, commitment and resilience.

“My leadership style works here,” Butler said, waving his hands when he said “leadership.” And he added: “It really is like having the perfect partner. I love it here.”

Sometimes Butler’s style leads to explosions, such as in March 2022, when Butler and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra yelled at each other during a game and had to be separated by other players. Today, Spoelstra speaks of Butler with respect.

“I don’t want him to ever apologize for who he is and how he approaches the competition,” Spoelstra said. “It’s intense. It is not for everyone and we are not for everyone. So we think it’s like an amazing marriage. We never judge him for that. He doesn’t judge us by how crazy we get.”

The Nuggets also demand excellence, but the language they use is often softer. They like to talk about their collaborative nature.

“We have guys who understand that being humble is a big part of being a Denver Nugget,” coach Michael Malone said. And he added: “You have to have guys who get along, on the court, off the court, and who support each other and share a common goal.”

It alludes to a culture where a less confrontational style, like the one Jokic embraces, could work.

Jokic’s teammates seem to respond well to that calmer form of leadership, though some have tried to help him channel more imperious behavior.

DeAndre Jordan, a player with 15 years in the league, pushed Jokic aside during training camp to encourage him to be more expressive.

“At first he told me: ‘Brother, I don’t do that. You have to do it,’” Jordan said.

But Jordan and other veterans continued to encourage him to speak up. A few months after the start of the season, they saw that he was beginning to assert himself more in meetings and to give his opinion to his teammates. However, he does not go beyond what makes him feel comfortable.

“We don’t want him to be someone he’s not,” Jordan said. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to be either.”

Although Jokic and Butler have very different styles, they have earned the trust of their teammates.

Chris Adkins saw hints about how they developed that confidence when he watched some of their interviews. Adkins, academic director of leadership development at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business, found during his research that “competence, benevolence, and integrity” are three essential components of building trust.

“Their players seem to believe in that, whether it’s a more expressive approach or a quieter approach, because deep down they know that person has great ability, they’re consistent with great integrity, they practice what they preach, they preach with the example,” Adkins said. “But they are also committed to us, not just to their own ego.”

Jokic is well known for being a generous player: this season he has averaged 9.8 assists per game. He has often said that his basketball philosophy was passed on to him by a Serbian coach who told him that when you pass the ball you make two people happy, but when you score only one is happy. When he talks to reporters, he avoids taking credit and is quick to praise his teammates.

Butler has pushed back against calling other Heat players “role players,” saying he prefers to think of them as teammates. Asked if he had been too passive in the Heat’s Game 1 loss, in which he only scored 13 points, Butler said that hadn’t happened and that he planned to keep looking for his teammates throughout the season. the Serie.

Newcomers to the Heat may take some time to understand how Butler operates.

Kyle Lowry joined the Heat in 2021, two years after Butler’s arrival. Lowry was a six-time All-Star guard coming from a leadership role at Toronto, which won a championship in 2019. He made it clear that he loved Butler’s passion for winning and his devotion to his teammates, but he also stated that his personality is “very different”.

“He may say or do some things that might make you think, ‘Oh. Oh’. But that comes from the best part of his heart,” Lowry said.

How do you know?

“We’re around him every day,” Lowry said, before dropping a good-natured hint. “Unfortunately. But fortunately”.

Tania Ganguli has covered the NBA for the Times since 2021. Previously, she covered the Lakers for The Los Angeles Times and a variety of sports for other newspapers across the country. @TaniaGanguli