Dallas morning News- Listed Duncan on their 2nd Team for All decade

[Duncan2177]

WTF :cuss

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/021310dnspoalldecade.2f90eb0.html

Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki makes writers' NBA All-Decade second team | Dallas Mavericks News | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News

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***********Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki makes writers' NBA All-Decade second team*********

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[SIZE=-1]08:28 PM CST on Friday, February 12, 2010

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[SIZE=-1]By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected] *********

They were the best of the best.
They dazzled us, they were MVPs, some of them, anyway. A few won rings and ruled the decade that brought us instant replay, LeBron James and a ref scandal that threatened the integrity of the NBA.
OK, so maybe everything that happened to the NBA in the 2000s wasn't great. But you have to admit, it was a pretty awesome decade for people who love basketball at its highest level.
Will anybody forget Kobe and Shaq? Or Tim, Tony and Manu? Or even Dwyane, Shaq and Bennett?
That would be Bennett Salvatore, of course.
On the serious side, the all-2000s team includes some obvious choices. Or did it?
Our exclusive panel of a dozen writers from across the country, each of whom has covered the NBA for all or part of the last decade and most of whom have been connected to the league for two decades or more, named only one player as a unanimous first-team pick to our all all-decade team: Kobe Bryant.
Not even Shaquille O'Neal rated unanimous treatment among our experts. That's because some chose to put Tim Duncan at center, which is the position he most often plays, even if he's introduced in the starting lineup as a forward.
The diversity of the voting proves just how good the basketball was over the last decade. There were a whole lot of great players, many of them still going strong into the new decade and some of them on display this week at Cowboys Stadium for the NBA's All-Star Game.
So here's a look at our all-decade first and second teams.

FIRST TEAM

KEVIN GARNETT
It's true that he languished in Minnesota for many years and really had success there only when he was joined by Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell in 2004, reaching the Western Conference finals. But his career was 100 percent validated when he was traded to Boston and the Celtics picked up a title in 2008, after which Garnett yelled the now-famous "Anything is possible!" line. That ring is really all that separates Garnett from Dirk Nowitzki, most of our voters believe.

LEBRON JAMES
He didn't arrive in the NBA until the 2003-04 season, but in no time James stamped himself as one of the pre-eminent players in the game. He got Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2007 and led the league in scoring the following season. He's simply a freak of nature with outrageous basket-to-basket speed for somebody who is 6-8 and 240 pounds. Even though the best is likely still to come from James, he clearly is one of the two top wing players of the last decade.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
For the first six years of the decade, nobody dominated the paint like Shaq. Not Yao Ming. Not Dwight Howard. Not even the tandem of David Robinson and Tim Duncan early in the decade. O'Neal won four championship rings in the Aughts, and it was the Big Aristotle who smartly escorted Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade to their titles early in the decade, all amassed in a seven-year span. O'Neal is winding down his career now, and nobody is banking on him helping LeBron to LeRing. But his résumé is unparalleled.

STEVE NASH
Two MVP awards were enough to convince our panel that he was the point guard of the decade. After he left the Mavericks, with whom he was great, he was absolutely terrific with the Phoenix Suns. And although he never got them close to an NBA championship, he's the trigger man for the most fun offense in the league. Nash apparently didn't get the memo that his body was supposed to start breaking down as soon as he left the Mavs. Six seasons later, he's still going strong, leading the league in assists.

KOBE BRYANT
It was a wild 10 years for Kobe. He became public enemy No. 1 in Colorado, and it had nothing to do with him bashing the Nuggets. He won three rings from 2000-2002 but got little credit because Shaq was on his side. Then he led the Lakers nowhere without Shaq until a fellow named Pau Gasol showed up with a ribbon and bow. And what a gift it was. But give Bryant credit. He figured out a way to parlay his incredible will to win and end-of-game heroics – along with Gasol's well-rounded play – for a title all his own.

SECOND TEAM

DIRK NOWITZKI
Power forward
Points: 13
1st-team votes: 2
Universally considered one of the toughest matchups in the game, and reached the NBA Finals in 2006.

