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A) He is not UGLY and B), if he wanted too he could snap his fingers and get his hands on more hot tail then you could google and pop off to in your lifetime.
Why get your panties in a bunch? This is what I en mean. Back off fan boi. Tim is fugly as balls and he s-s-s-s-tuttterrrrs in his interviews and goes on about nothing interesting. The media wants sound bytes and the next Jordan type. Looks, charm, charisma, personality, everything. Has there been since Magic, Barkley, Jordan? Not really, the closest has been Shaq. Kobe is pretty bland, boring, and robotic in his interviews but at least he brings drama. As far as the market Tim plays in, why does Parker get more attention than Tim does? Because he's married to Eva. If Tim is boring Parker is a 1000x more boring. Just how the world works man.
A) He is not UGLY and B), if he wanted too he could snap his fingers and get his hands on more hot tail then you could google and pop off to in your lifetime.
Anyone that has money can do that and you're missing the point here. Man, I'm not even going to argue with you because it's pointless. You lack so much common sense it's not even funny.
A) He is not UGLY and B), if he wanted too he could snap his fingers and get his hands on more hot tail then you could google and pop off to in your lifetime.
If the market you play in is big enough and you are having great success, whether you want that attention or not it is coming you're way. I live in NY, i saw it for years with Ewing. He was not a guy that wanted tons of attention from the media but good or bad he got it. He at times had ups and downs with the fans as well. He was not doing tons of commercials and didn't have dozens of endorsements mostly by his choice. However The story was all about the Knicks and can he lead them to a le, is he a great player if he never does and on and on. If Ewing had won les in NY like Duncan is now in SA, he would have been the Jordan of the NBA. It would have been Ewing non-stop and only Ewing because he plays in the media capital of the whole world. That is what i am saying about Duncan, yes he could have the same personality but he still would be getting far more press and buzz if he was playing in a big market, it is unavoidable.
Oh i lack common sense but you say one of the reasons Duncan does not get major press is because you think he is UGLY??? Yeah right.
Tim Duncan flat out is not interesting to anyone who is not a fan of basketball. Sorry, his personality is completely robotic.
more BS.
First of all, if you're not a basketball fan, basketball isn't interesting.
If you like basketball, you can watch the cool bank shots of Duncan.
If you like hot-dogs, drugs, sex, whining, pouting, ball-hogs, arrests, etc., you can go with Kobe.
It really isn't.
It's what you may see/hear from sound bites but if you go furthur you'll find he's quite funny and incredibly articulate.
There are post game interviews on Spurs.com, listen to some.
Watch his press conferences from any of the Finals, both media day interviews and post game interviews.
Read some of the articles floating around this board.
Duncan is intelligent, he's got a quick wit with a great sense of humor.
And Kobe's is not?? If he played in Atlanta, would anyone give a about him????
Old Shaq play like old Kareem style - lol - That's like teaching an elephant ballet.
Just because Duncan chooses not to engage in controversy, to just PLAY THE DAMN GAME OF BASKETBALL, he's ROBOTIC? BULL . He's one of the best role models in the NBA and it's really sad that he isn't treated as such.
-Mars
Let's see Duncan's personality from the best source. Duncan himself.
This came out in Sport Magazine in March 1999.
And he's only gotten looser as his career has gone on and he's matured.
I don't know about anyone else but I don't get "robotic" here.
http://varopig.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D57A18221146B6B5!118.entry
The Psychoanalysis of Tim Duncan -- By Tim Duncan
For this story, the good people over at Sport asked me to psychoanalyze myself. So as I lay here on my comfortable couch at home, I thought it was time that I reveal who the real Tim Duncan was. On second thought, t think itd be safer to give you a slightly fictionalized versionthat way you won't think I'm too goofy, thus keeping my "dull" image intact (remember, I'm often told, you cant do those Nike and Pro Edge Gel commercial if you get too weirded out).
Ok, here goes: I've got a million things going on in my head at all times. There I said it. If you ever see me and think I'm being standoffish, please forgive me. I am just trying to listen to the inner voice that tortures me so.Just kidding. Seriously, in these moments, I am doing nothing but thinking. Sometimes thinking about nothing.
