ESPN: Top 20 athletes lat 20 years. Duncan #14

[hater]

20th anniversary

Of what?

[Mel_13]

Of what?

Read the first line of the article.

[Silver&Black]

Kirby

Glorified coat-tail rider

[100%duncan]

Bolt Jordan Lebron Federer Duncan my top 5 no particular order

[100%duncan]

Oh replace lebron with Phelps

[K...]

Man I'm on the anti Phelps train. Fake sport. Too many similar races. Not really a world sport. Only like five countries really give a about swimming.

[Cry Havoc]

Duncan is top 5 easily. He has accomplished more than everyone on that list except Jordan, Federer, and maybe Tiger (but that's a stretch).

You could make the argument for Phelps as well.

[100%duncan]

Man I'm on the anti Phelps train. Fake sport. Too many similar races. Not really a world sport. Only like five countries really give a about swimming.

Golf is also a fake sport. Anyonenoutside americans like a good walk spoiled?

[marmotte]

IMO, the top 3 is clearly Phelps, Federer, Bolt, in no particular order.

[BillMc]

Man I'm on the anti Phelps train. Fake sport. Too many similar races. Not really a world sport. Only like five countries really give a about swimming.

Phelps is kind of a tool, but he is an amazing athlete. The differences in strokes and distances and what they demand from someone are not similar, and the fact that he has dominated that number of events for as long as he has in a sport where athletes usually peek at 19 to 21, is amazing. As a former Division I swimmer who has lived (and swam) in seven different countries I can say the sport is one of the most popular (certainly worldwide it has more participants, if not fans, than American football). There is nothing "fake" about compe ive swimming.

[tim_duncan_fan]

lol at people letting personal biases run their lists.

Bolt, Federer, Tiger Woods, Jordan and Serena Williams pretty much dominated their in their best days and people ing WATCHED them do it. Those are your definitive top 5. Duncan, Shaq and Kobe should be top ten and one right after the other in a virtual tie...just like their careers. Phelps can be #9. #10 is irrelevant.

Lebron and Brady are there mostly to let you know that this is an ESPN list.

[Obstructed_View]

Unsure of all the love for Bolt based on one steroid-fueled Olympics, but I'm fine with Duncan at 14. ESPN takes a lot of things other than winning into account. Duncan doesn't.

[barbacoataco]

Weird list. Hard to tell if PED users are being punished or not. Hard to compare different sports. Also, are they talking about athletes who were most dominant for a stretch, or giving value to players who sustained greatness for a longer period? All lists like this should have 2 sections for peak value and career value.

Really the PED issue is the elephant in the room. Who knows who used what and when. Nearly all of the athletes on this list have been rumoured to juice, so why count it against some and not others? I really don't have the answers, and that's why I rarely make lists anymore, and I used to really enjoy it, especially for baseball and basketball.

[K...]

Probably, we are all implicitly ranking our favorite sports, taking the greatest player and ranking accordingly.

I also think it's implicit that individual sports are considered higher than team sports.

[Malik Hairston]

I didn't click on the link, but I'm sure part of the criteria is the impact they had in their respective sport from a popularity standpoint, too..ESPN's objective is to draw interest, their target demographic isn't the hardcore basketball fan..

Tim is my favorite player of all-time, but his peak years were during arguably the least popular era in NBA history(2003 to 2007)..as we saw with all the articles, etc after last year's Finals, even mainstream outlets have Duncan ahead of Kobe and Shaq on the all-time list(hardcore fans always did), it's not really arguable from a basketball standpoint, but those 2 players(along with Lebron) obviously had much more of an impact than Tim from a popularity standpoint..

[Sean Cagney]

BS. Duncan should be higher than 14

Yep.

Shaq and Kobe above him too, questionable. Kobe is a little too high on that list but you know the media honestly.

[gilmor]

greg lemond >> lance armstrong

[Russo21]

Shane Warne, Sachin Tendaulker were two all timers left out. Quite a strange list. Lance Armstrong? Really? Really? Wasn't Barry Bonds taking 'roids also or was that disproven?

[z0sa]

Jesus that list is pathetic

[Killakobe81]

More reasons for Spur fan butt-hurt ... who cares? Duncan has what matters most 5 rings. Only Jordan has more and only Kobe is tied with players that matter in the NBA over the past 20 years ...

[Killakobe81]

lol at people letting personal biases run their lists.

Bolt, Federer, Tiger Woods, Jordan and Serena Williams pretty much dominated their in their best days and people ing WATCHED them do it. Those are your definitive top 5. Duncan, Shaq and Kobe should be top ten and one right after the other in a virtual tie...just like their careers. Phelps can be #9. #10 is irrelevant.

Lebron and Brady are there mostly to let you know that this is an ESPN list.

Wow a fair and balanced, reasonable Spur fan ... where did you come from?

[Agloco]

Ummm, where's Insane Lightning Bolt? Waaaay too low. This list is . Lol @ Armstrong, Jeter and Crosby

[daslicer]

It doesn't bother me its more of a popularity list.

[Diego20]

S.Williams 6 but Messi 12?

[Diego20]

btw I didn't know golf players were athletes..