Duncan going the way of D-Rob?

[JamStone]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.

[JP le Requin]

i wish to see duncan DOMINATES the game for 3 maybe 4 years again...TP is 25, @ 29 he can be the star but not now...too early for me

obsviouly, duncan is resting...for the big games, now spurs dont need him as before. gino & tp increase their level as they did in recent games in order to rest TD for the PO

the real transition will be in 2 years...

[dbreiden83080]

Maybe he is content to let Tony be the guy in the Reg season but come playoff time it is all about Timmy. If he lets Tony do it come playoff time, Spurs will not win jack shit. Tony's really just a scorer. I would not even say that he is a dominant scorer. He is not a big assist guy and plays average D. Tony only got finals MVP because they played the worst team of the playoffs in the finals. Tim as usual got us there by playing great against the superior teams. It is early in the Reg season anyway. By the end of the year Timmy will be 20 and 10 again and Tony will be around 19 PPG or so again.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

There's no handing over the reigns here. When Duncan can no longer lead this team, the Spurs are going to have to look to draft another franchise player. Neither Tony nor Manu can fill that void.

Of course, this is assuming Parker doesn't keep playing like tonight :lol 'cause if he does, we're looking at 10 more championships baby!

[SpursIndonesia]

In a way, yes, i think TD starts to defer a lot more this season. Perhaps, he really feels confident about his co stars, especially Tony this season -Manu is already proven himself to be a reliable in the past. TD is a very cerebral guy, he has a strategic ways of thinking, and ego means nothing for him, so it really comes as no surprise for me. :)

[td4mvp21]

Tony needs to shoot, there's no denying that. I wish Duncan would still be the dominant star of the team, but that's the hardcore Duncan fan in me. I think he is still capable and thus should be. It's probably best that he hand over the reigns to Parker during the regular season, though. It makes me sad to know his career is almost over.

[duncan228]

I believe Duncan did hand the reigns to Parker in the Finals last year. It was best for the team with the way the Cavs played us. Duncan knows when to push and when to pass.

This is still Duncan's team, I think it will be for the rest of his career. But I do think he'll let the flow of each game dictate how dominate he needs to be. He is selfless on the court, the win is all that matters to him, not the boxscore.

Come playoffs Duncan will rise as he always does. He's a competitor and it is his team. It all goes through him. But again, because Parker has turned a corner, become an elite player, Duncan may not have to be the one that carries us in every game. Which is a good thing. We always talk about "the big three" or four even, with Bowen's defense being so critical to our success. It's great that the team has so many strong options.

Duncan got us to and through the playoffs last year. Parker sailed us through the Finals, again, because of how the Cavs matched up with us.

Yes, it's a transition of sorts. I don't see Duncan ever coming off the bench as a role player. He'll play as long as he's at the top of his game and then he'll turn it completely over to Parker. The groundwork is in place, we see the beginning of it. It will take a few seasons to complete.

And yes, I think Duncan is content with it. He's about the wins. Some fans, myself included, would have loved to see him dominate the Finals and take that MVP home. But if you're a Duncan fan you know he was okay with how it turned out. Parker deserved it, and Parker said later that Duncan was thrilled for him.

Times change. The game changes. It's an honor to watch Duncan play, even on an off night. When he's ready to hang it up he'll leave his team in great shape for the future. And I'll consider myself blessed to have watched him play.

[boutons_]

Tony is standing on Tim's shoulders.

[JP le Requin]

first david robinson, then tmi duncan...i need a third PF/C to cheer!!! for years to come
in france we say "jamais 2 sans 3"..."never 2 without 3"
Ian..you have many pressure ;-) now

[K-State Spur]

even with Parker/Ginobili picking up a lot of the offense, if Tim were averaging the 37-40 min that he used to, his per game averages would be around his career numbers.

not that i'm the world's biggest fan of PER, but even with the slow(er) start, it's still up around 23/24.

