I'd wager there's a difference between toughness and a hard work ethic. The guy has never been much of a guy to weight train to stay healthy. In fact that's been one of his criticisms for having an early ending career. And lets not forget we're talking about the guy who was whining about practice just a few years ago.
As much as I love TMAC, I have to say he didn't broke his back this offseason, he had it for a long time already.
Duncan? I question any player in the league who doesn't have any muscle tone whatsoever. I'll give him fundamentally sound but not hardworker. How about Shaq??
Kelvin Cato Maurice Taylor Moochie Norris Juwan Howard Stromile Swift to name a few..... Good players, hard workers, example setters, and ALL blessed to be a Rocket. We are a lucky franchise.
I can't believe nobody mentioned Gilbert Arenas. The guy is a workout freak and spends every free moment of the offseason AND the regular season improving his game. He even went to Kwame Brown's house to try and drag his lazy ass to practice and workouts. The work ethic didn't rub off.
Bruce Bowen - now 34 years old, and at the height of his career, both defensively and (such as it is) offensively - can now drive and pull-up or shoot the 3. Getting older AND getting better, with not nearly the natural talent most of the cats mentioned have = damn hard worker.
