New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek left many in the fan base scratching their heads after he said he said his struggling team “should hate to lose more than they love to win.”
The Knicks snapped their nine game skid against the Charlotte Hornets over the weekend, but this was merely the second win in 19 games, with the Orlando Magic being the lone team they had beaten since January.
“Everybody loves to win. But who are those guys that really hate to lose? I think when you talk to some of the coaches and the mentality of a Kobe Bryant, a Michael Jordan, a LeBron James, I think they hate to lose more than they love to win,” said Hornacek, according to ESPN's Ian Begley. “When you hate to lose, you'll do anything it takes. Whether it's taking a charge, diving on a ball, taking no play for granted, or earlier in the game helping your teammates. That's what we've got to try to develop, that mentality.”
Hornacek played against Jordan in the '80s and '90s, pocketing in his handbook his maniacal refuse-to-lose attitude that made him such a competitive nightmare for the better part of two decades. This is the same lesson he's trying to instill in his young players, who are being given plenty of opportunities without any other consequences to follow.
“When you love to win and you don't (hate to lose) it's like, ‘OK, well maybe we'll win the next game.' When you hate to lose and you lose a game, it eats at you to the next game and then you go after it,” added Hornacek. “We've got to get that mentality now.”
The likes of Enes Kanter, a seven-year veteran of the league, have already expressed displeasure and utter frustration with the constant losing, a feeling that has to rub off on the rest of the players.
The Knicks could make this the fourth straight season with at least 50 losses, and while that standard of futility could be unavoidable by the end of the season, Hornacek is doing his best to inculcate a strong mentality during this rebuilding season.
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