If a player gets called "soft," it might be because his defense is terrible, or he shies away from contact.
Or it could be the Nowitzki situation: a big man, a power forward, who constantly drifts to the perimeter to shoot like a guard.
Of course, you could argue that's just Nowitzki's playstyle. After all, he's one of only one and a half players in the entire league over 2.1 meters tall who can initiate the offense from behind the three-point line as a big man.
The other half is probably Milicic.
This meant Nowitzki failed to meet the fans' expectations. They wanted him to be a Duncan-esque player, but instead, he ran out to the perimeter to shoot.
That's why he was labeled as soft.
But upon closer inspection, that "soft" label deserves to have quotation marks around it.
His rebounding is pretty good. Ever since he became the team's core, his season average has almost always been over nine boards per game.
For a power forward, that's actually excellent.
