When I think of toughness I start off with physical toughness and it is hard to be a physically tough team when you play small lineups. When you play without big men.
When your two centers (Rob Williams, TT) are both 6-8. When your bench PFs are 6-6 (G-Will, Semi) and your starting PF (Tatum) is more of a finesse SF with good size.
When that is your starting point you are often being beaten physically and out-toughed in the paint. That forces you into a reactive rather than proactive stance.
It also puts a lot of pressure on your guards and wing players to make up the difference. Our PGs are all small guards who cannot do that which means we are relying heavily on our wings. Marcus Smart is our main instigator and tough guy.
It is a lot to ask smaller players to make up that difference night after night season after season. It is draining.
They need help. They need someone in the paint to offer more physicality and toughness. It's like the 90s Bulls after MJ returned but Horace Grant had left. They desperately needed Dennis Rodman to be that guy. To make them more competitive in the paint so that their smaller wing based core could succeed. They needed Rodman to stand-up to bigger lineups.
Can Rob Williams be that guy? Not if he is only playing 20-25mpg.
Can TT be that guy? Not without more help. LeBron gave him that protection in Cleveland and - make no mistake - having a 6-8 260lbs guy barrelling down the lane and delivering punishment on opponents is major physicality.
We can't keep expecting our guards and wings to overcome a physical toughness in the paint. They need more help.
Good stuff as usual Who. I have to ask you, do you think Stevens is partly responsible for Tatum's lack of toughness?
Stevens constantly tries to hide Jayson on the defensive end by putting him on the worst 2 thru 4 players on the opposition while Brad puts Brown on the toughest opponent at those positions. Brown has pretty consistently been guarding PFs for a couple years now.
Would making Tatum guard tougher opposition make him tougher?
I see Tatum's toughness similar today as he was while at Duke. So I see that as mainly down to him but you could say Stevens hasn't worked on him enough to improve in this area.
What I like about Tatum in terms of toughness is that he doesn't get overpowered / overwhelmed by other big forwards when he does get those assignments -- Giannis aside. Tatum does well (surprisingly well) on the LeBron's of this world. The word I would use to describe Tatum's D is more resisting than instigating. He can handle others physicality well but does not initiate much of it himself. He absorbs it. He can handle it. But he doesn't dish it out.
Tatum reminds of LaMarcus Aldridge in a way -- not the most physical of players or dedicated defensively but his sheer size intimidated most opponents from even testing him. So he got away with a lot of things just by being 7 feet and long (in direct one-on-one play) where guys would pass up on opportunities to attack him. I see Tatum having a similar impact on opponents. Opponents respect Tatum's size and are bothered by his length - even more so than Jaylen Brown.
I don't think Tatum needs to protected by Stevens as much as he is. I like Jaylen more in terms of getting tight & being physical but Tatum is often more effective in those matchups (against bigger forwards like LeBron or Kawhi) by playing further off and using his length to intimidate than Jaylen's aggressiveness.
I do believe responsibility can help a player be more accountable for his actions on the floor and thus make him a bit tougher but usually it is only small to medium gains rather than large gains. I am thinking of Pau Gasol as I write this. He got physically tougher and more aggressive as a rebounder during his first two years with the Lakers. Phil Jackson did a good job of challenging him to be more aggressive on the boards and did give Pau some tough defensive assignments. So I do think it is possible to improve a player's toughness this way.
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I remember reading about a soccer player awhile back, a defender (Bonucci of Juventus), who went to great lengths to make himself tougher. He hired a trainer to abuse him mentally in his basement over and over for years. It worked for him. He became one of top defenders in the world after being overlooked and considered too soft early in his career.
“Over the years I took Bonucci into my basement. Underground. In the dark. There, with a tone anything but kind or sweet, I offended him in every way possible. I judged him. I insulted him. If he made even the slightest attempt to glance at me, he’d receive a punch straight to the stomach. The objective? To win over judgement, so Leo would always be focused and ignore everything else around him. That’s how I started making him into a soldier.”
There is a whole bunch of crazy ideas you see guys come up with to make themselves tougher (in and out of sports).
I know some NBA guys hire Navy Seals to train them and do endurance running up sand dunes. Things like that. More exercise work and some others hire those sports psychologists.
Bonucci's example though is probably the most extreme I've come across!
Topic: Sorry C’s fans there’s proof this team is ‘soft’ (Read 7812 times)