[TDMVPDPOY]

i prefer to see td dominate the game, then see parker....

and plz tp is not all that, he won finals mvp cause a rookie gibson was defending him

splitter is our future

i can see tp movin to a big market team

[Behrooz24]

There's no handing over the reigns here. When Duncan can no longer lead this team, the Spurs are going to have to look to draft another franchise player. Neither Tony nor Manu can fill that void.

Of course, this is assuming Parker doesn't keep playing like tonight :lol 'cause if he does, we're looking at 10 more championships baby!


If only Anthony Johnson guarded TP every night :lol

[dbreiden83080]

I still think it is a little early to say Tony will be the man all year long. The thing with the Spurs is they are so good these days that they will basically blow out all inferior teams and that does not lend itself to big stats for the teams best player. Obviously if the Spurs were not this good Timmy is going to have to come up with 25 and 12 a night for great success to be possible. Personally i am all for him resting up for most of the year letting Tony do his thing and then come playoff time dominate like he always does. I think that if the CELTS stay healthy they will be in the finals so Timmy may need to be fresher than ever come this postseason.

[lrrr]

DRob handed the team over to TD because TD was the better player, even at that early stage.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Tim Duncan strikes me as being pretty content and willing to share the team responsibilities. I think he'll only turn it on when he wants to wake up and gets game angry, since he's a great competitor, but right now, during first half of the season games against the Hawks, more power to him in not forcing intensity when he doesn't have to. Preserving his regular season stats is probably at the bottom of the list in his priorities.

[ShoogarBear]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.It's obvious over the last couple of seasons that Tim is pretty much locked in to the idea of conserving strength for the playoffs (as is Pop). It can be a tough balancing act, performing well enough during the regular season but always holding something back, and it's sometimes hard for Spurs fans to figure out or accept.

For the past three years there's been Regular Season Tim and then there's been Playoff Tim. Given that Playoff Tim has never been less than dominant, we have to assume that he knows what he's doing. Although it does make for some frustrating regular season nights.

[raspsa]

I think its important that TD try to sustain his offensive game. Not for personal glory but because the threat he poses makes the game so much easier for the others. Opponents who doubleteam him invariably allows for open perimeter shots when TD passes the ball out. Parker's emergence as an offensive force is great and he can create play on his own but this doesn't involve his teammates as much as when TD is the focus of the offense. TD makes others better to a greater extent than Parker does. If TD's offense slackens, defense can concentrate on shutting down the other Spurs. Not good.

[gilmor]

Maybe he is content to let Tony be the guy in the Reg season but come playoff time it is all about Timmy. If he lets Tony do it come playoff time, Spurs will not win jack shit. Tony's really just a scorer. I would not even say that he is a dominant scorer. He is not a big assist guy and plays average D. Tony only got finals MVP because they played the worst team of the playoffs in the finals. Tim as usual got us there by playing great against the superior teams. It is early in the Reg season anyway. By the end of the year Timmy will be 20 and 10 again and Tony will be around 19 PPG or so again.

U must be fucking smoking some weed.. Tony's defense on Iverson and Barbosa are some of the top-notch defenses seen in a Spurs PG for a fucking long time..

[Joe Schmoogins]

It's obvious over the last couple of seasons that Tim is pretty much locked in to the idea of conserving strength for the playoffs (as is Pop). It can be a tough balancing act, performing well enough during the regular season but always holding something back, and it's sometimes hard for Spurs fans to figure out or accept.

For the past three years there's been Regular Season Tim and then there's been Playoff Tim. Given that Playoff Tim has never been less than dominant, we have to assume that he knows what he's doing. Although it does make for some frustrating regular season nights.


well said

[stéphane]

I'm not sold on explanations I read in this thread.
I think it's just about having several weapons. Tony can be really effective against some teams... Same goes for Manu. If Tim can defer some of the load and the team can still win why wouldn't he do that. Makes everyone happy.