PAUL PIERCE
Small forward
Points: 5
1st-team votes: 0
Pierce was picked right after Dirk in the 1998 draft, and he and the Big German would go 1-2 if that draft were redone.

TIM DUNCAN
Center
Points: 20
1st-team votes: 9
We don't want to hear about him being a power forward. Our panel split votes at both positions, but he's a center in our book.

JASON KIDD
Point guard
Points: 15
1st-team votes: 4
A couple of appearances in the Finals are augmented by the fact that he made himself into a really good shooter in addition to a great passer.

DWYANE WADE
Shooting guard
Points: 8
1st-team votes: 1
He's given us some of the game's greatest highlights since arriving in 2003 and won a title in '06, much to the Mavs' chagrin.
Also receiving votes: Allen Iverson (5, 1 first-team vote), Yao Ming (3), Vince Carter (2), Dwight Howard (2), Amare Stoudemire, Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups (1 each).
The voters: Fran Blinebury, NBA.com; Dave D'Alessandro, Newark Star-Ledger; Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo Sports; Tom Enlund, Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal; Mark Heisler, Los Angeles Times; Jan Hubbard, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Mitch Lawrence, New York Daily News; Steve Luhm, Salt Lake Tribune; Mike Monroe, San Antonio Express-News; David Moore, The Dallas Morning News; Chris Perkins, NBA.com; Eddie Sefko, The Dallas Morning News

[L.I.T]

Sometimes you just gotta say what the fudge.

[Chieflion]

So their panel splitted votes for Duncan at Center and Power Forward, so they put Duncan in the 2nd team for being a Center when he is the player of that decade. Hilarious.

[duncan228]

Seems like their panel of writers across the country split Duncan between Power Forward and Center. That might have hurt his votes, but he still got more first team votes than Dirk. Votes like this are subjective. Duncan's resume will put him where he belongs all-time.

[Allanon]

crofl Dallas Morning News?

[badfish22]

wgaf

[Ice009]

FUCKING FAIL.

Just for this shit now I won't go for Dallas if the face the Lakers.

[Stringer_Bell]

FUCKING FAIL.

Just for this shit now I won't go for Dallas if the face the Lakers.

I don't think it was an intentional thing on the part of DMN, look at the voters. It's just cuz Timmy's so versatile people didn't know where to put him. :lol

Srsly, there's no wai anyone would say Kevin Garnett is 1st Team when Timmy's on the bench. NO WAI!

[Texas_Ranger]

:lol

[Fabbs]

high standards to be a media sports journalist. :rollin

[pookenstein]

I stopped reading after this:


FIRST TEAM

KEVIN GARNETT


:lmao

[urunobili]

Dallas Morning who?

[Spurs Brazil]

:lol

[gm5k]

is this real life?

[honestfool84]

two of the starters have never even won a championship. they even stated that Garnett was a joke until he arrived in Boston!

[Dro210]

lol Dallas Morning News

[Russ]

"You can change your views.

But that don't change the Dallas Morning News."

-- Michael Martin Murphy

[ffadicted]

Even if Duncan was put at Center, he had a better decade than Shaq. What has Shaq done since 2002.

Iverson
Kobe
Pierce
Duncan
Shaq

You can swap Kid for Iverson, but for everyone, it's in stone. James has not accomplished as much as Pierce.

Never thought I'd say I agree with this guy lol

[Rogue]

Even if Duncan was put at Center, he had a better decade than Shaq. What has Shaq done since 2002.

Iverson
Kobe
Pierce
Duncan
Shaq

You can swap Kid for Iverson, but for everyone, it's in stone. James has not accomplished as much as Pierce.
Paul Pierce has had a joyful career so far but I don't think he should be considered any nobler than VC or any other player his caliber. It's during these 3 years that Pierce has been quite a name around the league thanks to the success of his team, which was also fueled quite a lot by the efforts of many other players including Ray Allen and KG. Pierce has been made representative of his team because he has been a celtic in green ever since he joined NBA in 98, which makes his Celtic career longer than that of anyone else currently playing on that team.

