We’ve probably all been yelled at by a boss. I recently worked for a large software company as a sales representative. I was doing well, had a few things work out my way and I was consistently beating my sales quota number for several consecutive quarters. Having early success in any job usually earns you a degree of trust and respect among your colleagues and with your manager. But not my manager, he was waiting for an opening so he could pounce.
As I was just about to hit my one year mark with this company and I was having a slow quarter. Making my number for the quarter came down to me closing a large sale with one particularly difficult customer. It was difficult but I overcame a lot of obstacles and objections by this customer and received the signed contract at 6 pm on the last day of the quarter. We all celebrated as I submitted the deal to accounting. I had beat my quota again. Or so I thought. Well it turned out that someone in finance–after all of my hard work– had mistakenly put an internal hold on this customer requiring a 15 day pending period on any contract they signed due to pending litigation, blah blah…the short of it was that MY COMPANY had made a mistake and finance booked the deal in the next quarter.
And then my manager pounced. After the news broke he waited until I was in the hallway between the cubicles of a heavily trafficked area and let me have it for “blowing” this huge deal. The deal had closed (in the wrong quarter, but regardless). Some dude in finance had made the mistake. Yet I was the one getting reamed in front of the whole floor.
A similar scene unfolded in Utah on Thursday night. After a blowout game 1 loss and a game 2 that was headed that direction as well, Deron Williams felt he needed to send a message. So how did he do it? He singled out the rookie.
See how Deron waves in frustration as Gordon misses his route assignment. Next he throws the missile at Hayward’s head. Hayward looks a little rattled but still completes a good play.
Gordon Hayward is a rookie who has surprised people his whole basketball career, starting with his parents (both of whom are 5’10″). Not highly recruited out of high school he ends up at a smaller program in Butler and becomes a star right out of the gates. He eventually leads his team to the NCAA finals against a team full of Duke blue chippers and almost wins the game on his own. Doubters remain yet he plugs away, hustling, passing, moving well without the ball, the things that get you minutes in the Jerry Sloan system and the acclaim of the sabermetrics guys who claim Shane Battier is the best player in the NBA.
It wasn’t that long ago that Deron Williams was condemned to the bench. Then the 2 guard position. All he was doing his rookie year was showing a lot of potential and playing hard. But Coach Sloan keeps his players humble and hungry for his approval. That hunger seems to drive Deron, he’s the one superstar in the NBA that isn’t constantly whining for trades or talking to teams in bigger or warmer cities. Jerry Sloan’s leadership style seems to have kept Deron in Utah. Now it seems that the student (Deron Williams) has become the master.
Now was it fair for Deron Williams to single out Gordon Hayward? No. The success of the Utah Jazz ride on the shoulders of veterans like Williams, Millsap, Kirilenko and Jefferson. But Deron Williams showed that there are no sacred cows, no rookies who will be coddled this year. He shook things up and they payoff was great, a 120-99 blowout of the division rival Oklahoma Thunder on Halloween.
My story with my boss didn’t end well, the relationship with my manager was forever changed. He didn’t apologize or make a reasonable effort to make things right. That day I started planning my exit from the company. Deron will do well to show increased trust in Hayward and make sure that no rift will form. Its a long season and tough lessons need to be used sparingly.
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Cold Sports Fan is a lifetime Utah Jazz and NBA fan. He also follows college and pro football and is currently working on his MBA full time. 
I hear ya on both the boss and Williams’s play. If he’s going to bring the tough love, he better make it count, and be the role model for that team. Nothing screams “I’m an asshole” that brings that routine out too often.