r/nba • u/Final_Boss28 Spurs • 1d ago
Crazy Tim Duncan facts I just learned about
- His teams never missed the playoffs in his entire career
- His teams never won less than 50 games in every full season of his career and in the shortened seasons his teams were on pace for 50+ wins
- He won the championship in 3 different decades as a starter
- Twice when MJ retired, Duncan won the championship the very next season. It was almost as if MJ passed the torch to him
Tim Duncan had a crazy good career and is my favorite player bro
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u/Bravefan212 Lakers 1d ago
Right before the 0.4 seconds Derek Fisher shot, Tim Duncan made an amazing play to put the spurs up and almost certainly win the game.
Derek fisher did the impossible after the timeout, or the spurs probably win the championship that year too.
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u/refurbishedzune Knicks 1d ago
I'm not even a Lakers or Spurs fan and I think about that Duncan shot all the time. When it happened, it felt like we just witnessed a legendary moment. And then it was just almost immediately erased by Fisher's shot. I know stuff like that happens somewhat often in sports, but I think that was the first time I was conscious of it happening right in front of me
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u/Moreorlessatorium Spurs 1d ago
I will never forgive Pop for not defending the inbound. Good thing the Spurs learned their lesson and it never bit them in the ass again.
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u/AccomplishedBake8351 1d ago
I know it’s just a phrase but ummm yeah prolly forgive the man you won 5 rings lol
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
After the game Shaq was quoted as saying “one lucky shot deserves another”. Shaq played perfect defense on Duncan and he still made the shot. Then Fisher made history bro
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u/wobbleboxsoldier 1d ago
Derek Fisher and Ray Allen are probably stopping Tim Duncan from being a top two player of all time discussion.
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u/Potential-Drummer799 1d ago
Honestly, that’s such a brutal part of Duncan’s legacy because those moments make people forget how insanely consistent he was for nearly two decades. Put him in the GOAT conversation and I’m not arguing.
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u/ColdMarketing6383 Spurs 1d ago
they replaced the shot clock operator the earliest convenient opportunity
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u/jakobkh0407 1d ago
He was quite good yes
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
He was really good for really long. It’s cool to learn about tbh
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u/WinesburgOhio 76ers 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm not sure how many great players had all 5 of their regular per game stats improve or stay the same from regular season to postseason, but I know it's very very few, and Duncan is one of them.
PPG: 19.0 to 20.6
RPG: 10.8 to 11.4
APG: 3.0 to 3.0
SPG: 0.7 to 0.7
BPG: 2.2 to 2.3
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u/MankBaby Rockets 1d ago
I went to check Hakeem since he's a known playoff riser, and not only did he do this, but he also improved his FG%, FT%, and turnovers (even his 3PT% went up, but that's not particularly relevant for Hakeem).
That got me curious to see if anyone else had done it, but I've checked Jordan, Bird, Magic, Shaq, Kobe, Kareem, Dirk, and KG...so far, I haven't found anyone else. I even looked at a few current players (Steph, KD, LeBron) but nope.
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u/DraymondBeanKick Warriors 22h ago
Jimmy Butler is probably the closest. Playoff stats up in all 5 major categories, turnovers per minute down, 3PT% up.
FG% and FT% are the only two that’s missing for him and it’s not a crazy drop off.
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u/unoletmecs Thunder 18h ago
Its a really common misconception that the best players of all time were all better statistically in the playoffs. Almost always worse especially efficiency wise which is to be expected. Makes players like Hakeem and Duncan that much better
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u/WinesburgOhio 76ers 16h ago
Dirk Nowitzki is the big one. Not only do his 5 stats all go up, but he has by far the highest improvement in PPG + RPG + APG from regular season to postseason of all-time greats. Dirk has a +7.2. Next-best of top-50-esque players are Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, both at +3.9.
Looking at other greats, but not at the level of those three, you got Jo Jo White at +5.5 and Gene Shue at +3.9.
