One of the popular compliments to make about former North Carolina college basketball star Tyler Hansbrough (drafted by the NBA’s Indiana Pacers) echoes in the ears of people who love and follow basketball: He plays so hard. Hansbrough does play hard and he brings a high level of intensity to the basketball court. Hey, we all saw it so often when he was at the college level playing for the Tar Heels in one of the best college basketball conferences in the nation.
That being said, two things about the Tyler-Hansbrough-Plays-So-Hard compliment:
- It almost implies that other guys do not play hard. A lot of guys play hard, but you aren’t drafted in the NBA just because you play hard.
- It takes away from what I believe is a strong skill set Hansbrough possesses and takes away from his athleticism (better than a lot of people give him credit for).
Hansbrough has so many people talking about how hard he plays that they ignore the fact that he is both NBA athletic and NBA skilled. I believe Tyler Hansbrough is going to be a solid NBA player for a lot of years.
