ROUND TABLE 46 – WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST UNDERRATED CHARACTERISTICS OF A “TOUGH” PLAYER? – EPISODE 702

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Round Table 46 "Tough" Players

Welcome to the 46th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table will feature our All-Star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question.  A new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.

October’s Round Table question is:  What are the three most underrated characteristics of a “tough” player? 

Our Coaching Lineup this month:

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TRANSCRIPT FOR ROUND TABLE 46 – WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST UNDERRATED CHARACTERISTICS OF A “TOUGH” PLAYER? – EPISODE 702

[00:00:00] Narrator: The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.

[00:00:21] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the 45th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table will feature our All-Star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question.  A new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.

October’s Round Table question is:  What are the three most underrated characteristics of a “tough” player? 

Our Coaching Lineup this month:

Please enjoy this Round Table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast and once you’re finished listening please give the show a five star rating and review after you subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

If you are a basketball coach at any level please check out our Hoop Heads Coaching Mentorship Program.  You’ll get matched with one of our experienced Head Coaches and develop a relationship that will help take your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset to another level.

Be sure to follow us on twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.

Hey Hoop Heads! This October our partners and friends at Dr. Dish basketball are offering $3,000 off their CT machine. Dr. Dish shooting machines are undoubtedly the most advanced and user friendly machines on the market.

Learn more at drdishbasketball.com and follow their incredible content @drdishbball on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast and save an extra $300 on the Dr. Dish Rebel, All-Star and CT models. Visit drdishbasketball.com for details. That’s a great deal Hoop Heads. Get your Dr. Dish Shooting Machine, today.

Dan DeCrane: Hi, this is Coach Dan DeCrane from Gilmour Academy and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

[00:03:00] Mike Klinzing: Prepare like the pros with the all-new Fast Draw and Fast Scout. Fast Draw has been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years. You’ll quickly see why Fast Model Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there. For a limited time, Fast Model is offering Hoop Heads listeners 15% off Fast Draw and Fast Scout.

Just use the code HHP15 at checkout to grab your discount and you’ll be [00:03:00] on your way to more efficient game prep and improved communication with your team. Fast Model also has new coaching content every week on their blog, plus play and drill diagrams in its play bank. Check out the links in the show notes for more. Fast Model Sports is the best in basketball.

Let’s hear from our panel about the three most underrated characteristics of a tough player.

Dominic Amorosa [00:04:00] Strike Jesuit College Prep in Houston, Texas.

Dominic Amorosa: This is Coach Amorosa at Strake Jesuit in Houston. Tough players show up consistently every day. Tough players challenge their teammates on a daily basis, and tough players accept coaching and get onto the next play quickly.

Mike Klinzing: Eric Buehler, Chatfield Senior High School, Littleton, Colorado.

Erik Buehler: Hey, what’s going on Hoop Heads? This is Eric Buehler at Chatfield Senior High, and this week in our round table, we were asked what are three underrated characteristics of tough players? I think first and foremost is players that are mentally disciplined to consistently do what is needed, whether that’s on the court, it’s off the court, it’s in their own personal workouts.

It’s in practice. All of those situations, they’re doing what’s needed to help themselves and more importantly, help the team. My second one [00:05:00] is these players find calm in storms. Some of the toughest players I’ve ever coached are calm. When the game is, is in a tense moment, whether it’s at the end of a shot clock or it’s at the end of a half, or it’s a big game in general, these kids always.

Rise to the occasion. They always do what’s needed in those moments. And then finally, my third characteristic is they find a way to win little battles. They, they may not look like they’re doing much, but when you go back and watch film or you go look at the sta, they filled the stat sheet up, They’re all over the place in a film.

They’re just doing all the little things that the team needs to win and they need to do the win their individual battles during the course of a game. That’s all I got this week. Hope everyone’s doing good and we’ll talk to you guys next time.

