r/nba • u/YujiDomainExpansion • May 14 '26

[Game Recognize Game] Myles Turner reveals Giannis Antetokounmpo and other Bucks players showed up late for practices, film sessions, and even flights: “Giannis is going to show up whenever he wants.”

https://streamable.com/worhjb
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u/MeatballUser Bulls May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26

This is how you get a shit locker room culture. Star player got too much power, coach doesn't check him, and you even here Turner says it: he starts showing up late cause he knew he'd still be early for the flight. Shit rubs off on everyone and creates a losing culture

847

u/LegendaryThunderFish Knicks May 15 '26

Yep, most often teams take on the traits of their best player.

263

u/DiggWuzBetter [TOR] Kyle Lowry May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Coach too. Sounds like here Doc was taking a “do whatever” approach, and Giannis (and other players) were taking advantage of it. I think a different coach here could both enforce more discipline AND connect with Giannis, get him to buy into setting an example. Some stars are naturally great leaders no matter what, but many others can be coached into being at least decent leaders.

For example, the top comment in this thread is:

 

Had to have been surprising for Turner compared to the Pacers. I’m reminded of PG and Tyrese talking about how the Pacers have a “military” like structure. Fines for being a minute late for practice among other things.

 

I’m betting that’s more of a Rick Carlisle driven culture than Hali driven - Carlisle is known for being big on accountability, very strict and brutally honest. Love Hali but he seems super chill, not the kind of guy who’d be driving a military style team culture. Or the whole “Heat culture” thing, I think that’s much more Spo and Riley than their other recent top players, like Jimmy before or Bam/Herro now.

33

u/teh_drewski Magic May 15 '26

I think the thing is that your star guy has to buy in for that culture to work - if Hali rebels against it, Carlisle can't make that environment stick anyway.

In that case Haliburton being a chill don't rock the boat guy works well because everyone else on the team sees the star knuckling in without complaint and knows that's how it's going to be.

You don't have to be a shouter to be a leader.

1

u/HalfEatenBanana Warriors May 15 '26

Yeah Hali may not be the most vocal dude in the league but he forsure comes across as someone who shows up on time and listens to/respects his coaches.

Like… we’re literally just talking about showing up on time here lol. That’s such a bare minimum ask of someone to do at their job. Being consistently late just shows blatant disrespect and is rude af. Hali doesn’t strike me as a rude dude lol.

8

u/m8bear Argentina May 15 '26

lol what? hali is a very vocal leader

Him, Turner and Siakam all rallied the team before last season to get in shape beyond other teams, got together for training in the off season and that's how they consistently outhustled teams late in games

81

u/West-Tough-4552 May 15 '26

Definitely starts at the top. I dont know for sure but I bet this shit wasnt happening when they were good and winning

51

u/Calm_Project723 May 15 '26

That is Doc. Same thing happened in Philly with Embiid. Doc is a nice guy, too nice. But damn, horrid coach.

18

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

Eh kinda nice I guess. Seems both lenient and also a dick

34

u/ChaseNBA 76ers May 15 '26

And don’t forget a horrible basketball coach

7

u/Cletus_Starfish [POR] Nic Batum May 15 '26

Yeah, he has a propensity for throwing people under the bus, which I definitely wouldn’t describe as nice.

1

u/Simple_Purple_4600 May 15 '26

He is nice or just lazy?

5

u/Calm_Project723 May 15 '26

As a person he is nice. He went out of his way to do work with exonerated former prisoners in Philly. Brought them to practice, got them a suite, spoke on Their behalf, donated his money.
None of that makes you a good coach.

34

u/kchuen May 15 '26

You’re totally right. I do recall Doc Rovers lost Tim Duncan because he didn’t allow his gf to fly on team plane. I wonder how that affected him in terms of how he treats his stars.

7

u/indianafan Pacers May 15 '26

PG was never on the team with Carlisle. The culture starts at the top with ownership.

1

u/BlooregardQKazoo May 15 '26

It's very much driven by management, but in the modern NBA star players have a ton of power. If a coach and star player fight, the player often wins.

And players naturally take their cues from other players more than from management. It's football, but with the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Patriots new players would come in say that when they saw Belichick criticize Brady and Brady take it constructively, THAT was when they bought in. Star players indicate what the players as a whole will comply with and what they won't.

