How good was prime Tim Duncan? At his peak was he the best player of the 2000s?

[Peruvian Connect]

Never was Tim Duncan the best player. FOH

 

[get these nets]

Never was Tim Duncan the best player. FOH

In 2002- 2003, Spurs had best record in the league and ended up winning the ring. Duncan won MVP and Finals MVP, leading the Spurs in scoring, rebounding, and assists.

Who was a better player than Duncan that year?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

In 2002- 2003, Spurs had best record in the league and ended up winning the ring. Duncan won MVP and Finals MVP, leading the Spurs in scoring, rebounding, and assists.

Who was a better player than Duncan that year?

He had one of the weakest supporting casts for a title too.

Tony Parker was just 20yo, averaged 14ppg and 3.5apg on 40% shooting in the playoffs, and he was the 2nd option.
Stephen Jackson averaging 13-4-3 on 41% shooting was the other other player in double figures.
Manu was a rookie coming off the bench, averaged 9ppg on 39% shooting, and that's Timmy's 3rd-best teammate that year.

The team had some depth (Bruce Bowen, Malik Rose, Speedy Claxton, and a 37yo David Robinson in his final season), but that's still a crazy light cast for a championship team. And yet he won the title without anyone pushing them to 7.

 

[Roger king]

Never was Tim Duncan the best player. FOH

That's easily proven to be false.. Tim duncan was the best player of the 2000s he had nine first team all nba selection 1998-2007 he was the league mvp twice in that period and also was first team all defense , this isnt even bringing in his playoffs and his final MVPs

 

[GreatestLaker]

He had one of the weakest supporting casts for a title too.

Tony Parker was just 20yo, averaged 14ppg and 3.5apg on 40% shooting in the playoffs, and he was the 2nd option.
Stephen Jackson averaging 13-4-3 on 41% shooting was the other other player in double figures.
Manu was a rookie coming off the bench, averaged 9ppg on 39% shooting, and that's Timmy's 3rd-best teammate that year.

The team had some depth (Bruce Bowen, Malik Rose, Speedy Claxton, and a 37yo David Robinson in his final season), but that's still a crazy light cast for a championship team. And yet he won the title without anyone pushing them to 7.

That cast was not weak for 2003. All the contenders out west was dealing with injuries to their superstars. Both Dirk and Webber went out in the playoffs that year.

 

[Controversy]

That's easily proven to be false.. Tim duncan was the best player of the 2000s he had nine first team all nba selection 1998-2007 he was the league mvp twice in that period and also was first team all defense , this isnt even bringing in his playoffs and his final MVPs

Is 98 & 99 part of the 2000s

Duncan didn't make first team all nba 4x between 99-00 and 09-10

Kobe scored the most pts in the decade, made first team nba more than any other player in the decade, beat more 50 win teams in the playoffs in that decade, won the most chips in that decade

 

[malbaker86]

It’s always the Kobe/Lakers fans derailing a Spurs/Duncan thread

 

[murksiderock]

That cast was not weak for 2003. All the contenders out west was dealing with injuries to their superstars. Both Dirk and Webber went out in the playoffs that year.

This is my thing too, in 2003 we weren't calling that Spurs team "weak". That was the same era we had Sixers and Nets teams running to The Finals, and in real time we acknowledged those as weaker teams...

The '03 Spurs were weaker relative to most of Duncan's teams, sure. They were not a "weak" team, or bad, or mid, relative to that season and the competition of 2003...

I really dislike this narrative that Duncan had some herculean carry job or revising how bad his teams were. Just like Russell, Duncan never played on a bad team his entire career. His worst teams were still Top 10 teams in the NBA each year; those were Duncan's worst teams...

The 2003 Spurs were clearly a Top 4 team of that season and honestly probably higher than that, we gotta stop this redressing. Duncan needs no exaggerations, it says enough that the brother never won fewer than 50 games, never missed a postseason, and was the linchpin of multiple different styles of Spurs basketball. These are the foundation blocks of his legacy and he's praised duly for it...

We don't need to go around pretending Duncan was on mediocre teams...

 

[murksiderock]

Is 98 & 99 part of the 2000s

Duncan didn't make first team all nba 4x between 99-00 and 09-10

Kobe scored the most pts in the decade, made first team nba more than any other player in the decade, beat more 50 win teams in the playoffs in that decade, won the most chips in that decade

Kobe wasn't even the best player on his team for the first 3-4 years of the decade. He won 3 championships in a #2 role, so he was already playing from behind there...

Kobe ascended in 2003 or 2004 but he wasn't better than a guy who was in the midst of a historic championship run (3 championships in 5 years)...

Fundamentally I don't believe the best basketball player in the world can miss the playoffs in the middle of their prime. I think more highly of guys' abilities as great players than you nikkas do, I guess. Missing the postseason at 26 years old, Year 9, you played in 66 games, you are not the best player in the world, especially when the guy you're comparing him to won his 3rd championship as a #1 while you're sitting on 0...

