Dave Hyde: Dolphins have articulated a good plan — now can it come alive in draft?

Look around town at the teams with the most success. Miami Heat president Pat Riley has two rules for every team employee: No complaining and no gossiping. Those five words offer a glimpse into Riley’s larger ideas on running a championship team.

Does any coach mobilize the English language better than Florida Panthers’ Paul Maurice? From trotting out the sarcastic Will Ferrell line after a playoff loss — “Panic!” — to detonating any tension after laying into players on the bench — “They needed some profanity in their lives” — he offers a daily course in how a strong leader sounds whether winning Stanley Cup titles or losing like this past season.

The best leaders in any business, you see, choose words carefully. Film director Clint Eastwood refused to bark out, “Action!” and “Cut” on his sets, because it startled horses on his Western films — and actors in some way, too, he felt.

There are a hundred ways up the mountain for sports teams, but they all start with a strong leader’s direction. Don Shula repeated the goals the first day of every training camp: Win the division, win home-field for the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. Simple, right? But putting it on the table for everyone to hear gave it weight.

Jimmy Johnson’s strength was boiling the complex process of drafting players into five simple thoughts beyond the obvious one of talent: Intelligence, hard work, a playmaker, a gym rat and good character.

“You don’t win championships with bums,” Johnson said concerning that last trait.

Sun Sentinel’s final NFL mock draft: Who will Dolphins select at No. 11 and 30?

A strong leader’s developed ideas might come out in mumbling fashion, like Bill Belichick’s, “On to Cincinnati,” to express moving forward after a loss. It might be Bill Parcells expressing a relevant thought this week about young players, “If they don’t bite as puppies, they probably don’t bite.”

We’ll see where this goes with the Dolphins new regime. It’s still early. But across these opening few months you’re haven’t seen or heard anything that raises red flags of concern.

There’s been no coach Mike McDaniel calling his players, “teammates,” in expressing his kumbaya culture, There’s been no quarterback Tua Tagovailoa signing a massive contract and immaturely telling fans, “Show me the money!”

There’s certainly been nothing like Grier saying he didn’t consider injury history in picking players or saying the media worried more about the offensive line problems than he did. Beyond that, did Grier ever lay out his plan for winning football? Did he ever, for instance, explain the big switch from an organization built around drafts to one that traded draft picks for big-money players?

Sullivan has been repetitively clear of his philosophy: His way is to draft and develop players. He’s done that first step of articulating his plan. This upcoming draft is the next step, the one where these broad, philosophical brush strokes about competition and character are brought to life with young players.