[timvp]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.Good questions. It's actually tough to explain how the Spurs are currently built. It used to be (2001-2004) that the team was all Tim Duncan and anyone else on the team just fed off of what he did.

Nowadays, it's much more complex. When a team faces the Spurs, the first person they have to figure out how to defend is Tony Parker. If you don't figure out way to deal with Parker, the Spurs will win. He can cause too much havoc by getting into the lane and either scoring or finding three-point shooters.

Then you have Tim Duncan, who is still Tim Duncan. He hasn't slowed too much ... he's just not as big of a focal point as he used to be (at least in the regular season). Duncan is still the foundation and he's still the go-to scorer, but he's much more comfortable than he used to be during times when the Spurs don't run the offense through him. But don't be fooled, when Duncan needs to fill it up, he can score with anyone in the league.

What's funny is that on top of what Parker and Duncan do, Manu Ginobili might be the player who most determines whether the Spurs win or lose. He's extremely important to what the Spurs do. If Manu is rolling, the Spurs are rolling. If Manu struggles, the Spurs usually struggle. With him coming off the bench, he has the ball in his hands a lot and is free to basically do whatever it is that he wants to do. When he's on offensively, he's as unguardable as anyone on the league.

The Spurs truly are a three pronged attack. Duncan is the foundation, Parker is the engine and Ginobili is the ultimate x-factor. It's not fair to say Duncan is passing the reins to Parker because Manu is just as important as Parker. And really, Duncan isn't passing anything because he's still a top five player in the league when he wants to be. What has changed is Duncan lets the offense go through Parker and he lets Manu do whatever he wants, but Duncan always remains as the security blanket. When the chips are down, like they often are during the playoffs, Duncan will take back control of the ship.





And saying all that, I didn't even mention Bruce Bowen and Bowen is often as valuable as anyone on the team . . .

[JPB]

I agree with that.

But it's also obvious that every year, TP is affirming his importance. Though some people won't definitely see the curve, expect this year to be no different. He'll be even more important than last year.


He is not a big assist guy and plays average D

You don't really follow the spurs, right ?

Average D ? He frustrated AI last year who had his worst PO series.

Assists : same thing all over again. Spur system don't necesseraly allow to have many ones. +, that's not necesseraly what Pop is waiting from him.

[timvp]

Parker's playmaking this season has been much improved. He's playing more and more like a "true" point guard. He's averaging a career-high in assists while at the same time averaging a career-low in turnovers. That's a pretty impressive feat, yet everyone likes to focus on his supposed faults.

Parker has to shoot and score a lot because, even if Spurs fans don't want to admit it, outside of the Big Three the Spurs are amazingly untalented when it comes to offense.

[JPB]

Parker's playmaking this season has been much improved. He's playing more and more like a "true" point guard. He's averaging a career-high in assists while at the same time averaging a career-low in turnovers.

Yes, and it's called confidence, experience, maturity...

We'll have to wait to see if this trend goes on but as I noticed (and shared it in ST) during the euro champs, last year PO and finals made TP a different player. You could definitely see it last summer.

All that reasons and probably the marriage also made him envisage the game differently.

Damn, I can't wait to see him play after his first child !

[alamo50]

Duncan going the way of D-Rob?

He has been on that same way for a couple of seasons already.

[Jimcs50]

It's obvious over the last couple of seasons that Tim is pretty much locked in to the idea of conserving strength for the playoffs (as is Pop). It can be a tough balancing act, performing well enough during the regular season but always holding something back, and it's sometimes hard for Spurs fans to figure out or accept.

For the past three years there's been Regular Season Tim and then there's been Playoff Tim. Given that Playoff Tim has never been less than dominant, we have to assume that he knows what he's doing. Although it does make for some frustrating regular season nights.


I do not get this conserving strength for playoffs BS. Did Bird do this? Did Jordan? Did Magic? Hakeem? Hell, even Shaq did not do this
.

