The Quiet Leadership Edition - The Downbeat - #1306

Are your chances for the $ 1 billion NCAA bracket prize still alive?

A) Yes

B) No

C) I'm a Jazz fan, not a college hoops fan

Read this SI article on Big Al. It's a fantastic read and will make you smile.

You may not agree with how he was used, but we were lucky to have a guy like Big Al on our team for the time that we did.

We've all heard it said many a time that Karl Malone and John Stockton were great complementary leaders: Karl the vocal leader, and John the quiet, lead-by- example leader. That's not to say you can't have success with two vocal leaders or two example leaders complementing each other, of course.

Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors were challenged by management during locker room cleanout last year to become the leaders of this team. Is one of the Jazz's problems this season a lack of locker room leaders?

Marvin Williams was asked about a month ago what he's learned about Leader Hayward. His answer:

You know, Gordon’s more quiet than I thought he was. I mean, I thought he was quiet last year, but he actually really is a quiet dude. You know, he laughs at jokes, but he just doesn’t really say much.

You know, the coaches kinda get on him sometimes ’cause he doesn’t talk during the drills sometimes. So he’s a little more quiet than I actually really thought he was.

Sidney Lowe, meanwhile was asked about Leader Favors this week. His answer:

Derrick Favors is gonna be a very good player in this league. I don’t think Derrick Favors is the type of guy that would be comfortable speaking like that. I think he does his more by example, with his work. But I don’t see him, you know, it’s hard to get him to talk now, as it is. So you know, getting him now to take on that role, I don’t see that.

Can a team have success without a vocal leader in the locker room? (I'm talking about franchise guys here. We've seen many vocal leaders passing through our locker room in the past few years--Mo Williams, Earl Watson, etc.--but their position as a leader is different when they're on a 1- or 2-year deal.)

P.S. FWIW, Lowe was also asked which player on the team is most likely to become the vocal leader of the team. His answer was "I don't know if there is that guy on this team," but when pressed to name one guy he said he sees those qualities in Trey Burke.

On last Friday's The Starters podcast, the guys were asked which international or themed NBA night (Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day, Noche Latina, etc.) they'd like to see.

Their answers included:

--Australia Day (Vegemite sandwiches, players in thongs (translation: flip flops) before the game);

--Mother's Day (player moms in the front row, flowers and pedicures for the moms, everyone gathers around for orange slices at halftime);

--Scottish Night (plaid jerseys and modified kilts; bagpipe music in the arena)

--Baseball Day (chalk baselines and sidelines)

What kind of theme night would make you happily open your wallet?

Mine is probably 80s throwback uniform night. I'd pay good money to laugh the night away at the discomfort of today's players in shorter-than-Stockton shorts.

State of Mind Poll:

Which excites you more?

A) Seeing what the Jazz can do and how they grow in the last 13 games of the season;

B) For the season to be over already