[robino2001]

So Duncan got 9 first place votes... and there were only 12 writers voting...? Who cares if they split positions or not - do the math.

[Bukefal]

wtf :lmao

[ffadicted]

So Duncan got 9 first place votes... and there were only 12 writers voting...? Who cares if they split positions or not - do the math.

Yeah wtf I just saw this :rollin

[polandprzem]

We don't want to hear about him being a power forward. Our panel split votes at both positions, but he's a center in our book.

And leBron is a power forward , no he is a point guard, no wait a second a shooting guard?

well we do not want to hear about that

[ElNono]

http://www.themadhat.com/images/fail_20at_20failing.jpg

[Kool Bob Love]

:lol
:lol
:lol
:lol
:lol
:lol
:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol


:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin: rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:r ollin

[pad300]

9 First Team votes, 12 panelists, 2nd team

Welcome to Dallas, where drunken morons who can't do math are typical...

[ploto]

9 First Team votes, 12 panelists, 2nd team

Welcome to Dallas, where drunken morons who can't do math are typical...

I guess Duncan got fewer votes than Shaq at center and fewer votes than LeBron and KG at forward, so he was "second team" at both positions.

[Obstructed_View]

Funny how two undeseved MVPs boost Nash up, but two deserved MVPs don't tip the scale for Duncan, who's probably happy to be under the radar. As a Spurs fan, I'm happy they keep disrespecting him.

[ffadicted]

I guess Duncan got fewer votes than Shaq at center and fewer votes than LeBron and KG at forward, so he was "second team" at both positions.

Makes so much sense... fucking DMN :lmao

[Obstructed_View]

Really, folks. Who didn't expect the Dallas newspaper to find a way to justify Dirk into the article while insulting a Spur? This is a city with so much class that it plays Nelson's "HA HA" at sporting events when something bad happens to the other team.

[dbestpro]

The NBA has not been a C, PF, SF, SG, PG line up for over the last decade so it was stupid to create the poll in the first place. Should be CF x2, wing x2, and PG or just score the top 5 scores. Anything else just blows their credibility and they don't want to hear it because they already know it.

[eyeh8u]

magic johnson can be a 6'9'' point guard, but tim cant be a 6'11'' power forward

[galvatron3000]

Mine would have looked more like this:

1st Team All Decade

C Shaquille O'Neal the most physically dominant center of this generation and when disciple as he was the entire 2000 season, just unstoppable in single coverage
PF Tim Duncan the best PF of this generations, really enough said. Even former All Star power forward Charles Barkley conceded
SF Paul Pierce toiling away in Boston awaiting help and finally being the go to guy in his first championship gave him the nod over the up and coming LeBron James who made it to the Finals but lost.
SG Kobe Bryant the best shooting guard consistently for atleast most of the 10 years.
PG Jason Kidd leading his team to the Finals in back to back years notched him above two MVP awards voted on by media panelist, here we give credence to court results.

2nd Team All Decade

C Tim Duncan seriously had to agree Tim was playing like a center so it made sense to place him as the second best behind Shaq for the decade, no argument from us here. No other big man played better in the paint other than Shaq and we say Tim was far more consistent on both ends for a longer time
PF Kevin Garnett we had to choose between two guys who started their careers as small forwards, we chose Garnett who won a championship before Dirk and was the catalyst for the strong defense of the Boston Celtics
SF LeBron James this guys just gets better and better and would be #1 had he won in 2007
SG Dwayne Wade won a title in 2006, was the leading scorer and just destroyed the Piston defense, killed Dallas too by ripping their heart out...ouch!
PG Steve Nash like fine wine, gets better with age, plays no defense but runs the offense in a system tailor made for him like no other, Dallas did him a favor

[TIMMYD!]

:lol

They blow.

