GymRat wrote:There could be some truth to that, but maybe it's not so much about not loving basketball as it is about not loving to work hard on things like fitness because it sucks and he's never really had to in order to succeed. It doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't work hard at things he loves to do (e.g. skill building, post moves, shooting, etc.).
Sometimes a guy that is or looks out of shape tends to carry the stigma that they are lazy and don't love what they do. Sometimes it's just they love to eat too much, don't take diet or fitness too seriously, and aren't mature enough yet to see it's importance or make those choices.
I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, because clearly he has tremendous skill and work ethic to develop it in certain areas. He's not devoid of ambition or motivation, but perhaps it isn't applicable to every aspect just yet. Some players never get there though, so that's of course cause for concern.
Agree, there is a continuum of work ethic and what you want from a #1 pick is a guy that is borderline fanatical. I'm sure Okafor has worked hard over the years. You simply don't develop a post game like that without a ton of reps.
At the NBA level, the most ultra-competitive and best players are the guys that pay ridiculous attention to the the details. This is where a lot of very good players get stunted - they aren't fanatical about the details of their game, because frankly, it gets really, really hard to improve at that point in the basketball lifecycle. Ask any scratch golfer about the journey of going from a 20 to a 10 hadicap vs. a 10 to scratch. Massive difference in work required and attention to detail.
That's why I don't like the term "gym rat" as necessarily a positive attribute. It all depends on what one is actually doing in the gym and what is being worked on. If they are indiscriminately jacking up shots and playing pick-up games, I'm not sure how much that really helps at the next level. As they say, perfect practice makes perfect (or something like that....)