Gary A. Vasquez
Tim Duncan is renowned for being the passive superstar — straying away from media attention, choosing to turn very reasonable shot opportunities into scoring chances for his teammates instead, and his quiet demeanor on the basketball court. Even still, his unprecedented graceful aging and overall career success has launched him into the headlines over the last few years.
This year, he may sink back into a more reclusive role. With Lamarcus Aldridge sharing the frontcourt with him, Duncan will be willingly offering up the majority of his low post touches to the younger scorer, and his overall shot total could decrease drastically. That means less points for The Big Fundamental, even when he’s capable of bigger numbers. Typical.
While surely every San Antonio Spurs fan on the map is satisfied with this offseason, it’s also a small frustration that the franchise’s flagship player may be riding a statistical down-slope even if his talent level remains the same.
Mainstream announcers, sports writers and analysts everywhere will point to his smaller numbers and shout out to the sports world that at last, Duncan has gotten old. But back home in San Antonio, the fans will understand that there is no difference. They’ll watch his fundamentally sound screens and appreciate every off-ball cut, always perfectly placed and executed, and see that their favorite big man is as much of a contributor as he has been for a while now.
Likewise, years from now, basketball historians and obsessed fans will look at the end of Duncan’s career and see the dip in production they expect from an NBA player closing in on 40. The seasoned Spurs fans will know.
The way Duncan plays — efficiently and selflessly — has kept his contributions at a consistently high level since he worked his way into the meat of his thirties. That’s what people know him so well for. Now, with a stacked frontcourt around him, it’ll likely be the reason he starts slipping through the cracks of sports media once more, primed to become a quiet winner once more as he heads towards his NBA exit.
Always one to thwart the attention away from himself, it may be that Timmy wouldn’t want it any other way.