Mike Klinzing: Chris DeLisio, Olmsted Falls High School, Olmsted Falls, Ohio.[00:06:00]

Chris DeLisio: Hey, Hoop Heads. Chris DeLisio from Olmsted Falls talking about the three underrated characteristics of a tough player. And I think instead of maybe characteristics, maybe hit on the areas of toughness and what, what a tough player. You know, I think players have to be, obviously, I think the, the one that most people think of is physically tough, you know, and that defines guys who are willing to do the tough things on the floor, box out loose balls, dive on the floor, take charges.

But I think there’s also, you know, the underrated ones, the really underrated ones are mentally tough and leadership tough. The guys who are mentally tough, who can, who can handle tough moments in a game, being down obstacles, you know all the things that happen with teams during the course of a season or a game that you have to show mental toughness and then physically, or I’m sorry, then the leadership tough is, you know, in the locker room, tough moments after losses leading teammates that maybe don’t wanna jump on board.[00:07:00]

I think that’s where the leadership tough comes in. So, you know, I think those sorts of players are tough in a lot of different ways and it’s really underrated when you can have those characteristics. I think those are the most important characteristics a team can have.

Mike Klinzing: Dr. Bob Greczanik from the Energetic Sports Lab,

Dr. Bob Greczanik: This month’s round table question, What are the three underrated characteristics of a tough player.

One mentally strong. Usually the spiritual leader of the squad. Two. Extremely strong, non-verbal game, gets the job done. Three, usually extremely high. Basketball IQ.

Mike Klinzing: Jeff Huber Elyria Catholic High School in Ohio.

Jeff Huber’: Hi, this is Jeff Huber, the head boys basketball coach at Elyria Catholic High School and this month’s round table question asks, what are three underrated characteristics of a tough player?

One that immediately [00:08:00] comes to mind for me is, what do you do when you don’t have the basketball? Almost every player is engaged when they have the ball, but I think you learn a lot about a player by watching what they do when they don’t have the ball are, do they cut hard all the time, even knowing that the overall majority of the time they’re not gonna see the ball, will they go set a good screen for their team?

Will they still sprint the floor, even though a lot of the time they’re not gonna get the ball, but by sprinting the floor, they might open up space for a teammate. So that’s one thing that immediately jumps out to me. A second thing would be how do they act when they’re not in the game? You know, it’s, it’s easier, maybe not always easy, but it’s easier to be a great teammate when you’re the guy or the girl who’s getting a lot of playing time.

How do you act when you’re not in the game? I, if your coach sits you, or maybe you’re not a starter or getting the minutes that you. Are you still engaged? Are you still up and cheering and giving, you know, encouragement and reminders to your teammate? I think that always says a tremendous amount about a player and a tough [00:09:00] player is one who, whose commitment and whose mental engagement doesn’t change regardless of whether they’re on or off the floor.

And then the third thing I would comes to mind for a tough player to me would be, what do you do when you’re struggling, when shots aren’t falling, when maybe you’ve started off slowly? Do you have that next play mentality? When it comes to shooting, I remember when Kobe Bryant said, You know, I’d go to oh, for 27 before I’d go 0 for nine.

And I think he meant by that. Mentally tough guy is gonna keep shooting because he knows, or she knows they’ve done the work. And they’re not gonna get discouraged by missing shots. But I think it also goes beyond that. If your shot’s not falling, are you finding other ways to help the team?

You know, are you committing to the defensive end of the floor? Are you rebounding and doing other things that can help the team when maybe baskets are not? So those are three things that immediately come to mind for me. I know as coaches, we all value tough players and hopefully those are three things that our players can and will do.

Thanks,

Mike Klinzing: Tim [00:10:00] Jackson, author of Understanding College Athletics Through the Eyes of College Athletes.

Tim Jackson: This is Tim Jackson, author of Understanding College Athletics Through the Eyes of College Athletes and Youngstown State Basketball Hall of Famer Hoop Heads Question. What are the three underrated characteristics of a tough player?

