Cleamons: Fans make difference for struggling teams
By Jim Cleamons
This season, my team, the New Orleans Hornets, is playing its home games in Oklahoma City and, frankly, we're not the greatest team in the NBA. Yet the smallest home crowd we have played before thus far is 17,500 people.
From the perspective of a professional coach, that's a heck of a statement.
It takes a lot of energy to support a team that is struggling, like mine. Fans who stick with their teams during lean years should be commended for their faithfulness.
You can't overestimate what it means to the team.
My team, one of the league's worst last season, has been hovering around .500, and I think that's at least partially due to the support we have received from the fans.
Fans should know that players and coaches don't take them for granted, that they want and know they need their support to succeed.
There are a number of teams in the league in the same boat as mine, striving to successfully compete. Unfortunately, a lot of fans think their team is better than it really is, especially if it's getting beaten up night in and night out, and have unrealistic expectations. A lot of fans just don't really understand and appreciate what it takes to build a consistent winner in this league, and what a team has to endure in order to become competitive again.
One thing that's very important for fans to understand is that there's nobody out on the court trying to lose games. The players, the coaches, the organization itself, they all do truly feel the fans' pain from losing.
In fact, we feel it more profoundly than anyone.
The problem for many franchises is that they've drafted young players who are not yet ready to assume the type of responsibility it takes to win. When you have a young team, it's simply going to take time for it to mature. You have to look beyond tomorrow.
If I were to attend a game as a fan, I would not boo my struggling team. What I would insist on knowing, first off, is the big picture for my team. What's the owner's vision? Has he hired the right basketball people? What's the coach's philosophy? Have the players bought into it?
If so, then I see my job as being supportive of my team. I wouldn't get on the officials or the players. I'd support my guys, because this is the time they need it most.
Remember, when you have a bad day at the office, you suffer through it on your own. When ballplayers have a bad day, as they will as they are only human, then it's on display for the entire world. A fan's job, I believe, is to have empathy for his team and players on those days. Some nights they're just going to stink it up. That's when I'd be the biggest cheerleader that team has. Maybe two days from now, that team will find a way to get through a bad night, to win anyway, to mature.
There's an old saying in my profession: When things are going well, you're not as good as you think; when you're down, you're not as bad as you think.
Jim Cleamons, an assistant coach for the New Orleans Hornets, writes a weekly column for The Tribune. He has won eight NBA championships as a player and coach.
A Must Read Article by Asst. Coach Jim Cleamons
Bookmarks