Would a Rookie Tim Duncan Be the Best Player in Today's NBA?

[DMC]

Given the creep to the 3pt line and 50 3pt shots a game by "top tier" teams, would Tim Duncan fetch top honors as a 1st, 2nd year player in today's NBA?

[TDMVPDPOY]

rookie tim duncan would be unstoppable in todays league due to bigmen who play no defense and offensive lowpost back to the basket or face up game

td was automatic down low... he will have no problem running out to the perimeter play some form of zone of defense...

remember when pop played 3 bigs with drob centre, purdue pf, and td sf...zone d

[HarlemHeat37]

I'd have him as 4th or 5th, probably..

[apalisoc_9]

1999-2004 tim would be 2nd best or the best player.

Hed be in the Durant-Leonard conversation.

2007-2010 tim would be a high end role player.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Rookie Tim hadn't learned how to pass out of the double team. When they did double him, he turned the ball over a bit too often. B
ut he had David on the team and the defenses couldn't afford to double him as much. As a rookie, he also didn't get to the FT line nearly as much as he did a couple of years later, and he shot FT's very poorly when he did get to the line. He was a very good defender, but not nearly as good as he would become.

If you want to talk about the '99-2000 Tim Duncan, then yes he would be the best player in the league. I don't know about rookie Tim, and I don't want to have to think that hard, or split hairs. By 2000, he was impossible to handle without double teaming most of the time. He had that little bank shot from out 15-17 feet that was deadly, and almost unguardable. Back to the basket or facing the basket, if they didn't bring the double he cut defenders to shreds (and shot something like 70% from around the basket.) And he owned the paint on defense.

I don't care how other teams are playing. He would terrorize the paint. With him anchoring the middle, guys like Forbes are worth twice as much. He would cover for more of their defensive mistakes, and give them a LOT more uncontested 3P shots.

So yes - he would be.

[Bynumite]

Jim would be modern day Blake Griffin with less range and way less athleticism. He would be somewhere in the top 10-15 range tbh.

[spurraider21]

If embiid can be a top player than young Timmy with great defensive mobility would terrorize the league.

KG also would have been a great fit due to his defense

[AlexJones]

I'd have him as 4th or 5th, probably..

Kevin Garnett with a 3 point shot would be better than Giannis

[vavvi]

He’d be in top10. The rest is arguable.

But I’d take him over our whole roster any day of the week.

[TDfan2007]

Not the rookie version, no. 1999-2007 Timmy would be in the conversation for league's best player on an annual basis. Prime KG would have too.

[TDMVPDPOY]

rookie td was already top5 player in the league when it comes to making an impact on the score card

u telling me a rookie td wont be the best player in todays no defense league?

[BSfromTX]

^ exactly. In today's NBA there is no defense what so ever. Not to mention the spacing today is way better. Rookie Tim could face up and run the floor pretty damn good.

[tbdog]

Chris Webber also would be a monster.

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

David Robinson would avg. 50 points a game in today's NBA.

[BWS-1994]

How much of Tim’s greatness can be attributed to David Robinson’s guidance?

[RC_Drunkford]

Jim would be modern day Blake Griffin with less range and way less athleticism. He would be somewhere in the top 10-15 range tbh.

lmao Laker fan salty. May I remember your non playoff making ass that a 38 year old Duncan destroyed prime Flake Griffin in the playoffs?

[BSfromTX]

How much of Tim’s greatness can be attributed to David Robinson’s guidance?

Hard to say. I think David offered a lot of guidance on how to defend a lot of the big men in the league at that time. Offensively, I don't think there was much David could offer. Tim was so polished already... maybe how to pass out of double teams and such, but Tim was so smart he likely didn't need a whole lot.

I think David helped him mostly by guarding the best big men and leaving Tim to score and play help defense. In that respect, I think David helped the most.

[SupremeGuy]

Rookie Tim? No.

Rookie Admiral? Perhaps.

[NickiRasgo]

He'll be unstoppable as well. The thing about today's players are adapting to modern game. A lot of big man today can now make a 3s and they weren't previously, they adapted.

[BSfromTX]

With today’s rules, how in the world would you defend Duncan or Robinson?

[Spurtacular]

03 Duncan was basically a walking quadruple double in the finals. And K-Mart was more formidable a defense than most teams have nowadays, tbh.

[Spurtacular]

With today’s rules, how in the world would you defend Duncan or Robinson?

It's not about the rules; stuff still gets called in the paint. It's about the personnel. What's today's average NBA player on the court about 3 inches smaller and about 40 lbs lighter?

[HarlemHeat37]

With today’s rules, how in the world would you defend Duncan or Robinson?

Today's rules aren't really different for post players, tbh..you can abuse the shit out of anybody in the post and you probably won't get called for it..

[tholdren]

1999-2004 tim would be 2nd best or the best player.

Hed be in the Durant-Leonard conversation.

2007-2010 tim would be a high end role player.

Lol. Durant.

[tholdren]

Today's rules aren't really different for post players, tbh..you can abuse the shit out of anybody in the post and you probably won't get called for it..

U dumb

[spurs1990]

Really wish high speed internet was around in 1998 to be able to stream every game. Those of us outside SA didn't really get to see TD much outside a handful for TNT games

[azarel]

Really wish high speed internet was around in 1998 to be able to stream every game. Those of us outside SA didn't really get to see TD much outside a handful for TNT games

and there was no 'Youtube' or any websites with highlights... i actually had to read the sport column of my local newspaper just to see Spurs fared in their games. haha those were the days.

[DMC]

I don't think Tim Duncan gets as many touches in today's game as he did in his day. He can't shoot the 3, but he can rebound and score in the paint. He'd get a lot of offensive boards and probably do some damage early in games until the 3pt line opened up, then he could eat a sandwich and take a nap before he ever sees another pass from the chuck happy PGs of today's NBA. The fact that no one is really doing any real damage in the paint these days isn't because there are no big people capable of it. It's because they don't make it though the filters. You have to shoot the 3 or have some freakish athletic ability. The fundamentals are just not there for most of these guys. You look at Embiid, he's a great player in today's NBA. He would be destroyed by Ben Wallace in his prime. Ben Wallace who couldn't hit a FT to save his life.

There's a reason the high draft picks are often 3pt shooters. Even someone like Zion who will be a poor man's Westbrook won't scratch the surface of the NBA 3pt shooting elite so he'll get oooh and aaah like Blake, and in a few years and a torn ACL later, he'll be mopping up long rebounds from people like Kryie Irving, maybe get a putback dunk. Basically he'll be the Vince Young of the NBA... the NFL version.

[Thomas82]

Really wish high speed internet was around in 1998 to be able to stream every game. Those of us outside SA didn't really get to see TD much outside a handful for TNT games

I'm one of those......I was living in Cleveland at that time. In fact, the same night TD played his first regular season game, I was playing in my last high school football game. But I'm sure that game against the Nuggets wasn't on TNT that night.

[Thomas82]

and there was no 'Youtube' or any websites with highlights... i actually had to read the sport column of my local newspaper just to see Spurs fared in their games. haha those were the days.

I either had to call the local newspaper's hotline, which got updated every 15 minutes, or just wait until the next day when the paper came out.

[BSfromTX]

Today's rules aren't really different for post players, tbh..you can abuse the shit out of anybody in the post and you probably won't get called for it..

I realize that, but young Duncan and Dave could face up, in fact that was David’s strength along with running the floor. How would you defend David 20 feet out faced up today?

[Sec24Row7]

How could you defend Dave with a Eurostep?