That is why I am a quiet person by nature. After all, it is difficult to think while talking, and close friends of mine will readily attest to that fact. But back to the psychoanalysis at hand, thats why I love being quietbecause I just love to think. I took up psychology in college at Wake forest for that very reason. Im not planning on opening up a practice anytime soon (although if this lockout lasts much longer it may not be too bad of an idea); I just love the inner workings of the mind. I was able to learn how people think and I really liked that. I was always interested in how people were feeling, how people would react to different thingswhat you could do to make them react in certain ways.
Sometimes I think I think way too much. If I let myself go unrestrained, I can easily overanalyze things. I can overthink things when things are happening good or bad. I can make It more than it is or I can make it less than it is, and sometimes its best just to leave it as it is.
Over the years, I've learned I actually like viewing pressure situations comically so that they don't stress me out. AJ (Avery Johnson, to those lost souls that don't follow the Spurs closely) likes to tell a story all the time about how we were involved in a close game. He missed two or three lay-ups in a row and was starting to stress out. I just came over and asked him something out of the bluesomething like, "What kind of music do you like to listen to?" He just looked at me real funny, like "What the heck are you talking about? Why isn't your mind on the game?" Then he looked at me, and I think he understood what I was saying. "Its not a big deal. It happened. Its gone. We can't change it now. Think about something else." He always tells people about that and laughs it off.
Right now, everything I am writing has a big restrainer on it. I do this for your sake. If I write everything down that I am thinking, then you make all think I have lost it.
You ever see the movie Good Will Hunting starring Matt Damon? Thats probably the best way to get a true psychoanalytical picture of me. I am just a taller, slightly less hyperactive version of the Damon character in that movie. I just enjoyed how he probed people and found out their weaknesseswhat they liked and didnt likejust by asking questions and saying outlandish random stuff, just to get a reaction. People expect me to be this shy, quiet type, so Ill ask them outlandish questions in a serious tone many times just to get a reaction. When people asked me when the lockout would end, I would whisper "February 10... but dont tell anybody." I just do goofy stuff like that simply to get a reaction. Life is too short to be serious all of the time. Not only that, but some of your best pranks can come when others think you are serious.
I try to take this mentallyprobing at ude on the court with me at all times. People in college thought I was lackadaisical because I didnt show emotion. They thought I was soft because I didn't yell with every rebound. Emotions must not always be shown, if you show excitement, then you may also show disappointment or frustration. If your opponent picks up on this frustration, you are at a disadvantage. I made sure my opponents didn't know what was going on in my head, I guess thats why the fans never knew either. Basketball is like a chess game, you cannot reveal all that you are thinking or you will be at a sizeable disadvantage to your opponent.
Basketball to some players is mainly a physical event, to me it is both physical and mental. You must not only conquer your opponents physically, you must also beat them mentally. You must at times out think them. I have to use my shot fakes and things that will work for me. In order to beat my opponent, I have to make basketball become a thinking mans game. I might take a jump shot this time, so that the next time, my opponent is looking for another jump shot. Thats where I then pump-fake him in the air and go around him to the basket where I use my incredible hops, jump over everyone and do a 360 slam dunk! (Sorry, got caught up in the moment, I meant I take one dribble and shoot a jump shot, although the 360 does sound cooler)
Have you ever noticed that some people while playing always seem to hit themselves in the same place? Whether it is they bang knees often, or they always seem to get hit in the head. Unfortunately, I have one of these problems, only I wish it were the knee or the head. Lucky me, it is a place in the middle of these two, that only males havegot it yet? Yes I get hit often in the gonads.
I don't know why I have this propensity, I just do. That is my major area of weakness. I dont know how this happens, I don't know why this happens, all I know is how frequently this seems to happen. It seems that nobody gets hit in the "groin", as many tend to call it, on a basketball court more than me. Opponents have hit me in games. Teammates have hit me in practice. Teammates, believe it or not, have even got me during games against other opponents. Everybody but the referee and the mascot have got me at some point or another (and if you see me retiring early, it'll probably be because one of the aforementioned finally got me). The amazing thing is that nobody has got me twice, with the exception of David, who seems to get me all the time. I don't know if its his arm length or what, but he sure does seem to have a knack at crippling me in that way. Everyone else in the league is pretty random. Whoever gets me gets me. I'm going to have to be the first NBA player to regularly wear a cup if this continues to happen.