:lol

[BanditHiro]

Mine would have looked more like this:

1st Team All Decade

C Shaquille O'Neal the most physically dominant center of this generation and when disciple as he was the entire 2000 season, just unstoppable in single coverage
PF Tim Duncan the best PF of this generations, really enough said. Even former All Star power forward Charles Barkley conceded
SF Paul Pierce toiling away in Boston awaiting help and finally being the go to guy in his first championship gave him the nod over the up and coming LeBron James who made it to the Finals but lost.
SG Kobe Bryant the best shooting guard consistently for atleast most of the 10 years.
PG Jason Kidd leading his team to the Finals in back to back years notched him above two MVP awards voted on by media panelist, here we give credence to court results.

2nd Team All Decade

C Tim Duncan seriously had to agree Tim was playing like a center so it made sense to place him as the second best behind Shaq for the decade, no argument from us here. No other big man played better in the paint other than Shaq and we say Tim was far more consistent on both ends for a longer time
PF Kevin Garnett we had to choose between two guys who started their careers as small forwards, we chose Garnett who won a championship before Dirk and was the catalyst for the strong defense of the Boston Celtics
SF LeBron James this guys just gets better and better and would be #1 had he won in 2007
SG Dwayne Wade won a title in 2006, was the leading scorer and just destroyed the Piston defense, killed Dallas too by ripping their heart out...ouch!
PG Steve Nash like fine wine, gets better with age, plays no defense but runs the offense in a system tailor made for him like no other, Dallas did him a favor


no way you can put pierce above LeBron. LeBron has done more with less than Pierce did this entire decade and needed a gift from the nba to win a championship.

[galvatron3000]

no way you can put pierce above LeBron. LeBron has done more with less than Pierce did this entire decade and needed a gift from the nba to win a championship.

I qualified why and you don't have to agree. I don't necessarily have a problem with either way but the nod went because in the finals he was the go to guy and won it. LeBron didn't nor did LeBron shred the Spurs like he shredded the Pistons, Manu shredded the Pistons the year prior and although Pierce was on losing teams he was still THE TRUTH. It's better than Dallas putting Tim on ALL Second Team and giving a ridiculous reason why. You can make a case for Pierce and LeBron, I'd take LeBron over Pierce but I let the Finals decide in the end that's all. FOR THE DECADE Not the present or future.

[dbreiden83080]

:lmao:lmao:lmao

Duncan has been the best player of the decade period...

[dbreiden83080]

Really, folks. Who didn't expect the Dallas newspaper to find a way to justify Dirk into the article while insulting a Spur? This is a city with so much class that it plays Nelson's "HA HA" at sporting events when something bad happens to the other team.

Dirk is like Charles Barkley. All Regular Season success. No rings, and never gonna get one..

[Dex]

Dallas Morning News - journalistic credibility be damned.

[FeZZy]

nothing more to expect from some fucktard from Dallas

[Obstructed_View]

Dirk is like Charles Barkley. All Regular Season success. No rings, and never gonna get one..

Guess you never saw Barkley play.

[galvatron3000]

Guess you never saw Barkley play.

He is right though, he had success but no ring but then Barkley was more Power Forward than Dirk could ever hope to be. Dirk is a 7 foot Small forward. Will he ever win a ring, it's not out of the realm of possibility at this point. They just need to surround him with tougher players than him so he can do what he does best and they can take the and dish out the punishment. Barkley could take it and dish it out just never played on a team that was defense focused. He joined the Rockets too late.

[Obstructed_View]

He is right though, he had success but no ring but then Barkley was more Power Forward than Dirk could ever hope to be. Dirk is a 7 foot Small forward. Will he ever win a ring, it's not out of the realm of possibility at this point. They just need to surround him with tougher players than him so he can do what he does best and they can take the and dish out the punishment. Barkley could take it and dish it out just never played on a team that was defense focused. He joined the Rockets too late.

There aren't many players during Jordan's career that you could say were the best player in the league NOT named Jordan. Barkley's maybe the only one. It took really clutch shots by Mario Elie and John Paxson to keep him from getting a ring. Barkley's teams never choked in the clutch, he never shied from a big moment or failed to deliver for his team, and he couldn't have been much better than he was in that Finals series against the Bulls.

