Spurs Brazil
02-14-2010, 08:18 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Duncan_enjoying_career_renaissance.html
Duncan enjoying career renaissance
By Mike Monroe - Express-News DALLAS Eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs in five games, the Spurs trudged off their AT&T Center home court last April while the rival Dallas Mavericks danced in celebration.
Only once had Spurs captain Tim Duncan tasted first-round defeat. In 2000, when a torn meniscus in his left knee knocked him out of a series against the Phoenix Suns, he had watched elimination from the bench.
His head bowed in stony silence, he felt the ache in both knees as he made his way to the locker room and wondered: Will I ever feel good enough again to impose my will on a big game?
I had a really tough year with injuries, trying to play through all that, Duncan said a few months later. I definitely took a step back.
Duncan will step onto the court today before some 90,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium, a starter in the NBA All-Star Game for the 11th time in his 13-year career.
Pain in his right knee, from a chronic condition called quadriceps tendonosis, never goes away. But now he wears a lightweight brace made from space-age material on his surgically repaired left knee. It serves a dual function, stabilizing the left joint to the point that the star power forward swears he isn't aware the device is strapped on, while also retarding the spread of the tendonosis.
Duncan said he feels better on the court than he has for a long while, and the numbers bear out this belief.
Shooting 52.7 percent, higher than any season since his 1997-98 rookie year, he is scoring 19.4 points per game despite playing a career-low 32.1 minutes. He is averaging 10.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots. He has made 75 percent of his shots at the foul line, which had served as his personal basketball purgatory.
Just 71 days shy of his 34th birthday, he is in the midst of a season of renewal that has him pondering playing beyond the expiration of what he always believed would be his final contract with the Spurs.
I have one year, this year, and two more years after this, he said Friday. I think they're going to tell me to go home after that. That's what I'm planning on right now.
But Duncan's eyebrows arched as he pondered an answer to a hypothetical scenario he found intriguing: If he feels as good at the end of the final season of his contract as he does now, would he want to keep playing?
I'd love to play as long as I can, he said. I'm a player. I'm a competitor. If I can do it the way I want to do it, yeah, I'll keep doing it.
The way Duncan wants to do it is by the book. There is a reason Shaquille O'Neal once dubbed him The Big Fundamental.
Duncan's way is the right way.
There's never been a big man play the game more the right way than Tim, said the Nuggets' George Karl, who will coach the Western Conference in today's All-Star Game. He lives his life the right way. He plays the right way. He leads the right way.
I kid all the coaches in San Antonio that they've never experienced what all the rest of us coaches do in the NBA because Tim has always been such an example there that they don't have to say anything to the rest of their players.
Gregg Popovich understands his good fortune in having had Duncan for all but the first, partial season of his coaching tenure with the Spurs.
Is it shocking Duncan has bounced back from the injuries that limited his effectiveness in the final months of the 2008-09 season? The surprise would have been had he not showed up for training camp renewed in both health and spirit.
I'm not amazed at all, Popovich said. He's been so meticulous about training and taking care of his body, and we're trying to do the best we can to preserve some minutes here and there. He's been real good in that regard.
It was Popovich who suggested that Duncan reconsider an offseason regimen that would have included long hours of both endurance and strength training.
I'll give Pop a lot of credit, Duncan said. He talked me into changing the regimen. I lost some weight on my own because that's what I thought I needed to do. So far, it's worked out pretty good. My body feels good. (There are) the same aches and pains as before, but on the floor, I feel like I'm moving well. I feel like I'm playing well. It's all working.
Opponents and expert observers have noticed.
Thirty-three ain't old, said Denver's Carmelo Anthony, the West's other All-Star starting forward. Not for Tim. He's always been consistent. You can always rely on him to get a bucket down in the post to win a basketball game. That's still true.
TNT analyst Doug Collins, who once coached the Chicago Bulls, believes Duncan shares a trait with one of his former players.