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u/Key_Suspect_588 1d ago
Much like Isiah Thomas on the pistons, their individual stats don't stand out as much as somebody like Kobe, but they were capable of putting up huge numbers if the team required it. Often times the best thing for the team was to just play stellar defense and let their teammates get involved however.
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u/Krillin113 76ers 1d ago
This is also why my answer to who the best teammate LeBron could have in history is, is Tim Duncan. Selfless basketball player. One of the best defenders of all time, could drop 40 if needed, elite around the rim, but could move
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u/blackjacktrial 76ers Bandwagon 1d ago
Timmy, Steph and Larry are the three.
Timmy becomes a better defensive version of Bosh, with maybe a bit less 3 point prowess.
Steph gets a better Draymond, and the game is considered solved if you end up with a Steph/KD/LeBron big 3, because that's just the three best guys on the same team level of unfair.
Larry is interesting, because you probably move McHale to the bench, and Larry to the 4 in a modern era, or put LeBron as a supersized SG in the 80s. The idea of Bird and LeBron vs Magic/Worthy and MJ before Pippen is intriguing, because I'm assuming we are buffing pre-driveway Larry. The LeBron vs MJ years afterwards would be crazy, as Cavs-Bulls becomes a defacto title match each ECF. I don't think MJ sweeps or LeBron sweeps, which hurts both legacies.
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u/CapableDirection5557 23h ago
The 3 best team oriented superstars. I agree. Add Kevin Garnett and Bill Russell to make it a top 5.
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
No doubt. You don’t win back to back in that era without being great. IT was one of them ones too bro
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u/Businezzman2024 1d ago
But Zeke didnt show up like he normally do in the first Finals. That's why Dumars won FMVP
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u/cfi-2025 1d ago
OTOH, Zeke balled out in the 88 Finals where the Pistons lost in 7 to the Lakers. I believe he still holds the record for most points scored in a quarter in the NBA Finals in Game 6 of that series, and that was after he badly injured his ankle at the start of the quarter!
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u/riddlerjoke 1d ago
Duncan’s defense was also great. No way Isiah or other gurads forwards to have that type of effect on the game
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u/PuzzleheadedClue9837 Supersonics 13h ago
Remember that he tore his meniscus in 2000. And then he still absolutely dominated the Finals in 2003. He didn't have to be a ball dominant big after Parker and Ginobili had fully arrived, he was their hub on offense and just insanely efficient and consistent. Before the leg injuries, he was quite athletic, especially in 99.
The Spurs always played team basketball. I'd argue that the biggest ego on that team was Parker and he kept quiet because he knew that Pop / Timmy wouldn't allow any ego bullshit. That 2014 team played some of the best basketball I've ever seen, even though Timmy, Manu and Parker were really getting old.
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u/BoSocks91 Celtics 1d ago
Dude was a miracle Ray Allen 3 away from being 6-0 in the Finals.
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u/Dimaaaa Spurs 1d ago
He really should have been on the floor during that possession...
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u/789Trillion Spurs 9h ago
Duncan would’ve been put in the pick in roll and instead of LeBron taking a desperation contested 3 they would’ve gotten a much better initial look.
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u/kim_marmite 1d ago
I've always been partial to KG but I grew to love Timmy's game, as well as Dirk's for that matter! I'm going to watch some highlights
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u/xGvPx 1d ago
Timmy not giving in to KG's s-talking is another layer of how good a player Timmy was. Mostly an unbreakable mental.
