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I missed this. Thanks for posting.
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My father visited me last weekend for two reasons: He wanted to see his granddaughter, and he wanted to finalize his will in case he drops in a heap after David Stern says these words: "The third pick of the 2007 draft goes to ... the Boston Celtics." At one point during Dad's visit, I was discussing possible column topics for the issue you're currently reading. Tim Duncan's name came up.
"Would you read a column about how underrated Tim Duncan is?" I asked.
Dad made a face. He played with his hair. He seemed confused. "A whole column on Tim Duncan?"
"You wouldn't read it?" I continued.
"I don't think so. I'd see the headline, skim the first two paragraphs and flip to the next article."
"Seriously? He's the best player of the past 10 years!"
"Nahhhhhhh," Dad maintained. "Nobody wants to read about Tim Duncan. He's not that interesting."
Duncan's prowess has been a sore subject with my dad and me since the 1997 lottery, when our beloved Celtics had a 36% chance to land the No. 1 pick, and San Antonio plucked it away. Helplessly, we've watched him carry the Spurs to three les, a number that could have been five if not for Derek Fisher's miracle shot in 2004 and Manu Ginobili's stupid foul of Dirk Nowitzki last season. No Celtics fan can assess Duncan's career for more than .21 seconds without remembering he could have been ours. With the franchise facing another make-or-break Ping-Pong moment on May 22, it's safe to say that not getting Duncan set the Celtics back 10 years.
But what did we really miss besides a slew of 58-win seasons and a few les? Well, the chance to follow the most consistent superstar in recent NBA history, for starters. Duncan's averages from his first year (21.1 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.5 bpg, 55% shooting, 39.1 mpg) are nearly identical to those of his just completed 10th (20.0 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.4 bpg, 55% shooting, 34.1 mpg). His placid demeanor hasn't changed even a little; he looks exactly the same. His trademark 15-foot banker off the glass hasn't changed. Nearly 900 regular-season and playoff games have worn down his legs a little but not much, and he's made up for the erosion with an ever-expanding hoops IQ. If there's a major difference between the 1998 Duncan and the 2007 Duncan, it's his defense. He's gotten better and better as the years have passed, not just as a help defender but as an overall communicator.
Whenever I watch the Spurs in person, that's the first thing I notice: how well they talk on defense. It's a friendly, compe ive chatter, like five buddies maintaining a running dialogue at a blackjack table as they try to figure out ways to bust the dealer. Duncan is the hub of it all, the oversize big brother who looks out for everyone else. During breaks in the action, you can always count on him to throw an arm around a teammate before dispensing advice or to wave everyone over for an impromptu pep talk. He's their defensive anchor, smartest player, emotional leader, crunch-time scorer and most compe ive gamer, one of those rare superstars who simply can't be measured by statistics alone. Fifty years from now, some stat geek will crunch numbers from Duncan's era and come to the conclusion that Kevin Garnett was just as good. And he'll be wrong. No NBA team that featured a healthy Duncan would have missed the playoffs for three straight years. It's an impossibility.
Now &
I'm not a fan of the whole overrated/underrated thing. With so many TV and radio shows, columnists, bloggers and educated sports fans around, it's nearly impossible for anything to be rated improperly anymore. Everyone is constantly searching for fresh topics to dissect, so could anything slip under the radar at this point? Think back to when Duncan entered the league: The web was still rounding into shape, sportswriters weren't screaming at each other on TV, radio hosts were confined to talking about their local teams and everyone read their local columnists. That's it. Ten years later, a hyperactive sports world means that, if anything, underrated players (like Ben Wallace, for instance) quickly become overrated because everyone spends so much time discussing how underrated they are.Well, I say Tim Duncan is underrated. You know what else? He's wildly underrated.
Assuming the Spurs win the 2007 le and Duncan captures his fourth Finals MVP award (both decent bets), his first professional decade will have concluded with four rings, two regular-season MVP awards and nine first-team All-NBA nods. His best teammates have been David Robinson (who turned 33 in Duncan's rookie year), Manu Ginobili (never a top-15 player) and Tony Parker (ditto). In fact, Duncan has never played for a dominant team; the Spurs have never had quite enough talent to roll through the league. Trapped at the top of the standings, they've been forced to rely on others' failed lottery picks, foreign rookies, journeymen and head cases with baggage. Zoom through San Antonio's past 10 rosters on basketball-reference.com some time. You'll be shocked. Tim Duncan has never played on a great basketball team. Not once.