[poop]

i hope they get hit by trucks next time they cross the street.

[Fpoonsie]

Who really cares? I mean It's a local City paper.

Bingo-bango.

[mudyez]

Mine would have looked more like this:

1st Team All Decade

C Shaquille O'Neal the most physically dominant center of this generation and when disciple as he was the entire 2000 season, just unstoppable in single coverage
PF Tim Duncan the best PF of this generations, really enough said. Even former All Star power forward Charles Barkley conceded
SF Paul Pierce toiling away in Boston awaiting help and finally being the go to guy in his first championship gave him the nod over the up and coming LeBron James who made it to the Finals but lost.
SG Kobe Bryant the best shooting guard consistently for atleast most of the 10 years.
PG Jason Kidd leading his team to the Finals in back to back years notched him above two MVP awards voted on by media panelist, here we give credence to court results.

2nd Team All Decade

C Tim Duncan seriously had to agree Tim was playing like a center so it made sense to place him as the second best behind Shaq for the decade, no argument from us here. No other big man played better in the paint other than Shaq and we say Tim was far more consistent on both ends for a longer time
PF Kevin Garnett we had to choose between two guys who started their careers as small forwards, we chose Garnett who won a championship before Dirk and was the catalyst for the strong defense of the Boston Celtics
SF LeBron James this guys just gets better and better and would be #1 had he won in 2007
SG Dwayne Wade won a title in 2006, was the leading scorer and just destroyed the Piston defense, killed Dallas too by ripping their heart out...ouch!
PG Steve Nash like fine wine, gets better with age, plays no defense but runs the offense in a system tailor made for him like no other, Dallas did him a favor

so if the team plays, timmy is starting at PF AND backing the center?

not that I give to much but it should be:

shaq/yao
timmy/kg
lebron/dirk
kobe/wade
nash/kidd

...choosing yao is a little sad, but there are no realy good centers that could make a better case...you can discuss kidd/nash switching places and dirk isnt really a SF (but here I agree that its more like a C/C/W/W/PG thing)

if you go with the top 10 players, I like the ones from the dallas paper (maybe AI instead of Pierce, but the later has the hardware).

[dbreiden83080]

There aren't many players during Jordan's career that you could say were the best player in the league NOT named Jordan. Barkley's maybe the only one. It took really clutch shots by Mario Elie and John Paxson to keep him from getting a ring. Barkley's teams never choked in the clutch, he never shied from a big moment or failed to deliver for his team, and he couldn't have been much better than he was in that Finals series against the Bulls.

1993 Barkley was great for sure. Dirk was great in 2006. Chuck spent the late years in his career out of shape, and unmotivated. I don't care what anyone says he was playing for a pay-check by the time he hit Houston. Philly he was great but never won and Phoenix he was close but not close enough..

[mudyez]

I'm sorry Chuck must have won it all and i missed it? Shit i need to quit drinking.. :rolleyes

its hard to only count such stuff: imagine timmy and KG swapping playes!
...would KG win 3-4 titles and be considered the best PF of all time? I doubt, even though I have to admit, that timmy may not have passed malone as the best PF in minny, without winning a ship (he may have with spree and sam).

[dbreiden83080]

its hard to only count such stuff: imagine timmy and KG swapping playes!
...would KG win 3-4 titles and be considered the best PF of all time? I doubt, even though I have to admit, that timmy may not have passed malone as the best PF in minny, without winning a ship (he may have with spree and sam).

KG on the spurs does not win what Duncan did at all. KG has never been in Tim's league other than maybe 1 or 2 years..

[waly.mg]

There are 2 Options:

TD is the best PF or is the Best Center
Because is better than Both in the 2000´s

Probably is only a Top 3 in this decade

[mudyez]

KG on the spurs does not win what Duncan did at all. KG has never been in Tim's league other than maybe 1 or 2 years..

agreed, but does timmy get the same reconition, if he is stuck on a medicre team like KG was? maybe he gets one ship, but so may KG in SA. then we MIGHT talk about #2A and #2B in terms of best PF of all time, with Malone beeing #1 without even winning a ship.