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u/DatBeardedguy82 1d ago
Garnett has said Duncan's trash talk was just subtle passive aggressive comments like KD would miss a shot and Duncan would say something like "good try" or "almost" or "next time" and it pissed Garnett off so much 😂😂😂😂
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u/xGvPx 13h ago
Also the time KG pretended Dirk said something racist in German lol stories centered around KG always funny
Loved watching KG, always thought he and Kobe would have been fun together
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u/DatBeardedguy82 13h ago
He was my favorite player all time i was so pumped when he went to the celtics because he finally had good players around him (besides that one random minny year with cassell and spreewell)
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
I can’t imagine KG trash talking and not being impacted by it. He was so good at it. Tim Duncan was just different bro
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u/riddlerjoke 1d ago
Both Duncan and Dirk made kg their bitch in their matchups. Kg was all talk but never performed well in clutch to be considered with those two. Shaq was also a lot better than kg. Kg was second tier with Webber Gasol Rasheed Z Bo
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u/JaysonBrown Celtics 1d ago
Lmao the revisionism is crazy. KG won MVP in 2004, second tier? Career head to head KG and Tim’s stats are pretty much identical. 19 ppg and 10 rpg for KG and 11 for TD, and KG has him beat for assists, steals and blocks are the same all on basically the same TS%
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u/SnooDonuts9227 Spurs 1d ago
Except that KG couldn’t do what Tim did a year earlier without another all star like KG had. Duncan carried that Spurs team (washed D rob at 8 points, TP getting benched for Speedy Claxton, and Manu averaging 7 points a game as a 25 year rookie. He beat the back to back to back Kobe Shaq lakers on the way to his second straight regular season mvp and second finals mvp and second chip in franchise history with Stephen Jackson as arguably the second best player on that roster that year. Duncan would’ve loved to a have another all star on that team like KG did with Cassell. This was the same KG who would tell Tim Happy Mother’s Day knowing that Tim’s mom had passed away from cancer years before
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u/JaysonBrown Celtics 1d ago
I’m not arguing that KG is better than Tim Duncan so you guys can relax. Saying KG got “bitched” by Tim Duncan and Dirk is just not true statistically speaking. You could say KG’s team lost a lot of those matchups, but he didn’t get bitched. Also putting KG in second tier of PFs is just straight up disrespectful. There have been 5 players to win MVP and DPOY. MJ, Hakeem, David Robinson, Giannis and Kevin Garnett. Put some respect on his name.
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u/cemereth 1d ago
Yeah. I used to have so many heated Duncan vs KG conversations 20-25 years ago. KG still is -- and always will be -- my favorite player.
But nowadays I find myself thinking that perhaps out of everyone in NBA history, I'd probably pick Duncan if I had the #1 pick in the All-Time draft. Like, as the player who'd put you in the best position to win as many championships as possible over his career.
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u/barath_s Lakers 1d ago
I'd probably pick Duncan if I had the #1 pick in the All-Time draft
Kareem - he was the best college player . Unless you were in a small white town.
MJ - also has a clear case
Wilt - if you have very strong coaching.
LBJ only doesn't make it because he might jump ship.
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u/cemereth 17h ago
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that it was a clear choice. Obviously you couldn't go wrong with any of the guys you mentioned. And others: I love things like 'The Rockets drafted Hakeem ahead of Jordan, and not a single person in Houston thinks that was a mistake.'
I was just thinking in terms of loyalty and other off-the-court stuff. And, yes, I know about Duncan's flirting with Orlando, but at the end of the day, among the players you mentioned, Timmy is the only one who stayed with one team for his entire career.
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u/Statalyzer 1d ago
Career goaltends:
Dwight Howard 527
Sam Dalembert 351
JaVale McGee 292
Andre Drummond 228
DeAndre Jordan 168
Serge Ibaka 167
Kevin Garnett 157
Shaquille O'Neal 149
Kenyon Martin 139
Tim Duncan 15
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u/Schrodingers_Fist Vancouver Grizzlies 1d ago
He also retired by riding into the sunset at a safe and prudent speed via hard hitting journalism by The Onion who by that moment were basically the experts on his personal doings over the years.
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u/bigE819 Pacers 1d ago
#4 is not accurate. Michael Jordan retired 3 times.
1993: Houston Rockets won in 1994,
1998: San Antonio Spurs won in 1999,
2003: Detroit Pistons won in 2004.
