Tim Duncan Legacy

[coachmac87]

People call him the best PF of all time..but if he wins 1 more (5 rings) he needs to be in discussion as the best BIG to ever play the game...

As of now Duncan takes a back seat to Kareem, Wilt, and Russell and some even put Shaq over Tim..
But if you really think about it and dig deep Duncan has the most complete game of all bigs...passing, 18 ft jumper, post game, defense and rebounding. No big can match the titles and talent..

Speaking of talent...Other then Wilt, Duncan has had a worse supporting cast..Russell played with 9 HOF and a pioneer coach..Kareem played and won 5 titles with the best PG(Magic) of all time. Shaq played with arguably top 5 player(kobe)and best coach in Phil..

Duncan dominated since day 1 stepping on NBA hardwood..only Kareem compares when it comes to that..

Big Fundamental > any big IMO

[Vash StampedE]

One thing's for sure, he's the best big man during the modern era. Tim > Shaq

[spurraider21]

He's 37 years old. Losing in the finals to prime LeBron James won't hurt his legacy. It can only go up

[UZER]

He's 37 years old. Losing in the finals to prime LeBron James won't hurt his legacy. It can only go up

But if Timmy wins it...nah...they'll just make excuses for lebron.

[coachmac87]

Never says it'll hurt his legacy. If he loses it won't change and hell be best PF ever..but if he wins?? Legacy goes up another level..best NBA big ever IMO

[RoyerReptiles]

I love Timmy just as much as the next spurs fan, with or without blinders....but I could never EVER say he's a better big than Wilt, Kareem or Bill Russell. They're easily the top three. He's in that next tier with Hakeem and Shaq, with him probably being better than those two. But c'mon, look at the resumes over their careers:

Wilt is the ONLY NBA player to ever average 40 or 50 points in an NBA season. He scored 100 points in a game and led the league in scoring 7 times. He's the only player to break 2,000 rebounds in a season, which was one of his 11 rebounding titles. He also led the league in assists one year! Over his career he averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds a season! Hell, he averaged 37 points a game as a ROOKIE! I don't think the younger generation really appreciates the ridiculous level this man was able to achieve in his day. He was a four time MVP and two time champion.

Kareem and David Robinson are the only players to have ever led the league in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots for at least one season (not necessarily the same season. Kareem scored more points over his career than any other player, was a SIX time MVP and SIX time NBA champion. The guy's best year saw an average of almost 35 points a game and almost 17 rebounds a game! I'm sure his block totals from that year were impressive....but they didn't record those yet. His averages in blocks the following years were around 3.5 to 4 a game.

Bill Russell's career also fell into that era of not recording blocked shots, like Wilt's and the beginning of Kareem's. His numbers would have been staggering had they recorded them, though! His career average....entire career average for rebounding was 22.5! Not only did his teams win 11 NBA titles, he was also the league MVP 4 times. He's widely considered the greatest shot blocker of all time, even though blocks weren't recorded. He and Wilt are estimated to have averaged 6 to 8 blocks a game throughout their careers!

[Arcadian]

He's better than Bill Russell for sure. Wilt and Kareem hold the top two spots, but I can see Tim in his prime giving them trouble too.

[spurraider21]

I love Timmy just as much as the next spurs fan, with or without blinders....but I could never EVER say he's a better big than Wilt, Kareem or Bill Russell. They're easily the top three. He's in that next tier with Hakeem and Shaq, with him probably being better than those two. But c'mon, look at the resumes over their careers:

Wilt is the ONLY NBA player to ever average 40 or 50 points in an NBA season. He scored 100 points in a game and led the league in scoring 7 times. He's the only player to break 2,000 rebounds in a season, which was one of his 11 rebounding titles. He also led the league in assists one year! Over his career he averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds a season! Hell, he averaged 37 points a game as a ROOKIE! I don't think the younger generation really appreciates the ridiculous level this man was able to achieve in his day. He was a four time MVP and two time champion.

