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I'm shocked you'd post such an article
Great article nice find.
Nice article.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizar...in_duncan.html
Wizards Insider
Ivan Carter and Michael Lee
Trumpin' Duncan
It's about him. It's all about him.
Tim Duncan knows it. When he looks over and sees the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Pau Gasol, and the Phoenix Suns trading for Shaquille O'Neal, he knows the intent is to knock him off his perch as NBA champion.
"I would guess so," Duncan said after scoring 23 points and 9 rebounds as the Spurs defeated the Washington Wizards, 85-77, last night. "Obviously, you don't want to say that - it's to make their team better - but I got to imagine that's the point of it."
The San Antonio Spurs have vanquished the Suns in two of the past three seasons, and ever since O'Neal guided the Lakers to the last of the franchise's 14 NBA les in 2002, Duncan has won three of the past five NBA championships.
If Derek Fisher hadn't nailed that incredible three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the conference semifinals in 2004, and Manu Ginobili hadn't fouled Dirk Nowitzki in the conference semifinals in 2006, Duncan might have been five for five (with one of those les coming against Shaq's Miami Heat).
Duncan was asked if he was honored that so many teams are making major moves because of him. "No, I'm not honored in any way. I'm a little [ticked] off," Duncan said, jokingly.
Duncan is also a bit stunned when he looks at the standings and sees that the Spurs (31-16) are not only third in the Southeast Division behind Dallas and New Orleans, but they are also the fifth seed in the Western Conference. "It's weird, but it's early," Duncan said.
When the calendar year ended, the Spurs were 21-8 and sitting pretty with the best record in the conference. They hit a rough patch in January, leading some to speculate that they wouldn't even make the playoffs.
The Spurs improved to 3-2 on their infamous nine-game Rodeo Road trip last night. They also played their fourth straight without Tony Parker, who is out indefinitely with a heal injury. Duncan realizes the Spurs can't just try to maintain without Parker; they have to win.
"It's crazy right now," Duncan said. "We went through a slump for 10, 12, 15 games, when we thought we had a good lead on the pack. Then we slid right in the middle of it. Now everybody is fighting for position. A loss here, a loss there changes things dramatically."
But while the compe ion out West was once simply on the court, the Lakers and Suns have made it a game of can-you-top-this wheeling and dealing. "I think they both deserve credit for being creative, thinking about of the box, especially Phoenix," Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said.
Earlier he had praised the move by the Lakers, while questioning the reasoning of the Memphis Grizzlies, who handed an all-star caliber talent to a contender for little more than cap space and draft picks. "What the Lakers just did made it tougher," he said. "It was a miraculous move, confounding in other ways how something like that would happen, why the [heck] something like that would happen. What the [heck] were those guys thinking? [The Lakers] just got whole real quick. I think they are going to be just dynamite."
The Spurs are the league's oldest team - 11 of their 14 players are over age 30 - and they just got older with the recent signing of 34-year-old Damon Stoudamire, who landed on their porch as a gift from the Grizzlies (so, why is Pop so mad at Memphis over Pau?). They probably need some youth and athleticism to keep up with some of the younger, deeper teams in the West, but Duncan said the Spurs really just need some health more than a seismic trade.
"For us, we've had one of our three out the entire season," said Duncan, who missed four games this season with a sprained right ankle. "Absolutely, it always goes through your mind [to make a deal] when there are such moves as in the last week. But the deal with us is, if we can get healthy - get Manu healthy and Tony and myself healthy -we've got enough pieces. We feel that we don't see anybody that we can add right now that can put us beyond what we have."
The past five years, the Spurs big in-season trades have been acquiring Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer from New York for Malik Rose in 2005, and Melvin Ely last season. Mohammed helped San Antonio win a le and Ely won a ring despite never leaving the bench. Asked why he hasn't made many big trades during the season, Popovich joked, "I'm not that clever."
The minor deal for Ely had little affect on the Spurs, but ironically, it followed Popovich's statement that he wasn't going to make any deals. He isn't making such declarations this season. "I thought that was pretty cool last year," Popovich said. "It was an appropriate statement. This year, I haven't felt the need to make that statement."
Popovich, however, said he wouldn't make a knee-jerk reaction to keep up with the Lakers and Suns. "I never feel pressure to make a deal," Popovich said. "We talk to everybody like the other 29 teams. Making deals because you feel pressure is a recipe for failure."
Duncan was asked if the thought Suns fans should wake up this morning feeling good about having O'Neal. "It all depends on how healthy Shaq is," Duncan said. "It all depends on his health and his durability. If he's healthy and durable, absolutely."
When Shaq was introduced to fans in Phoenix last night, he rubbed his hand over his ring finger. O'Neal and Duncan have combined to win eight of the past nine championships. O'Neal has long desired to be recognized as the greatest big man of his era, but after Duncan matched him with his fourth championship last summer, that will be up for debate.
