Dwight needs to hang out with Tim Duncan

[God Hates Otis Smith 153]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1198491/1/index.htm

Great SI piece on Duncan here.

20 The Anti-Marketing of a Superstar

 

There are no shoes. No line of wicking shorts. No, well, anything. Lon Babby, Duncan's longtime agent and now G.M. of the Suns, says that Duncan "turned down almost all of it" when it came to opportunities. "It just wasn't that important to him," Babby says. "I had to make sure I was doing what he wanted, not what I wanted."

 

The result is that it can be awfully lonely to be a Duncan acolyte. Ever seen a Duncan jersey outside Texas? Know any non--Spurs fans who'd call him their favorite player?

 

When this last question is posed on Twitter, a virtual scavenger hunt ensues. Dozens upon dozens try to help. They respond that they once knew this guy who had a friend who really liked Duncan, or that Duncan was their favorite player from 1997 to '99, or that Duncan is, like, their third favorite player and does that count? Then, finally, paydirt. An NBA fan in Canada, one in Cleveland and one in New York. I query them with e-mails, ask why they love Tim. An interesting theme emerges: In Duncan, they see themselves. They talk about how he's "old school," how "he's an introvert like myself" and how "he does his job and goes home."

 

Which is to say that Duncan is sort of like us. And what kind of hero does that make?

Tim Duncan is THE player a big man should model himself after, you never see him thrown off his game, he doesn't care about shoe's and movies. He's the greatest PF/C of this generation, Duncan doesn't allow himself to have outside distractions like Dwight Howard does, Dwight could reach that Duncan level if he stopped worrying about shoe deals and his "global brand" they are afterall both Adidas guys, but Duncan has never allowed anyone to dictate what to do with his career.

 

People often overlook Duncan and assume Kobe being better, but Duncan was the best player on 4 championship teams and looks amazing so far in the playoffs. I think Dwight could learn from him

[NYCmagic 15]

The days with guys like him are long gone.

[Huxtable85 7]

The days with guys like him are long gone.

 

That article is irrelevant! First of all Tim Duncan is a humble guy just like Dwight, but Tim was blessed with a proper organization that prides itself on winning championships! Honestly if Dwight had what Tim Duncan had from day 1, he would have won championship(s) and we would not be talking "will Howard stay or go". Sadly losing year after year coming short of the ultimate goal has changed our beloved D12 into our worst nightmare for fans (requesting trades and etc.). Yes Howard didn't handle himself in the best manner this past season for our ball club, he acknowledges that. But name me one player in the league history that would stay long term knowing management is shaky...

[DanA_TBDP 12]

The veteran presence when Tim Duncan came into the league was a former member of our armed forces, David Robinson. The veteran presence for Dwight was Steve Francis. Dwight's never really had proper leadership around him.

[Arielle 138]

Tim Duncan needs to win this year! Help show Dwight the path of the Duncan is the path of perfection! Yeah!

[Arielle 138]

That article is irrelevant! First of all Tim Duncan is a humble guy just like Dwight, but Tim was blessed with a proper organization that prides itself on winning championships! Honestly if Dwight had what Tim Duncan had from day 1, he would have won championship(s) and we would not be talking "will Howard stay or go". Sadly losing year after year coming short of the ultimate goal has changed our beloved D12 into our worst nightmare for fans (requesting trades and etc.). Yes Howard didn't handle himself in the best manner this past season for our ball club, he acknowledges that. But name me one player in the league history that would stay long term knowing management is shaky...

 

Excellent point.

[hybridalienhog 7]

Tim's favorite pokemon is Snorlax.

[Crazyhorse81 248]

The veteran presence when Tim Duncan came into the league was a former member of our armed forces, David Robinson. The veteran presence for Dwight was Steve Francis. Dwight's never really had proper leadership around him.

 

 

Everyone needs to +1 this.

[triplefive 6]

But let's not forget that the "model player" Tim Duncan was this close to leaving the spurs for us back in 2000, would he be viewed in the same way had he signed with us? After all, if hill was healthy or we teamed him w/mcgrady, he prob would have won even more titles...

[~O~ 565]

You guys better pray that the Heat blow up the big three and Miami and we could one of those two superstars. Wade and Spoelstra got into it. Wade better lobby for a trade! PIPEDREAM and sample size!!!

[NameLess Scrub 6]

You guys better pray that the Heat blow up the big three and Miami and we could one of those two superstars. Wade and Spoelstra got into it. Wade better lobby for a trade! PIPEDREAM and sample size!!!

 

 

At this point it is more satisfying to beat those guys than to have them in the team.

But hey, we're just fans.

 

And hey.. maybe fans would like Wade here. Lebron makes everybody look bad after all... lol

 

Of course this is just us having fun in this board 'cause it won't happen.

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

The days with guys like him are long gone.

 

"The days with guys like him" never existed.

 

Bird and Jordan were both monolithic assholes. Magic Johnson was a grinning jackass. Hakeem spent most of his early years as a selfish hot-head who demanded trades left and right. Zeke was a selfish dick. I won't even go into Barkley, KG or Shaq. Kareem and Wilt were so obsessed over who was better, that their salaries became a game of one-upsmanship. Oscar Robertson was stand-offish on the court and worse off it. Rick Barry was just a deplorable person.

 

Have there been players who were awesome, totally humble human beings? Of course there have, but actually ask yourself: how many people do you know at YOUR job who are humble, kind and hardworking? Is it even 20%? Now ask yourself how many in that group are also one of the best to ever exist in their chosen field?

 

You've now set a criteria for NBA players where, at most, like 6 people in the course of the sport's history qualify.

 

And it has nothing to do with marketing, and little to do with David Robinson either: Duncan was the exact same guy at Wake that he was his first few years in the NBA. At most, Robinson might have shielded Duncan from some negative aspects of media coverage, but it likely wasn't much: Duncan finished 5th in the MVP voting as a rookie. He finished 3rd in the MVP voting and won the Finals MVP as a sophomore. He wasn't under the radar. He didn't need time to develop or mature. He entered the league as one of its greatest players.

 

Duncan was great. He was ALWAYS great. And he was always humble and introverted. I don't understand why you all seem to want to take those traits away from him, or at least make them something he got from David Robinson, just so you can claim it's a personality that's available to everyone. It isn't. The person Duncan is won't ever be the person Dwight is, and that's FINE. Not-being-Duncan doesn't mean Dwight can't be great. Being-a-self-centered-******* doesn't mean Dwight can't be great either. Lord knows it never stopped Jordan, Barkley or Wilt.

 

But this idea that there were ever a whole lot of players "like Duncan" in the league? That's just nostalgia based revisionist history bull****, and that needs to stop. The only difference between today's superstars and the stars of previous years is access. They were the same gigantic asshats in the 90s, 80s, 70s and 60s. We just didn't find out about it as easily.