4 Defining Leadership Characteristics of the Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving

The Dallas Mavericks begin the quest for the second NBA Championship tonight against the Boston Celtics.  If everything rises and falls on leadership, then we need to take a look at the team’s two stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Luka Doncic

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst made an interesting observation about Doncic.  An underrated aspect of Luka Doncic’s game is teammates are shooting 57% of his passes.  Luka makes his teammates significantly better.  He puts them in position to succeed.

As leaders, we must ask ourselves if our people are converting on 57% of the opportunities we give them?  If not, what can we do to better help them succeed?

Kyrie Irving

Cameras caught Irving working out three hours before the game.  While observing, ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon quoted Doncic saying, “He’s the leader.  Kyrie Irving is the leader of this team.  We need him to come out, be aggressive, set the tone.”  MacMahon also noted Irving needed to be in attack-mode on offense right off the bat.

There are several leadership lessons we learn about Irving from the above paragraph.

First, Irving is setting the standard for work ethic for the Mavericks.  When your top players are your hardest workers, your team has a good chance for success.

Second, leadership is influence, it is not positional.  Irving is recognized by others members of the team as its leader.

Third, leadership is not passive.  For Dallas to win this series, Irving must be aggressive.  Once again, the team will follow his lead.

Conclusion

Because of the team’s leadership, the Mavericks are well positioned to win the championship.  But the Celtics have a number of great leaders as well.

That’s why they play the games.

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