8. Tim Duncan trying to reverse his statistical slide
Over the past three years, Duncan's numbers have slowly dropped. Points have been reduced from 23.3 to 22.3 to 20.3 to 18.6; rebounds have bounced from 12.9 to 12.5 to 11.1 to 11.0; blocks have dropped from 2.9 to 2.7 to 2.6 to 2.0; and field goal percentage has dipped from .513 to .501 to .496 to .484. The 30-year-old Duncan isn't getting any younger, so he'll have to dig deep to reverse this alarming trend.
This made me think about Timmy's future. Duncan ain't getting younger, so do you believe he's going to pull his numbers up this season or is it downhill from here? Thoughts? Is this the reason why the Spurs didn't get deeper in the playoffs?
My opinion is that he needs one healthy season to silent the sceptics, but if the season isn't this upcoming, maybe the numbers just start to fall, cause like it's writen, his body has already lot of miles. But he ain't going to stop being affective on the court, maybe something like 16 ppg, 9 rpg. And I think that this had effect on the Spurs playoff run cause Timmy is really the heart of the Spurs.
I'm not sure you can expect him to get back to the 23/13 he once put up, but I don't think you can discount a solid 20/12 from him either. He's on the wrong side of 30, so obviously these kinds of issues are gonna come up, but I don't think its gonna really matter for another 2 to 3 years.
He's still the best player in the NBA and I'm pretty sure he's gonna have at least one more MVP type season.
age is a factor...BUT you also have to put into account the emergance of manu and tony. before, EVERYTHING ran through duncan. now, not so much because parker has developed into the primary distributor and manu has taken some of the scoring load off duncan. Before duncan WAS the team but now his roles have changed from being the primary guy ALL the time to being a primary guy SOME of the time. when duncan is called apon to deliver, he does. when the team can get by with manu and tony doing the work the duncan relaxes and lets his teammates get some of the glory and limelight.
duncan will retire with at least 1 more ring. he is too good to only win 3 and only play well in the NBA for 9 seasons.
he'll start aproaching his career the way shaq does ( admiting that he is past his prime and allowing the young and promising players share the spotlight) and the spurs will still compete for at least the next 4 years.
only win three????? Damn even some of the greatest didnt win three he should feel blessed along with all of san antonio.
i wasnt dissing duncan, of course 3 rings is great, but he still has gas in the tank and i think he'll win a couple more before he retires, if he doesnt then still 3 rings is awesome, but IMO he will win more.
So far his slimmed down, and is improving his game, the spin move is back
only downside to his game is fts, but that applies to all spurs players. Currently his in mvp shape, just need to pad up those stats and he be automatic winner since i see the spurs finishing with the best record in the league, unless tony parker steals votes from him.
age is a factor...BUT you also have to put into account the emergance of manu and tony. before, EVERYTHING ran through duncan. now, not so much because parker has developed into the primary distributor and manu has taken some of the scoring load off duncan. Before duncan WAS the team but now his roles have changed from being the primary guy ALL the time to being a primary guy SOME of the time. when duncan is called apon to deliver, he does. when the team can get by with manu and tony doing the work the duncan relaxes and lets his teammates get some of the glory and limelight.
definitely age is a factor, I mean basketball age, he's been playing forever, if I'm the spurs I'll get him some bigtime help, he cant carry this team anymore, If this season does not pan out for the Spurs,I would trade Duncan, you guys can still get a serviceable guy and couple of 1st rd picks, who knows you guys maight get OGden.
It's good that my old post gets still some attention... Duncan has picked up his game this season (i really didn't believe it would happen), if you compare to last season. And i'm happy about it. I'm not a great spurs fan but they are rolling now and i don't expect it to slow down soon. So hopefully duncan can stay healthy and the spurs are going to be serious contenders this season.. good luck to you fans.
age is a factor...BUT you also have to put into account the emergance of manu and tony. before, EVERYTHING ran through duncan. now, not so much because parker has developed into the primary distributor and manu has taken some of the scoring load off duncan. Before duncan WAS the team but now his roles have changed from being the primary guy ALL the time to being a primary guy SOME of the time. when duncan is called apon to deliver, he does. when the team can get by with manu and tony doing the work the duncan relaxes and lets his teammates get some of the glory and limelight.
Yeah, you also have to take into account that:
1 his minutes are down,
2 his attempts are down (because of supporting cast)
3 his assists are going up (because of all the double teams he faces)
4 his FG% is up (he's a smart player who plays to his strengths) He usually gets high percentage shots, that's why he's "The Big Fundamental"
5 I'm sure, if he was worried about stats, he could increase all of those.
But, check out his playoff stats. He hasn't lost it yet.
Last edited by BballFan422 : 11-29-2006 at 03:55 PM.
duncan will retire with at least 1 more ring. he is too good to only win 3 and only play well in the NBA for 9 seasons.
he'll start aproaching his career the way shaq does ( admiting that he is past his prime and allowing the young and promising players share the spotlight) and the spurs will still compete for at least the next 4 years.
Duncan, time for "comeback"?
