Trade Nocioni? But what of toughness?

But it will be tougher than last year. I can’t imagine that it is possible to field a team that was softer than last year.

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Nocioni for Jawai, Humphries and Shawne Williams
Noce plays all the minutes they would have played. The Mavericks have a team certified for their coach’s small ball, with Kidd passing to Terry, Howard, Marion, Noce and Dirk.
This trade would have been easier when Greg Buckner was around. The Kings do this trade because they’re all expirings, and maybe Dallas gives up a pick.

Nocioni for Scalabrini, Tony Allen and Bill Walker
Kings get a piece of cheap young talent, and Boston replaces all those minutes with a much better player. Maybe Boston throws in a pick.

Nocioni for Mike James and Javal McGee
Because McGee gives the Kings everything they need in the roster, and Washington needs to go deep in the playoffs this year and don’t have time for him to develop (and he’s behind Haywood and Blatche in the lineup). Also, Mike James is so bad he makes Randy Foye look good. Nociono backs up Butler and Jamison, and gets his 25 minutes that way.

Nociono for Ajinca and Raja Bell
Because it’s Larry Brown, and I love me some Raja Bell.

Nocioni for Finley, Bonner and Williams
And the Spurs give up a pick, another pick and the right to Tiago, because this is a DEAL! Nociono replaces Finley’s garbage minutes, and replaces Bonner with a lower percentage shooter who can actually defend and bang and hustle. I have no idea who this Williams is.

Nociono for Matt Harpring and Fresenko
Don’t say I don’t love you Aykis, because I do. And now you know it.

To me, toughness on the basketball court has to do with a couple of other things besides just defense. The players that I consider to be “tough” show me mental toughness (exhibited through their pride and their reaction to pressure) and physical toughness (playing through injury, etc.). There were two players on the Kings last year who I considered to be tough: Bobby Jackson and Francisco Garcia. I think most of you would agree with that assessment to some degree, and it doesn’t have very much to do with defense or being “bruising”.

The physical toughness with these guys is no mystery. Bobby doing his thing with a broken face, etc., and Cisco has played through more than his fair share of injuries himself. As for the mental toughness, both of these guys, whenever they’re on the court, are doing everything they can to win the game, whatever the particular situation may be. If we’re down by 6 with 8 seconds left, they’re gonna bust their ass getting those 6 points and they’ll fully believe they can do it until that final horn sounds.

One of my favorite moments from last season was during the only game I actually attended, Vlade’s retirement game against the Hornets. Towards the end of the game, Cisco hit a huge clutch three to tie the game or give us the lead or bring us within a couple points (I don’t remember which), except that the ref called his toe on the line (I believe they reviewed it to confirm). There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the next time we had the ball, Cisco was shooting a damn three pointer. It didn’t matter if the other team scored or not, or how many we’re up or down by, he just hit a clutch three and had it taken away from him, and Cisco doesn’t like having things taken from him. You could see it on his face and I’m sure the Hornets knew it too, but it didn’t matter. Sure enough, Cisco got the ball, he shot a deep three, and he made it (he didn’t have to make it to show my point, that’s just icing on the cake). That’s a tough player.

So, the question at hand: will this year’s team be tougher than last year? The only answer, of course, is that we don’t know. We’ll see. But I definitely get the sense that we drafted some toughness. Evans, Casspi, and Brockman all appear to be guys who are highly driven and have a lot of pride. They also all appear to be physically tough, but that will reveal itself in time. In any case, I have high hopes.

needs to be addressed here. I think it is to some degree, but you have to talk about the games where the team just stopped trying as hard when they were down. They just gave up. Sure physicality is a must have for toughness, but what they really need is tenacity.

I think it has a lot to do with competitive spirit. Do they have it in them to take a blow, get back up, and take another. It takes somebody really competitive to get up time after time and keep going.