I think I’ll start by saying toughness itself is possibly the most underrated skill or talent of an athlete. It is something that all athletes should want to acquire, however, it is not an attribute that all athletes possess. Now, having said that, In my opinion, the most underrated characteristics are mental and physical strength, a willingness to go above and beyond, and a willingness not to complain.

I think those three things are the [00:11:00] most important and most underrated characteristics of a tough player.

Mike Klinzing: Bob Krizancic, Mentor High School, Mentor, Ohio

Ben Thompson:  Coach Bob Krizancic, Mentor High School. Love this question. Love a tough player. Number one, love that player that has the heart to go all out hard as he can in practices and engage.

That’s 100% of the time. Tough characteristic would be setting a good solid pick every single time, creating the mismatch, setting one of our players free. Third and last, playing through adversity, injuries, foul trouble, any obstacle. Have a great year. Good luck.

Mike Klinzing: Peter Lonergan, [00:12:00] Director of High Performance Coach Development for Basketball Australia.

Peter Lonergan: Hi, this is Peter Lonergan from Basketball Australia. What I think are three underrated characteristics of a tough player. Firstly, elite conditioning. You can’t be tough. You can’t be relentless. You can’t be focused unless you are in great physical shape constantly.

Secondly, they’ve got great emotional balance. Yeah, they’re passionate, but they don’t get too high and they don’t get too low. And I think the last thing which is underrated for a tough player is someone who talks consistently, not just when things are going well, but continually talk, drive their teammates, drive themselves and be part of something bigger than themselves.

For me, they’re the three most underrated aspects of being a tough player.

Mike Klinzing: David McGreal from Penn State Altoona.

Dave McGreal: Hey Hoop Heads Nation, Coach McGreal, [00:13:00] Penn State Altoona Men’s basketball here. Talking about the round table and three underrated characteristics of toughness. I think toughness is a word that is misused. I think some people think toughness about being strong. Overly physical. Thinking about the, the, the old New York nick teams of the nineties and the Pistons.

You know, that form of toughness I think is kind of, as we all know by the wayside, I think the best way players can show toughness in my opinion, is first and foremost is, is fighting through adversity. Nothing shows me that a player’s tough, that when things don’t go his way he keeps playing as hard as he was when, if they were going his way.

So fighting through adversity. With that. Also toughness, I think is being able to control your controllables. I mean, that’s tough to do. It’s tough to do for coaches. You know, not getting upset at maybe bad calls with officials not getting upset. You know, because players from the other team may be doing something dirty and, and [00:14:00] is not getting called.

You know, controlling your controllables, your temper, your attitude, your effort. I mean, that’s tough in today’s basketball at times. So that would be the second. And then the third one that is more obviously geared towards the game itself is being able to play through contact. You know, I think that’s being more tough than actually, you know, fouling somebody very hard.

Being the person that can play through that type of contact and, and again, not get mad, control their controllables and finish those plays and keep playing no matter what and fight through the contact. I think that is a huge underrated part of toughness. So again, you know, being able to fight through adversity.

Being able to control your controllables and then, you know, physically being able to play through physical play. Physical contact, I think, are three underrated values of of, of being a tough basketball player. Thanks again guys. Have a great day. Good luck to everyone this season.

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Mike Klinzing: Your first impression is everything. When applying for a new coaching job, a professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching, achievements and philosophies. And most of all helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants, the Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional membership based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio. Each section of the portfolio guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner. The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify and add to your personal portfolio.

As a Hoop Heads Pod listener, you can get your Coaching Portfolio Guide for just $25. Visit https://www.coachingportfolioguide.com/hoopheads to learn more

Mike Klinzing: Dan Miller, San Marcus High School in San Marcos, Texas.

Dan Miller: I think tough guys on a team are so important. You know, there’s a lot of things that are going into being [00:17:00] a tough basketball player. I’m not sure if these are underrated things, but I think the first thing is just being available. You know, guys that are everyday, guys, guys that you can depend on, that will be at practice, that will be at games.

