Bigger travesty--Shaq with 1 MVP or Duncan with 0 DPOYs? [Archive] - Message Board Basketball Forum

T_L_P

01-22-2015, 05:14 AM

Here is what I have wrote about Shaq's MVPs:

He was by far the best player in the league in the 98 Regular Season (Jordan was, what, 35?), but he played just 60 games. How many MVP winners have missed that many games in a season?

He won it in 00 and it was very well deserved (he played 79 games).

Shaq was better than AI in 01 (my opinion, of course), but Duncan had an incredible season also (leading his team to 2 more wins).

Then after that when else could he have won it? In 02 it was clearly Duncan. In 03 Shaq missed 15 games and Duncan had a better season. In 04 he missed 15 games and Garnett had one of the best Regular Seasons ever.
People always mention 05, but I honestly didn't think Shaq was deserving (Nash was the right choice, but I also had Dirk and Duncan over O'Neal).

He wasn't an MVP-level player after that.

He had an amazing impact (his peak is arguably the greatest ever). But he was rarely on the court enough to be the MVP.

So he could have won 3 max, or 2 (more realistically).

Don't know about Duncan. I think Ben Wallace is a top 3 defensive player ever and his prime happened to coincide with Ben's.

Duncan deserved it over Camby in 07 though, and I personally think he should have won it in 13 too. :confusedshrug:

EDIT: I think people mention either 95 or 96 for Shaq. Wasn't watching back then so can't really comment on that.

bdreason

01-22-2015, 05:20 AM

Sarcastic

01-22-2015, 05:24 AM

Shaq with 1 MVP is a bigger travesty. It's asinine to think Steve Nash has more MVPs, and that Shaq is tied with Derrick Rose and Dirk Nowitzki.

T_L_P

01-22-2015, 05:26 AM

Duncan for sure. One of the greatest defensive anchors in the history of the sport.

MVP is a tricky award, that seems to change its meaning every few years. It's really a media award at this point, as whoever the media decides to promote, typically wins the award.

What really irked me was Bowen getting votes over him.

The media are always trying to give little guys the shine, even when they don't deserve it.

Unless you're peak Andrei Kirilinko (who was a legit 6-9 anyway), and unless it's a weak year for big men, the DPOY should never go to a wing player.

Bowen is like my 5th favourite player ever, but c'mon now. His defensive impact doesn't come close to Tim's.

SamuraiSWISH

01-22-2015, 05:31 AM

Kobe should have 3x
CP3 should have 1
Wade should have 1
Shaq should have 3x
Jordan should have 8x

T_L_P

01-22-2015, 05:34 AM

Kobe should have 3x
CP3 should have 1
Wade should have 1
Shaq should have 3x
Jordan should have 8x

Years?

Reggie43

01-22-2015, 05:37 AM

Shaq

SamuraiSWISH

01-22-2015, 05:42 AM

Years?
I may have messed this up, let me think ...

ArbitraryWater

01-22-2015, 05:44 AM

I may have messed this up, let me think ...

lol

Anyway, Shaq should have 2 MVP's ('01), Duncan at least 1 DPOTY ('07).

Duncan for sure. One of the greatest defensive anchors in the history of the sport.

MVP is a tricky award, that seems to change its meaning every few years. It's really a media award at this point, as whoever the media decides to promote, typically wins the award.

Riiiight, they just flip a coin and "decide" who they roll with as MVP winner this year, eh?..... please.

SHAQisGOAT

01-22-2015, 06:09 AM

Probably Shaq but Duncan's career with a DPOY is also very shameful.

RoundMoundOfReb

01-22-2015, 06:10 AM

Duncan was never flat out robbed a DPOY like Shaq was with the MVP in 2001. BTW, Shaq was playing like 60 something regular season games in other years...that's why he only has 2 (in my book) MVPs.

Shih508

01-22-2015, 06:15 AM

Kobe should have 3x
CP3 should have 1
Wade should have 1
Shaq should have 3x
Jordan should have 8x

Kobe should have 0 So was Wade. CP3 deserved 08 more than Kobe. Took a worse team to have identical record as Lakers until the end of season.

Shih508

01-22-2015, 06:16 AM

Duncan was never flat out robbed a DPOY like Shaq was with the MVP in 2001. BTW, Shaq was playing like 60 something regular season games in other years...that's why he only has 2 (in my book) MVPs.

