I'm with you in that the players that I respect the most are like Brady, AD, Montana...and Kobe! Those guys never mail it in.
But guess what? There are some crazy talented players such as Shaq who occasionally do mail it in.
Both types are still Hall of Famers. So mailing it in can't be the criteria for whether it's worth it to trade for them or not.
I'd give two 1sts for Shaq and he doesn't even play football! LOL. I'm sure you get the point.
