Let's say the team has 2 captains. Who are the two guys leading this charge? Rose? Former MVP, still decent, maybe great again? Butler? Best player on the team as of now. MAX player. Seemingly has desires to be "the man." Gasol? All-star last season and all-NBA team member. Championship experience and the maturity to lead. Noah? The heart and soul of the team and also quite an accomplished NBA player. Hinrich? He has captain in his nickname. OK, he's not in the running. He might have a leadership position in the organization next year at this time though. Tough to figure out who the leader(s) should be. Lots of alphas on this squad. You can't have 4 captains.
OK. The team will likely have to by opening night though. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Lots of tough decisions ahead.
To be honest, I can't really think of a good answer. If you don't make Rose a captain, its going to be a blow to an already fragile guy and Team Rose will be pissed. He might not be coming back after a slight like that. But, we might not want him to resign a big $$$ deal with the Bulls when is contract is up. We need him to perform the next couple years though. Gasol is mature enough and might be at the stage of his career where it might not matter to him. Although he was a starting all-star and all-NBA 2nd teamer last season, so he's still quite relevant. Noah.... it depends if he's in the long term plans for the team and if he can really play very well anymore at all. He was/is the heart n' soul, but that was of the Thibs Bulls. Butler is the best player on the team and deserves it. He's probably going to be the guy that leads this team whereever its going the next 5 years. Gun to my head, I'm going Rose and Butler. It keeps both guys happy and engaged and makes a statement about dealing with whatever "rift" exists. I'm sure Gasol will be cool and Noah is the loser in this. A long talk would have to be had and hopefully he deals with it. Sadly, he's probably not much of a long term guy based on his health and may be the least important of the four for the team in the next season or two.
Butler and Noah. Butler's the best player on the team, has paid his dues, and assumes the most responsibility of anyone on the team. He's earned it. I get the impression Noah is still the heart and soul of the locker room, and unlike Kirk still has an NBA game. It just doesn't make sense to cater to Rose's sense of self anymore. That ship has passed. Gasol's good but has only been here a year. Kirk's done. Taj is an interesting choice as a co-captain since he still has game and seems to be one of the boys, but I get the impression Noah still takes the lead behind closed doors.
Ok, new related question. Should the head coach pick the captains or should the players be allowed to name the captains?
I think their main role is to speak to the head coach on behalf of the players. I have no sense of how important this is.