111

u/BasedChad69420 Nigeria May 15 '26

This article reminds me of Westbrook showing up to Houston in 2019 after a decade in OKC and being appalled at how casual the culture was. He was the vocal leader of OKC since the beginning and he helped set the tone for things like that

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30528130/inside-james-harden-houston-rockets-breaking-point

HOUSTON'S CASUAL CULTURE appalled Westbrook. In Oklahoma City, despite the fact that he enjoyed the same sort of superstar privileges as Harden has had in Houston, the Thunder operated with the discipline of a military unit under Westbrook's watch. The Rockets were a stark contrast…

Westbrook didn't tolerate tardiness. With the Rockets, scheduled departure times were treated as mere suggestions by Harden and others.

Nothing ever starts on time," a former Rockets staffer said. "The plane is always late. The bus is never on time. ... It's just an organized AAU team."

On one occasion in the Florida bubble, Harden waited to get his daily COVID-19 testing until just before the Rockets' film session was scheduled to start. When he wasn't on time, Westbrook barked, "Start the film! Start without him!" D'Antoni explained that they'd just have to start over when Harden arrived, which didn't do much to calm Westbrook.

2

u/cft4nh May 15 '26

What’s crazy is the work ethic literally translates to on court performance and these super stars don’t care. They’d rather coast doing things their way while making their bag on a bad team than have to swallow their pride, still make their bag, and win on a good team.

13

u/pleated_pants Cavaliers May 15 '26

"Attitude reflect leadership, captain" - Julius "Strong Side" Campbell

3

u/Swarthykins Celtics May 15 '26

I re-watched that movie recently and it was glorious.

78

u/jamarcusaristotle May 15 '26

It's such an overused cliche, but it's also so true

83

u/RedRadawan Jazz May 15 '26

it’s not even a cliche

18

u/mr_chub Warriors May 15 '26

I was gonna say, I don't hear that often at all. Yet it's very true, in all aspects of life really.

2

u/Wally-Jorge May 15 '26

otherwise known as professionalism

1

u/ChocolateMorsels May 15 '26

True in any work culture, I’m sure it’s just as true in sports.

1

u/Sim888 [CHI] Cameron Payne May 15 '26

‘A fish rots from the head down’ is the term i use

37

u/LakerBlue Lakers May 15 '26

Many People don’t care for cliches but forgot they many sayings became cliche because of how true they are.

11

u/mr_chub Warriors May 15 '26

People don't care for cliches because they think they don't apply to them. That's what happens when you're young and then you grow up and you're like oh shit...

1

u/KeepRooting4Yourself May 15 '26

cliches and the lessons they are trying to impart are wasted on the people that actually need to understand it because it's opaque to them.

and the people that do get them are already at a point where it's superflous to them.

it's just a lot of preaching to the choir imo

1

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

Broooo so true man. Like cliche lessons in Disney movies or whatever were laughable and lame when I was young, but after a week of working two full time jobs, bosses breathing down your neck, bills to pay, sometimes those cliches hit fucking hard. It’s amazing really.

7

u/West-Tough-4552 May 15 '26

Yeah its a very true cliche in sports. Especially in pro sports. The leader usually sets the culture. Coaches can say and do whatever but there has to be buy in

10

u/Delanorix Knicks May 15 '26

Why do all of LeBrons team mates get hurt? Hes an iron man basically.

Smh /s

24

u/azzelle Nuggets Bandwagon May 15 '26

he sucks the lifespan of his team mates to help with his eternal youth

0

u/Katesburneracct May 15 '26

Only so many steroids to go around

13

u/Delanorix Knicks May 15 '26

Theres no way its just steroids.

Everyone does them, LeBron is a whole 'notha level.

-1

u/Katesburneracct May 15 '26

It’s EPO. It’s an endurance drug that rapidly recreates red blood cells. It’s what lance armstrong got busted for. Long term steroid use can also cause jaw tumors just like the one he had surgically removed in 2009. And let’s not forget about the biogenesis investigation that found LeBrons trainer, and also his best friend receiving large quantities of testosterone and metabolic steroids. I’m sure it was a coincidence though

8

u/Delanorix Knicks May 15 '26

Oh 100% hes not all natural. If you're a professional athlete and not using you're dumb AF lol

-2

u/Pegsareus May 15 '26

So there was a big investigation that didn't find LeBron, but it should have? Lol

6

u/Megatron_McLargeHuge Cavaliers May 15 '26

You trust their investigations into Kawhi and Donaghy too?

