Him Duncan
Written by Jason Keidel, Thursday February 11 2010
If a man scores 20,000 points and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
Tim Duncan, the silent superstar, is the best power forward ever to play Dr. Naismith’s game. Have you heard of him?
Let’s start with bling – that is, championships. He has four. By breeching 20,000 points, he has become the fourth player in NBA history to amass that many points with 10,000 rebounds, 2,000 blocks, and 2,500 assists. The other three are Kareem, Hakeem, and Shaq.
A sport is only as big as its biggest stars, so it’s reasonable to expect the NBA to promote Kobe and LeBron first for their pre-game talcum powder claps, turnaround jumpers, rim-rattling dunks and scoring titles.
But there’s nearly no love for a man whose nickname, “The Big Fundamental,” is as bland as his stare. Duncan is not a rare breed but rather the last of his kind. Sure, he has 4 rings, millions of dollars and a reservation for Springfield. Guess what else he has…
A college degree.
No, it’s not sexy. You can’t wear your bachelor’s in psychology around your neck, on your teeth, or paste it to your custom kicks. Duncan is the only active icon to graduate from a university. In this epoch of one-and-done prodigies (see: John Wall) who use the classroom as a chalkboard funnel for their first sneaker deal, college is for squares.
Duncan knows all about squares – particularly those fiberglass ones he’s been using to bank home a few thousand fadeaways. In a sport yearning for heroes, Duncan is one spoke omitted from the NBA’s promotional wheel.
The San Antonio Spurs have not won less than 53 games since 1997 – the year Duncan was drafted. Yet the NBA is the lone major sport that doesn’t promote winning first. Football has Manning, Brady, and Big Ben: 6 trophies and counting. Baseball has Jeter, Howard, and Pujols: 7 rings, with many more to come. LeBron James, for all his glorious gifts, has made one trip to the finals – where he was swept by Duncan and the Spurs.
The one, fleeting knock on Duncan is his indignity every time a ref points his way. Judging his on-court countenance, Duncan has never committed a foul. But his disdain for the whistle is part of a larger cause – to help his team win games.
By all accounts Duncan is enormously charitable. He has no posse, no felonies, no gat strapped to his back, and no complaints.
He’s not a role model for the black community; he’s a role model for every community. In a shrinking legion of basketball fans, please salute Tim Duncan. He’ll appreciate it, though you wouldn’t know by looking at him.
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2 comments
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Thanks, Darius. It's astonishing that a player and person as good as Duncan can be so ignored. And I thought getting Jefferson would help the team more than it has.
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Great Post. I'm a Spurs Fan and Duncan is my hero. (Along with Manu Ginobili)