So how can he remain underrated? For one thing, he's always had a little too much Pete Sampras in him. Even last month, when Joey Crawford tossed Duncan for laughing on the bench, everyone seemed most shocked that Duncan was the guy involved. It was like watching an AP history teacher flip out on an honors student who never speaks in class. Duncan certainly doesn't have Shaq's sense of humor, Kobe's singular intensity, KG's menacing demeanor, LeBron's jaw-dropping athleticism, Wade's knack for self-promotion, Nash's fan-friendly skills or even Dirk's fist pump. If there's a defining Duncan quality, it's the way he bulges his eyes in disbelief after every call that goes against him, a grating habit that was old about five years ago. The other "problem" has been his steadfast consistency. If you keep banging out great seasons with none standing out more than any other, who's going to notice?
There's a precedent for this: Once upon a time, Harrison Ford pumped out monster hits for 15 solid years before everyone suddenly noticed, "Wait a second, Harrison Ford is unquestionably the biggest movie star of his generation!" From 1977 to 1992, Ford starred in three Star Wars movies, three Indiana Jones movies, Blade Runner, Working Girl, Witness, Presumed Innocent and Patriot Games ... but it wasn't until he carried The Fugitive that everyone realized he was more bankable than Stallone, Reynolds, Eastwood, Cruise, Costner, Schwarzenegger and every other compe or from that time. As with Duncan, we didn't know much about Ford outside of his work. As with Duncan, there wasn't anything inherently interesting about him. But Ford always delivered the goods and, eventually, we appreciated him for it.
I think we'll say the same about Duncan someday. Over the past 10 years, he's been overshadowed by Kobe and Shaq, LeBron and Wade, Nash and Kidd, Nowitzki and KG, even C-Webb and Iverson ... and yet, Tim Duncan was better than all of them.
Just wait, he'll have his Fugitive moment. It's coming. Maybe even next month.
I dont think there is another writer for a mainstream media outlet that has pimped our Spurs or Duncan so much.Bill Simmons is the man!
I missed this. Thanks for posting.
even more sad that the Spurs can't put decent players around him
too cheap for SJAX.........
His father was right. I stopped reading after the third full paragraph that starts with "But what did we really miss besides a slew of 58-win seasons and a few les?"
Just not interesting.
I usually like Simmons, but I stopped reading after this.
Zoom through San Antonio's past 10 rosters on basketball-reference.com some time. You'll be shocked. Tim Duncan has never played on a great basketball team. Not once.
I don't get it. Maybe because I'm a Duncan fan but I still don't get how he's boring.
He's a winner. His game is incredible. His basketball IQ is off the charts. He plays intelligently, he makes his teammates better.
Someone please tell me how this is boring? Because he doesn't chest thump? Doesn't get in trouble with the law? Doesn't pimp every marketing opportunity that comes his way?
I've been a Duncan fan forever and I just don't get it.
I'm sure plenty of people will tell me why but I know they won't convince me.
I dont know bout yall, but I get more excited than anyone when Tim has that angle about 10 feet from the basket and you know hes looking to go glass, thats some exciting for me. I usually get up from sitting and wait to erupt with " YEAH TIMMY GOIN TO THE BANK!" Its also not bad when he throws it down and just turns back and runs the other way as if anyone could do it and it was the easiest thing in the world. If San Antonio wasn't such a "small market" I think the got ass "Boring" logo he has slapped on him would be changed to "cool"
Tim Duncan is my all time favorite BB player and all time favorite Spur (edging out DRob and Sean Elliot, which is tough). I expect he'll remain that way, too.
He is boring. He makes what he does look simple and easy and routine. He does it over and over. That bank shot is ing amazing, the way he uses the glass, the way he backs people down in the post is ing amazing - but to a casual sports fan or a fan primarily interested in one team - there is no excitement. No vitality, no clear love of the game (because there is rarely a throw down or a super impressive spin move or chest-thumping or screaming or hopping around in an epipleptic fit). He runs down the court and gets in people's way, blocks shots sometimes. Mostly, his defense isn't noted, because his mere presence and footwork is enough to divert shooters in the lane. Then he runs back to the other end where they set up a play and maybe he makes a shot. Whoopee.
