Does anyone care about "character" people?

[ned]

Nice guys finish last.

The raps are a pack of jam tarts lead by the butter soft Bosh. They get no respect, and deserve none.

[cinnamon]

I greatly prefer to have players who are men of good character on a team I support, rather than players who have a history of poor character.
I don't think good character has anything to do with mental toughness, race, or any of the other issues raised so far in this thread,
I realize that this is contrary to what most of the posters to this thread feel.
But then again, my priorities seem to be different --- I can be enthusiastic about my team and its players whether they are winning or losing. So for me, signing a bunch of guys with a history of poor character just because you think it might add some mental toughness and win a few more games, just doesn't do the trick.

[juggler]

ignore my comments before i was just being an A** hole. im just upset we are losing and stupidness is just coming out but on the real...

forget about character players for a second. which one of u guys would like ur co worker to be a nice stand up guy and which one of u would like ur co worker to be a punk with bad attitude. attitude does mean everything, forget about not only in basketball, but in all things in life.

my point is yea we do lack mental toughness and heart but i wouldnt in my own opinon want a garnett on the team. (yea hell of a player one of the top 5 best in the nba right now in terms of intensity and skill) but he constantly bullies other opposing players with cheap shots and even anyone whose known his past that hes punched his own teammates. guys like wally szerbiak for just scoring on him. i rather take a lesser intense player in bosh that gets it done but has good charcter. i don know if that made sense

[Nothingface]

ignore my comments before i was just being an A** hole. im just upset we are losing and stupidness is just coming out but on the real...

forget about character players for a second. which one of u guys would like ur co worker to be a nice stand up guy and which one of u would like ur co worker to be a punk with bad attitude. attitude does mean everything, forget about not only in basketball, but in all things in life.

my point is yea we do lack mental toughness and heart but i wouldnt in my own opinon want a garnett on the team. (yea hell of a player one of the top 5 best in the nba right now in terms of intensity and skill) but he constantly bullies other opposing players with cheap shots and even anyone whose known his past that hes punched his own teammates. guys like wally szerbiak for just scoring on him. i rather take a lesser intense player in bosh that gets it done but has good charcter. i don know if that made sense

Well said. This thread is about character. Good character does not preclude toughness or fortitude.

[Lockdown]

I'd much rather have the jailblazers than this team.

The Jailblazers were a stain on that franchise and on the league. They chased the Portland community away from the team. When the Blazers pulled their Darius Miles stunt that name got dragged up in every editorial. Trust me, this mediocre season will go away much easier than that will.

Besides, aside from Kobe, the Laker have plenty of character guys. The Trailblazers now are made up of character guys. So are the Magic. The Suns have been built around nice guys since they dealt Marbury. How about San Antonio, Bowen aside? I guess they would have won eight rings if Duncan was an A-hole. All those teams somehow manage to win with nice guy stars.

Turning into a team of jerks is not some kind of magic fix. Those teams fall apart much easier than teams of dedicated players do. Unless you think the Warriors and Clippers are model franchises. The Celtics are an exception to all kinds of rules that don't work for teams that aren't supremely talented.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

removed

I assure you they are not albino. I'm sorry if you feel letting whites into the league has diluted the quality of play....Good luck with your blue print to take any black player at all and replace a white player with him and we will be a better team.

[Paradokz]

lets trade JO for SHAQ!

he would definitely put moon in his place

[Reignman]

I don't think a person's skin colour has any effect on their play. Remember, Bird was one of the toughest SOBs in the history of the sport.

However, in sports you do need to have a certain type of personality to be amongst the best. When you hear terms like "killer instinct", "ice in the veins", "put your foot on their throat", etc it's going to be a lot harder for the "nice" guys to really play in that fashion. IMO, our team has the soft label for this exact reason. These guys are "nice" and don't really have that killer instinct. It's an overall team vibe with guys like Bosh / Jose / Moon / AP. The only guy on our team to have an edge is JO and you could probably add AB / Joey to the list as well.

My main issue with this is that perception plays a huge role in sports. When an opposing team is coming to play the Raps, they aren't expecting a tough / grind-it-out type game. I honestly think that teams come to play us thinking they will most likely win. This is a huge problem in sports where perception can become reality. Confidence is huge and if the team already has a leg up on us because they "perceive" us to be soft, than I truly believe we're playing at a dissadvantage.