I just think TD is a little lazy early in the seasons and takes his time to get his full strenth. This is why the Spurs are usually slow starters in the first half of the season. Even when TD was younger, the Spurs had a habit of falling behind til the All-Star break, then turn it up 3 notches.

[ancestron]

Duncan will be averaging 20 and 10 til he's 40.

[Extra Stout]

Duncan is clearly either over the hill or has lost his passion for the game. Trade him for Al Horford. That kid has sick hops.

[Jimcs50]

Duncan is clearly either over the hill or has lost his passion for the game. Trade him for Al Horford. That kid has sick hops.

You're an idiot. Why trade the MVP for Horford??? Especially when we could get Andrew Bynum instead.

[ducks]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.
it seems to me they are wanting tp to take more control of the team
I think they want him to work his way in being the "man" when duncan and manu are gone or not as good as they are.
it is great duncan is not raising a fit and encouraging tp and manu to bear more of the o load

[Extra Stout]

You're an idiot. Why trade the MVP for Horford??? Especially when we could get Andrew Bynum instead.My attention span doesn't last more than 24 hours. Sorry. I'll start a Duncan-for-Bynum trade after the Spurs play the Lakers again.

[Kent_in_Atlanta]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.


Tim doesn't just dominate when he runs into a "favorable matchup". He dominates when he needs to. But how often is that these days? He has 2 other bonafide superstars on this team. And Pop limits his minutes during the regular season.

Don't bother trying to rate Tim's performance until, say... May.

[telecomguy]

In a way, yes, i think TD starts to defer a lot more this season. Perhaps, he really feels confident about his co stars, especially Tony this season -Manu is already proven himself to be a reliable in the past. TD is a very cerebral guy, he has a strategic ways of thinking, and ego means nothing for him, so it really comes as no surprise for me. :)


I think when Tony can compete against teams like Dallas, Detroit or Utah, then we can say that he has arrived as the main man. TP will be effective against poor defensive teams with poor guards & no dominant bigs like Cleveland, and Atlanta yesterday who were missing all their regular PG's but to me he still hasn't proven himself against tough defensive teams who will shut down the lanes and easy penetration/layups.

[telecomguy]

U must be fucking smoking some weed.. Tony's defense on Iverson and Barbosa are some of the top-notch defenses seen in a Spurs PG for a fucking long time..


hmm...i thought i saw Iverson (who was guarded mostly by Bowen) and Barbosa penetrate time and time again only to have their shots altered or blocked by Duncan. Are you saying TP was the one responsible for stopping Iverson and Barbosa? He played ok defense but come on........

[telecomguy]

Parker's playmaking this season has been much improved. He's playing more and more like a "true" point guard. He's averaging a career-high in assists while at the same time averaging a career-low in turnovers. That's a pretty impressive feat, yet everyone likes to focus on his supposed faults.

Parker has to shoot and score a lot because, even if Spurs fans don't want to admit it, outside of the Big Three the Spurs are amazingly untalented when it comes to offense.

I agree Parker is playing smarter this year. On nights like yesterday when he is being guarded by slow-footed scrub like Anthony Johnson, i have no problem if he takes over and torches the opposing PG for 30+ pts. to take our team to victory. I just need to see TP compete like that against Devin Harrises and Deron Willliams of the league and THEN I will feel comfortable with TD deferring to TP...until then, you still want to initiate the offense through TD, especially in the playoffs when TP won't be flying by scrubs through porous paint defense with no blockers.

[howbouthemspurs]

This is Tim's team until he goes off into the sunset.....It starts with him, It ends with him.

[MaNu4Tres]

It's funny how y'all spurs fans critique duncan during the part of the season that means just as much as the preseason. When it matters most Tim is there giving up 24 ppg + 13+ rebounds and 2.5+ blocks...He's the main reason why we have won 4 titles. Give the man a break. It's okay to go through the motions here and there during the regular season for the betterment of him being fresh come daddy time ( playoffs). Tim is going on 32 years old. It was just 5 months ago when we was carrying us through the toughest playoff serires ( Suns, Nuggets, Jazz) Spurs in 08' back to back.

