Thanks for the kudos everyone. One thing I forgot to mention is that JT was there at Nicks...which is probably why Morey mentioned him..... DD
You mean it's a talent, right? Skill is something you learn and you hone. Talent is what you are born with. I agree that playing hard consistently is a talent. Not everyone has it. It's in the gene. Most players can play hard in spurts. But only a few can sustain it for a long time in every game.
Morey is upbeat regarding taylor and mcgrady. chase will probaly spend sometime with our affiiate nbdl club this season.
I disagree with this big time. Talent is something every coach looks for 1st, but if two guys are even close to the same skills in talent, your better off going with the guy with a little less talent, works hard, practices hard and always give you 100% hustle. If talent was the only thing that makes you succeed, why hasn't Tracy gotten out of the 1st round while Shane and Scola have? As a baseball coach I do look for talent, but I also look for attitude and hard work. That can trump a kid who has talent but expects everything to come easy. When things don't go right for the guy with talent instead of pushing thru, as a hard worker would he tends to let his head drop, catches a bad attitude and gives up. Guys that work hard have more stamina and at the end of the day will be the ones still standing, thinking about the next play.
I completely agree with Morey on this. What he's saying is that playing hard is a quantifiable attribute that can be factored in along with all the other more commonly used metrics to determine a player's overall value. Morey is not the type to be blinded by talent to the extent he'd overlook other important factors. He'd never take Stromile Swift over Chris Anderson or Stephon Marbury over Jameer Nelson, for example, despite the seeming talent lopsidedness. Talented players who don't play hard rarely show up on championship rosters -- at least not in any meaningfull role. Let the Clippers sign Baron Davis. Give me a moderately talented PG you can depend on to bust his ass every game instead. It's not like Baron's wearing any rings anyway.
What is this steaming pile of doo doo? Talking about Chuck Hayes being a miss? Talking about a very long deal? 4 years?
LOL ... no. DD skipped a few words in there. You can listen towards the end of the segment: <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" width="210" height="25" id="mp3playerdarksmallv3" align="middle"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.podbean.com/podcast-audio-video-blog-player/mp3playerdarksmallv3.swf?audioPath=http://thegame.podbean.com/mf/play/6mhfwr/darylmorey9-25-091.mp3&autoStart=no" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <embed src="http://www.podbean.com/podcast-audio-video-blog-player/mp3playerdarksmallv3.swf?audioPath=http://thegame.podbean.com/mf/play/6mhfwr/darylmorey9-25-091.mp3&autoStart=no" quality="high" width="210" height="25" name="mp3playerdarksmallv3" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></embed> </object> <br /><a style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; padding-left: 41px; color: #2DA274; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: none;" href="http://www.podbean.com">Powered by Podbean.com</a> Tad Brown was talking before about the Rockets ability to pick up players that initially people don't think much of, but end up being key pieces. Morey's quote was more like: "we've had some misses. what we try to do, when we miss we miss on things that don't impact the future. steve francis didn't work out. barry could have worked out, but von outplayed him. and i'd add to Tad's point ... [starts talking about Chuck but is cut short by the hosts]"
tcadriel and topfive, I disagree especially in sport like basketball. Tcad, u say u coach baseball, but baseball is a sport in which impact players don't have the same impact as a impactful hoops guy. In baseball, a guy can go 4-4 and zero impact on the game. In basketball, the impact is greater, much greater. The heat traded 3/5 of their starting lineup for shaq and 2 yrs later won the title. Talent is what wins and you never take the less talented unless the other guy is a dog. I can use lamar odom vs scola. Cola plays much harder than odom, but who would u rather have? There is a reason why LA never loses when he plays well. Just like when rasheed was feeling it, he would turn into a top 5 pf and the best player on the court. Most coaches would rather have the option of getting the most out of a talent vs asking a guy to do something he isn't capable of. Elite players win titles not limited role players cause they play hard.
If talent is the only thing that makes you succeed, McCants would be a starter and not a training camp invitee. Ryan Bowen would never even sniff the NBA court. And "the next Micheal Jordan" would've appeared many times already this past decade. Even from personal experience, I have seen people with much less "book smart" than myself get much better grades in college through sheer practice and determination. Something I really wish I am better at.
I think you got confused. What DM and the rest of the posters here are talking about is hard work, and not intensity or aggresiveness (i.e. playing hard). If you're not talking about aggresiveness, then Lamar Odom vs Scola is a bad comparison because Odom is a hard worker-anybody who watched the Lakers knows this because Odom is in shape, his defence improved significantly his understanding of the triangle offense grew since last year. What Odom lacks is aggresiveness, at times he was too passive and didn't seemed to vanish on the court. On the other hand Scola is not just a gritty and tough player, he has quite a bit of talent as well. He's just not that athletic, but he's relatively quick, good reflexes, nice court vision and high bball iq. Your statement about Rasheed Wallace is funny because you are right-Rasheed is indeed one of the top 5 pfs in the game when he is in the mood. However how often does that happen? That qualifier is a reason why Detroit decided not to resign him. It should obvious to everyone that hard work is more important than talent, because its not just applicable to bball but in real life. Why are you even arguing against this, its common sense. Of course having both is better, and when you have both talent and hard work you end up with Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Howard etc. On the other hand if you have just the talent and no work then you end up with someone like Eddy Curry.
GMs and coaches take good character, hard working players over more talented all the time. I think leebigez is mixing it up a bit when he says elite players win titles because elite players are the ones who have both and are definitely the winners of this discussion (although there are perhaps more talented players like them).
Playing with intensity is definitly a skill. Sometimes I miss a few words but try to get the context.... DD
Lamar Odom does too many things really well, and he just won a championship. Heck yeah I'd rather have him. But would you rather have Zach Randolph or Luis Scola? Would you have rather had Darius Miles 4 years ago or Shane Battier?