You go through the course of the season and they were there every day despite being a little nicked up, maybe, maybe sick other than injury. They’re there, they’re dependable, they’re available. Second thing I would say is just selfless. You know, guys that can star in their role, that accept their role each day and embrace it, put the team first you know, come out of the game and then start cheering their team on.

It takes a tough mentality for that. And then the third thing, just probably more of a, a, a traditional tough guy thing with basketball, it’s just your go get it. Guys that are gonna go get you a rebound, go get you a 50 50 ball. Doesn’t matter if they’re a guard or if they’re a big, they’re a go get it guy.

And if you have a team full of go get it guys, then you really got something. So I would say available selfless and go get it. Guys are [00:18:00] really big characteristics of tough basketball players.

Mike Klinzing: Matthew Raidbard, author of Lead like a Pro.

Matthew Raidbard: Hey, Hoop Heads Nation Coach Matt Raidbard here with you for another Hoop Heads round table. Excited to be with you here this month talking about the three underrated characteristics of a tough player. Toughness is something that I always look for when I was recruiting student athletes at the collegiate level, but three underrated characteristics of a tough player.

First off, communication. Being willing to tell your teammates things that are difficult, things they don’t necessarily wanna hear. Those are really important leadership skills. They’re also a sign of toughness because that means you don’t care about being liked, you don’t care about being popular, you care about telling people what’s right.

Another really underrated skill of a tough player [00:19:00] is empathy. That may seem counterintuitive to a tough player, but particularly in sports. Demonstrating empathy for your teammates, Understanding for what they’re going through, genuinely caring about them. To me, there’s a lot of toughness there. There’s vulnerability on your part as an athlete to be willing to, to be there for somebody to reach out in that way, to display empathy.

Sometimes people can think, that’s not tough. To me, that is a, an underrated sign of toughness. And the third characteristic that I think is really underrated of a tough player is being willing to accept criticism and coaching from your coaches. Not talking back, not rolling your eyes, not displaying any sort of attitude when you receive feedback from your coaches or you, you hear things that you don’t necessarily believe are true.

Going with what your coaches are saying, following their [00:20:00] lead, not talking back again, just staying the course, demonstrating that toughness, that willing to listen, willing to absorb the coaching, absorb the feedback. That sends a, a really high standard for your other athletes to say, You know what? It takes a lot of toughness to be able to internalize coaching, tough coaching, criticism, corrections in front of your peers.

So by a student athlete demonstrating that, to me, that’s a, a really, a really underrated characteristic of toughness and something that I really value. Thanks so much Hooped.

Mike Klinzing: Nate Sanderson, Thrive on Challenge.

Nate Sanderson: Hey Mike. This is Nate Sanderson from Thrive on Challenge here. Great question. Talking about three characteristics of what makes a tough player. You know, there’s been a lot of attention given over the years to Jay Bilas’ book and of course, his blog article about 42 ways or [00:21:00] whatever the number was, of being a tough player and taking charges and getting on the floor and doing the dirty work.

And certainly we could talk a lot about basketball behaviors that reflect toughness, but I wanna give you maybe three things that coaches don’t necessarily think a lot about when it comes to developing the toughness of their players. Number one I I think about something that Bill Belichick says to his team every year in the preseason.

Essentially, he tells his guys, Listen, at some point during the year, you are going to have to make a decision between what’s best for you and what’s best for the team, and we expect everybody in this room to make the decision that’s best for the team. I think that’s a sign of toughness regardless of what your AAU coach is telling you, or your parents might tell you or your friends might tell you, or your girlfriend might tell you, or you might see on social media players that can do what’s best for the team, regardless of the circumstances, I think are pretty [00:22:00] tough.

Now, the second thing I would say is, Players that are capable of playing through mistakes or playing through their frustration or playing through their failures without a droop of energy or enthusiasm are pretty tough players. Point guard College talks a lot about mistake response and how. Usually when we make a mistake or a player makes a mistake, they have a droop in energy.

They don’t get back on defense as quickly after they turn the ball over. They miss a layup or they miss a shot or something doesn’t go right for them. They get burned on the defensive end and they don’t sprint their lanes, you know, to transition into offense. In other words, their mistake. Has affected the performance in the next play.