Kareem and David Robinson are the only players to have ever led the league in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots for at least one season (not necessarily the same season. Kareem scored more points over his career than any other player, was a SIX time MVP and SIX time NBA champion. The guy's best year saw an average of almost 35 points a game and almost 17 rebounds a game! I'm sure his block totals from that year were impressive....but they didn't record those yet. His averages in blocks the following years were around 3.5 to 4 a game.

Bill Russell's career also fell into that era of not recording blocked shots, like Wilt's and the beginning of Kareem's. His numbers would have been staggering had they recorded them, though! His career average....entire career average for rebounding was 22.5! Not only did his teams win 11 NBA titles, he was also the league MVP 4 times. He's widely considered the greatest shot blocker of all time, even though blocks weren't recorded. He and Wilt are estimated to have averaged 6 to 8 blocks a game throughout their careers!

didn't bill russell play with double digit hall of famers throughout his career and was a 44% shooter from the field for his career? i'm not sayin, but i'm sayin

[jdiggy0424]

While the numbers for Wilt, Russell and Jabbar (early in his career) certainly are impressive, you have to factor the era they were playing in as well. The game has well evolved over the past couple of decades, and I'm a strong believer that if you were to take those three and plug them into todays game (with modern medicine, the fitness regime, the level of talent increasing, media, etc.) they would probably average similar stats to what some of the best bigs of this era have, if not worse.

The numbers they put up are inflated because of a diluted league back them, and the style they played. Hell that same season you mentioned with Wlt averaging 50 pts had Elgin Baylor average 38 and The Big O averaging the triple double. Pretty sure Bob Pettit was averaging a solid 28pts and 18rebs as well. That can't be by coincidence.

The only player that would probably put up the same numbers scoring wise would be Kareem, because he possessed the only unguardable shot in basketball. His rebounding took a hit, especially once he hit his 30's and the game became a much more physical one, plus the 3 point shot was introduced so now he had to worry about those long ass rebounds after a miss.

When ranking big men, I like to rank them in terms of the overall impact they left on the game. This is why I compare Duncan to a modern day Bill Russell, a guy who is the ultimate winner, who will gladly sacrifice whatever it takes to win and leave it all on the floor. Who (still) is outplaying and outsmarting players 2x younger than him. A guy who has adapted to 3 different styles of basketball play in his career; the grind it out defensive era (till 2004), the new hand checking rules that everybody was still getting used to (05-06), and the uptempo style, spread the offense, kick for the corner 3/pick and roll/zone defense with speedy perimeter guards, etc. He is the ultimate teammate, transformed the careers of David Robinson, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, helped Poppovich come into his own as a coach, and has brought 4 championships and recognition to a city that only has 1 major sports franchise to its name.

To me being able to get back to this point after such a long hiatus is something I as a Spurs fan am proud of. Win or lose this finals, Duncan has already cemented his resume as one of the all-time greats.

[coachmac87]

I feel like if Duncan played in Wilt, Kareem and Russell era he'd dominate just as much. If you read my original post I mention the talent that Kareem and Russell played with. Kareem gets the best big mod as of noe because of his numbers but mainly cause of his 6 titles. But 5 came with Magic and the great Laker teams..

Russell played with 9-11 HOF and in a league with 8 teams and his only real compitition was wilt. Wilt dominated the 1 on 1 match up..but celtics always had the better teams

And wilt only won 2 titles so I can't put him over Timmy

And if you look who Timmy had to go against in his era..Shaq & Kobe?? Arguably top 10 talents and lets not forget LeBron..who is physically best player to ever lace em up.

Timmy resume stacks up with anybody when you compare especially if he gets his 5th title

[jdiggy0424]

Agreed

[dbreiden83080]

Lebron's legacy is fucked if he loses this one..

4 time league MVP and 28 years old losing to 37 year old Tim Duncan's Spurs..

Not good...