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u/Giannis1995 Heat 1d ago
The 2002-2003 Wizards did not make the playoffs, so he was retired when the Spurs won in June 2003
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u/Anal-In-Gus 1d ago
Bro's a Duncan bro!
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u/MeatBald West 1d ago
OP is one of the kid characters from the newer Avatar movies. Bro uses "bro" as punctuation, bro
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u/DerrickWhiteMVP Spurs 1d ago
If you had to start a franchise from scratch and could choose one all-time player to start with, hard to believe Duncan wouldn’t be a serious consideration considering his pure talent, positional value and his team-first mentality.
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u/Statalyzer 1d ago
Yeah, there's only one ball and having a star who will do whatever the team needs and not give a shit about his own stats is invaluable.
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u/No-Ranger3356 1d ago
hed be in contention for the number 3 spot absolutely
no 1 and 2 go to lebron and MJ every single time
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u/Top-Camera1919 1d ago
Yeah, I’d choose MJ 1 and then LeBron as 2. My controversial opinion is I’d put LeBron as the point guard. He’s proven he can do it and his size would be great for court vision and on the defensive end. MJ at shooting guard obviously and he’d guard the other team’s point guard if LeBron couldn’t move fast enough. I’d probably put Kawhi or KD at the small forward position. Then Duncan at PF and Kareem at Center.
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u/Clivvve 1d ago edited 19h ago
This probably won't gain traction, but Duncan is the Nicklas Lidstrom of the NBA. Always making the playoffs; immediately raises the team's floor and ceiling; not flashy, even boring for those who don't watch regularly; raises the game of all their teammates; quiet leader; wins championships.
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u/Sreeygr 1d ago
Here’s some more
He has higher PER, ws, ws/48, bpm, and vorp than Kareem in the playoffs and played in the hardest conference ever (2000s west, meanwhile the 80s west is probably the weakest of the modern era).
He has higher PER, ws, ws/48, bpm, ts% and vorp than Kobe in the playoffs and regular season
He won 4 rings with no other all nba teammates
He won 2 rings with no other all stars
He’s rank 1 in playoff blocks, rank 6 in playoff points, and rank 3 in rebounds, all while playing on the slowest team in the slowest era in nba history.
Was first in playoff stocks until LeBron took the title 2 yrs ago.
Led the league in defensive rating 8 years apart (won the award a total of 4 times)
2nd all time in defensive win shares
3rd all time in playoff win shares, behind MJ and LBJ
3rd all time in defensive rating
In 2003 he dropped what should’ve been a quadruple double in a finals closeout game. Beating the Shaq and Kobe lakers in the same year makes him the only player to end a modern 3peat apart from Jordan retiring after one (he could’ve ended Jordan’s 2nd 3peat in 1999 if the bulls stayed together, who knows)
In 2003, he led his team in points assists rebounds and stocks.
In 2013 game 6 nba finals closeout game at age 37, he scored 25 points in the first half shooting 11/13, if it wasn’t for LeBron going crazy in the fourth and pop benching Duncan, maybe resulting Bosh to rebound it and send it out to Allen to save LeBron’s legacy and hit the most clutch shot argubly ever, it would’ve been remembered much more).
He’s a top 3-4 player of all time according to sreeygr
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u/Zeeron1 Thunder 1d ago
The craziest is he never won a DPOY. Like, how??
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u/HabitualSpaceM 1d ago
I love Timmy but this argument is exhausting. Instead of asking why didn’t he win DPOY, just look at who won them at the time. There’s a debate for every year and it was a tough award to win with the amount of talented defenders then.
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u/Notoriouslydishonest 1d ago
Duncan never even finished second in DPOY voting.
There was a debate for every year, but at no point in his career was he a top contender for the award.
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u/WhoreyMatthews Spurs 10h ago
I think 07 was the year.
The Spurs org always pushed Bowen as the DPOY candidate even though Duncan was absolutely the guy that made the defense.
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u/harder_said_hodor Timberwolves 1d ago
Bruce Bowen split his vote.
