Duncan's presence made everything possible for the Spurs

[MarkTravis]

Hey guys,

With all of the tribute posts and articles being posted, I figured I would share my farewell column to Duncan, who I had the privilege to cover for the past five years.

http://www.caller.com/sports/profess...386373021.html

[rmt]

Hey guys,

With all of the tribute posts and articles being posted, I figured I would share my farewell column to Duncan, who I had the privilege to cover for the past five years.

http://www.caller.com/sports/profess...386373021.html

Thanks for writing and posting the link.

[azarel]

thanks for sharing. it was very well written.

[Phenomanul]

Good writing Mark.

[keeferob25]

Duncan is far and away my favorite player of all-time and I frankly think Duncan's the greatest franchise player/centerpiece in the history of the nba and Duncan's presence is at the base of everything the Spurs have built. But I absolutely believe that Big Dave is the truest start of it all. It seems that for people to acknowledge this ruins the narrative we love that this started with Duncan which is mostly true. But the absolute start is because of David and he will never likely get the credit he deserves.

David was easily a guy that could still put up 20 pts, 10+ boards, 3 assts, 2.5 blks, etc even with his back issues becoming apparent. He was still an elite center very clearly. But he immediately accepted the idea of featuring Duncan and set the entire table for integration of another/other star(s) and reduced role etc. We've seen malcontents and egos destroy chances and opportunities (Shaq, Kobe, Barkley-Hakeem-Pippen etc)...and in Kobe's case it was SOLELY his unwillingness to play secondary that killed a franchise and legit chances at more rings. This COULD have been San Antonio is David was that type of player. But he did what was best and necessary for the team and while he personally was rewarded for it, most give Tim ALL of the credit and even Robinson's rings are seen mostly as "courtesy of Tim" as opposed to hard earned and equally HIS as they should. Cheers to Big Dave!

[MarkTravis]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate it.