The only way to change this perception would be to overhaul the roster. Obviously, Bosh is the franchise and should remain, but I'd like to put some hard nosed players around him. Kind of like Duncan, where he is a nice guy, but because they have a great defensive philosophy, it gives the perception that they are a tough team, which they are. You put a bunch of decent defenders around Bosh and if the team becomes known as a tough defensive team, that's when we'll get over this soft label.

[Legal Non-Conforming]

I look back at the Blue Jays during the World Series seasons, and they were hardly a "character" team with classy people, etc...

Joe Carter was a-hole to the Canadian media. Dave Winfield was a jerk until his "Toronto makes noise" nonsense. Jack Morris wasn't exactly a nice guy. In fact, if I remember...this team rarely did much community stuff. That was generally left for the broadcasters - Tom Cheek (RIP) and Jerry Howarth.

It didn't matter then because they WON! I don't give a crap if our team is so nice and jokes around in interviews.......if what it takes for this franchise to win is for us to have a team of jackasses, then bring them aboard! Of course, it's good to have a few nice guys (Jose, for example), but a few mofos are welcomed as well, AFAIC.

Baseball is a different sport. And pitchers are just different animals. Dave Stieb was as ornery as they come. But I would beg to differ with your description of the Blue Jays. George Bell was shipped out of town very quickly once he became disruptive to the team. Carter wasn't disruptive, neither was Winfield who was a short rental. When I think of those teams, I think Alomar and Molitar (still the best hitter I've ever seen). "Character", to my mind, doesn't mean "does community service". It means having a passion to win and to put everything aside to win. Ironically, Bargnani is one guy who looks like he lives for basketball.

[dennistokyo]

Just like nice guys don't end up getting the hot girl, nice "character" players can never win a championship on their own. We gotta have a couple of bad ass guys on our team, so the other team is intimidated and doesn't think that we are a bunch of pussies just like the current state of the Raptors

You don't know much about hot girls, do you?

[saham]

Just like nice guys don't end up getting the hot girl, nice "character" players can never win a championship on their own. We gotta have a couple of bad ass guys on our team, so the other team is intimidated and doesn't think that we are a bunch of pussies just like the current state of the Raptors

You don't know much about hot girls, do you?

LOL ... I don't feel like bragging about it but lets just say I know quite a few. I don't know if it is different in your part of the world but in Canada and the US this is how it works

[dennistokyo]

Just like nice guys don't end up getting the hot girl, nice "character" players can never win a championship on their own. We gotta have a couple of bad ass guys on our team, so the other team is intimidated and doesn't think that we are a bunch of pussies just like the current state of the Raptors

You don't know much about hot girls, do you?

LOL ... I don't feel like bragging about it but lets just say I know quite a few. I don't know if it is different in your part of the world but in Canada and the US this is how it works

We're talking about women with dignity and not street prostitutes, right? To each their own, I guess.

[saham]

You don't know much about hot girls, do you?[/quote]

LOL ... I don't feel like bragging about it but lets just say I know quite a few. I don't know if it is different in your part of the world but in Canada and the US this is how it works [/quote]

We're talking about women with dignity and not street prostitutes, right? To each their own, I guess.[/quote]

No, we are just talking about hot girls in general.

[Ramen Monster]

No, talent and mental toughness is what matters.

Right on. You know who's really good? Tim Duncan. Nice guy too.

[Gold Chain]

LOL this city couldn't handle people like Rafer, James and TJ, how the hell would they handle someone like prime Spree or Sheed? Chris Paul would get shot by fans here because you never see him smiling during games, dude is mad as hell every minute he plays.

Not winners.

We need winners. Like the OP said, act like an a$$h0le and win and Toronto will love you.

[Reignman]

LOL this city couldn't handle people like Rafer, James and TJ, how the hell would they handle someone like prime Spree or Sheed? Chris Paul would get shot by fans here because you never see him smiling during games, dude is mad as hell every minute he plays.

Not winners.

We need winners. Like the OP said, act like an a$$h0le and win and Toronto will love you.

TJ, with both his play and his desire to win, actually helped us win quite a few games in 06/07, even with CB on the IR. Unfortunately his injuries have continued to haunt him with his development, otherwise, I'd consider him to be a good example of a "winner".

Rafer / MJ I can agree, aren't really what I'd call winners.

[quickymgee]

uh i think o'neal is a pretty nice guy. and everyone seems to love his heart and toughness. what up?