[MaNu4Tres]

Nevermind I know!! What Tim ought to do is go all out playing 40 minutes of the 82 games that mean jack shit just so the cowards that say he sucks can shut the fuck up. Yeah Pop should just call 4 down every possesion against the hawks and the rest of the scrubs in the NBA during the 82 game season, so Tim can be gimping down the court and pull a Detriot Piston when the real season starts. Having parker hold the reigns of the scoring is smart thinking by Pop and Tim for the betterment of Tim and the Spurs come playoff time

[Brutalis]

No. He isn't purposely doing anything of the sort. I'd bet that.

[MaNu4Tres]

The man is less aggressive and its obvious in the regular season, like he has been the past 3 regular seasons. But when it has mattered in 05' 06' and 07' in the playoffs he turned it up each year avg. 27 and 14 against the suns in 05' from 20 and 10 in the regular season. In 06' he avg. 32 and 12 against the mavs in the WCSF a big improvement from 18 and 11. ( avg. 25 and 12 overall in 06). In 07' he avg. 20 and 10 in the regular season. Only to avg. 27 and 14 and 4 blocks against the Suns in the WCSF. If you have noticed the BIGGER the series the better Tim plays. I rather have him set screens more than get the 4 down call in the regular season just so when it matters again in 08 09' 10' 11' 12' Tim will be there.

[dbreiden83080]

U must be fucking smoking some weed.. Tony's defense on Iverson and Barbosa are some of the top-notch defenses seen in a Spurs PG for a fucking long time..

Oh please, way to talk shit for no reason other than to be a dick. If you think his D over 82 games is great you need glasses or to start watching a new sport. When he makes an all defensive team, give me a call. I did not say he was bad on D but he is not great on a lot of nights, it is very much mediocre and i am not alone in that thinking. I have heard several anaylists on ESPN and NBATV say the same damn thing.

[Dartherus]

Yes, and it's called confidence, experience, maturity...

We'll have to wait to see if this trend goes on but as I noticed (and shared it in ST) during the euro champs, last year PO and finals made TP a different player. You could definitely see it last summer.

All that reasons and probably the marriage also made him envisage the game differently.

Damn, I can't wait to see him play after his first child !
anyway, at current Tony's age. Manu has already leaded his team in Europe, and the NT of Argentina succesfully.
Outside Spurs, Tony achievements are nil. France NT doesn't show noticeable difference in achievements with or without Tony Parker (only see the results of the tournaments if you don't believe it).

IMO, any NBA scoring PG could replace Tony PArker in Spurs without major problem, however, replacing Tim or Manu would be harder, specially regarding egos. Tim and Manu are able to let a player score before them when they know that player is one dimensional or useless outside scoring, while they can contribute a lot of intangibles.

I truly don't see why many people is so sure Tony will gain Tim or Manu IQ with age, BBIQ is mostly innate, it can be improved for sure (maturity and decision making), but you can't get genius level Basketball IQ with training and aging, if you didn't have that potential from the start.

[Extra Stout]

Outside Spurs, Tim achievements are nil. USA NT doesn't show noticeable difference in achievements with or without Tim Duncan(only see the results of the tournaments if you don't believe it).

[Walter Craparita]

Won't know until the playoffs.

[anakha]

hmm...i thought i saw Iverson (who was guarded mostly by Bowen) and Barbosa penetrate time and time again only to have their shots altered or blocked by Duncan. Are you saying TP was the one responsible for stopping Iverson and Barbosa? He played ok defense but come on........

:lmao

Watch the games before you start talking out of your ass.

Bowen was on Anthony, Parker on Iverson most of the series.

And Barbosa had a miserable time in the series because the pace of the games emphasized half-court offense and Parker was able to stay in front of him.