And quite frankly, that’s a sign of weakness. Tough players, regardless of the circumstance, are going to move to the next play and do what’s required of them without a droop in energy. I, I love that aspect of kind of the emotional toughness that it takes to [00:23:00] rebound from mistakes in the game of basketball.

Now, here’s the third one, and this might be a bit of a unique take on again, what makes a player tough. I think it takes courage. Somebody might say it takes bravery for players to be vulnerable in front of their peers. Now, that’s not a basketball behavior, That’s not something that necessarily happens on the court, but I do think there’s tremendous value when you can create a place of psychological safety on your team where a player is comfortable telling his teammates or telling his coaches, I need help.

That they’re tough enough to recognize whether it’s emotionally, whether it’s in the game, whether something’s going on at home, that they can acknowledge to others that they are struggling to get through this thing and they need help. They need somebody to come alongside them. We preach that as a sign of courage, as a sign of strength, recognizing when we can’t do it on our.

And I’m [00:24:00] especially challenged by this Mike, because I was at a PGC clinic coaching clinic this past weekend in Chicago, and Mike Neighbors was there, the head women’s coach at Arkansas. And one of the things that he talked about was he said, Youth coaches have one purpose in the game to teach kids to love basketball.

High school and college coaches, I think have one fundamental purpose, and he said that is to do everything in their power to make sure that one of their players never takes their own life. That’s the kind of world that we’re living in these days. Now, that may seem really dramatic, maybe overly so, but I do think we’ve seen enough instances of college students, of high school athletes that have succumbed to pressures that we don’t understand as middle aged adults.

Because maybe they didn’t feel tough enough to be able to acknowledge some vulnerabilities some struggles that they’re experiencing in their life. And I think if young people thought about that, that it takes courage to ask for help. This world might [00:25:00] be a little bit better place and our players might be better positioned to get the help that they need, even if it’s just a friend or a coach or a teammate coming alongside them.

Maybe it is a defensive coverage. Maybe they need help guarding a guy and maybe they need help trying to figure out how to handle the anxiety that they’ve been facing on and off the court. I, I think that’s a sign of toughness.

Mike Klinzing: Mark Schult from Centre College.

Mark Schult: Hey Hoop Heads, thanks for having me on the show.

This month’s question is  what are three underrated characteristics of a tough player. You know, it was a lot of different directions to go with it, but. Toughness. I, I think the top three, you know, kind of characteristics of, of how it shows number one is just having really good body language, you know, positive body language.

Being able to, to keep your composure, keep your focus, keep your eyes on the goal. You know, when, when the ref make a bad call or the ball doesn’t bounce you away, or, or you’re having a tough night, [00:26:00] you know, finding a way to, to, to lead by example, show with your body your actions. On how to move forward and impact the game.

I think that’s one way to, to show toughness. Number two, I think just maintaining a high level of energy, you know, on, on both ends of the floor is, is really important. Again, you know, being tough is when adversity hits. Being tough is when you, things don’t go the way you want to or you expected to, but maintaining high energy.

Positive energy with, with your teammates that they may be struggling or, you know, if you’re on the bench, because you’re not playing, you know, being tough is showing that you’re still bought in, showing that you’re still willing to move forward and, and do whatever it takes to help the team even if you’re not performing to your best on a particular night.

And then I think the third thing with, with toughness that you really have to have is just a consistency with your defense, you know, and tough guys at all levels. Defense is effort based in a lot of ways. And you know, being able to have a [00:27:00] high level of effort despite how the rest of the game and the rest of the night practice is going.

You know, being able to, to come up with stops, come up with rotations that lead to deflections or steals or different things making rotations that, you know, take charges. Like I said, just being a consistent stopper, you know, whether that’s stopping the flow of the other team or hopefully, you know, stopping them from actually scoring.

