duncan228
10-30-2007, 01:19 PM
Not a usual place to find a Duncan article.
Nothing new in it, but I thought Duncan fans might want to see it.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=21&issue=20071029&rss=1
Tim Duncan Surfaces To The Top
BY RICHIE BRAND
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
When Hurricane Hugo hit St. Croix in the Caribbean in 1989, the storm changed Tim Duncan's direction.
Duncan was 13 years old and a standout swimmer. He hoped to reach the Olympics.
Now he could only watch as the island's lone Olympic-size swimming pool crumbled amid Hugo's wrath.
Without the pool, Duncan's only swimming venue left was an ocean that was infested with sharks.
Forget that. Duncan decided on another way — leave swimming and lap the competition in another sport: basketball.
Once the ball got rolling, Duncan would bounce his way all the way to the top.
Heading into Tuesday's opening night of the National Basketball Association season, Duncan stands as one of the greats. He has led the San Antonio Spurs to four championships and collected two Most Valuable Player Awards. He also owns three NBA Finals MVP trophies.
All that after so much turmoil at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Soon after the devastation from Hurricane Hugo, Duncan lost his mother, Ione, to breast cancer.
In her last days, the teen promised her he would go to college. Little did he know that basketball would pave the way for his degree.
Inspiration came from his brother-in-law, Ricky Lowery, who had played at Capital University, a small college in Ohio. Looking up to him, Duncan picked up a basketball for the first time.
Duncan had trouble getting a handle on the game. But he improved fast. By the time he was a senior at St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, he stood 6 feet 9 inches and was averaging 25 points per game.
Word spread quickly — which was understandable, considering Duncan's big doings on the small island.
Soon enough, the Duncan news reached Dave Odom, then head hoops coach at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Odom caught wind of the tall kid's prowess from former Demon Deacon Chris King, who was playing on a touring team in the Caribbean.
Despite having very little information about Duncan, Odom had an assistant coach track him down and then went to see him play.
That's when the coach knew he had found a pearl in the sea.
"His presence impressed me the most," Odom, now head coach at the University of South Carolina, told IBD. "He was very manly, self-assured, just had this quiet confidence about him."
That demeanor would come to define Duncan as soon as he began playing at Wake Forest in 1993.
Always the first player to arrive and the last to leave practices, Duncan became a leader by example.
"To Timmy, every minute on the sidelines was a minute of practice lost," Odom said.
With Duncan showing the way, the Demon Deacons didn't lose many games. They went 20-11 in his freshman season and reached the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 in his sophomore and junior years.
Duncan was scarfing up awards in the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet they didn't bloat his head. Odom remembers his star player's mild-mannered nature well.
"It was the end of his junior year," said the coach, "and he was invited to Los Angeles as a finalist for the Wooden Award. Spring was springing in North Carolina and it was just a beautiful day outside. We were leaving for the airport, and Tim rolled down his window and said, 'Coach, what are we doing?' "
Odom: "What do you mean what are we doing, Tim? We're going to Los Angeles for the Wooden Award."
Duncan: "But coach, it's so beautiful here in North Carolina, why would we want to go anywhere else right now?"
"That is just how Timmy was," Odom recalled. "It could be something as prestigious as the Wooden Award, but he was just happy being where he was."
Duncan really was on the cusp of a superb career. After capping his senior season with a sweep of the Wooden and Naismith College Player of the Year awards, Duncan was the No. 1 choice in the 1997 NBA draft. And a successful transition from college to the pros came fast to the Texas-size power forward.
Playing alongside All-Star center David Robinson, Duncan dunked over the league his rookie season. He averaged 21.1 points and 11.9 rebounds while not missing a game en route to winning NBA Rookie of the Year honors. After a failed 1998 postseason, Duncan again teamed with Robinson to lead San Antonio to the fore in the 1998-99 lockout-shortened season. The Spurs were champions for the first time.
Not many coaches were shocked to see Duncan win so fast. Jeff Van Gundy, whose New York Knicks lost to Duncan's Spurs in the 1999 NBA Finals, told Sports Illustrated: "Sometimes you can watch a guy play and know if he's really into winning or not. That guy's truly into winning."
And still is. Duncan has led the Spurs to three more titles — in 2003, 2005 and 2007 — in what is the NBA's latest dynasty.
All the while, the 6-foot-11 star has stood tall in the numbers arena, averaging 21.8 points and 11.9 rebounds heading into the new season. Those digits only rise when it matters most: 23.8 points and 12.5 rebounds in 138 playoff games.
Rick Carlisle, who as a coach in Detroit and Indiana tried to hold Duncan in check, told USA Today: "He's such a great guy and a great person that the thing you forget is the thing that may define him — he's a cold-blooded killer as a competitor. . . . With a superstar who is that good, that competitive and that selfless, you've got a franchise cornerstone and one of the greats of all time."
In 2001, with the help of his wife, the big man established the Tim Duncan Foundation. It funds nonprofit organizations in the areas of education and youth sports. The foundation has raised more than $650,000 in less than six years.
"He always chooses substance over style," Odom said. "He's not into style points; he's into winning. Every time I see him today, I'm reminded of the Timmy I knew in high school and college. He's only gotten better on the basketball court. He's the same person now as he was then."