2001 AI did more with less. Lakers were so underachieved during the regular season. 2007 Denver was one of worst defensive team in the NBA so Camby has no case over Duncan.

RoundMoundOfReb

01-22-2015, 06:20 AM

2001 AI did more with less.

Not really. Weaker conference, weaker stats, way weaker impact.

RoundMoundOfReb

01-22-2015, 06:22 AM

But yeah you're right about 07...Duncan should've probably won

Shih508

01-22-2015, 06:23 AM

Not really. Weaker conference, weaker stats, way weaker impact.

Lakers had slow start that season due to Shaq was not in shape. They were supposed to be the clear cut #1 team in the league but they were playing catch up the whole season. On the other hand, Sixers started the season with 10-0 while no one was expecting them to be that good (kind of like Steve Nash's Sun and Stephen Curry's Warrior this year) and lead it all the way till the end. Sixers was having the best record in the league until very late of season. The case of AI winning MVP was sealed long before season was over.

RoundMoundOfReb

01-22-2015, 06:30 AM

Lakers had slow start that season due to Shaq was not in shape. They were supposed to be the clear cut #1 team in the league but they were playing catch up the whole season. On the other hand, Sixers started the season with 10-0 while no one was expecting them to be that good (kind of like Steve Nash's Sun and Stephen Curry's Warrior this year) and lead it all the way till the end. Sixers was having the best record in the league until very late of season. The case of AI winning MVP was sealed long before season was over.

If you had a vote, would you have voted for AI over Shaq?

Shih508

01-22-2015, 07:31 AM

If you had a vote, would you have voted for AI over Shaq?

I'd vote for AI because if you took AI out of that Sixers team they can't win more than 25 games that season. If you took Shaq out of that Lakers squad, they were still a legitimate 40+ wins team. AI had more impact to his team than Shaq did so he deserved the MVP.

If lakers won 10 more games that season, then Shaq might have a case of being robbed.

JonatanRey

01-22-2015, 07:53 AM

If you are mad because Shaq only had 1 MVP, you need to understand MVPs are overrated. MVPs don't mesure how good a player is, but other things like team record, health issues and consistency. Ask any GM if they prefer Nash or Shaq during the last 20 years. Shaq has been the best player this century.

PsychoBe

01-22-2015, 07:57 AM

blablabla

01-22-2015, 10:06 AM

Kobe should have 0 So was Wade. CP3 deserved 08 more than Kobe. Took a worse team to have identical record as Lakers until the end of season.
Paul had Peja, David West and Tyson Chandler, they were a top 5 defensive squad
Kobe on the other hand had Bynum and Pau for around 30 games respectively and the basketball gods Derek Fisher, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom and Vladimir Radmanovic as his supporting cast

Dragic4Life

01-22-2015, 10:09 AM

Kareem in the top 10 is a bigger travesty.

rmt

01-22-2015, 10:34 AM

2001 AI did more with less. Lakers were so underachieved during the regular season. 2007 Denver was one of worst defensive team in the NBA so Camby has no case over Duncan.

They change criteria for DPOY too. Some years like 2007, it's rebounds and blocks and they don't care about how good the player's team is defensively. Some years like 2014, they care about how good a team is defensively and don't ding Gasol for playing with Tony Allen and Mike Conley. Duncan always got the short end of the stick - being dinged for playing with DRob or Bowen. It's a disgrace that TD hasn't won one DPOY since the Spurs have been defensively dominant for so long - not to mention his playoff blocks and defensive rebounds records.

sportjames23

01-22-2015, 10:53 AM

Kareem in the top 10 is a bigger travesty.

http://i.imgur.com/UQVd1BE.png

derb2k2

01-22-2015, 10:58 AM

WAde with no MVP

j3lademaster

01-22-2015, 11:00 AM

Duncan for sure. One of the greatest defensive anchors in the history of the sport.

MVP is a tricky award, that seems to change its meaning every few years. It's really a media award at this point, as whoever the media decides to promote, typically wins the award.DPoy is a popularity award a lot of times as well. You think 03-04 Artest deserved it over Ben Wallace or Tim Duncan? Media just wanted a perimeter player to get the award once in a while.

The answer is Shaq. Duncan's best defensive years there have been players who were up there with him, but Shaq had a few dominant seasons where he's clearly the best in the league.

j3lademaster

01-22-2015, 11:01 AM

Here is what I have wrote about Shaq's MVPs:

So he could have won 3 max, or 2 (more realistically).