I think it’s really important. But toughness is a huge piece of successful basketball players. And again, there’s a lot of ways to define it, but I think if you maintain, you know, good body language throughout, keep your energy levels high and positive and then just lock in on the defensive end or three ways that that players can become tougher.  Thanks.

Mike Klinzing: Don Showalter, USA Basketball.

Don Showalter: Hi Don Showalter from USA Basketball[00:28:00] Toughness means being a good teammate, sometimes that’s underrated and really that develops toughness. And all the players and the coaches just being a good teammate. I think secondly, I think it’s playing with no fear and that means that, hey, you know, it’s on you to take the shot second or two to win.

That’s, that’s toughness. It’s that you get the ball safe going out of  bounds, that’s toughest. So I think playing with no fear is kind of an underrated aspect of toughness. And then I think the obviously I think the last thing in my estimation is just the fact that the body language is underestimated and toughness.

I think great body language indicates the, is really in what’s going on and they’re ready to play hard. Thank you and everybody have a great season. [00:29:00]

Mike Klinzing: John Shulman, University of Alabama, Huntsville, and the 720 Sports Group. .

John Shulman: This is John Shulman, head coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

And the question is the three underrated characteristics of toughness. I think it’s a great question because that’s really all we’re looking for in recruiting right now is toughness being competitive. I don’t know if those two things go together. They probably do, and so I, you know, when, when we think of toughness, we think of physicality and are you tough enough to box out?

Are you tough enough to get through a screen? But really we kind of think of toughness. Is being competitive and being competitive is, does your team win when we’re trying to recruit guys who win in high school and, and win in state championships? So I would think that [00:30:00] the first thing, the first thing kind of with the underrated, underrated characteristics would be very simple.

Are you whining? Are you complaining? Do you wind, Do you complain on a turnover? Do you wind, Do you complain? On a bad call, Are you stoic? Are you just, you take it, you’re competitive and you’re tough, but that doesn’t phase you. So I think that’s the first thing is that you’re not phased by bad things happening to you on the court.

You’re not phased by that. You’re tough enough to get through it. The second thing is, do you bring energy and enthusiasm every day? We start practice every day with a box out drill and a 3 on 3 jump to the ball. Just to be honest, no one really wants to do it, but we have to do it and do you bring energy and enthusiasm to that drill?

The tough guys do. The soft guys don’t. And so it is, Do you bring energy and [00:31:00] enthusiasm when no one else wants to do that? And then what are you like at crunch time? Are you making the free throw? Are you the one that can make a free throw that’s toughness. Making a free throw in a crunch time situation, or when everybody’s having to run at the end of practice, that’s toughness.

So I think a toughness not as getting through a screen, I think a toughness as being mentally, mentally tough rather than just physically tough. And so I, you know, hopefully this helps. But those are the underrated characteristics that I think are, are so important in dealing with toughness. But I still think, boy, you, you better be able to box out and you better be able to get through a screen.

But the, I would say, The toughness that you’re talking about would be kind of mental toughness instead of physical toughness. And I ain’t gonna lie to you. I’ve seen guys who are mentally tough, who are skinny and weak and you just can’t break them. And those are [00:32:00] the guys that we want in our basketball program.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

Mike Klinzing: Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Joe Stasyszyn: Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential. This month’s question is, what are the underrated characteristics of a tough player? I think the first thing you need to do when you’re talking about a tough player is you gotta talk to your team and you gotta show them what tough is.

Show them what that looks like. I have three that I think that you don’t hear too much about, that need to be talked more about. I know you know, with my. Throughout the nation, throughout the world, on all different levels to hurry up to Olympic coaches and professional front office people and professional coaches.

Couple things that I, that I’ve really picked up lately is, first of all offensively players that are tough, learn how to use their body on offense. I [00:33:00] think this, this is one that is very underrated. And, you know, working with, with high school kids, a lot of high school kids, I’ve really been stressing a lot of learning how to use your body on off offense and being tough offensively, because you always hear about people being aggressive on defense, but you have to show them what that looks like to be tough on offense.