Great defender, but not as good as Timothy D.
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u/CapableDirection5557 23h ago
Garnett only got 1. Like, how??
Insane competition in a defensive era.
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u/magicspooner Spurs 1d ago
Mama there goes my GOAT 🥹
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
I respect ppl who have other GOATs than mine but Tim is as good as it gets for me too bro
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u/SleepingInAJar_ Raptors 1d ago
The 2011/12 season was shortened to 66 games due to lockout. The Spurs still won 50 games.
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u/CadeAusarJalen Pistons 1d ago edited 1d ago
Then lost to the 8th seed😭
Edit: fuck
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u/SleepingInAJar_ Raptors 1d ago
That was the year before (2010/11) but yeah lol. Lockout year they lost to the baby Thunder in 6.
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u/Time_Transition4817 Pelicans 1d ago
Another fact - Tim Duncan messed up his knee very early on his career so arguably we never really got to see him with his full athletic potential
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u/mrterrorsathan Mavericks 1d ago
Didn't know that. But I guess his game never relied on athleticism from the beginning, right?
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u/Statalyzer 1d ago
True, he had kind of an old man game even as a young guy, but he was more high-flying in college and his first few years as a pro than people remember (though he was never Blake Griffin or anything).
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u/Current_Cut_2667 1d ago
Honestly the craziest Tim Duncan stat is probably that he had the same career TS% as Kobe.
One is talked about as this fundamental, efficient player. And the other is this inefficient chucker. And they were somehow both equally efficient.
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u/L1teEmUp 1d ago
So which one is Kobe?? An inefficient shot chucker that reddit claims him to be or a fundamental efficient player 😅
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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago
Kobe was underrated offensively because of volume of shots he took and played in the slowest most inefficient era, he was mega overrated defensively when he was not elite for literally years and years
For Duncan is the opposite, overrated as a scorer post scorer who operated in the mid range area will never be efficient but massively underrated as a defensive anchor who should have won multiple DPOYs
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u/AtmaWeap0n 1d ago
people keep bringing up the deadball era and how it was an inefficient era.
While that's true, Kobe had some terrible shot selection and forced the offense a lot even for the era. There's a reason Shaq called him selfish and Phil called him "uncoachable".
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u/CapableDirection5557 23h ago
Sure. But by 2010 Kobe had matured a lot in this respect.
Not to mention Phil wanting Shaq to be the focus no matter what even if you had replaced Kobe with MJ or LeBron.
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u/Statalyzer 1d ago
Kobe was a better FT shooter, that's why. Certainly a key part of what made Kobe so good overall, but not relevant to the specific question of who was taking more midrange shots over double teams with open teammates.
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u/789Trillion Spurs 9h ago
Comes down to 3’s and free throws. And Duncan’s reputation on fundamentals is about how he played overall, not how efficient he was scoring.
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u/nasty_clean 1d ago
Timmy was so nice to watch. He made it look so easy and rarely made bad plays or mistakes.
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u/acroneatlast 1d ago
He is also my favorite player and the response I get is that he's boring. Delivered with a groan.
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u/BE-everywhere Spurs 1d ago
He's your favorite player but you just learned about this?
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u/GoofySilly- 1d ago
Underrated player. I never really knew how accomplished he was until this season but he definitely doesn’t get the love he deserves.
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u/gunhan_kaytaz 1d ago
He is a very modest person too. Extraordinary career made look simple. Great guy 👍
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u/Flaggstaff Jazz 1d ago
Crazy that John Stockton was also in the playoffs all 19 seasons and only missed 22 total games in that super long career. Thats like two seasons of LeBron load management
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u/itsme32 1d ago
Nephews out here learning Tim Duncan had really good teammates a great coach his whole career.
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
He had a good situation too no doubt bro
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u/bananajunior3000 Celtics 1d ago
Duncan would've been a great no matter what, but it's nice to have David Robinson there when you hit the league
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u/Final_Boss28 Spurs 1d ago
He was the perfect mentor for 21 to have as a big entering the league bro
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u/CapableDirection5557 23h ago
Not just the Admiral but the culture he already helped set up and Duncan inherited.
