May 05 2009
Toughness in the NBA
The NBA is the most physical “non-contact” sport in the world. Technically speaking, much of the contact is illegal and should draw fouls. Yet, especially as the playoffs roll on much of this contact is just part of the game.
Last season, the Boston Celtics won the championship because they were physically and mentally tougher than the Lakers. To be more specific, outside of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are a team of punks. I’m tired of hearing about Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. Take Kobe and Phil Jackson away from this team, and these three would make the core of one of the worst teams in the league. They have no toughness, little heart and the minute an opponent jabs them, they back down.
Conversely, I think Dirk Nowitski is the punk on Dallas. Don’t get me wrong, Nowitski is a great player, he’s everything that GMs look for in the European player. He’s tall, is a lights out shooter, skilled passer and ball handler, but he’s also a punk. In game one of the Denver series, as long as he was 15 feet away from the basket he was effective ( and as I write this, he failed to capitalize on a size mismatch against Dahntay Jones in the post). Nowitski doesn’t have a great team around him, so I doubt he could win a title with this team. Still, until he’s able to man up to the inevitable elbows to the chest by his defenders, he’ll always fade as the playoffs go deeper. Yao Ming has adjusted to the physical nature of the NBA, and he gets beat on much more.
I love the effect Chauncey Billups has had on Denver. Allen Iverson has always been my boy, and I still believe that if he’d one other “star” type player next to him during the Larry Brown years in Philly he might have stole a championship. That being said, Billups turned this soft, non defensive team into a physical contender. At some point though, Carmelo Anthony needs to make the transition into the definitive superstar. I still look at him and see Glenn Robinson. Supremely skilled, but lacking that “it” factor which makes Kobe, Lebron, Dwayne Wade champions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team win a championship, but in the end it’s going to have to be Melo carrying them there.
Lebron James…enough said. New York Knicks fans, get that thought of him coming to NYC out of your heads. The more I watch him play with his team of castoffs, the more I have the feeling the King will finally deliver. His cast is very underrated. They were making a point in the broadcast of game one against Atlanta about how many former NBA starters were on their bench. And this isn’t unproductive, old veterans playing for the minimal. Some of these guys were key figures in their Finals run just two years ago. Perhaps most imporantly, these guys are tough enough to know their roles, accept them, and yet take the shots rather than watching Lebron.