You know, using your shoulder, using your body, playing off of two feet. It’s been proven statistically that when you’re contested at the rim, going off of two feet has a much. Percentage of, of makes than going off a one foot. So you have to show them what that being tough at the rim looks like. Being tough and being able to play off of two feet and just using our body, backing someone down into the pain.

I’m very close to Villanova’s basketball program and staff and they spend a lot of time working on toughness on the offensive. You know, even to the point where they call ’em bully moves, making bully moves to the basket. So that’s, that’s an underrated one that a [00:34:00] lot of kids today, especially high school kids, have to learn how to do that.

Because it’s used a lot in college and it’s used a lot in the NBA. So that’s the first one. The second one is being what I call a multiple effort player. I know even in the NBA today doing some of my work with the Olympic and national teams from around the world, and, and we bring in some general managers and, and, and do some stuff with the NBA in terms of working with these Olympic and national coaches.

You know, they talk about they are starting to measure effort. Okay. And effort is a form of toughness. And by that I mean offensive effort as well as defensive effort. Defensively measure being tough and measuring effort would be one, one of the, one of the analytics that they use in the NBA now is measuring how many times you get beat back on defense by your man.

If that happens quite a lot, then that’s, that’s a toughness issue. So that, that’s one that you, that’s very underrated that I think defensive or defensive efficiency. [00:35:00] Working on beating every single guy in a team. Their goal is to not get beat back on defense down the floor as little as possible.

And obviously it’s gonna happen once in a while, but a toughness factor of that is an effort factor of not getting beat back. And if a whole team does that, it really increases your defensive efficiency. Another one is on the offensive end, talking about multiple, multiple effort players on the offensive end.

Going for every rebound. They’re starting to measure how many times you go for an offensive rebound. Not how many times you get it, but just a toughness factor of attempting to make an offensive rebound. That’s another analytic that’s being used today. That if all players did that, they would be a better offensive rebounding team.

So that, that’s a toughness thing too, in measuring that and talking to players about that and the other one is on the defensive rebounding is always making contact. Not even if you can’t get a block out, just making contact with a body part somehow before you go get that rebound. And the other thing I wanted to [00:36:00] mention offensively is What we call an offensive rebound assist.

Even if you can’t get the rebound tip, the ball to one of your teammates, that’s something that that’s, that’s also, you know, a toughness part of the game. Fighting for a ball, even if you don’t get it, trying to tip it to. An open teammate. So that’s, that’s the second one. And the third one is talked about, but I don’t know if it’s talked about too much in toughness and really, I think it is a toughness thing is communication.

Everybody talks about communication okay, but they don’t tell players what to say. I think you gotta be specific with your players and teach them what to say. because a lot of players have the cool factor. They think, Oh, I’m too cool to talk. But actually to me it’s more of learning how to be tough. The tough, the tough players talk offensively, defensively.

They never stop talking, and I think that just adds to their overall toughness in the game. So there three that I think are very underrated in terms [00:37:00] of toughness that I think will enhance the total team toughness if you got all players buying in on those three, those three areas. And again, you have to show them and demonstrate what that looks like.

You can’t just tell players to be tough. Because most players don’t know what that means. Just like when you tell players to work hard, they don’t maybe understand what hard work looks like, so you have to teach them what toughness looks like. Thank you very much.

Mike Klinzing: Ben Thompson from Emory and Henry College.

Ben Thompson: To me, the three most underrated characteristics of a tough player, or number one, their ability to fight through adversity. Obviously that’s, that’s a key component in being successful in basketball. I think number two, they have the right body language as they go through it, and three, they’re able to impose their will on situations.

Not that they can necessarily take over a game, but when things aren’t going well, they can choose to fight through it. They can choose to help a [00:38:00] teammate, they can choose to help a good attitude or to have a good attitude. To me, those are three under any characteristics of a tough player.

Mike Klinzing: Thanks for checking out this month’s Hoop Heads Podcast Round Table. We’ll be back next month with another question for our all-star lineup of coaches.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.

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