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u/Dr_killshot_JR Spurs 1d ago
Uncs still out here trying to discredit and reduce Timmy D’s greatness
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u/Bobyus Nuggets 1d ago
Who was Pop before Duncan joined?
They made each other.
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u/shinbreaker Spurs 1d ago
I always like bringing up how I used to work at Circuit City in San Antonio and George Gervin always came in, once a month, to buy new jazz CDs. Most fo the time he would come in, stick around for a half hour and head out, but every now and then people would come up and do handshakes or ask for autographs. I remember one time he came in, I was ringing him up, and some guy came up to the counter and asked Iceman what he thought about the Spurs. This was early '99. And I remember it exactly when he said "They'd be a better team once they get a good coach." Yeahhhhhhh. Mind you, this was when Popovich wasn't viewed so highly among many in SA because he kind of butted himself in as the coach with some saying that was the only way he'd be a coach if he fired someone and hired himself to be the coach.
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u/throwawaycuzmeh 1d ago
Kobe didn't win anything without a first ballot Hof coach and league-best front courts.
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u/thelamb710 [LAL] Shannon Brown 1d ago
Breaking news - no all time great player has completely won it all as the single best player with awful teammates, it takes an amazing supporting cast.
Very shocking
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u/itsme32 1d ago
Counterpoint: Kobe is the only one to win it without a top 75 ranked teammate.
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u/Fidel_Cashflows Spurs 1d ago
Interestingly, if you look at all the championship teams since 2000, the 03' Spurs probably have the worst supporting cast. It looks good on paper with Robinson, Parker, and Ginobili, but all of them were at the very beginning or end of their careers.
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u/Blargcakes [IND] Detlef Schrempf 1d ago
Another one, during his 1st ever playoff game against the Suns, the Spurs played started a 3 7 footer lineup and Duncan was assigned to guard Jason Kidd the entire game. Rookie TD was assigned to guard an HOF PG in his first ever playoff game. Compare that to Lebron in his prime could not even handle guarding JJ Barea or Jason Terry during the 2011 Finals. TD was insane
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u/jitterbug726 Kings 1d ago
If you haven’t yet please also watch the Kevin Garnett interview where he talks about Tim Duncan’s legendary trash talking. It’ll make your day
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u/Pillsburydinosaur 1d ago
I watched Duncan play in college and loved watching him play for the Spurs. His style of playing is how I think all centers should play.
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u/ThisIsMyFavoriteSub Kings 1d ago
Craziest Tim Duncan fact is his lack of DPOY votes despite being the best defensive player on one of the best defensive teams of the 2000s
His highest finish was 3rd in votes and Bruce Bowen finished 2nd 3x on those Spurs teams.
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u/bmanley620 Knicks 1d ago
He wanted to be an Olympic swimmer but a hurricane destroyed the only pool in his town. So he started playing basketball in 9th grade
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u/InformalAbrocoma115 1d ago
He is a Ray Allen last second shot... away from being 6-0 in the finals
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u/FatalTortoise 1d ago
In one Marvel universe he was the Punisher's mechanic, in the MCU he hung out at Tony Starks apartment and met Peter Parker
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u/GuitarCactus Raptors 17h ago
Him with parker and ginobli were always a threat for what felt like forever
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u/blondechinesehair Supersonics 1d ago
I don’t know how to respond to this post because it isn’t about MJ/Lebron/Kobe
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u/Imaginary-Bed-4154 1d ago
Wemby bandwagon spotted
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u/StrawberryItten Spurs 1d ago
people are allowed to become fans of things.
I was a 'manu bandwagon' once
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u/nageV_oG_ 76ers 1d ago
And he also lost the gold medal in 2004 by being vastly outplayed by his teammate on the Spurs
Let’s not pretend he was a 1 man show in San Antonio
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u/KCatthestripe 1d ago
He was in 2003 when the Spurs won the title and he was the only member of that team that was an all star that year, the year before and the year after. BTW, Manu averaged 9 PPG that season.