Don't know about Duncan. I think Ben Wallace is a top 3 defensive player ever and his prime happened to coincide with Ben's.

Duncan deserved it over Camby in 07 though, and I personally think he should have won it in 13 too. :confusedshrug:

EDIT: I think people mention either 95 or 96 for Shaq. Wasn't watching back then so can't really comment on that.I agree with you about 07, but 13 was too up for grabs. Duncan in 07 was quite clearly the biggest defensive impact in the league I thought, but the everyone was so enamored by Camby's pretty numbers.

houston

01-22-2015, 11:12 AM

duncan for sure

They Won

01-22-2015, 11:16 AM

Shaq with 1 MVP. Duncan could have won a DPOY, but Shaq should have won another MVP (01, 05 IMO).

Artillery

01-22-2015, 12:01 PM

DPOY is a joke award considering how often the players that won it had their coaches actively campaigning for them to win the award. Here's an example:

Popovich also criticized Carlisle for openly campaigning for his player. Carlisle called voting members of the media to lobby for his player and had two assistants break down film of Artest to come up with supporting statistics.

Carlisle said the project showed that Artest held opponents to an average of 9.4 shots and 8.1 points a game when he was matched up one-on-one. The NBA used those numbers when announcing Artest the winner.

"What a bunch of baloney," Popovich said. "Totally unsubstantiated stats put out by Indiana. The media bought it and then the NBA printed those stats. I am amazed by that.

"We'll never do that," Popovich said of the campaign. "It's not our style. It makes no sense. And we'll certainly not throw out stats that are totally unsubstantiated. There's no way to substantiate them. It's like grabbing four guys off the street and putting them in a film room and saying to come up with some stats on this guy. It's just a joke and it really angered me when I saw that the NBA actually printed those stats when they announced the media's choice of Defensive Player of the Year as if they were real stats. There is no such stat."

Carlisle tried doing the same thing for Chandler in 2011. Campaigned for Shawn Marion in 2012 as well. He loves pimping his players for awards(a lot of other coaches do it too)

Real14

01-22-2015, 12:10 PM

Kobe should have 3x
CP3 should have 1
Wade should have 1
Shaq should have 3x
Jordan should have 8x

cp3 deserves 0
melo should have 1
wade don't deserve 2009 either
shaq should have 2

HurricaneKid

01-22-2015, 12:13 PM

Kobe should have 3x
CP3 should have 1
Wade should have 1
Shaq should have 3x
Jordan should have 8x

Explain yourself.

If CP3 wins one it is for 2008.
If Wade wins its for 2009.
If Shaq wins 3 he wins in 2001.

How in the world could you say Kobe should have won 3 MVPs without his three best years? He doesn't even have a case for any other seasons.

Anaximandro1

01-22-2015, 12:15 PM

makes sense to a certain extent.

-Shaq missed a lot of games.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--YQl8BfND5g/VMEeyoPGTsI/AAAAAAAADr8/7Pso47drS4c/s1600/22.jpg

-Duncan's offensive game was far more valuable than his defense against playoff-caliber teams.

Without Duncan, the Spurs used to be a good defensive team incapable of scoring against quality opponents.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PuplhRBpYgI/VMEeypl4sCI/AAAAAAAADr4/QAXGQAItj7I/s1600/23.jpg

TheMarkMadsen

01-22-2015, 12:15 PM

Explain yourself.

If CP3 wins one it is for 2008.
If Wade wins its for 2009.
If Shaq wins 3 he wins in 2001.

How in the world could you say Kobe should have won 3 MVPs without his three best years? He doesn't even have a case for any other seasons.

are you saying that Kobes best regular seasons were in 01,08 and 09..

03, 06 and 07 say hi.

HurricaneKid

01-22-2015, 12:23 PM

are you saying that Kobes best regular seasons were in 01,08 and 09..

03, 06 and 07 say hi.

So he should have been the MVP when his teams were 7 seed, 7 seed and 5th seed (with Shaq)?

I can't even tell when people are dumb and when they are trolling me anymore.

Which one is it MadDog?

Papaya Petee

01-22-2015, 12:51 PM

Shaq deserved 2 MVPS, in 2000 and 2001
Allen Iverson got it, which is ok I guess, but Shaq was definitely the better option.

Shaq did not deserve it in 2005. For the 100th time he wasn't even the best player on his own team.

Tim Duncan in 2007 should of been DPOY. I think if he won it that would seperate him at this point from the Top 10 rankings from Kobe, where right now Kobe can still be argued.