Now to the other side, Kobe started turning up in '06 which coincided with the beginning of Duncan's decline, so that's around the time he surpassed Duncan at the earliest. If you feel '06-09 Kobe was a better player than '00-05 Duncan, that's a reasonable take. But he certainly wasn't better than Duncan throughout the decade and yall gotta stop pretending that shyt too...

Alot of yall are doing flagrant misdirects in here. There's the one crowd insinuating that Duncan had bad teams he was carrying, then there's you guys saying he was never better than Kobe...

 

[Controversy]

Kobe wasn't even the best player on his team for the first 3-4 years of the decade. He won 3 championships in a #2 role, so he was already playing from behind there...

Kobe ascended in 2003 or 2004 but he wasn't better than a guy who was in the midst of a historic championship run (3 championships in 5 years)...

Fundamentally I don't believe the best basketball player in the world can miss the playoffs in the middle of their prime. I think more highly of guys' abilities as great players than you nikkas do, I guess. Missing the postseason at 26 years old, Year 9, you played in 66 games, you are not the best player in the world, especially when the guy you're comparing him to won his 3rd championship as a #1 while you're sitting on 0...

Now to the other side, Kobe started turning up in '06 which coincided with the beginning of Duncan's decline, so that's around the time he surpassed Duncan at the earliest. If you feel '06-09 Kobe was a better player than '00-05 Duncan, that's a reasonable take. But he certainly wasn't better than Duncan throughout the decade and yall gotta stop pretending that shyt too...

Alot of yall are doing flagrant misdirects in here. There's the one crowd insinuating that Duncan had bad teams he was carrying, then there's you guys saying he was never better than Kobe...

Why does no one give much weight to the playoff matchups...they met 5x in the decade, Kobe was the Lakers best player all 5x in the series

Duncan was not consistently dominant for the entire decade nor was he consistently dominant the first half of the decade...he was streaky, specifically in 03 & 05...those 2 yrs don't make him the best player of the decade

I watched Kobe take Duncan's soul too many times in games that mattered for me to believe Duncan was better than him

 

[murksiderock]

Why does no one give much weight to the playoff matchups...they met 5x in the decade, Kobe was the Lakers best player all 5x in the series

Duncan was not consistently dominant for the entire decade nor was he consistently dominant the first half of the decade...he was streaky, specifically in 03 & 05...those 2 yrs don't make him the best player of the decade

I watched Kobe take Duncan's soul too many times in games that mattered for me to believe Duncan was better than him

Bruh Duncan was flat out better in the beginning of the decade, carrying inferior Spurs teams to series vs those Lakers and still holding his own. Kobe not getting no points for eating as a #2 when Duncan had no Kobe to match and his teams weren't as deep as the Lakers...

By the time Kobe won those later series he arguably was a better player than Duncan...

They are the co-players of the decade. Kobe didn't dominate enough to be above Duncan, same way you say Duncan didn't run the whole decade, neither did Kobe...

 

[malbaker86]

This is my thing too, in 2003 we weren't calling that Spurs team "weak". That was the same era we had Sixers and Nets teams running to The Finals, and in real time we acknowledged those as weaker teams...

The '03 Spurs were weaker relative to most of Duncan's teams, sure. They were not a "weak" team, or bad, or mid, relative to that season and the competition of 2003...

I really dislike this narrative that Duncan had some herculean carry job or revising how bad his teams were. Just like Russell, Duncan never played on a bad team his entire career. His worst teams were still Top 10 teams in the NBA each year; those were Duncan's worst teams...

The 2003 Spurs were clearly a Top 4 team of that season and honestly probably higher than that, we gotta stop this redressing. Duncan needs no exaggerations, it says enough that the brother never won fewer than 50 games, never missed a postseason, and was the linchpin of multiple different styles of Spurs basketball. These are the foundation blocks of his legacy and he's praised duly for it...

We don't need to go around pretending Duncan was on mediocre teams...

yea by Spurs standards that 03 team was weak and we say that cause that was the only year, in TD's elite years, he didn't have an All-Star teammate or someone playing at an All-Star level. In reality, you could see them transitioning their style of play since Manu and TP were getting up to speed with the NBA game.

 

[Remote]

It’s always the Kobe/Lakers fans derailing a Spurs/Duncan thread

Without a doubt the worst fans in any sport in history.

 

[murksiderock]

yea by Spurs standards that 03 team was weak and we say that cause that was the only year, in TD's elite years, he didn't have an All-Star teammate or someone playing at an All-Star level. In reality, you could see them transitioning their style of play since Manu and TP were getting up to speed with the NBA game.

100% agree with this! I just dislike this "'03 Spurs were bad" narrative that pops up from time to time, we don't need to do that to show love to Duncan that team was still elite for 2003 basketball...

 

[IIVI]

imho opinion nobody peaked harder than 05-06 Kobe during the 2000's.

Dude scored 81 points.

Players today are haven't scored 81 points. Only one player has averaged over 35 PPG from that time and did so with help from the refs.

Say what you want, but dude's overall skill level was absolutely insane.