What's a guy have to do? - Uncovering the Past - basketball player Tim Duncan - Brief Article

Basketball Digest, Summer, 2002

IT TOOK TIM DUNCAN A TITLE TO get his first BASKETBALL DIGEST cover.

That's probably more an indication of just how easily we're taken in by basketball players who soar and glide than an indictment of old-school fundamentals. But there was a time--a time that may not have run out yet--when all Michael Jordan had to do was sneeze to grace our coven (For example, even through two retirements, by rough estimate MJ made our cover 14 times in the 1990s--close to two years' worth of BASKETBALL DIGEST).

The same biases that then may have kept Duncan off our cover until he wore a ring find him all-too-easily passed over in the MVP race now. Sure, Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, and many others are more spectacular players than Duncan. Yet all TD did in 2001-02 was play every game (uncommon for a big man) and lead the San Antonio Spurs in scoring in all but 10 of them. He set career highs--numbers that were already lofty entering the season--in scoring, rebounding, assists, free-throw shooting, and minutes played.

For all the buzz about Kidd carrying the heretofore-hapless New Jersey Nets or McGrady strapping the Orlando Magic on his weakened back, Duncan did no less with the Spurs, leading that band of gypsies to 58 wins, six more than the Nets and 14 more than Orlando--in the tougher West, to boot.

Whether or not Duncan and the Spurs are able to put together the dynasty that seemed within their reach in back in 2000, three things are certain. One, TD was the NBA's best player this season. Two, the "flashiest" part of his game will continue to be a deadly bank shot. And three, shared or not, Summer 2002 won't be Duncan's last BASKETBALL DIGEST cover.