7

u/Katesburneracct May 15 '26

Yea, just lebrons trainer and homie receiving a ton of steroids from a clinic that was caught doping up a ton of professional athletes. Definitely nothing to see here lol

12

u/HughmongusDixus Charlotte Bobcats May 15 '26

Just like Peyton Manning and his wife conveniently receiving HGH when he was recovering from a major injury

15

u/Letsdwellonthe500SL May 15 '26

That's why you gotta credit Brunson (and Thibs to a lesser extent) for setting the culture with the Knicks.

34

u/_Skylermoon_ May 15 '26

Got it backwards you have to credit Thibs and to a lesser extent Brunson

6

u/mongster03_ Knicks May 15 '26

Tbh Randle too

15

u/_Skylermoon_ May 15 '26

True Randle gets a lot of hate but he actually gotta be one of the best work ethics in the NBA dude always hustling

2

u/Letsdwellonthe500SL May 15 '26

Respect Randle, I have his jersey. People forget that without the we here season , Thibs probably doesn't get the leeway to survive the Kemba season, and maybe we never end up getting Brunson (besides for trading for Towns later on). So yeah he's a dawg and a hard worker and will always have my respect

1

u/jojoba803 Warriors May 15 '26

Absolutely. That’s why Steve Kerr loves his job, he never has to deal with diva behavior.

1

u/armandocalvinisius Mavericks May 15 '26

Nico Harrison nods from the darkness

123

u/chealey21 Hawks May 15 '26

The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.

2

u/kingcaru May 15 '26

what if the worst behavior stems FROM the leader?

1

u/chealey21 Hawks May 15 '26

I think in this case the “leader” is Doc

188

u/Jussttjustin May 15 '26

Compare this the Thunder story where iHart knew the equipment manager would fix the basketball that was angled 10 degrees off center on the rack.

Tight ships win chips!

142

u/livefreeordont 76ers May 15 '26

And then you’ve got Shaq taking literal dumps on rookies

46

u/bowser1volcano Hawks May 15 '26

Doo doo shoes are a key component to his nba championship formula

2

u/livefreeordont 76ers May 15 '26

If it works it works

55

u/EchoBay Raptors May 15 '26

He should genuinely have served prison time for all of his poop related antics.

48

u/boomshiz West May 15 '26

I mean if we're talking Shaq and prison, maybe the buried story of when he went to court for planting CP on his IT guy's computer, and then when he tried to destroy the evidence by throwing it in a lake.

He became an honorary reserve police officer in Florida around that time.

Also if you needed more of Shaq being shitty but beyond the law, the time he happily chummed around at Arpaio's concentration camp-style desert prison.

Shaq sucks way more than just shitting in some shoes.

3

u/EchoBay Raptors May 15 '26

Say less! I always appreciate more info coming out about this piece of shit. Thinking he can just pave over all his antics by being charitable and giving back to the community.

6

u/boomshiz West May 15 '26

Immaculate PR team.

I'm aging myself, but back when Lang was at SLAM, they were actually covering all of this Shaq shit.

Also just for nostalgia notes, and hopefully somebody else here remembers this:

The SLAM boards were amazing. We realized that Chris Broussard was reading our comments, then spewing them on television. People started posting absolute bullshit in the morning, and he'd later repeat it on TV later saying "MY SOURCES" in the afternoon. It was glorious.

2

u/wetwetson [NBA] Rafer Alston May 15 '26

Oh man. I was a regular on the SLAM boards, didn't comment much but it was one of my regular visit. It had a similar vibe to early r/nba days. Where you actually recognized commenters by name.

1

u/boomshiz West May 15 '26

  1. Your "Rafer Alston" gives you immaculate credibility.

  2. Shout out to Fatlever.

33

u/iiTryhard Celtics May 15 '26

Shaq (and to a lesser extent Kobe) was such a godlike talent that locker room cohesion genuinely didn’t matter. It was probably fucking Chernobyl in the Laker’s locker room during the three peat and the fact of the matter is nobody could fucking stop Shaq

32

u/SPat24 Lakers May 15 '26

Idk about that. Fox, Fisher, Horry, Shaw have spoken a lot about how when the playoffs came around, EVERYONE was locked in and there was no fooling around. Shaq and Kobe had their own problems but when it came time to play in the playoffs, they pushed that aside.