[Obstructed_View]

Well I don't really think Steve Nash is a point guard, so I'm just going to disregard the fact that he was listed as a point guard all those years...

[galvatron3000]

There aren't many players during Jordan's career that you could say were the best player in the league NOT named Jordan. Barkley's maybe the only one. It took really clutch shots by Mario Elie and John Paxson to keep him from getting a ring. Barkley's teams never choked in the clutch, he never shied from a big moment or failed to deliver for his team, and he couldn't have been much better than he was in that Finals series against the Bulls.

Brother I agree wholeheartedly I just was agreeing with his point of not winning a ring. Dirk is a classic choker which is why Miami has a ring there's no one who saw that series that could possibly believe otherwise unless they are a Dallas or Dirk fan

[dbreiden83080]

Brother I agree wholeheartedly I just was agreeing with his point of not winning a ring. Dirk is a classic choker which is why Miami has a ring there's no one who saw that series that could possibly believe otherwise unless they are a Dallas or Dirk fan

For me Dirk lost all legendary status the next year. The playoff loss to the Warriors was embarassing for that 1 seeded Dallas team, compounded with Dirk stinking out the joint in the elimination game. 2-13 for 8 pts in 38 min he was in that game. As they were getting blown out, Dirk had this look on his face like "Please please don't throw me the ball"

[PublicOption]

:downspin:when you are jealous just say so....don't waste your time with some BULLSHIT article.:downspin:

[FromWayDowntown]

Writing only tends to encourage this sort of thing, but I thought this warranted a response. Here's mine:

I'll acknowledge my bias as a Spurs fan, and I'll admit to the silliness of your panel's All-Decade team, but the fact that Tim Duncan would only rate Second Team treatment, even in a silly gimmick is among the more ridiculous things I've ever read in any sports page anywhere. The justification for it is about as silly as the result; Tim Duncan may appear to be a Center at this point in time, but for the majority of this decade, he did play power forward in San Antonio -- unless you're telling me that David Robinson, Rasho Nesterovic, and Nazr Mohammed are all actually power forwards. But the choice to make Tim Duncan a second-team player tells me that there's no need to read what such journalists think about the NBA -- it's obviously only a regurgitation of the garbage I see on ESPN; tremendous regard for sizzle, but little appreciation for steak.

[Obstructed_View]

There aren't many players during Jordan's career that you could say were the best player in the league NOT named Jordan. Barkley's maybe the only one. It took really clutch shots by Mario Elie and John Paxson to keep him from getting a ring. Barkley's teams never choked in the clutch, he never shied from a big moment or failed to deliver for his team, and he couldn't have been much better than he was in that Finals series against the Bulls.

Upon re-reading this quote, I don't think I made my point clear enough: There were times during Barkley's career that he was the best player in the NBA, bar none, despite Michael Jordan being in the league.

[Sean Cagney]

Hahaha that's funny. They didn't mention one thing about championships or MVPs, just some bullshit about where he is positioned.

.

I stopped reading right there, then I knew what it was and knew he was just hating on Tim. He has to put him up there somewhere although he did not want to put him in his real position because it knocks DIRK off his list (And he is a Dallas writer). Duncan 1 and Garnett 2 for the decade, throw Dirk off that list homer writer and GET REAL.

[Josepatches_]

agreed, but does timmy get the same reconition, if he is stuck on a medicre team like KG was? maybe he gets one ship, but so may KG in SA. then we MIGHT talk about #2A and #2B in terms of best PF of all time, with Malone beeing #1 without even winning a ship.

:lol:lol:lol Are you trying to say TD was so great because he was selected by the Spurs?

Spurs won 4 tittles because TD was here. The team was built around him.

KG was far away to be as dominant as TD was.With KG here instead of TD now we would have the same tittles we had in 1997.

It seems that TD had a lot of talent around him.That's funny.

Maybe it's only coincidence we are worse every year since TD is going down.Maybe his teammates are losing his talent at the same time.

[jimo2305]

man.. FUCK DALLAS