Currently with Team USA as an assistant to Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue has never really left the NBA since his Draft in 1998. At the end of his career, in 2009, he thus became an assistant, before climbing the ladder to become coach of the Cavaliers, then the Clippers. For 25 years, he has seen the NBA evolve, and in particular rejuvenate. The squads have fewer players, and it is the veterans who pay the price.
“When I came to the NBA, we had a lot of veterans on the team who taught me to tell the good from the bad. Brian Shaw, Robert Horry, Horace Grant, Shaq, Derek Fisher, Glen Rice, Eddie Jones… I had a lot of veterans who showed me the right way,” recalls Lue. “Today when you look at the NBA rosters and the way they’re built, there are a lot of young people, the oldest on the team might be 25. »
For the Clippers coach, the rookies will find themselves on their own when they land in the NBA, with money flowing freely, far from their families, at the heart of a very competitive and very demanding professional system.
“They don’t really understand… They have a lot of money, but they don’t realize the next steps to becoming a man, what it takes to learn to give it your all on the pitch, and be someone. of course on and off the pitch. When I arrived in the league, there were always these old, these veterans who taught us and showed us the way. And we lost some of that in our league. »
“Not all teams are lucky enough to have an Udonis Haslem”
An evolution that Damian Lillard had already pointed out a few months ago. “Young people are exposed to many things that can put them at risk. And the parents are no longer there to hold their hand since the players will move away from them to live their lives. Therefore, it’s important to have elders who have come a long way to show how to do things right. These youngsters need older players. »
For Lillard, the NBA should impose having at least two thirty-year-olds per team, and Lue like him takes the example of Udonis Haslem.
“Not every team is lucky to have a Udonis Haslem, guys like that, who have been there for a long time, but can also control the youngsters, set them up, tell them what it should look like and how it must be ” concludes Lue. “That’s what we’re missing. I wouldn’t call it a lack of professionalism, but rather a lack of mentorship, of elders and veterans who could show the way for the young people, because we have a lot of talent. There is a lot of talent in this league and the young players are amazing, but I think what we miss is having veterans in the locker room to share their knowledge with these young people. »