Spurs5Rings2014

01-22-2015, 01:01 PM

right now Kobe can still be argued.

:facepalm

Papaya Petee

01-22-2015, 01:08 PM

:facepalm
Looks at username.....

I have Duncan ranked higher 1 spot, but Kobe fans can make some solid arguments still at this point...

Artillery

01-22-2015, 01:10 PM

Looks at username.....

I have Duncan ranked higher 1 spot, but Kobe fans can make some solid arguments still at this point...

Kobe's in the 12-15 range. Top 10 is overrating him quite a bit IMO.

They Won

01-22-2015, 01:11 PM

cp3 deserves 0
melo should have 1
wade don't deserve 2009 either
shaq should have 2

Your mental deficits know no bounds.

Clyde

01-22-2015, 01:34 PM

Shaq.

HurricaneKid

01-22-2015, 01:41 PM

Looks at username.....

I have Duncan ranked higher 1 spot, but Kobe fans can make some solid arguments still at this point...

Not really.

Look at the CHASM in RAPM over their careers. Its not remotely close. And if you want to try to suggest that Kobe was even close to the defender that Timmy was (is) because of the all def awards you have already lost the war.

Papaya Petee

01-22-2015, 02:08 PM

Not really.

Look at the CHASM in RAPM over their careers. Its not remotely close. And if you want to try to suggest that Kobe was even close to the defender that Timmy was (is) because of the all def awards you have already lost the war.
No,because I personally think Kobe didn't deserve a lot of those, and stole a bunch from people who were better defenders such as Tony Allen, Rondo, or Wade due to "reputation"

However, on the other side of the spectrum, Kobe was one of the greatest offensive talents the league will ever see. While Duncan had a good offensive game for his career, he isn't on Kobe level on that end, just like Kobe isnt on Duncans level on the defensive side of the game.

Resumes are close, with Duncan holding the edge in 1 more MVP and FMVP, however Kobe fans can also argue that he is 4-2 against Duncan in the playoffs.

Like I said, I have Duncan ranked higher, and IF he won that DPOY in 2007, the resume would be too good for Kobe to have an argument.

Artillery

01-22-2015, 02:43 PM

No,because I personally think Kobe didn't deserve a lot of those, and stole a bunch from people who were better defenders such as Tony Allen, Rondo, or Wade due to "reputation"

However, on the other side of the spectrum, Kobe was one of the greatest offensive talents the league will ever see. While Duncan had a good offensive game for his career, he isn't on Kobe level on that end, just like Kobe isnt on Duncans level on the defensive side of the game.

Resumes are close, with Duncan holding the edge in 1 more MVP and FMVP, however Kobe fans can also argue that he is 4-2 against Duncan in the playoffs.

Like I said, I have Duncan ranked higher, and IF he won that DPOY in 2007, the resume would be too good for Kobe to have an argument.

I'm not sure I'd even have Kobe in the top 5 for the post-Jordan era. For the top three I have:

1. Lebron
2. Duncan
3. Shaq

4 and 5 would probably be KG and Dirk. Kobe is barely top 6 in his own era. Top 10 all-time is out of reach for Kirby I think.

PsychoBe

01-22-2015, 04:09 PM

I'm not sure I'd even have Kobe in the top 5 for the post-Jordan era. For the top three I have:

1. Lebron
2. Duncan
3. Shaq

4 and 5 would probably be KG and Dirk. Kobe is barely top 6 in his own era. Top 10 all-time is out of reach for Kirby I think.

what a disgusting kobe hater :facepalm

voted the nba player of the decade, won more titles from 2000-2010 than any other player, scored the second most points in nba history, averaged the best stats in the finals as a perimeter player than any other during that time period (30+, 6+, 6+ for an entire finals series),

absolutely destroyed the spurs in the early 2000's and is 4-2 against them for his entire career, with games of

45-10-3,
36-9-8,

hit the game winner against the spurs (with 28 points) in the 2002 playoffs,

closed them out in 2008 with 39 points, need i really go on?

won more without shaq than shaq did without him, still has more rings than bran, more defensive teams, etc.

they dont have a case over kobe, they just don't. please at least pretend to be objective.

Smoke117

01-22-2015, 04:11 PM

Shaq with 1 MVP. Duncan was losing DPOY's to just more dominant defensive players...Shaq lost out on MVP to Allen Iverson...

If anything, I think people slightly overrate Duncan defensively.