They both have put up incredible statistics over their careers - Duncan has career averages of 21.7 points, 11.9 rebounds; O'Neal has career averages of 25.6 points and 11.5 rebounds. They both have three NBA Finals MVP trophies. Duncan has won the regular season MVP twice, while Shaq has just one (which is criminal, considering how great he was the first part of this decade). And, they've both won an inordinate number of games. But Duncan, almost four years Shaq's junior at 31, said he isn't competing with O'Neal, or in some sort of race to get a fifth championship.
"I want the fifth. I don't care about him," Duncan said, laughing. "I don't care who has what. It's all about winning. Everybody always asks, 'You've got four rings, what's your motivation to do it again?' It's because you want to do it again. You've been there and you've enjoyed being on top of the league. There is no place like it."
And that's why everyone wants to take it from him.
I'm shocked you'd post such an article
Great article nice find.
god damn i <3 tim duncan.
fantastic article, and I loved hearing from TD
Yeah, I'm sure everyone is shocked.I'm shocked you'd post such an article
Great article nice find.
I live for stuff like this.
If the Big 3 are healthy, the Spurs will not be denied.
TIIIIMMMYYYY!!!! Gotta love him.
Of course teams are trading to counter the big men of the west (a la Duncan). In the end, you need a solid/dominant big man to win (only Jordan was able to win without one, which makes him even more impressive). I will say though, Gasol/Bynum and Shaq/Amare will be tough on Duncan/Oberto-Horry-Elson-Bonner
Derek Fisher hit a three? I guess they really don't watch when the Spurs are playing.
Some great quotes there from TD, nice article.
VERY good read... i always like to read timee's quotes
Duncan was asked if he was honored that so many teams are making major moves because of him. "No, I'm not honored in any way. I'm a little [ticked] off," Duncan said
Great article
I love those quotes, what a compe or.
It was wonderful to "hear" so much from him.
It's current, and for me it re-assured me that the shake ups in the West aren't going to spell doom for the Spurs.
I know a lot of what he said could be considered "sound bites"--what else is he supposed to say?
But I believe him. And I believe in him.
He wants to win, he wants another ring.
He'll do it.
Great article.
How did they get Duncan to talk so much and so candidly?
It is a little unnerving to read Pop's comments about how he doesn't know how the Lakers got Gasol and that he isn't clever enough for in-season trades.
Phoooooo.
That's Pop just screwing with everyone. He's always talking about how dumb he is. Righttttt.....
I'll bet the Spurs make another move before the deadline.
CIA Pop is in full effect.
We get the standard post game comments, but sometimes he talks more than we get. You can catch differences between the video interviews and the written ones from the same game.
He's always articulate, and usually very funny. He's got a quick mind, a quick wit.
That's why I liked this article so much. It gave us more than we usually get.
And the more Duncan the better.
That's why I don't understand why those in this forum freakout with the current trade drama. It's the other teams who gear-up to counter Tim Duncan and the Spurs. It's been this way for along time. Sure the trades with Pau and Shaq make for good news in the NBA, but what do they really get. What was the reason other than they are big men to take on Duncan. These individuals were not effective enough in their respective teams before the trade to beat a Tim Duncan Spurs team, and for some reason they suddenly can with the likes of L.A. and Phoenix? Also, no one has looked at a comment made by Shaq to Nash in a phone conversation where Shaq said "I will not let you down"!!! What is this crap. Something is wrong here. In all the years I've seen or heard the great mumbler, he always carried an air of indistructability. "We will lob bombs, we will shoot canons, we will win our first championship this year..etc. Shaq is not right in the head; I'm telling you superman has lost his cape and no one seems to notice.
Yeah, they scare me alright. I'm afraid to laugh my ass off when we finally play these jokers in a game that matters in the playoffs.
Yeah if they had only listened to you and gotten Payton over Parker, this team would be killin everyone right now.It is a little unnerving to read Pop's comments about how he doesn't know how the Lakers got Gasol and that he isn't clever enough for in-season trades
My grandkids will be talking about the .04 full court shot someday.
Duncan > Shaq. End of story.
I didn't think he would come out and say that."I would guess so," Duncan said after scoring 23 points and 9 rebounds as the Spurs defeated the Washington Wizards, 85-77, last night. "Obviously, you don't want to say that - it's to make their team better - but I got to imagine that's the point of it."But it's good that he was frank about it. These trades just show how great Tim really is and how much respect he can still command.
His name is in almost every article about the Gasol and Shaq trades.
It's wonderful to see him get the respect he's earned.
He's simply the best.
Yeah. Usually, teams acquire players so that they can improve in one aspect of their system. I don't recall, in recent times, a trade done to counteract just one particular player. Tim is awesome, and now that he sees what teams are doing, he just might get better, if that's possible.
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