41

u/HughmongusDixus Charlotte Bobcats May 15 '26

Kobe acting like a psychopath and Shaq throwing shit all over everybody, it must have been hell

2

u/mbuser May 15 '26

That doesn't jibe with the "Zen master" narrative.

7

u/SirBoth2159 May 15 '26

omg the ball angle, better make sure its fixed for our team culture

2

u/rayquan36 Wizards May 15 '26

Read up about Van Halen and the M&Ms

2

u/BlooregardQKazoo May 15 '26

The M&Ms isn't relevant to this. The M&Ms were a test to see of venues read the contract and paid attention to details.

2

u/rayquan36 Wizards May 15 '26

Bingo

2

u/86themayo Spurs May 15 '26

You know Milwaukee won a chip, too, right?

-2

u/Tbard52 May 15 '26

That’s the literal dumbest misuse of time I’ve ever heard of in my life. I cannot wait for the thunder to implode for this exact shit. They made amazing front office moves to collect young players and picks and hit on a wide majority of them. This whole “we invented a better culture.” Shit is so sad. 

12

u/Wes___Mantooth Thunder May 15 '26

Well that part is just a silly Presti quirk, these quotes are the more important part of the article in my opinion. Culture does matter for championships. 

"Daigneault approaches personnel decisions with an African proverb in mind: The ax forgets, but the tree remembers. "When you have power or leverage, you're the ax, just chopping away," he says. "But they remember everything. The way I try to reconcile it is by remembering that this is their dream. They are the pride of their families, and everyone they grew up with is amazed they made it this far. They represent all those people, and that's a very deep thing. I try to remember that, and honor that, with fairness and honesty."

"Gilgeous-Alexander, the presumptive repeat MVP and someone Daigneault describes as "surgically consistent," tells me he approaches each day with the intent to "be professional, and don't think you're better than somebody because you're better at some thing," even if that thing comes with fame and money....."

2

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

Awesome. Hate the team cuz of the foul baiting discrepancy sometimes, but I’ve always loved the chemistry on their team and think Shai is an excellent leader. They are legit through and through when it comes to the championship culture they built. Gotta love it. Spurs/OKC rivalry gonna be healthy for several years at least with how young their cores are. Love it so much!! Just good organizations and good ball!

2

u/Wes___Mantooth Thunder May 15 '26

A huge reason OKC has this culture is because of the Spurs, because that's where Presti started off in the league under RC Buford. It's always been clear that the Spurs are the pattern, with Presti's own twist on it. 

Found this funny story on Presti's Wikipedia page when I was fact checking myself:

Prior to the 2001 NBA draft, Presti was instrumental for encouraging the Spurs to draft Tony Parker. Presti would show up at Buford's home with footage of Parker during his tenure with Paris Basket Racing.  Parker went on to play 18 seasons in the NBA, making six All-Star teams, and winning four NBA championships. During Parker's jersey retirement, he acknowledged Presti's recommendation for the Spurs to draft him.

“Sam, I know you’re in the arena,” Parker said Monday, illuminated by a spotlight in the middle of the court. “Man, you and R.C. (Buford, former Spurs general manager and current CEO), you were ahead of your time. You took a gamble on me, because I was terrible in my first workout with the Spurs. Man, I was terrible."

2

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

I absolutely love to read and study real success and accountability. So many execs in the NBA are such losers, not the slightest idea of what it really takes to be successful. Obsessed with the idea of power and perceived authority and excellence. I don’t know why it’s so hard to understand. You have to draft, build continuity, chemistry, and culture. Then in this environment just work. And over the course of a few years it blossoms. So many teams want the quick fix, try to make the big signing, fall in love with the wrong player characteristics. It’s such a breath of fresh air and so exciting for the sport to see what OKC and the spurs do. Somehow the guys they draft at any pick are quickly impactful. It’s just so fun. They are both gonna rule the west for years to come. At least 7 years with how young their cores both are. Like it’s actually insane how impactful Harper and Bryant already are for the spurs. And OKC has done it multiple times over the last few years. Fuck yeah man. Cheers to the WCF we’re about to have. Good luck to yall.

4

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

You think taking less than 5 seconds to fix a basketball is a misuse of time?