Showtime2001

01-22-2015, 07:25 PM

Kobe should have 0 So was Wade. CP3 deserved 08 more than Kobe. Took a worse team to have identical record as Lakers until the end of season.
Stay salty.

Magic 32

01-22-2015, 07:32 PM

Kobe should have 0 So was Wade. CP3 deserved 08 more than Kobe. Took a worse team to have identical record as Lakers until the end of season.

https://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/lebron1.gif

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1115960/lebronflop2.gif

Smoke117

01-22-2015, 07:35 PM

https://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/lebron1.gif

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1115960/lebronflop2.gif

Do you ever make a post where you aren't sucking kobe's dick or bashing Lebron? It's pretty pathetic, homeboy. Not only that...but here you are doing it in a thread that has nothing to do with either. Whats the matter magic32...your mother didn't hug you enough? Your daddy took the belt to you too much? One or the other dropped you on your head as a baby?

HurricaneKid

01-22-2015, 07:55 PM

No,because I personally think Kobe didn't deserve a lot of those, and stole a bunch from people who were better defenders such as Tony Allen, Rondo, or Wade due to "reputation"

However, on the other side of the spectrum, Kobe was one of the greatest offensive talents the league will ever see. While Duncan had a good offensive game for his career, he isn't on Kobe level on that end, just like Kobe isnt on Duncans level on the defensive side of the game.

Resumes are close, with Duncan holding the edge in 1 more MVP and FMVP, however Kobe fans can also argue that he is 4-2 against Duncan in the playoffs.

Like I said, I have Duncan ranked higher, and IF he won that DPOY in 2007, the resume would be too good for Kobe to have an argument.

This is the problem with having the fans vote Kobe into the ASG this year and the longstanding laughingstock that the all Def teams and DPOYs are. Its legitamately exchanging popularity for things people use to justify the superiority of one player over another.

Kobe was ~3000 points better than the Avg NBA player over his career. Thats impressive. Duncan was 5000 points better. Thats amazing.
https://sites.google.com/site/rapmstats/97-14-rapm-2

toxicxr6

01-22-2015, 08:55 PM

In terms of career defensive PER duncan is 2nd all time
No defensive player of the year awards is unbelievable

LAZERUSS

01-22-2015, 11:40 PM

While MVPs, and even MVP voting is generally a good barometer, there have been many occasions, in all of the major sports, in which the best player in the league did not win the MVP.

Shaq was arguably the best player in the NBA from '98 thru '05, with Duncan having a marginal case over him in '02. But, as has been pointed out, Shaq had a tendency to miss regular season games throughout his career, and that clearly hurt his MVP voting.

I have used Zoilio Versalles AL MVP award in the '65 season before. He probably wasn't even a top-25 player in the AL that year. And Paul Hornung had a mysterious habit of winning awards that he had no business winning, as well. He won the Heisman in 1956 on a 2-8 Irish team, and then in '61, he won the NFL MVP award...on a team in which he was, at best, their third best offensive player (behind Starr and Taylor), and if you count defensive players, probably well down the Green Bay list. Hell, the Packers went 11-2-1 two years later without him, and won two titles in '66 and '67 in which he contributed absolutely nothing.

Speaking of best players not winning the MVP award... both the '61-62 and '62-63 NBA voting were a joke. Chamberlain put up even better numbers on a worse team that he carried to a near identical record in '62 than he did in '60 when he won the award, but finished behind Russell, whose numbers and team record were nearly identical in '62 as it was in '60 when he finished a distant second to Wilt.

And I wouldn't have expected Wilt to win the award in '63, either, on a just pathetic team, but the voting was still laughable. He finished SEVENTH, in a year in which he led the NBA in nearly every category (including running away with the "Win Shares" mark.) Not only that, but he was well behind Johnny Kerr. So what you ask? In their seasonal H2H's, Chamberlain outscored Kerr by a 43-19 ppg margin, including beatdowns of 61-21 and get this... 70-14. Oh, and Chamberlain, on a 31-49 team, had less first place votes, than Terry Dischinger, who played on a 25-55 team.

In any case, from '98 thru '05, had there been a "general draft" every year...Shaq would have been #1 every year.

T_L_P

01-22-2015, 11:42 PM

While MVPs, and even MVP voting is generally a good barometer, there have been many occasions, in all of the major sports, in which the best player in the league did not win the MVP.

