Maylay....

[Diesel]

One of the things that I would like to hear coming out of camp is that we have much physical play from our PFs and C. Not to the point that it causes disharmony or injury but to the point that during the season, our front court becomes known for being physical. One of the thing that is true of most Championship teams is that there is a smart physicality that exist in the frontcourt. I don't think we can be finesse up front and win.

[T21]

One of the things that I would like to hear coming out of camp is that we have much physical play from our PFs and C. Not to the point that it causes disharmony or injury but to the point that during the season, our front court becomes known for being physical. One of the thing that is true of most Championship teams is that there is a smart physicality that exist in the frontcourt. I don't think we can be finesse up front and win.

It's not so much physical thoughness... I believe that we need to get tougher mentally and play up to our strenghts (athleticism, young legs, long rotation, high intensity)!

Let's face it, we're not gonna bully anyone... but that's not our style anyway! We'll be fine as long as we play up to our strenghts! That's where coach LD comes into play...

[Swatguy]

One of the things that I would like to hear coming out of camp is that we have much physical play from our PFs and C. Not to the point that it causes disharmony or injury but to the point that during the season, our front court becomes known for being physical. One of the thing that is true of most Championship teams is that there is a smart physicality that exist in the frontcourt. I don't think we can be finesse up front and win.

I was talking today about physicalities. Etan, Powell, Zaza and Twin are not finesse players. Rubbing Al and Josh a little cannot hurt. I also look to Marvin and Joe to be more physical. We have seen glimpses of that from Marvin in the past. If Marvin can buy into defense and using his "Big" body (He's bigger than Josh, as tall as Al) as his mantra rather than finding space for his jump shot, we/he will be the better. I remarked of Joe, when you see him in person close up he looks much bigger than 6'7. What he does in his 6'8ish" body is amazing. We have a lot of options on the floor.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Swatguy

[Diesel]

It's not so much physical thoughness... I believe that we need to get tougher mentally and play up to our strenghts (athleticism, young legs, long rotation, high intensity)!

Let's face it, we're not gonna bully anyone... but that's not our style anyway! We'll be fine as long as we play up to our strenghts! That's where coach LD comes into play...

I think you are looking at the chicken egg syndrome. When Woody was here, he employed a switching defense. While that may have been used to protect the holes in our defense, I think that what it really did was make us softer defensively. We didn't have to fight through picks or do anything to stay with our man. Hell, we didn't box out or fight for anything. We just went out there and hoped that we can use enough athleticism to finesse the ball towards our direction. While that worked in the regular season (to an extent) what our team was missing was the true toughness that a team should have. It's both physical and mental. We should be more willing to put a body on somebody. We should be more willing to box out. We should be more willing to use our legs. We should be more accountable for our own man. Much is this is what LD is preaching, the other part is what happens when you practice what he preaches. So yes, I'm hoping to see us being more physical with other teams. Mental toughness is an idea. It's real, but it doesn't come without being physically tough. The physical toughness is the spark that teaches a player to be mentally tough. If you doubt me, point to one finesse player that was mentally tough.

[Diesel]

I was talking today about physicalities. Etan, Powell, Zaza and Twin are not finesse players. Rubbing Al and Josh a little cannot hurt. I also look to Marvin and Joe to be more physical. We have seen glimpses of that from Marvin in the past. If Marvin can buy into defense and using his "Big" body (He's bigger than Josh, as tall as Al) as his mantra rather than finding space for his jump shot, we/he will be the better. I remarked of Joe, when you see him in person close up he looks much bigger than 6'7. What he does in his 6'8ish" body is amazing. We have a lot of options on the floor.

I agree.. even though I have given up on Marvin. One of the things that would get excited about Joe was watching him on offense... back his man down and have his way with him. I know it's Iso joe, but when you really give ISO Joe it's due, Joe usually picked apart small guys like Brandon Jennings. I think it was Joe vs. Jennings in Game 6... that helped us win that second half.

[lethalweapon3]

We do mean, "melee," right?

~lw3

[T21]

I think you are looking at the chicken egg syndrome. When Woody was here, he employed a switching defense. While that may have been used to protect the holes in our defense, I think that what it really did was make us softer defensively. We didn't have to fight through picks or do anything to stay with our man. Hell, we didn't box out or fight for anything. We just went out there and hoped that we can use enough athleticism to finesse the ball towards our direction. While that worked in the regular season (to an extent) what our team was missing was the true toughness that a team should have. It's both physical and mental. We should be more willing to put a body on somebody. We should be more willing to box out. We should be more willing to use our legs. We should be more accountable for our own man. Much is this is what LD is preaching, the other part is what happens when you practice what he preaches. So yes, I'm hoping to see us being more physical with other teams. Mental toughness is an idea. It's real, but it doesn't come without being physically tough. The physical toughness is the spark that teaches a player to be mentally tough. If you doubt me, point to one finesse player that was mentally tough.

There's another negative aspect of switching D... Anytime you don't have assigned individual match-ups, there's plenty of room for miss-comunication on D and opportunity for opposing team to force match-ups in their favor, plus poor defensive rebounding (as in zone D's)...

P.S. Switching D can be applied only at times, when there's a need for a change in the tempo of the game, or you want to dissrupt opponents offensive flow, run...

[Gray Mule]

Diesel, I agree.

There is a difference in being tough and being a bully. You can be tough, in fact, very tough and

still be nice. There is nothing nice about a bully.

Physically and mentally tough players will not allow others to run over them. They can do this

and still not make anyone mad.

A bully, trying to accomplish the same thing, will brag, run his mouth, and do a lot of mean, sneaky

things that he feels makes him important.

I want our Hawks to be a lot tougher this season. Don't you?

:whistling:

[Dsinner]

We do mean, "melee," right?

~lw3

Maybe he meant "mayday."

[DrReality]

Both of the bigs we signed bring that frame of mind and I think it is a frame of mind. In the playoffs last year we disentegraged mentally and that is one aspect of mental toughness we lack.