Nothing new in it, but I thought Duncan fans might want to see it.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=21&issue=20071029&rss=1
Tim Duncan Surfaces To The Top
BY RICHIE BRAND
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
When Hurricane Hugo hit St. Croix in the Caribbean in 1989, the storm changed Tim Duncan's direction.
Duncan was 13 years old and a standout swimmer. He hoped to reach the Olympics.
Now he could only watch as the island's lone Olympic-size swimming pool crumbled amid Hugo's wrath.
Without the pool, Duncan's only swimming venue left was an ocean that was infested with sharks.
Forget that. Duncan decided on another way — leave swimming and lap the competition in another sport: basketball.
Once the ball got rolling, Duncan would bounce his way all the way to the top.
Heading into Tuesday's opening night of the National Basketball Association season, Duncan stands as one of the greats. He has led the San Antonio Spurs to four championships and collected two Most Valuable Player Awards. He also owns three NBA Finals MVP trophies.
All that after so much turmoil at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Soon after the devastation from Hurricane Hugo, Duncan lost his mother, Ione, to breast cancer.
In her last days, the teen promised her he would go to college. Little did he know that basketball would pave the way for his degree.
Inspiration came from his brother-in-law, Ricky Lowery, who had played at Capital University, a small college in Ohio. Looking up to him, Duncan picked up a basketball for the first time.
Duncan had trouble getting a handle on the game. But he improved fast. By the time he was a senior at St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, he stood 6 feet 9 inches and was averaging 25 points per game.
Word spread quickly — which was understandable, considering Duncan's big doings on the small island.
Soon enough, the Duncan news reached Dave Odom, then head hoops coach at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Odom caught wind of the tall kid's prowess from former Demon Deacon Chris King, who was playing on a touring team in the Caribbean.
Despite having very little information about Duncan, Odom had an assistant coach track him down and then went to see him play.
That's when the coach knew he had found a pearl in the sea.
"His presence impressed me the most," Odom, now head coach at the University of South Carolina, told IBD. "He was very manly, self-assured, just had this quiet confidence about him."
That demeanor would come to define Duncan as soon as he began playing at Wake Forest in 1993.
Always the first player to arrive and the last to leave practices, Duncan became a leader by example.
"To Timmy, every minute on the sidelines was a minute of practice lost," Odom said.
With Duncan showing the way, the Demon Deacons didn't lose many games. They went 20-11 in his freshman season and reached the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 in his sophomore and junior years.
Duncan was scarfing up awards in the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet they didn't bloat his head. Odom remembers his star player's mild-mannered nature well.
"It was the end of his junior year," said the coach, "and he was invited to Los Angeles as a finalist for the Wooden Award. Spring was springing in North Carolina and it was just a beautiful day outside. We were leaving for the airport, and Tim rolled down his window and said, 'Coach, what are we doing?' "
Odom: "What do you mean what are we doing, Tim? We're going to Los Angeles for the Wooden Award."
Duncan: "But coach, it's so beautiful here in North Carolina, why would we want to go anywhere else right now?"
"That is just how Timmy was," Odom recalled. "It could be something as prestigious as the Wooden Award, but he was just happy being where he was."
Duncan really was on the cusp of a superb career. After capping his senior season with a sweep of the Wooden and Naismith College Player of the Year awards, Duncan was the No. 1 choice in the 1997 NBA draft. And a successful transition from college to the pros came fast to the Texas-size power forward.
Playing alongside All-Star center David Robinson, Duncan dunked over the league his rookie season. He averaged 21.1 points and 11.9 rebounds while not missing a game en route to winning NBA Rookie of the Year honors. After a failed 1998 postseason, Duncan again teamed with Robinson to lead San Antonio to the fore in the 1998-99 lockout-shortened season. The Spurs were champions for the first time.
Not many coaches were shocked to see Duncan win so fast. Jeff Van Gundy, whose New York Knicks lost to Duncan's Spurs in the 1999 NBA Finals, told Sports Illustrated: "Sometimes you can watch a guy play and know if he's really into winning or not. That guy's truly into winning."
And still is. Duncan has led the Spurs to three more titles — in 2003, 2005 and 2007 — in what is the NBA's latest dynasty.
All the while, the 6-foot-11 star has stood tall in the numbers arena, averaging 21.8 points and 11.9 rebounds heading into the new season. Those digits only rise when it matters most: 23.8 points and 12.5 rebounds in 138 playoff games.
Rick Carlisle, who as a coach in Detroit and Indiana tried to hold Duncan in check, told USA Today: "He's such a great guy and a great person that the thing you forget is the thing that may define him — he's a cold-blooded killer as a competitor. . . . With a superstar who is that good, that competitive and that selfless, you've got a franchise cornerstone and one of the greats of all time."
In 2001, with the help of his wife, the big man established the Tim Duncan Foundation. It funds nonprofit organizations in the areas of education and youth sports. The foundation has raised more than $650,000 in less than six years.
"He always chooses substance over style," Odom said. "He's not into style points; he's into winning. Every time I see him today, I'm reminded of the Timmy I knew in high school and college. He's only gotten better on the basketball court. He's the same person now as he was then."