When not writing in pain, people tell me I look pretty nimble on the basketball court. One reporter called me the Man of Many Moves, saying I had the best footwork of any NBA big man. He then asked if this was because I was a good dancer. I hated to disillusion the man, but I actually suck at dancing. I don't know why I can't, I just know that I can't. In basketball, I learned progression of moves just by doing different things. He said dancing was the same thin, but I sure don't see it that way.
Then I started to think of what the reporter had asked. I enjoyed the Man of Many Moves name, which he had administered to me. However, I feel this reporter may have been a little remiss. I hate to tell him, but I am no big man. This is merely where they believe I should play because I am tall. I am really a point guard; Im just a little bigger than everyone else is.
I'm sure that right now you are all thinking that I must be crazy. But, I assure you, I am normal, I told you I just am always thinking, sometimes about really crazy random things. But in all seriousness, it really should be difficult for me to be too strange. After all, a great family raised me. I had great friends, support and teaching at Wake forest. I came to a first-class organization in the Spurs family. My best friend from college, Marc Scott, is my business manager, handling my day-to-day operations. And my agent is an attorney by the name of Lon Babby, who also represents players such as Grant Hill and Nikki McCray. I have the loving support of my girlfriend who still attends Wake Forest and is nearing graduation. She helps me cope with the everyday rigors of being an NBA player.
I'm surrounded by nothing but great people. Ive been blessed with that, so really, I've got no choice but to be an all-around good person.
At this point, if I were to psychoanalyze myself, I'd have to say I am a clown, cleverly disguised as a regular person. I enjoy jokes, smiling, and making people smile. I may be a little different, but that's OK, who wants to be normal anyway?
In fact, its this "different" nature that will probably fuel my next endeavor, a clothing line bearing a new style for the new millenium. Its called Ultimate Rejects wear. Back at Wake Forest, I had a penchant (and still do to this day) of cutting off the sleeves of all my T-shirts and wearing my shorts backwards. I guess Ive always wanted to be an original. One of my former coaches in college, Jerry Wainwright, came up with the name. One day at Wake, we were just messing around, cutting my sleeves off everything when he came up with this brilliant idea. He thought we should start a line of clothes where you don't really know what youre gonna get when you buy it. You know a clothing line with surprise blemishes. You might, for instance, buy a pair of pants, and have one long leg and one short leg. Or you might buy another pair that turned pink after you washed it one time. Perhaps another time, you would notice nothing wrong with your pants until you took them off and discovered it dyed your skin purple.
We will have Ultimate Rejects wear in finer clothing stores any day now. We're still waiting for a patent to come through on our SuperShrinker solution that will actually shrink the clothes down eight sizes so that youre only able to wear them once. It might not be user-friendly, but at least it'll keep you coming back for more.
You see, in order to overcome my dull image, I've figured out that Ive got to start doing everything the way everybody else does. You know, "Be Like Mike" as our culture says. Michael Jordan rules our sports universe, so Ive to start adapting, so everyone can see just how exciting and eccentric I can be. Now do you see where I'm coming from? Michael has a clothing line (Brand Jordan), thus I will have a clothing line (Ultimate Rejects, maybe Nike will buy into it also). I'm still working on a special shoe (Another hint to Nike), aromatic cologne and a restaurant bearing my name, believe me I'm trying (OK, I'm not trying hardOK, not at all, but maybe one day).
All right, time's up. Now you know who I am or maybe you don't, you figure it out.
Oh but he is. He's always been regarded as the "good boy" and "role model". I don't know how you claim otherwise.
Henry Abbott from ESPN's True Hoop wrote about Duncan's "cardboard personality" last May.
(There are links in the article, for some reason they didn't transfer with the cut/paste, use the link below to see the clips Abbott refers to.)
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/...im-Duncan.html
Kindly Cast Your Spell On Us Now, Tim Duncan
Yesterday I asked you to send me links to the most enlightening Tim Duncan articles, interviews, and videos that you could find.
The NBA's reality is that we are deep into the Tim Duncan era -- he is the dominant player of the day -- and yet whenever he is on TV almost no one wants to watch. This year's Finals promise to deliver low ratings.