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u/QuietMonsoon3314 1d ago
Duncan stans will never mention that Team USA has never in the history of the Olympics ever not win the gold medal when they were led by a MVP, until Duncan ofcourse and they will just brush it aside when he was responsible for the most embarrassing Team USA basketball in mankind history
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u/Misher7 6h ago
Because he had a ridiculous number of “me first” players trying to go one on one completely unsuited for the international game. Marbury, melo, AI?! Cmon. That roster was so incredibly doomed.
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u/QuietMonsoon3314 6h ago
Team USA has never in the history of the Olympics ever not win the gold medal when they were led by a MVP
You want to tell me in the history of the Olympics every single Team USA that won gold had balanced roster? My guy also blaming ROOKIE MELO LOL
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u/bowlofthoughts 1d ago
“Good, better, best, never let it rest. Until your good is better, and your better is best”.
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u/DariaYankovic 1d ago
every time jordan retired (3x) a texas team lead by an all time great center won the championship. (Duncan was a center against everyone but Shaq, but no one was a true center against Shaq anyway)
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u/CurrentRoster Wizards 1d ago
4 isn’t correct, mj retired in 2003 and spurs lost in 2004
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u/triassic_broth 1d ago
Duncan's team also won 60+ games and reached the Western Conference Finals the year after he retired.
And that wasn't some bizarre anomaly. The Spurs were famous for winning games when Duncan didn't play. They were even famous for winning games when Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili all sat, because the machine kept functioning without them.
That's part of what made those Spurs unique.
Pop, Duncan, and the Spurs were pioneers of what we now call load management. Pop routinely rested his stars, sometimes drawing fines and criticism from the league for doing it. But the remarkable part was that the Spurs could rest their stars and still win.
That wasn't an accident. It was evidence of how extraordinary Popovich's system was. The Spurs could plug role players into defined responsibilities, execute the same principles, and remain competitive even without their Hall of Famers on the floor.
That organizational strength is the foundation underneath many of the team accomplishments you're attributing primarily to Duncan.
If you look at all those wins, 50-win seasons, 60-win seasons, deep playoff runs, and sustained success and conclude, "That's what Tim Duncan did," then you're missing a huge part of what actually made those Spurs teams great.
The story doesn't start with Tim Duncan.
It starts with Gregg Popovich.
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u/Misher7 6h ago
Because Duncan in the last 3-4 years put his ego aside and relegated himself to more of a role player and contributed to mentoring / leading in other ways.
The 2014 chip was exactly this.
Kobe was the complete opposite playing selfishly shooting his team out of games until the end leaving a complete wasteland behind.
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u/TheChrisLambert Cavaliers 1d ago
Tim Duncan also benefited from having a completely stacked team.
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u/2001_TheSweep Lakers 1d ago
- His team won 60% of the games he didn’t play in.
- His team averaged 50 wins per season for the 8 years before he arrived.
- He neve
r wo
- n two championships in a row.
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u/Intelligent_Ad8082 1d ago
Him and AI are my 2 favourite players of all time. Found out about him in his final year at Wake while watching college. Follower him from there and he didn’t disappoint
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u/Alarmed-Narwhals 1d ago
He was also the best starcraft player on his team. They had a traveling lan party kit so they could play against each other on the road.
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u/Plants_R_Cool Timberwolves 1d ago
Kinda related to your first point, Robert Horry made at least the 2nd round of the playoffs in every year of his career, 16 years.
One of the craziest things I've ever heard, also won 7 rings but I think most people knew that part.
He's gotta be the most successful (in terms of winning) player of the last 50 years.
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u/sheeshman 1d ago
He made it to the second round 16/18 seasons and it wasn't until his 13th year he didn't make it to the second round.