But if you understand the Spurs or have a great appreciation for basketball, then you see it. The fire in his eye when he gets angry (remember the look on his face when the Sonics fans cheered his second ankle injury in game 6, 2005? The determination on his face as he hobbled around testing it and the way he ended that game), the little fist pump when he makes a particularly sweet shot or a particularly timely/necessary shot, and the sheer poetry of his work on the floor (his passing ability has gotten much better).
I enjoyed this article and I enjoy Bill Simmons (even when I ardently disagree with him) because I think he's a good writer. But I have to admit, I would have likely skipped it if it hadn't been about Tim Duncan, whom I love.
If Tim was a Celtic, he woulda been hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I agree with the comment by DDS4. Tim is in the San Antonio market, so he doesn't get the love or attention of other stars. Shoot, I heard more about Antoine Walker when he was a Celt than I currently do about Timmmay. I just think it sucks that he doesn't get the love ALL of the time. The guy is simply the best PF ever and is in the top 10 greatest NBA players of all time. If I was building an NBA team, he would be the first piece of the puzzle that I would want.
LMAO at anyone blaming the "boring" label on the small market.
Penny Haradaway and Shaq played in a TINY market and got tons of love.
Is Sacramento a big market? Why all the love for the kings in their heyday, then?
Kareem played in the second LARGEST market and was still considered "boring".
Consider THAT Theory debunked.
It's probably because he doesn't dunk and then hang on the rim for several seconds, following by yelling, chest pumping, you know, acting like a punk that's never done it before.
EDIT> It's kind of like Marvin Harrison on the Colts. He has a gazillion TD catches, but he doesn't need to act like a jackass every time he scores.
I didn't say Tim Duncan was boring. I said the article was not interesting. There's a difference.
don't forget pushups
You forgot to mention "no rap albums" and the fact that he's not a "thug", right?
If he was in L.A., he'd be the biggest star in the world, right? It would be impossible to get tickets to see the great Tim Duncan! Everytime he'd get the ball, he'd nearly be blinded by the thousands of flashes from cameras going off in the crowd.
He doesn't. He's even better.Duncan certainly doesn't have Shaq's sense of humor
have you heard about a guy called Kareem? Kareem was even more closed to media, etc than Duncan. next to Kareem, Duncan is a car salesman.
in other words, the city does affect the popularity of the guy
This is getting old. We offered more money for Stephen Jackson then he ended up taking.
He didn't walk because we were "cheap", he walked because his agent thought he was worth more than he was. Blame his agent, not the Spurs FO.
(I still maintain that SJax cost teams about as many games as he wins. With any luck, the Jazz will eliminate him from the playoffs, and I won't have to hear about SJAX is the end all of basketball when he wins a game or two against the Spurs in the WCF).
Well, he turned out to be worth more money than the Spurs offered. RC only wanted to offer a 3-year deal; Jack wanted five. The Spurs were scared of the Jaren Jackson deal happening all over again.
I'm not sure he's really worth more, base. I really don't know...
This ain't baseball where you can just spend as much as you want on a team. Look at the best teams in the NBA, and look at their rosters: The Spurs, the Suns, the Cavs and the Pistons. Pretty good talent for the price.
Now look at the Lakers and the Knicks. Money doesn't equal good teams, and I'm sick of people who think that being cheap makes the Spurs worse. We couldn't compete like we do each year locked into expensive contracts with players who have a tendency to get ejected/suspended like a certain Stephen Jackson.
He can win games, but he can lose series...
WRONG JACK WANT A GUARANTEE THAT HE WOULD START IN THE CONTRACT
[QUOTE=DarrinS]It's probably because he doesn't dunk and then hang on the rim for several seconds, following by yelling, chest pumping, you know, acting like a punk that's never done it before.
EDIT> It's kind of like Marvin Harrison on the Colts. He has a gazillion TD catches, but he doesn't need to act like a jackass every time he scores.[/QUOTE]
YES...thank you! That's a great comparison!
We really need to let the Stephen Jackson deal go...It's over. He's with Golden State now and seems to fit in there...
Timmy is like a quiet assasin who just destroy his compe ors and just wins! Yes, he's not flashy or chest pumping punk, but he is the greatest power forward to ever play the game! I just wish the league would recognize this great player and stop shoving down our throats the slam dunking players like Lebron, Wade and Carmello!Slam dunks are nice to see, but I'm sick of just watching that! I want to basketball! Way to go Simmons! Love this article!
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