My knee-jerk response is: watch! Watch him, specifically. Watch tonight. What he does is truly amazing. He owns that paint. And he's so unbelievably efficient. If you get in a certain mood, it's stunning to see.
But I realize that's not for everyone, and unless people can find something to latch onto from this man's character, the "cardboard personality" factor could continue crippling the league for years to come.
But it's a myth that he isn't fascinating. He just isn't comfortable being fascinating in a way that works for typical sports media. (In fact, I think you could make the case that he knows exactly how to be fascinating, but is calculating and intentionally not so.)
The interesting stuff is in there, for sure. It's just not easy to find. TrueHoop reader Terremoto sent me an email that makes it frightfully clear to me how Tim Duncan needs to be marketed to the world: as a wizard. I'm serious! Terremoto writes:
Tim Duncan is the NBA's first superstar nerd. I find it very interesting that Tim Duncan's off the court pursuits include sword and knife collecting, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy videogames & paintball. Add to that, dude's got a freakin' tattoo of Merlin from Arthurian lore! His other tat is of a Skeleton Jester. No barbed wire or homages to dead relatives here. Just pure (and endearing) D&D nerdcore.
Another NERDCORE story: He wanted his nickname to be "Merlin" when he first got to the league, but his teammates weren't having it.
Wizard. Merlin. D&D. Nerdcore (a word I am using for the first time right now.) Love it or hate it, it's the first true thing about Tim Duncan that everyone can understand in a heartbeat. Everyone knows a dude or two like that.
And that is really him.
I want to see him in a Wizard costume, casting spells, at every NBA event until further notice.
Of course, readers sent me far more than just that.
One of the best stories out there is this do entary about his relationship with Gregg Popovich. Tim Duncan is a good person -- the kind of person who should be celebrated as a role model. Isn't that what we always said we wanted from our basketball players?
S.L. Price wrote a nice Duncan story called "The Quiet Man" (should be here, although link doesn't seem to work at the moment) about Duncan when he was named Sportsman of the Year with his teammate David Robinson. It includes this insightful passage:
Television ratings for the 2003 NBA Finals were down one third from the year before--down, in fact, to their lowest level since the Nielsen rating system began keeping track of the Finals in 1976. Only one thing had changed since 2002: The small-market Spurs, led by Duncan, were back. Here he was at last, the athlete all the moralists and parents and columnists had been seeking for years, the role model, the anti-Me-Me-Me man, finally coming into his own, showcasing the type of game that hoops aficionados had feared was passing into history. But when it came time to watch, Duncan was found lacking.
Does he have to talk the talk, too? Maybe the NBA, in seeking to jack up ratings with years of personality marketing (Shaq! Michael! The Showdown!), has sold the game so far down the river that excellence isn't enough anymore. Maybe Duncan is the litmus test for separating the pure fan from those who are there for the spectacle. Maybe we like (or need) to watch a superstar perp-walk into a police station. Maybe, in the end, we say we value one thing--teamwork, humility, good citizenship--but really want its opposite and switching channels makes it easy to avoid the obvious. Nobody likes being caught in a lie.
This is, I am told (and would love confirmation UPDATE: Not only is it real, but the writer who helped make the assignment reality was none other than my old HOOP colleague Darryl Howerton who is a role model of Tim Duncan appreciation), Tim Duncan's psychoanalysis of himself, from the 1998 lockout, which was published in the March 1999 issue of Sport magazine. As reproduced on a blog I have never heard of, here is a key excerpt:
I'm sure that right now you are all thinking that I must be crazy. But, I assure you, I am normal, I told you I just am always thinking, sometimes about really crazy random things. But in all seriousness, it really should be difficult for me to be too strange. After all, a great family raised me. I had great friends, support and teaching at Wake Forest. I came to a first-class organization in the Spurs family. My best friend from college, Marc Scott, is my business manager, handling my day-to-day operations. And my agent is an attorney by the name of Lon Babby, who also represents players such as Grant Hill and Nikki McCray. I have the loving support of my girlfriend who still attends Wake Forest and is nearing graduation. She helps me cope with the everyday rigors of being an NBA player.
I'm surrounded by nothing but great people. I've been blessed with that, so really, I've got no choice but to be an all-around good person.
