I didn't follow the NBA back then but I always read two narratives on here. One being Tim was always selfless and didn't care about his numbers, and two being that the entire offense was 4-down, dump it into Tim in the post. If he was as unstoppable as I've heard then why didn't he score more if the entire offense was 4down?
Just curious since I didn't watch back then..
Well his best offensive season was in 2002 league MVP with a scoring average of almost 26 a game.. Tim just never played for stats. They came when he needed to be the man in any given game but unlike so many players he never scoreboard watched to maintain an average..
1. His usage rate and PPG actually correlate pretty decently for a big man of his caliber..if you compare his usage % with other bigs, they're around the same number of PPG during Duncan's peak..the other bigs that scored at a higher clip during the 90s/2000s all had 30+ usage %s IIRC
2. While his peak scoring was great and he was capable of putting up huge scoring outputs, Duncan's value isn't in scoring, and he doesn't compare to the best scorers of all-time, in all honesty..overall, he's a good scorer for his career, but not an elite scorer like Shaq, peak Olajuwon, etc..his value is in his all-around game, rather than just scoring..
His scoring was around the low 20's in his prime even, he was not selfish as you said and the game would be slowed down a lot when they dumped it down into him. I remember scores being in the 70's and 80's routinely then (When they were so called boring), far different than the motion offense they adapted to the last few years on end.
OP is a got.
pace. #'s of possessions. these are things.
Pace is a factor, but it generally doesn't impact the scoring numbers of a player with a huge usage % on a team to a great extent IIRC..
in '02 Duncan had 25.5ppg and the team had 96.7ppg overall, so he had 26.37% of the team's points
in '04 Duncan had 22.3ppg (dropoff there), but the team also dropped to 91.5ppg, so he still had 24.37% of the team's points
This past year, Duncan had 13.9ppg of the team's 103.2ppg, so he only had 13.47% of the team's points.
As good as he is now, he was amazing then
well, if you have 2 players with 30% usage, and one guy has 20 more possessions to work with due to pace, the scoring #'s will certainly have a disparity. even per minute stats wont hold up because one team is dragging the shot clock, getting less shot attempts per minute
Spurs used to win some games scoring under 80 points, just a different style back then tbh.
Imagine prime Tim today, an NBA where Timofey Mozgov is going off in a Finals and can't be stopped in the post
Worst era for big men is now man, bar none. You get average bums getting overhyped and overpaid, it's that bad.Spurs used to win some games scoring under 80 points, just a different style back then tbh.
Imagine prime Tim today, an NBA where Timofey Mozgov is going off in a Finals and can't be stopped in the post
Probably had something to do with Tim caring more about winning championships than padding his stats.
Look up Tim's numbers in the playoffs. In his prime, he was putting up 30 and 15s. He was an absolute monster.
^^ Yep.
First of all, 20-25 ppg is not "low."
It's not true that the "entire offense" was 4 down. The Spurs always tried to mix things up with their offense.
Duncan has always been obsessed with efficiency and doing what helps the team. I haven't looked at his FGA/game compared with other stars of the decade, but I would guess it was significantly lower.
Always upped his PPG in the playoffs, tbh.
Was always double teamed, slow pace, unselfish type, average FT shooter etc etc
More interested in getting open shots for the shooters, and making his team better than putting up huge numbers
Was also very patient on the block - would rather wait till he got doubled, then kick it out to the shooters, than score himself. Must have been the king of hockey assists back in the day.
Yup exactly. Just look at Kenneth Faried's contract... A guy who averages 10 & 10
Tim was involved in scoring, assisting, passing out of the post on most plays. But the spurs scored way fewer points in those days (and held opponents to even fewer). Which depresses his raw ppg numbers somewhat.
I'm sure if you look at the average points scored per game by the team in those years, Tim was directly involved in scoring a percentage of points comparable to most other superstar big men.
LOL at that contract, damn man he is overpaid.
Thanks guys
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