Poll: Which, if any, NBA Players Were Better Than Tim Duncan?

[Kobe_MVP]

IMO:

Only Jordan and Russell are definitely better.

Duncan is equal to Bird and Magic,he's even better than Olajuwon and Chamberlain.Coz Jordan, Russell, Duncan, Bird, and Magic have been championship compe ors almost all through their careers.

Easy, homegirl.
No way that Tim is better than Olajuwon, don't get too caught by "champion compe ors"-bs. Duncan is without a doubt a great player but you can't rank him higher than Olajuwon just because Duncan's teams have been contenders for the most of the times when he had guys like Manu and TP by his side most of the times. First of all, Hakeem played in a tougher era and against some of the best big guys ever, guys like, Jabbar, Moses Malone, prime Ewing, prime David Robinson, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Shaq, Daugherty and the list goes on.

No big guy in the league had the quality of those I just mentioned when Duncan played, besides Shaq. And Hakeem played in a MUCH tougher era, he had to go through the Lakers-Celtics era, the Bad Boys-era and the Jordan-era and still Hakeem was able to win 2 rings, 1 MVP, 2 finals MVP, 2 DPOY's and numerous of all-nba first team and defensive teams.

And if you compare the 2 of them as players it's even a bigger gap between the two of them. Lets just compare Hakeem's first 15 years in the league to Duncan's this far 12 years in the league (since it's not fair to compare Hakeem's 3 last years because he was washed up and injured and Duncan is still in his prime, at least almost.

Hakeem is both more dominant offensively and on defense. Hakeem during his career averaged 21.8 points vs Duncan's 21.4 (and Hakeem's 3 last years were crap) and Hakeem shot with a higher FG% from the court and from the FT-line. Passing is something that Timmy does better and this far reboundning too but beside those 2 things it's not even close. Hakeem is a much better defender and is number 1 on the shotblockinglist (Russell and Wilt's blocks were never counted) and he is top 10 in steals and Hakeem with Russell are generelly considered as the 2 best defenders in history of basketball from the the centerposition, something Tim doesn't come close too.

If you look at postseason average it's still adv Hakeem. Hakeem averaged 25.9 points (the highest for any center in league history) vs Tim's 23.3 points and while Hakeem's FG% went up Duncan's has gone down and still Hakeem is better from the FT-line. Assists (by .3 more) still goes to Timmy and rebounds too but again, I'm comparing it to Hakeem's 18 years and 2 crappy last years in the playoffs.

Say what you want but there's no way you can say that Duncan's a better player when Hakeem's stats are and game was better than Duncan's. Duncan winning 4 les is great but he still had Prime-Tony in 3 of them and Ginobili in 2 of them and Drob in 2 of them. Hakeem won with less talent and dominated like Duncan never did or will do.

[samikeyp]

Oops...add Jordan to mine too.

[Riverwalkman]

Kobe_MVP:

1.If you want to compare Hakeem's prime years to Duncan's,the fact is that in playoffs Olajuwan lost in first round during his 25 to 28, and in his 29 he did not even make playoffs.While before Duncan had reached 29,he's already had 3 rings,with 3 Finals MVP.

2.Admittedly Hakeem played in a hard area, Spurs also played in a tough Shaq-area, Bad BoysII-area, and the upcoming LBJ-area.For instance you should respect NBA 05 Finals not noly because the 7 games was the toughest Finals since 98 Bulls VS Jazz,but also Pistons had just samshed Lakers the year before. Plus, although Hakeem was in the tough Bad Boys-area and Jordan-area, he did not even pass 1st round to meet Jordan and Bad Boys in finals within his best 5 years.

3.You should think why is that Duncan always had guys like Manu and TP by his side.The answer is crystal-clear: Duncan always make his teamates better, considering that Parker and Manu are respectively late 1st round and 2nd round picks.Duncan definitely did a good job,as a result his stats is not so outstanding, he really did not need to score 81 pts.That why I listed Duncan to top3, Kobe fans and stats fans may never understand it.

4.Olajuwan is a great defender, he's an excellent ball stealer and shot blocker,but when you look into the system, Duncan is the basic of Spurs' defense,that's why spurs have been league's best D team for a dozen years.Duncan does not have a DPOY but has been in the NBA All-Defensive team for 12 consecutive seasons, Which proves his contribution to Spurs Defense.

5.Duncan has 4 rings, 3 Finals MVP,2 MVP,which is obviously better than Hakeem.And I'm sorry your MVP Kobe has 3 rings,but 0 Finals MVP,being nothing but a loser without Shaq.

[mathbzh]

Duncan winning 4 les is great but he still had Prime-Tony in 3 of them and Ginobili in 2 of them and Drob in 2 of them

In 2003 (and even in 2005), Tony was far from his prime
In 2003 DRob was not in his prime

In 1995, Olajuwon had Drexler, Horry, Cassel... you could imagine a worst supporting cast.

Actually I don't know if Duncan is better than Olajuwon. But make no mistake, the Spurs four les start with Tim Duncan.