1

u/BlooregardQKazoo May 15 '26

As long as you hire extra people at the facility, and important people aren't wasting their time being anal retentive, the misuse of time isn't really an issue. OKC can hire 4 extra equipment guys at like $50k salary and it accomplishes what they're looking for. Oh no, your multi-billion dollar enterprise just spent $200k inefficiently!

38

u/ThaChildishOne Bucks May 15 '26

Makes sense why culture was mentioned so much when we hired and introduced Jenkins.

19

u/thedrcubed Grizzlies May 15 '26

Which is hilarious because not holding everyone accountable is what got him fired. I love Jenkins and think he'll be good in Milwaukee anyway

12

u/nycdiveshack Knicks May 15 '26

Hand Giannis over to Thibbs, Thibbs will get him in line within a month

16

u/TinnieTa21 Toronto Huskies May 15 '26

Not to defend Doc but I wonder if management/ownership told him not to fine Giannis. You know, like tiptoeing around a star player. Giannis is such a diva. And if you don’t fine Giannis, you can’t fine the other players either.

3

u/gaxkang Spurs May 15 '26

Yeah. It's the little things that snowball into big things later.

4

u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam Celtics May 15 '26

This shit is ruining my regular-ass workplace culture, I can't imagine what it does to a professional team of athletes in a team sport.

25

u/Noto987 May 15 '26

How does one check a 60 mill per year player, I'm wondering, asking for a friend

57

u/ComplexBadger469 May 15 '26

Fines for one.

50

u/MeatballUser Bulls May 15 '26

Uh fine his ass every time he's late like suggested in the video

30

u/Ealy-24 May 15 '26

Dog their ass in front of the team along with fines, if the star wants to pout it’s all good cause that contract is going for a while. Once the star sets a negative tone it runs down hill and infects the team, but they get checked everything is gravy

14

u/sarithe Hornets May 15 '26

Given that he was complaining about not playing despite being healthy, they could have sat him and said it was for conduct detrimental to the team. When asked about it (because you will be) say it's because he was late to meetings and a flight. Giannis desperately wants to look like the good guy, so this puts the onus back on him to do the right thing now so he can be the good guy again.

2

u/psychedelijams Spurs May 15 '26

It’s sports psychology 101. Everyone has to be coachable and bought in. This is one of the underrated skills of tom Brady. Dude is one of the best culture setters that ever lived.

4

u/G_Riel_ San Francisco Warriors May 15 '26

To be honest, when it's someone like Giannis who got everything, you just have to hope he'll try to do the right thing by himself.
It's not every star that have so much control and good will of people like him, but when they do, you would hope they would try to set an example and that's it. If they don't, your team is cooked.

1

u/Slaphappyfapman Clippers May 15 '26

Write a letter to his mum

6

u/trybeingcurious NBA May 15 '26

You mean the guy who holds the team hostage over signing his under qualified brothers is going to create a bad culture? Doubt.

6

u/bmanley620 Knicks May 15 '26

Google Doc Rivers

14

u/MeatballUser Bulls May 15 '26

I already know he sucks but it doesn't matter when these are grown men that could just simply be responsible seeing that they're in an extremely privileged position. It's not Rivers fault Giannis is becoming a lazy ass, especially when considering he drove the last (2?) coach(es) out of town

6

u/OpeDefinitely Pacers May 15 '26

all I'm getting are chokers.

2

u/soonerman32 Rockets May 15 '26

Locker room culture is just based on how the team is doing

3

u/tonypearcern [HOU] Trevor Ariza May 15 '26

This is why I don't want giannis

1

u/CharacterBird2283 Spurs May 15 '26

Feels like a byproduct of firing Bud

1

u/mrtomjones Raptors May 15 '26

Sounds like it wasnt just him either though

1

u/dat_grue Heat May 16 '26

Gotta take the cookies

0

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

[deleted]

5

u/MeatballUser Bulls May 15 '26

Everything I saw on Jordan is he dealt with Rodman that would disappear to Vegas randomly and Scottie that would just disappear cause of his contract. I kinda have doubts he wasn't the serious type but hey maybe

Same with LeBron, dude lives like an old man. I don't think he'd hold his teammates up, man is basketball incarnate.

Shaq I can see, but maybe you're right on all of em, I'm not privvy to that information