Good article about how Duncan mentored Blake

[Clipper Nation]

The story is much more technical and complicated, and the prologue was written during the months after the Clippers lost to the Thunder in six games in the Western Conference Semifinals last spring. It was a mixture of hours spent reinventing his shooting stroke with Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate ... grueling conditioning workouts that pushed the envelope of science and technology ... and a series of heart-to-hearts with the Spurs' Tim Duncan about how to be a better leader and winner.

"He really respects Tim," said Griffin's Atlanta-based business manager, Lorne Clark. "His thing was, "How do I become more of a leader and how do I help this team win? What do I have to do?"

Duncan, a 39-year-old five-time champion, gave the Clippers all they could handle in the first round. Last summer, he gave Griffin, a 26-year-old, five-time All-Star, his blueprint -- only to watch Griffin ultimately embrace it at the Spurs' expense.

Produce, Duncan told him. Lead by example. Make people respect your actions. Have personal relationships with each of your teammates so you can have one-on-one conversations with them when they need you.

Griffin listened, and took notes. Then, during the idyllic summer months in LA, it was time to execute the plan.

http://cbsprt.co/1IdjRSD

Duncan is truly the man. :toast

[FromWayDowntown]

People can try to argue that Duncan isn't competitive enough, but I think it's about the pinnacle of competitiveness to share your knowledge with a competitor, to help him improve, and then to see if you can still beat him (which he still frequently does).

And, yeah, another great story about Tim Duncan being available to a younger player who seeks him out and wants advice. It's hard to top Tim's successes as a player, but I'm sure his accessibility has a lot to do with the wild amounts of respect he has around the league.

[Malik Hairston]

People can try to argue that Duncan isn't competitive enough, but I think it's about the pinnacle of competitiveness to share your knowledge with a competitor, to help him improve, and then to see if you can still beat him (which he still frequently does).

:lol Duncan lost a bunch of weight and completely changed his style of play for the sake of winning..he is as competitive as anybody, he doesn't need to show it by punching his teammates or throwing them under the bus like Dad Killer or Kobe..

[tmtcsc]

People can try to argue that Duncan isn't competitive enough, but I think it's about the pinnacle of competitiveness to share your knowledge with a competitor, to help him improve, and then to see if you can still beat him (which he still frequently does).

And, yeah, another great story about Tim Duncan being available to a younger player who seeks him out and wants advice. It's hard to top Tim's successes as a player, but I'm sure his accessibility has a lot to do with the wild amounts of respect he has around the league.

They would be wrong, and you're right. To me, more than anything, this shows how much Tim absolutely loves basketball. Staying in shape, working on his game, re-inventing himself as necessary...he does these things because he enjoys it. He's a gym rat. The only things that would pull him away from playing are - 1. Family and 2. Physical limitations. He's still good with the second but the first is the mystery.

[FromWayDowntown]

It's always rankled me when talking heads see Tim's stoicism as some sign of weakness or an unwillingness to compete. For a long time, those dopes would talk about the competitive fire of Kobe or Garnett and suggest that Tim lacked the same passion or desire to win. There's just no way that you can take in a game with Tim Duncan and think that he's anything other than a ferocious competitor. Like I say, stories like this one (and the Etan Thomas one from a few weeks back) just demonstrate how ridiculous those windbags have been about Duncan. I'm glad that the historical record has had time to fix the narrative on that issue.

[SpursFan86]

For some reason people think if you're not constantly yelling and showing emotion, you must not be a fierce competitor :lol

[100%duncan]

:worthy:

[Mugen]

Griffin has made great strides from the monkeyballer he came into the league as to the most complete offensive bigman in the league today. Props to the Ginger tbh.

[MI21]

Griffin has made great strides from the monkeyballer he came into the league as to the most complete offensive bigman in the league today. Props to the Ginger tbh.

Completely agree. As recently as Game 4 of the 1st round some Spurs Fans were still going on with the whole "he's useless if he doesn't dunk, monkeyballer etc" comments. Really exposed how little basketball they watch, tbh.

[Russ]

It's always rankled me when talking heads see Tim's stoicism as some sign of weakness or an unwillingness to compete. For a long time, those dopes would talk about the competitive fire of Kobe or Garnett and suggest that Tim lacked the same passion or desire to win.

I would disagree slightly.

I've never heard anyone (even the shallowest national media guy) question TD's competitive fire or will to win.

I think they mostly just said his stoic style is not exciting.

To the casual fan, excitement and will to win may be confused, but I don't think the media ever suggested TD didn't want to win as bad (or worse) than anyone.

[outmap]

I really liked how Griffin learned how to pass and improved the consistency of his outside shot, to an extent, he was like Duncan with hops on offense for the Clippers. If he learns how to defend, that would be scary good for LA.

Props to the best power forward ever for mentoring this young, talented basketball player.