The following is an excerpt from Knicks favorite Bill Bradley's book, Values of the Game. Of course there is no way you can be a Knicks fan and not be familiar with "Dollar Bill" Bradley, unless you are so young that the greatest Knick you ever saw was Steve Francis. Bill Bradley is one of the most legendary Knicks; an alum with the likes of Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Phil Jackson and Dave DeBusschere who not only had stellar basketball careers, but also notable post-game careers. Princeton grad Bill Bradley should know a little about leadership. He was drafted by the Knicks in 1965 and was with the team, after playing in the Italian League, for 10 years. An Olympian, Hall of Famer and former All-star, Bradley played on two Knicks Championship teams. After basketball, he entered politics and was a powerful senator for New Jersey for 18 years. He ran for President of the United States in 2000. His number 24 is retired and hanging in the Garden rafters.
Leadership: Bringing Out The Best
Leadership means getting people to think, believe, see, and do what they might not have without you. It means possessing the vision to set the right goal and the decisiveness to pursue it single-mindedly. It means being aware of the fears and anxieties felt by those you lead even as you urge them to overcome those fears. It can appear in a speech before hundreds of people or in a dialogue with one other person – or simply by example.
To the Bulls’ Phil Jackson, the key leadership function for a coach in the pros is getting winning is the purpose of playing, but to achieve that end a coach frequently has to create a context larger than the immediate game. At each level I played, the desire to win was a reflection of a deeper desire. In my small-town high school, the motivation was to beat the big city schools; in college, the challenge was for a group of athletes who were primarily students to beat the best in the NCAA; in the pros, the larger purpose was to show that a team without a dominant star could win the NBA title. Pete Carril’s idea of leadership was to ask his players to give a little more than they thought they were capable of achieving. That’s why Princeton on occasion became a giant killer.
A wise coach doesn’t do all the talking. Sometimes with the right group, he’ll let the team members put pressure on players who are problem children. In 1994, the Bulls without Michael Jordan, were playing the Knicks for the Eastern Conference semifinals. In the last seconds of a close game three, Jackson called the game-deciding play, with Toni Kukoc rather than Scottie Pippen as the shooter. An angered Pippen took himself out of the game. Kukoc hit the shot and the Bulls won, but Pippen‘s highly visible act of insubordination posed an immediate challenge for Jackson. Phil declined to come down hard on Pippen in his postgame interview. In the locker room however, he closed the door, announced that he thought the team had something to say to Pippen, and then left the room Bill Cartwright, a quintessential team player who was in the final year of his career, was so upset that he was close to tears as he asked Pippen how he could have let the team down after all they had sacrificed for as a group throughout the year. Other players chimed in along similar lines. Pippen, man enough to see his error, apologized on the spot, and in the next game he was back contributing to the Bulls’ performance. If Phil himself had confronted Scottie, the result might not have been as positive; by harnessing the team to do his work, he was more effective.
as his icon, has caught the attention of the gay community for his drop dead (No, I'm still Lives. LOL) handsome looks. Today 
