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    Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar
    Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar
    Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar
    Ebook181 pages1 hour

    Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar

    By Pounding the Rock

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    About this ebook

    In the 40 years the San Antonio Spurs have been in the NBA, Tim Duncan played 19 of them. A star from the moment he put on the Silver and Black, and productive through his final season, Duncan's career is among the best the league has ever seen. The Big Fundamental won Rookie of the Year in 1998 and his first NBA championship in 1999, on his way to five NBA titles, three NBA Finals MVPs, two NBA regular season MVPs, 15 All-Star game appearances, and countless other accolades. Perhaps most impressive, he achieved it all without putting himself before the team, and he left the game with his franchise still in contention for an NBA title. Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar is the ultimate tribute to the Spurs legend, covering 19 years of hardwood genius – including nearly 100 full-color photographs, giving fans a glimpse into the early days of Timmy's career when he burst onto the NBA scene as the sidekick to David Robinson, to establishing the renowned Spurs culture with Coach Gregg Popovich, to avenging a 2013 NBA Finals loss to the Heat with a dramatic title in 2014. The book also explores Duncan's status as one of the best teammates of all time, celebrating his relationships with fellow Spurs heroes Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. A must-have keepsake for Spurs fans and Duncan aficionados alike, Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar is the perfect commemoration of an NBA icon; one of the most humble superstars in all of sports history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBenchmark Press
    Release dateDec 1, 2016
    ISBN9781633197374
    Tim Duncan: Team-First Superstar

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      Book preview

      Tim Duncan - Pounding the Rock

      CONTENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      THE LEGEND BEGINS

      MAKING HIS MARK

      CHAMPS!

      BACK ON TOP

      THRICE IS NICE

      DYNASTY

      THE EVOLVING GAME OF TIM DUNCAN

      RESURGENCE

      AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM DUNCAN

      BETTER THAN YOU THINK

      A TRIBUTE TO THE BIG THREE

      PAYBACK!

      REVEALING THE MYSTERIES

      RECORD SETTERS

      BIG FUNDAMENTAL

      THE BOND OF EXCELLENCE

      LEAGUE-WIDE DOMINANCE

      THE PERFECT MATCH

      WABI-SABI

      THE LEGEND ENDS

      A PORTRAIT OF TIM DUNCAN

      INTRODUCTION

      By J.R. Wilco

      Tim Duncan was a Spur for 19 years, and my favorite story about him takes place in a crowded locker room after a home game. The players are milling around, returning from the showers, getting dressed, and being interviewed. The Spurs routinely make two or three players available to the press after games, and it’s usually one at a time and all of the media gather around each in turn. But on this night, there are several groups going at once: maybe Matt Bonner has a couple of writers asking him something, while Manu Ginobili is over there surrounded by about eight reporters, one with a video camera, and Danny Green is standing next to some radio guys, answering a question.

      Tonight, instead of the usual orderly queue, it’s a bit of a free-for-all when Duncan enters from the back. It’s one of the nights that he’s been made available to the media, and Tim is prepared to spend a few minutes with lights shining in his face, answering questions about the win or the loss—odds are it was a win. Only everybody’s busy, and no one has noticed that Duncan is politely standing at the edge of the room, ready to engage with the press.

      Tim Duncan, alongside Tony Parker, cheers his teammates on from the bench during a 2012 overtime game against the Dallas Mavericks.

      A few moments go by as Duncan looks around, waiting patiently for any interested journalist to sidle over and ask him something. But no one does. Eventually he realizes that the room is collectively ignoring him; he isn’t needed, and a smile spreads across his face as he does a low amplitude fist pump, turns on his heel, and exits the room. Press availability ended.

      I love this story because of what it says about Tim. He never cared for the trappings, he was always about the substance. He was more comfortable bringing others into the limelight than he was standing in it. He was a family man with a job that sent him around the country, likely jealous of every minute taken from him that didn’t directly touch basketball itself. If dealing with the media was a responsibility, he would fulfill it; if not, then he could get home that much sooner.

