spursparker9
02-15-2015, 12:33 PM
Tim Duncan did not sound overjoyed to be in New York for his 15th N.B.A. All-Star weekend, or maybe it was more the company he was forced to keep late Friday morning.
“I enjoy the game; all the rest of the stuff I can do without,” he said during his mandatory news media session. “I don’t like this whole situation, but it is what it is; it’s what comes with the game.”
Someone braved the question that Duncan has stonewalled for nearly two decades as the centerpiece of the San Antonio winning machine: What is it about addressing the masses that he finds so objectionable?
“I don’t have that kind of time,” he said with a straight face that was his attempt at deadpan humor or, more likely, a cold, hard fact.
The interview proceeded with Duncan providing mostly clipped answers in a dedicated monotone, his delivery a cross between Derek Jeter (cautious) and Bill Belichick (curt). On the plus side, he stayed to the end and never said he was there only to avoid being fined.
No Marshawn Lynch is this proud five-time champion and perhaps the least celebrated all-timer in the history of the sport.
Some would argue that Duncan has been his own worst enemy in that regard. But at the level he has played, must we really require the athlete to show and tell? Have we not learned all we need to know about Duncan by watching him execute Coach Gregg Popovich’s playbook with a surgeon’s care and be the first to greet a thriving teammate with that familiar, playful pat on the head?
“One of the best teammates I ever had,” said Golden State’s Steve Kerr, a jump-shooting specialist with the Spurs for four seasons and two championships and Duncan’s coach with the Western Conference All-Stars for Sunday night’s game. “Incredibly confident with his game but humble with his approach, always taking the criticism for the rest of us.
“He’d come into the locker room after a loss and he’d say, ‘My fault,’ and you’d look at the stats and he’s got 38 points and 24 rebounds. Pretty sure it wasn’t your fault, Tim.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/sports/basketball/selfless-tim-duncan-of-the-spurs.html?_r=1
“I enjoy the game; all the rest of the stuff I can do without,” he said during his mandatory news media session. “I don’t like this whole situation, but it is what it is; it’s what comes with the game.”
Someone braved the question that Duncan has stonewalled for nearly two decades as the centerpiece of the San Antonio winning machine: What is it about addressing the masses that he finds so objectionable?
“I don’t have that kind of time,” he said with a straight face that was his attempt at deadpan humor or, more likely, a cold, hard fact.
The interview proceeded with Duncan providing mostly clipped answers in a dedicated monotone, his delivery a cross between Derek Jeter (cautious) and Bill Belichick (curt). On the plus side, he stayed to the end and never said he was there only to avoid being fined.
No Marshawn Lynch is this proud five-time champion and perhaps the least celebrated all-timer in the history of the sport.
Some would argue that Duncan has been his own worst enemy in that regard. But at the level he has played, must we really require the athlete to show and tell? Have we not learned all we need to know about Duncan by watching him execute Coach Gregg Popovich’s playbook with a surgeon’s care and be the first to greet a thriving teammate with that familiar, playful pat on the head?
“One of the best teammates I ever had,” said Golden State’s Steve Kerr, a jump-shooting specialist with the Spurs for four seasons and two championships and Duncan’s coach with the Western Conference All-Stars for Sunday night’s game. “Incredibly confident with his game but humble with his approach, always taking the criticism for the rest of us.
“He’d come into the locker room after a loss and he’d say, ‘My fault,’ and you’d look at the stats and he’s got 38 points and 24 rebounds. Pretty sure it wasn’t your fault, Tim.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/sports/basketball/selfless-tim-duncan-of-the-spurs.html?_r=1