I always have said that Michael Jordan was the best defensive player at his position, Collins said. Well, whenever you think of Tim, you always think of his offensive consistency. But for me, what separates him from all the other great power forwards is that he is the best defensive player that's ever played that position.
When you can play both ends like that, it separates you, and when you think of the Spurs and their championships, what is it you think of? They won with their defense, and their anchor has always been Tim Duncan.
Duncan recoils at such adulation, but he approaches his 12th All-Star Game with a sense of quiet satisfaction that he remains among the NBA's elite players.
I feel good, he said. I feel healthy. I feel like out on the court, I have the ability to help us win a game. Honestly, that's all you want to do be able to be effective and help your team win the game.
All-time NBA starting five
Is Tim Duncan the greatest power forward in NBA history? Express-News NBA beat writer Mike Monroe says the Spurs' 12-time All-Star clearly is on a very short list of candidates along with Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Kevin Garnett, Bob Pettit and Kevin McHale.
What gives Duncan a spot on this entirely subjective All-time NBA starting five?
Defense. He is the only player in league history to earn both All-NBA and All-Defensive honors in each of his first 12 seasons. Many regard him as the best defensive power forward ever.
If that's not enough, Nuggets coach George Karl offers this: "When you're stuck between two great players, like Tim and (Kevin) Garnett, it's always good to fall back on all those championship rings."
Duncan has four of them.
PG: Oscar Robertson
This is a two-player race: Robertson vs. Magic Johnson. Robertson was as close to a perfect player as the league has seen. Magic was great, but he never averaged a triple-double for an entire season.
SG: Michael Jordan
The easiest choice. Some regard him as the greatest player ever. The fact he may be the best perimeter defender ever seals the deal.
C: Wilt Chamberlain
It's true Bill Russell won two handfuls of rings, with an extra to spare. But if you're choosing sides for a pickup game, you have to take "The Big Dipper."
PF: Tim Duncan
For all the reasons already enumerated, "The Big Fundamental" gets the nod here.
SF: Larry Bird
Bird was almost a combo forward, capable of playing inside and out. At either spot, he's on this starting five.
Duncan enjoying career renaissance
By Mike Monroe - Express-News DALLAS Eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs in five games, the Spurs trudged off their AT&T Center home court last April while the rival Dallas Mavericks danced in celebration.
Only once had Spurs captain Tim Duncan tasted first-round defeat. In 2000, when a torn meniscus in his left knee knocked him out of a series against the Phoenix Suns, he had watched elimination from the bench.
His head bowed in stony silence, he felt the ache in both knees as he made his way to the locker room and wondered: Will I ever feel good enough again to impose my will on a big game?
I had a really tough year with injuries, trying to play through all that, Duncan said a few months later. I definitely took a step back.
Duncan will step onto the court today before some 90,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium, a starter in the NBA All-Star Game for the 11th time in his 13-year career.
Pain in his right knee, from a chronic condition called quadriceps tendonosis, never goes away. But now he wears a lightweight brace made from space-age material on his surgically repaired left knee. It serves a dual function, stabilizing the left joint to the point that the star power forward swears he isn't aware the device is strapped on, while also retarding the spread of the tendonosis.
Duncan said he feels better on the court than he has for a long while, and the numbers bear out this belief.
Shooting 52.7 percent, higher than any season since his 1997-98 rookie year, he is scoring 19.4 points per game despite playing a career-low 32.1 minutes. He is averaging 10.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots. He has made 75 percent of his shots at the foul line, which had served as his personal basketball purgatory.
Just 71 days shy of his 34th birthday, he is in the midst of a season of renewal that has him pondering playing beyond the expiration of what he always believed would be his final contract with the Spurs.
I have one year, this year, and two more years after this, he said Friday. I think they're going to tell me to go home after that. That's what I'm planning on right now.
But Duncan's eyebrows arched as he pondered an answer to a hypothetical scenario he found intriguing: If he feels as good at the end of the final season of his contract as he does now, would he want to keep playing?