At this point, if I were to psychoanalyze myself, I'd have to say I am a clown, cleverly disguised as a regular person. I enjoy jokes, smiling, and making people smile. I may be a little different, but that's OK, who wants to be normal anyway?
There's a whole bunch more Tim Duncan insight out there. For instance:
Video evidence he's a bit of a goofball. And if a poem to brisket doesn't prove it, nothing will.
Listen to the audio at the end of this Lang Whitaker post, and you'll hear that he cooks, and is proud of his green bean casserole.
Duncan has an online diary that he updates a couple times a decade. What can you learn from that? Stuff like he likes spending time with his wife and dogs (one of which, I have heard, is a " apoo").
Here is Tim Duncan on video talking about his promise to his deceased mom to stay in school.
Here is a whole mess of Tim Duncan factoids and speculation (Did he take a Chinese course at Wake Forest to impress a woman? Does he dress up for Renaissance Fairs? Does he ride four-wheelers with friends around his house in Texas?) from sources of varying credibility.
This Associated Press article gives a sense of the classy way he relates to people off the court.
Remember when he was in major national ad campaigns?
Tim Duncan, professional wrestling fan, certainly appreciates showmanship in other venues. Let's fit him for that wizard costume. Seven feet tall, in silver and black, please.
that was a kick ass article!
I love Duncan, and I'm a basketball fan, but when the Spurs make the finals, even a lot of basketball (non Spurs) fans don't want to watch "boringball" in the finals.
The last 3 Spurs finals appearances had the 3 lowest tv ratings for finals since 1981 (the year before Finals began being played in June, after network sweeps weeks).
A few more Spurs finals appearances and the NBA as we know it will be out of business, and nobody wants that, so its time to trade Duncan, get rid of Pop and retool for a more up tempo offense
The ratings for the NBA are just bad in general these days. All star game ratings were just the lowest in history, have gotten lower every year since it has gone to TNT. Ratings were decent for Spurs and Pistons and only a little better the following year with Heat and Mavs in the finals. Last year they were the worst ever, now why would that happen if James is supposed to be this beloved superstar???? Jordan in his prime could have played a JV girls B-Ball team at 3 AM and people would have tuned in. The ratings in the NBA are not a Spurs problem, it is a leaguewide problem.
You can argue with me all you want, but the fact is the general public is by and large not interested in watching Tim Duncan or the Spurs play basketball. Look at the TV ratings for the past few NBA Finals the Spurs were a part of........they've consistently set record lows.
it is a shame that people dont realize the things tim brings to the table, leadership and and delivers when you need him. he is mvp
I love watching Duncan play and so do most people who are actually true fans of basketball. The casual fan just isn't that interested in him.
I am not arguing anything with you, i am giving you the facts here buddy. 2006 finals Mavs and Heat ratings averaged a 9.5. In 2005 they averaged a 8.1 and game 7 did an 11.9. Last year's ratings were in the toilet which would suggest that if the public thinks the series will not be compe ive they won't watch. What do you have to say about the All Star game ratings being the lowest in NBA history??? Was that because Tim Duncan played in the game?? What i am telling you is not a secret to anyone who has been following this. The NBA has an image problem that has transcended itself into a ratings problem that is not isolated to the Spurs, it is leaguewide.
If BOS and LA play in the Finals the NBA would prob. set record ratings. If SAS and DET play again your looking at record lows. The reality is the public by and large just doesn't find SAS exciting.
When NBA fans who spend their time on message boards discussing NBA basketball don't understand team basketball or defense, or don't think players like Ginobili and Parker are exciting to watch, why would the general public?That's what reality shows are for.
And if SAS and DET play again I'm looking at one of the the best basketball matchups. I don't give a if the rest of you aren't smart enough to appreciate it.
Poor example on your part which only helps my point. If it takes 2 mega markets to come together and play for ratings to be good what does that say for the league as a whole?? Were the ratings great when the Mavs and Heat played?? Nope. Ratings have only been good since Jordan left the Bulls when the Lakers were in the finals and by good it still pails in comaprison to the ratings were when Jordan was in the finals. Like i said leaguewide problem not an isolated issue.
Well said.
There's a reason I always read your posts.
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