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Originally Posted by King Glorious
I think this is very true. The myth that the NBA guys aren't playing hard is way off. People think a guy like Chris Bosh is not playing hard or Michael Beasley is not playing hard because of their facial expressions or the smoothness they play with. Let me assure you that you can't go for 22 and 10 a night in the NBA if you aren't playing hard. It's impossible. They are playing as hard as the college guys, if not harder. The main reason is because they still have pride. Nobody wants to get embarrassed out there on national tv. The thing is these guys are SO GOOD that they sometimes make the difficult look easy. But they are playing hard.
The analogy to a watered down grade one race is a good one. I have that argument all the time. We might see some close, exciting games during the year. A game like UNC vs. Duke may include five or more future NBA players and be high in quality. But it's NOTHING like an NBA game. The quality of play in the NBA is light years beyond anything you will ever see in a college game. Dick Vitale did an NBA game the other night and he couldn't be more clear in his assessment that the NBA game is much better quality wise.
You are also correct when it comes to talking about the influence coaches have. There are some exceptions, guys like Coach K, Roy Williams, Calhoun, Izzo, and a few others. But most of these guys have little influence when they have a star player. They know for the most part that the star will be one and done and if there's any chance of trying to get them back for a second or third year, they coddle to them like crazy. O.J. Mayo had free reign at USC. Kevin Durant didn't even attend school in the second semester at Texas. Don't believe all that rah rah, playing for my school stuff. It's probably true at Siena or Vermont or Penn...but it's not true at the big time schools. Those guy are playing mostly to showcase their games for the NBA or Europe.
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I agree with much of what you say here. A couple of interesting things. You assure me that a guy that puts up 22 and 10 a night is playing hard. I Agree. There is only ONE guy in the NBA doing that though and thats Al Jefferson and I havent heard anyone ever accuse that guy of not playing hard.
You can't look at just stats to determine effort. Effort is more intangible. Effort is going to show more on the defensive end. Thats still hard to quantify though because points allowed on defense is more a reflection of tempo and style of play than effort.
Pros often do give a lot of effort but the other side of your argument would be that the pros dont have to put out as much effort to produce a decent game. Certainly not saying that is always the case but it is a valid argument.
Pro crowds are nowhere near as crazy and as influential as college crowds. Like it or not, crowd intensity can have a major impact on players. That does effect effort especially on the defensive end.