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Duncan by miles......
MVP of the decade (1998-2008)
By Austin Burton
After last night’s Magic/Spurs game, today’s Smack comments turned to a Tim Duncan vs. Dwight Howard debate. Reader “Three Stacks” chimed in with: “If you were to pick a model player over the past ten years, it’d have to be Duncan. I don’t think anyone else comes close.”
Agreed. I’ve written before that over the last decade — calendar year 1998 to calendar year 2008 — Tim Duncan has been the best basketball player in the world. And the only other players that do come close are Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. With the end of the year coming up, now’s as good a time as any to settle it. Here’s how they stack up:
DUNCAN (’98-present)
* Four NBA championships (’99, ‘03, ‘05, ‘07)
* Three Finals MVP’s
* Two regular-season MVP’s (’01, ‘02)
* 10 All-Star Games (one MVP)
* Rookie of the Year
* 11-time All-Defensive
* 11-time All-NBA
* Regular-season numbers: 21.6 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.4 bpg, 0.8 spg
* Playoff numbers: 23.4 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.6 bpg, 0.6 spg.
Kobe Bryant, (’98-present)
* Three NBA championships (’00, ‘01, ‘02)
* Regular-season MVP (’08)
* 10 All-Star Games (two MVP’s)
* Two-time NBA leading scorer (’06, ‘07)
* 10-time All-NBA
* Eight-time All-Defensive
* Regular-season numbers: 26.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.6 bpg.
* Playoff numbers: 25.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.6 bpg.
Shaquille O’Neal, (’98-present)
* Four NBA championships (’00, ‘01, ‘02, ‘06)
* Three Finals MVP’s
* Regular-season MVP (’00)
* Nine All-Star Games (two MVP’s)
* NBA scoring leader (’00)
* Nine-time All-NBA
* Three-time All-Defensive
* Regular-season numbers: 24.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 0.5 spg, 2.2 bpg.
* Playoff numbers: 25.1 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, 0.5 spg, 2.3 bpg.
Who gets your vote?
Duncan by miles......
Duncan...
Who defines a decade as starting on an 8? But yes this is clearly a setup for Duncan.
Post Jordan's Bulls.
Kobe...........not hahaaha.....Duncan by along shot.
For the decade I'd put it into a two-way tie between Shaq and Duncan.
Duncan has been far more consistent in the later years but Shaq simply dominated in the early 00's.
If either Shaq or Duncan gets another ring, that will break the tie in my mind.
Dirk.
It's a tossup between Duncan or Shaq....pick one. I think Duncan has been more consistent but I think Shaq at his peak was better.
Shaq was not better, he was a freak of nature. That's why he was so dominant.
Duncan is, like Shaq said, The Big Fundamental.
Yeah, sadly, Shaq at his peak was embarassingly good. I remember turning off the TV during some of those Spurs playoff losses midway through the 3rd quarter. The look on DRob's face said it all too. He and his 70 yr old back wasn't going to stop the Diesel...
Mid 1990's Shaq. Then Duncan. Not really a fair comparison with their age difference- meaning their peaks were not at the same time.
aside for that brief moment when Duncan contemplated joining the Magic, he hasn't caused his team any distress.
Would Duncan have been a better matchup against Hakeem in the prime Magic years? He may have been since he was more polished coming in.
Would Shaq have been as good as Tim coming into the San An situation? I don't think so. Tim provided that polished game, while Shaq would have replicated what D. Rob gave.
As far as overall performance, Shaq has an awesome peak, but so does Timmy. Tim never had Kobe, although he had (has) two all star calibur guards. It almost seemed destined for Shaq to get his fourth with the Gino foul etc. But nevermind that.
Since they both have an incredible intro, and prime resumes, we have to go to post both to get a proper eval in my opinion. To be fair, they had a head to head match up. We all know who won that match up. That would be Mr. Wake Forest himself. Until further notice, I think Duncan is up by a hair.
Duncan has NEVER sucked in a playoff series like Shaq did when his team was S-W-E-P-T by the Bulls. It has NEVER been Duncan's fault that his team lost a series. Shaq didn't even look like he was trying on the Heat after he got a ring. You'd never see half an effort from Duncan.
When it comes to the Shaq-Duncan debates, two items are often given far less weight than they should: team winning percentage and defense.
Duncan has the edge on both. And when it comes to defense, it's not even close. In fact, if Duncan is selected for the All-Defensive team this year, first or second team, he'll have more selections than anyone in the history of the NBA. (He's currently tied for first with Kareem and Bobby Jones.)
If "defense wins championships," shouldn't the fact that you're one of the greatest defenders of all time count for a whole lot in these debates? And if winning is the goal, shouldn't the fact that your team wins more often than any other team in any of the four "major" sports count for a lot as well?
Well said
This message is hidden because mrspurs is on your ignore list.
i love it.
sorry.
anyone with a lick of common sense knows its TD by far...
Shaq isnt even in contention with all the coat-tail riding he has done for the past few years.
Dirk
If you just look at those stats, it looks like Shaq and Duncan are pretty damn even. They both have won the same amount of championships, they've both been MVP's in the regular season and in the Finals (several times), they have very comparable scoring, rebounding, and defensive numbers.
I'd still give the edge to Duncan for one reason:
Consistency.
In 11 years, Duncan has 11 All-NBA, 11 All-Defensive...1 for every year he's been in the league. He's consistently made an impact in the playoffs, year after year. Shaq's getting up there in age, and it has showed in recent years.
Shaq, besides being a freak of nature himself, always enjoys another freak of nature sidekick: Penny, Kobe and Dwayne. The same cannot be said of Duncan.
Duncan rules...
I can just imagine Duncan @ his retirement press conference ending on a keynote
"Oh, and Shaq, tell me how my ass tastes."
We are talking about MVP for the decade, not MVP for the peak years. So, I hear you... Duncan is by far much more consistent. He is the MVP for the decade.
ALso if you look at FINALS winning percentage, only Duncan among active players can claim an unblemished 4-for-4 record (4 Finals, 4 Championships). Only MJ is better at 6-for-6!
Shaq is 4-for-6. Kobe is 3-for-4.
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