Shaq was arguably the best player in the NBA from '98 thru '05, with Duncan having a marginal case over him in '02. But, as has been pointed out, Shaq had a tendency to miss regular season games throughout his career, and that clearly hurt his MVP voting.

I have used Zoilio Versalles AL MVP award in the '65 season before. He probably wasn't even a top-25 player in the AL that year. And Paul Hornung had a mysterious habit of winning awards that he had no business winning, as well. He won the Heisman in 1956 on a 2-8 Irish team, and then in '61, he won the NFL MVP award...on a team in which he was, at best, their third best offensive player (behind Starr and Taylor), and if you count defensive players, probably well down the Green Bay list. Hell, the Packers went 11-2-1 two years later without him, and won two titles in '66 and '67 in which he contributed absolutely nothing.

Speaking of best players not winning the MVP award... both the '61-62 and '62-63 NBA voting were a joke. Chamberlain put up even better numbers on a worse team in '62 than he did in '60 when he won the award, but finished behind Russell who numbers and team record was nearly identical in '62 as it was in '60 when he finished a distant second to Wilt.

And I wouldn't have expected Wilt to win the award in '63, either, on a just pathetic team, but the voting was still laughable. He finished SEVENTH, in a year in which he led the NBA in nearly every category (including running away with the "Win Shares" mark.) Not only that, but he was well behind Johnny Kerr. So what you ask? In their seasonal H2H's, Chamberlain outscored Kerr by a 43-19 ppg margin, including beatdowns of 61-21 and get this... 70-14. Oh, and Chamberlain, on a 31-49 team, had less first place votes, than Terry Dischinger, who played on a 25-55 team.

In any case, from '98 thru '05, had there been a "general draft" every year...Shaq would have been #1 every year.

03 didn't happen? :

LAZERUSS

01-22-2015, 11:48 PM

03 didn't happen? :

Ooops...yep '03 for Duncan, and '02 for Shaq. O'Neal missing games in his career cost him in the voting (as it should have.) Again, based on pure dominance. Garnett deserved his MVP award, too, but again, if there had been a "draft", Shaq would have gone first.

Anaximandro1

01-23-2015, 09:29 AM

Shaq was arguably the best player in the NBA from '98 thru '05, with Duncan having a marginal case over him in '02.

Duncan was the best player in the NBA from '99 thru '07.

Duncan Dominates Knicks in Game 1 (Thursday, June 17, 1999) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nba/longterm/1999/finals/articles/nba17.htm)

"He's the best player in the league," Knicks forward Marcus Camby said of Duncan.

It's Spurs' moment (June 26, 1999)
(http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-06-26/sports/9906260043_1_duncan-david-robinson-york-knicks)
"He's obviously the best player in the NBA," Van Gundy said of Duncan. "Not just because of his skill level. Because of his maturity, his knowledge of the game. That guy's truly into winning."

Robinson, after 10 years in the league, gained his highest honor, earning an NBA title. The Naval Academy graduate finally got his ring by playing a secondary role alongside the best player in the game, Duncan.

Duncan was hampered by injuries (2000) and the Spurs' rebuilding process (2001-2004)

Tim Duncan, [expletive] idiot. (2001 NBA Offseason) (http://grantland.com/the-triangle/dancing-to-nba-offseason/)

Tim Duncan might have to single-handedly carry the Spurs into the playoffs

Deep down, you know Duncan is kicking himself for staying in San Antonio for three more years. It’s not like David Robinson is going to do better against Shaq next season. And it’s not like the Derek Anderson–Steve Smith exchange will help the team’s chances of defending Kobe Bryant next season. Orlando must be look pretttttttttty good right about now.

However, Duncan managed to steal the NBA championship in 2003.

ESPN - Best playoff runs
(http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/9357345/greatest-individual-postseasons-1-5)

#3 Tim Duncan 2003

No superstar has done more to drag an undermanned team to the title.

The 2003 Spurs were a team in transition, with David Robinson on his farewell tour and the backcourt of second-year point guard Tony Parker and rookie shooting guard Manu Ginobili yet to grow into co-stars.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqQ1GCAVUjc/VMHd2TGA6MI/AAAAAAAADsg/p-2FhjPy92Y/s1600/22.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lsebf29dyLM/VMHd2ToqO0I/AAAAAAAADsk/hEyEaSb5H5M/s1600/23.jpg

Definitive proof

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dwKnuu8bJ5M/VLKV8iE_bEI/AAAAAAAADpA/EUwlVQk0iLE/s1600/9.jpg