It takes all sorts of creative tactics to get players motivated these days, but as it turns out, few things are as effective as good old fashion dollar bills. Red Auerbach understood that when he started offering all sorts of monetary incentives to his Celtics players for winning. David Stern understood that when he started hitting players in their pocketbooks for breaking the rules.
It’s a strategy not lost on today’s coaches. Back in 2010, then-Celtics coach Doc Rivers famously hid $2,600 in a ceiling tile in the Staples Center, the catch being that the only way they’d make it back into the building that season was if they made it all the way to the NBA Finals. Boston, of course, did precisely that (although they’d end up losing in seven games), and everyone eventually got their money back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ02v7xR48
Now, it’s come to light that Tyronn Lue did something similar during the NBA Finals last June.
https://twitter.com/WillBurge/status/780469570452787201
https://twitter.com/WillBurge/status/780469819690934272
https://twitter.com/WillBurge/status/780470007583105024
https://twitter.com/WillBurge/status/780470371090894848
It was either an ingenious (yet derivative) ploy by one of the league’s savviest young coaches, or mere happenstance. Either way, it looks like everybody got their money back, which was just the icing on the cake after delivering the city of Cleveland its first championship in more than 50 years.