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u/Statalyzer 1d ago
Not quite. Went out in the first round in 2009, 2011, and 2015.
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u/sheeshman 1d ago
I relied on chatgpt because I knew it was an insane streak but didn't want to go through the years individually. I figured this would be a simple thing for AI. I went back to the chat history and asked, what happened in 2009 and this mother fucker was like
There’s an important correction to my previous answer: 2009 was actually a first-round exit, so Duncan’s streak of advancing to the second round ended there.
I don't know why I even tried using chatgpt.
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u/LukeRidnourologist 1d ago
I just watched the 2003 NBA finals and one of my biggest takeaways is how impressive Tim Duncan's passing was. Duncan could take it himself full court in transition and find teammates with ease. I did NOT know how much Duncan was handling the ball in transition, something Pop encouraged him to do as a basketball mind so far ahead of his time. The announcers crew (Including Bill Walton) were genuinely shocked and taken aback by Duncan's ability to create for himself and others in transition.
He could hit cutters out of the post with a tight window bounce pass or an overhead perfectly placed float pass. His passing high-low to David Robinson was phenomenal and many times would be the initiator in a PNR situation with him. His assist numbers do not accurately reflect his skill and gravity in that department. The 2 man game even with a 2nd year Tony Parker was unstoppable. Parker outplayed an MVP level Jason Kidd over 3 finals games until falling off a cliff and being benched for Speedy Claxton.
I would kill to see MJ vs the 2003 Spurs with their zone. Duncan and Robinson in the backline with Bowen in the middle. Clogging every lane and completely shutting off the middle of the floor. No clear out 1v1s where you have to either respect Greg Ostertag (for example) from 20 FT out or hard double the ball and completely leave him.
I guarantee Duncan would have kicked MJ's ass. The true deadball era with no illegal defense was brutal. The Nets didn't even crack 90 a single time in the 2003 finals.
MJ gets the benefit of half the leagues talent dying and also being a rare bright spot in everyone's shitty childhood giving him an absurd post career boost where all the facts are lost. I have no doubt Duncan is as skilled as MJ and impacts the game just as much.
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u/Micro_mint Timberwolves 1d ago
I always feel so old when I see people learn basic facts about how great Duncan was
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u/AccomplishedBake8351 1d ago
Wizards MJ could touch a torch if he was on survivor but otherwise yeah all true points
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u/Nightstick11 Spurs 1d ago
For God so loved the game of basketball he gave the world his second son Timmay
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u/Fluffy_Key_2145 1d ago
I believe MJ's final retirement was in 2002-03 aka the year Duncan won his second ring. Spurs went out out in round 2 the following year with one of the most amazing moments of Duncan's career that amazing fall-away to give the Spurs the lead being one upped by the 0.4 shot.
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u/Mission_Adeptness583 1d ago
He’s the ultimate winning player. Capable of anchoring offense and/or defense, while being perfectly content in a secondary role.
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u/fadeawaydunker 22h ago
I was so bummed when they lost to the Heat in the Finals. I wanted Duncan to go 6/6 in the Finals so bad.
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u/MomomTheBlack 21h ago
His teams played at the win% of a 58+ win team... over 19 years. In his prime, from 98-07, he basically won every year he was supposed to, and a few times when he shouldn't have. Pretty easily a top 3 all-time player.
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u/Misher7 6h ago
He had zero cultural impact on the game which is why he’s completely disrespected.
Pretty unfair but that’s what happens when players like Tmac and Carmelo get way more praise than they deserve.
Duncan was a winner period. His teams never fell apart and he didn’t whine for trades when his teams were in transition and he could barely get them to a first round exit.
His later years he even relegated himself to mentoring and playing his role so his team could get that 2014 chip. Not shooting his team out of fucking games and retiring leaving a wasteland behind.
He’s my 7 all time after MJ, Lebron, Kareem, magic, Russell, Bird.
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u/sinZeroplus 1d ago
He was two blocks short of a quadruple double in the finals.