Not saying that Parker's defense alone was the factor, nor that he is a top-notch defender ala Bowen. But your dismissal of his defense in those two series is just flat out wrong.

[SpursIndonesia]

I dunno man, out of the big three, Tony will always be the scapegoat of every losses, and when he did good, the bashers will say that it means nothing since he's supposed to do that, LOL. OTOH, opponents first rule against the Spurs nowadays is STOP TONY PARKER PENETRATION INTO THE LANE, really should speak volumes about Tony bashers idiocy in this forum. :rolleyes

[barbacoataco]

I agree with that last post. When Parker has a bad game, some fans say "I told you so", but when he has a good game they say it was the matchup.

Duncan is the man. Ginobili has been on fire this season.

To me the main thing is that Duncan DOES NOT PLAY FOR STATS. Most, if not all, players at this level are playing for two things: to win the game, and their individual stats. If it is mid 4th quarter ans they don't have enough points, they take some more shots to get close to their average. Players know that the next time thyeir contract comes up, they will be judged by their stats. With Duncan, he is playing for the win, even if he only scores 13 points.

The result is that fans who judge players by their ppg, rather than actually watching the games, think Duncan is "slipping."

[anakha]

I dunno man, out of the big three, Tony will always be the scapegoat of every losses, and when he did good, the bashers will say that it means nothing since he's supposed to do that, LOL. OTOH, opponents first rule against the Spurs nowadays is STOP TONY PARKER PENETRATION INTO THE LANE, really should speak volumes about Tony bashers idiocy in this forum. :rolleyes

The funny thing about that line of thinking is, by dismissing his performances because that is what is expected of him. they're unconsciously acknowledging that Parker is that good and that the bar is set that high for him.

[SpursIndonesia]

IMHO, there's no arguing in the 1st place that this is STILL TD's team first and foremost, but the thought that Tony is stepping up his game to make TD & Manu's job easier seems so hard to comprehend, In Tony bashers mind, he actually the achilles heel, the liability of this team that needs to be rid off.

[Josepatches]

Tony Parker never will be as good to be the man of an NBA champion team.He is a great scorer but he's not Kobe Bryant or Lebron Jamen and none of them are enought to made their team win the NBA.
Duncan is who made 4 tittles for us and it's very sad that some of you forget that.
If you take out Parker of the team we will be fighting for the ring too but where we will be if you take out Duncan? Playoffs or lottery??

[anakha]

Tony Parker never will be as good to be the man of an NBA champion team.He is a great scorer but he's not Kobe Bryant or Lebron Jamen and none of them are enought to made their team win the NBA.
Duncan is who made 4 tittles for us and it's very sad that some of you forget that.
If you take out Parker of the team we will be fighting for the ring too but where we will be if you take out Duncan? Playoffs or lottery??

Don't overreact.

Nobody's saying on this thread(bar a Sequ sighting :smokin) that Parker is the main man for this team. Nobody's saying that he's on the level of Kobe or Lebron. That's ridiculous.

At the same time, dismissing anybody's contribution to the Spurs is simply ridiculous as well.

[SRJ]

2006 regular season, 2006 playoffs.

That was Tim then, and he hasn't changed a bit.

[duncan228]

2006 regular season, 2006 playoffs.

That was Tim then, and he hasn't changed a bit.

He's nothing if not consistent.
Groundhog day!

[clubalien]

Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.

Davidsteped back so TIm could emerge. I think tim either cannot play like he did "back in da day" with david or doesn't care.
David change was more honorable then just not being able to play as good as you used to by duncan.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Yes, and it's called confidence, experience, maturity...

We'll have to wait to see if this trend goes on but as I noticed (and shared it in ST) during the euro champs, last year PO and finals made TP a different player. You could definitely see it last summer.

All that reasons and probably the marriage also made him envisage the game differently.

Damn, I can't wait to see him play after his first child !

Are you serious?