Shane Battier

I've been a lifelong Duke Basketball fan (one of the benefits of giving to a tiny liberal arts school is that you can keep your childhood college sports affiliations -- my brother, who went to UVA, can't really go out screaming for Kentucky anymore). And possibly my favorite player in Duke history is Shane Battier. This New York Times magazine article helps explain why. It's full of things that my untrained eye observed but didn't really understand. Battier isn't the most gifted talent or natural athlete. But he has an unbelievably court IQ. He does all the little things that make his team better, and his opponents worse. In college, I was impressed that Battier was always stepping up to take charges. It was the cornerstone of his defense. He gets by on smarts and grit, and I like that.