So, I’ve referenced team attitude in a couple recent blogs lately. You guys must be wondering, “what is this girl’s fascination with behind-the-scenes stuff? What we care about it is the action on the court.”

I care about both because I believe both to be important. No, you can’t replace a Lebron James with a Greg Stiemsma, but you can’t win with a team full of Lebron James’.

And that’s not because they would all hog the ball. It’s because there would be sheer role confusion. Every player on a basketball team fills a niche, a role that they alone must fill to ensure chemistry. That role could be back-up point guard, cheering hard from the sidelines and working hard on the practice court, not only to better himself, but to motivate the starter and the rest of the team with him. That role could be leader, maintaining positivity in the face of all adversity, checking his ego at the gym doors, and keeping his yap shut when the coach takes control. That role could be a quiet one, listening to the coach, to teammates, and never saying a bad word in return.

Each role fulfills an essential part of a team’s atmosphere. And it is the atmosphere that can lead to great things. I mean, yes you can pull a Miami Heat and stack your team with stars. But then why did the Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks beat these Avengers in the finals?

Because both the Spurs and Mavericks had teams.

They boasted strong rosters, no doubt, but the one thing better than three stars are three role guys who buy into the system.

The raptors were the shining spectacle of this in 2013-2014, before Casey was questioned and before the new arrivals became heroes for Toronto fans.

Their roster was littered with no-names and yet the franchise made the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

“Stay hungry and humble,” Dwane Casey said.

And so they did, each buying into their roles and growing together as a unit. But no growth was evidenced the next year, after Kyle Lowry added All-Star to his name and the men saw the fame they already had.

I’m not going to pretend my high school basketball bore any resemblance to the NBA, but it caused me to believe that healthy ecosystems are far better than hierarchical societies. And just because NBA players are professionals, it doesn’t mean they can turn off the portion of their brain that makes us human: emotion. If the emotional, behind-the-scenes team is a healthy one, then the on-court team will be too.