I'd love to play as long as I can, he said. I'm a player. I'm a competitor. If I can do it the way I want to do it, yeah, I'll keep doing it.
The way Duncan wants to do it is by the book. There is a reason Shaquille O'Neal once dubbed him The Big Fundamental.
Duncan's way is the right way.
There's never been a big man play the game more the right way than Tim, said the Nuggets' George Karl, who will coach the Western Conference in today's All-Star Game. He lives his life the right way. He plays the right way. He leads the right way.
I kid all the coaches in San Antonio that they've never experienced what all the rest of us coaches do in the NBA because Tim has always been such an example there that they don't have to say anything to the rest of their players.
Gregg Popovich understands his good fortune in having had Duncan for all but the first, partial season of his coaching tenure with the Spurs.
Is it shocking Duncan has bounced back from the injuries that limited his effectiveness in the final months of the 2008-09 season? The surprise would have been had he not showed up for training camp renewed in both health and spirit.
I'm not amazed at all, Popovich said. He's been so meticulous about training and taking care of his body, and we're trying to do the best we can to preserve some minutes here and there. He's been real good in that regard.
It was Popovich who suggested that Duncan reconsider an offseason regimen that would have included long hours of both endurance and strength training.
I'll give Pop a lot of credit, Duncan said. He talked me into changing the regimen. I lost some weight on my own because that's what I thought I needed to do. So far, it's worked out pretty good. My body feels good. (There are) the same aches and pains as before, but on the floor, I feel like I'm moving well. I feel like I'm playing well. It's all working.
Opponents and expert observers have noticed.
Thirty-three ain't old, said Denver's Carmelo Anthony, the West's other All-Star starting forward. Not for Tim. He's always been consistent. You can always rely on him to get a bucket down in the post to win a basketball game. That's still true.
TNT analyst Doug Collins, who once coached the Chicago Bulls, believes Duncan shares a trait with one of his former players.
I always have said that Michael Jordan was the best defensive player at his position, Collins said. Well, whenever you think of Tim, you always think of his offensive consistency. But for me, what separates him from all the other great power forwards is that he is the best defensive player that's ever played that position.
When you can play both ends like that, it separates you, and when you think of the Spurs and their championships, what is it you think of? They won with their defense, and their anchor has always been Tim Duncan.
Duncan recoils at such adulation, but he approaches his 12th All-Star Game with a sense of quiet satisfaction that he remains among the NBA's elite players.
I feel good, he said. I feel healthy. I feel like out on the court, I have the ability to help us win a game. Honestly, that's all you want to do be able to be effective and help your team win the game.
All-time NBA starting five
Is Tim Duncan the greatest power forward in NBA history? Express-News NBA beat writer Mike Monroe says the Spurs' 12-time All-Star clearly is on a very short list of candidates along with Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Kevin Garnett, Bob Pettit and Kevin McHale.
What gives Duncan a spot on this entirely subjective All-time NBA starting five?
Defense. He is the only player in league history to earn both All-NBA and All-Defensive honors in each of his first 12 seasons. Many regard him as the best defensive power forward ever.
If that's not enough, Nuggets coach George Karl offers this: "When you're stuck between two great players, like Tim and (Kevin) Garnett, it's always good to fall back on all those championship rings."
Duncan has four of them.
PG: Oscar Robertson
This is a two-player race: Robertson vs. Magic Johnson. Robertson was as close to a perfect player as the league has seen. Magic was great, but he never averaged a triple-double for an entire season.
SG: Michael Jordan
The easiest choice. Some regard him as the greatest player ever. The fact he may be the best perimeter defender ever seals the deal.
C: Wilt Chamberlain
It's true Bill Russell won two handfuls of rings, with an extra to spare. But if you're choosing sides for a pickup game, you have to take "The Big Dipper."
PF: Tim Duncan
For all the reasons already enumerated, "The Big Fundamental" gets the nod here.
SF: Larry Bird
Bird was almost a combo forward, capable of playing inside and out. At either spot, he's on this starting five.