Combat Players of the Week: October 27 to November 1

Basketball is combat. You have to attack your man on both ends of the floor. That means pushing the ball on offense, taking it to the hole, being willing to draw contact and then fight through it to finish. It means attacking on defense. Getting position and maintaining that position. Taking the ball away and altering shots. And owning the glass – being relentless on both the offensive and defensive side.

Every Monday, a guard, a wing, and a big will be nominated as the Combat Players of the Week. Less than one week into the 2009-2010 season, here are the players who started the year Prepared For Combat.


Guard: Rajon Rondo.
Known for his quickness, Rondo is attacking at both ends of the floor. Over his first 4 games, Rajon has grabbed 20 offensive boards. And on the defensive side, he’s second in the league (to Kobe) with 2.5 steals per game. |


Wing: Kevin Durant.
KD is attacking this season – getting to the line over 9 times/game, which is big when you are filling it up at nearly 80%. He’s playing with heart – grabbing over 9 boards a game, nearly 4 boards above his career averages.


Big: Chris Bosh.
Second in the League with 14.7 boards per game, including 4.0 on the offensive glass. And he is coming out the gate attacking -- leading the league with 15 trips to the line per game.

Who should be the Combat Player of the Week? Rondo, Durant, or Bosh?