      For someone who cares as much about family as Duncan, who spent so long in the same city with the same coach and teammates, privacy is almost second nature. What a perfect match, then, that he ended up with the San Antonio Spurs organization, where the wagons are perpetually circled. Here, questions are deferred with a simple That’s family business. If Gregg Popovich is the team’s father figure, then Tim had to be the big brother. And what does an elder brother do but run interference for his siblings, show them all the tricks he’s learned, and keep the group out of trouble?

      Tim Duncan shoots against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Nick Collison during a 2013 game.

      It’s that mindset that Duncan learned as he matured with the Spurs, and he put the team first no matter how brightly his star shone. He rejected the idea of the 21st century superstar as a global conglomerate, recognizing that if he could spend more time with his family instead of talking to the press, then he could spend more time with his team instead of building his brand. The stories of Tim’s work ethic and leadership are many: how he was the first in the gym and the last to leave, how he would put up his own equipment after practice, how Brent Barry decided to join the Spurs after seeing Tim alone in the gym, working himself out during the summer.

      As the seasons passed, Duncan made it a point to never leave the court at halftime or after a game until all of his teammates had left it. Whether they were being interviewed, saying goodbye to ex-teammates, or just taking their time, there would be Tim waiting under the basket to usher the last straggler back to the locker room.

      Duncan took care of the team in the same way he had been taken care of. After injuring his left knee in his third year in the league, Popovich shut Tim down, refusing to let him jeopardize his longevity in the pursuit of a single season. That long view became the way the Spurs operated in both big things and small. As a result, Duncan became the first NBA superstar to be regularly held out of games. At first the reasons listed were the everyday gripes of the athlete—sore back or tight hamstring—but eventually the organization became more straightforward, listing the reason he Did Not Dress as: DND-OLD.

      A tireless mentor, Duncan helped groom Kawhi Leonard to be the next in a long line of Spurs superstars that started with George Gervin and David Robinson.

      When rest alone wasn’t enough, Duncan changed his eating habits and workout regimen to drop 20 pounds and save his knees the wear of the extra weight. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Tim’s new frame. I was in the AT&T Center on media row—above the 100s but just below the Baseline Bums—before a preseason game, and I didn’t recognize him. He was wearing warmups, and I remember thinking, Who’s the long-limbed rookie bouncing around in the layup line? Oh, just Tim Duncan. Looking as light on his feet and full of energy as he had 10 years earlier.

      The way he looked after himself and his team, the relationships he developed with everyone from Pop, to Manu and Tony, to the 15th guy on the roster—this is what set him apart from your average basketball legend. These are the things that endeared him to so many fans. Tim was goofy, determined and genuine. He still is all of those things. He just doesn’t play NBA basketball anymore.

      But he’ll always be a Spur.

      THE LEGEND BEGINS

      Duncan Arrived at Wake Forest Unheralded, Left a Star

      By Bruno Passos

      Tim Duncan discovered basketball on the island of St. Croix. He left his biggest mark on the game while in San Antonio with the Spurs. But between those two stops, over four years at Wake Forest University, Duncan made some of his greatest strides as a player, rising from promising freshman to one of the most decorated players the college game had ever seen. It’s here that he made excellence a habit.

      As a former swimming star with little competitive basketball under his belt by the age of 16, Duncan received interest from just four colleges, including Providence, Hartford, and Delaware State. He also met Wake Forest’s coach Dave Odom, who made a trip to St. Croix on the chance recommendation of a former player and recent NBA draft pick, Chris King. While chatting one day, King mentioned to Odom he’d been impressed by a young player he’d seen while conducting basketball clinics in the Virgin Islands with Hornets center Alonzo Mourning. King didn’t catch his name and couldn’t recall which island he’d seen him on, but said that the kid had a good game, and was the only player that stood up to Alonzo and me.

      After an unmatched four-year career at Wake Forest, Duncan’s jersey was retired following his final home game in Winston-Salem.

      Odom eventually found and recruited him, and Duncan arrived at Wake Forest University in the fall of 1993, determined to fulfill the

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