Is playing hard a skill?

I understand the concept of considering it a skill in a semantic way, in order to use it as a quantitative measure, I don't think of it as a skill in the literal sense, but more a matter of desire and commitment.

Either way, I think it is a great evaluative tool for Morey.

 

Can it be call a skill when all you need is a contract year for the player to obtain it?

 

(arriving late to the discussion...DD, do something about that traffic there in Austin )

I just skimmed through the pages so I don't know if this was brought up or not.

The consequences of calling "working hard" a skill is now people can say, "I can't work hard because I don't have the skill". And I call that bullsh.t.

It's just another damn excuse for the un-initiative.

 

Back in the late 80'sand 90's playing hard was the norm. it's a hame nowdays that playing hard by you're star plyers is considerd a skill or even a luxtuary

 

DD, I can't ride shotgun on this one. You never hear a coach call a play for a guy that is playing harder than everyone else. I have heard coaches call a play late in the game because a guy is a triple threat. You're supposed to play hard just like if your wife dumps you, paying child support is something you're supposed to do. Just because guys don't do it as much as they used to doesn't make it a skill just like you're not special because you take care of your kids as chris rock would say.

 

A coach should not call a play for a player that puts no effort into executing a play correctly. You need to play with some effort, or you won't achieve anything. And, all else being roughly the same, the harder you play the more likely you are to execute.

Or do you think its a good idea for a coach to call a player for someone who doesn't care and is just going through the motions out there?

It's like shooting. You need to have some shooting ability to get the ball, and the better you are at shooting the more likely you'll finish the play (all else being roughly the same). But is shooting all you need? No.

The other argument is that anyone can play hard if they put their mind to it. Maybe everyone can hit a free throw also if they put their mind to it. It's still a skill, because some players are just better at putting their mind to it than others. You may then say that hitting free throws takes practice, whereas playing hard is just a matter of doing it. But I'd say that playing hard as a habit also takes practice. If your mind and body isn't used to playing hard, it's going to be more difficult for you to do so when your teammates expect it. Its takes a combination of mental concentration and endurance that some players have a large pool of to tap into, while others don't. But over time, you can built it up.

 

Thats the Rockets top skill. Playing hard.
Battier, Scola, Landry, Hayes, Lowry, Yao. They all play hard 100% of the time.

 

Playing hard is not skill, but will, effort and attitude. V. Carter has much better skills than lots of players, but plays without much will and effort, his attitude is not good either, that is why he is not a big time winner.

 

Crashing the boards after you attempted a shot is something every decent coach will teach you. But not everyone does it.

 

If you can learn it, it's a skill.

Any person can learn to play hard.

If you don't believe me, bring me the laziest person you know and I will attach an electric dog training collar to their nuts, and I promise that they will be playing their little hearts out in a very short period of time. I could shock a persons jewels till they are the size of a watermelon and if they can't shoot they still won't be making shots.

Playing hard is a skill.

 

You never hear a coach call a play for Battier, Bowen. The master of the art of defense. So they aren't skillful? You never see a coach designed a play for Shaq at the dying seconds of the game, so he is not skillful? You never see a coach call a play for someone that can't shoot a 3 say duncan when they are down by 3. You will always see the coach call plays for players like Horry/Kerr, so this make them the most skillful players in the team? Just because the coach will not call such plays for players that work hard, you termed these players as unskillful?

 

Agree. Playing hard is most definetly a skill.

 

Playing hard is an attribute, not a skill. As someone here has already said, a skill is something you have to practice - being "skilled' implies a certain level of expertise. It's pretty obvious when someone is an expert shooter, an expert passer or an expert rebounder. But how can he/she be an expert at "playing hard?"

In fact, can anyone here really define "playing hard" other than with largely subjective adjectives/descriptors? "Hustling" and "giving 100%" sound nice, but what do they really mean. Maybe you could say someone who plays hard also "plays physically" or "never gives up on a play" or "always dives for the loose ball." But again, the first two phrases are largely subjective, and the third doesn't by itself mean someone is "playing hard."

That being said, I don't think playing hard is an inherent/genetic thing. I think it's a mentality that is developed by your environment - your parents, teachers, coaches and other influential people/circumstances in your life.

Overall, I would say that "playing hard" is not a skill, but an attribute that consists of a number of objective behaviors/actions (diving/fighting for loose balls, sprinting down the court on every play, never hanging back on plays) that occur with enough consistency to establish a pattern. I would liken it to tolerance - you don't say someone is "skilled" at being tolerant. Rather, a tolerant person consistently acts and responds "tolerantly" in various situations.

 

Like others have said, playing hard is an attribute based on your own personal endurance. Choosing how hard you play can be a skill, knowing when to conserve or use energy for certain situations to keep yourself at max efficiency as the game goes on. Going 100% on defense all the time is extremely draining and will affect your offensive game if you don't pick times to take it easy a bit.

 

I agree with what you have said. But I guess what OP means is "being able to play hard on the NBA court is a skill."
Everybody can play hard including you and me. But are you able to play hard to score? Are you able to play hard to defend without a foul? This is key of the poll. Superficially, no. Sophisticately, yes.

 

It is an asset/skill but should NOT be confused as part of talent or other basketball skills (shooting, jumping, passing, defense, etc)

 

Just curious, everyone who's voting playing hard is NOT a skill... have you all played competitive sports? I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone who has trained in a competitive setting DOESN'T think playing hard is a skill and one of the most important ones.

Playing hard doesn't mean you sprint up and down the court, it encompasses both physical and mental aspects. It means you dont take plays off, that you yourself can match the tempo of the game when it picks up and slows down, that you're able to maintain focus the entire time competition is going on. It means you've conditioned yourself so that you continue to play hard even when the game looks lost and that you can play through the ebbs and flows of the game.

You're telling me that being able to push yourself during a marathon or the Tour de France isn't a SKILL? What are white people loving Lance Armstrong for then? Do you think he won all those titles because he was FASTER than everyone else?

Also it's a bit staggering that people dont think you have to train up to play hard. You dont walk on the court being able to go hard for 48 minutes. You have to train that up just like any other skill in order to be able to do that so that you're mentally and physically ready for all 4 quarters.

Playing hard is a skill that's closely associated with other skills and attributes associated with winning. Being competitive is an attribute, playing hard is one of the manifestations of that attribute as an actual game skill. Being clutch is skill that's a manifestation of the same competitive attribute, but playing hard means you can maintain physical and mental focus the entire game, not simply at the end.