San Antonio Spurs: Takeaways from NBA.com’s All-Decade team release
Did Duncan deserve a nod for nostalgia?
The addition of Kobe Bryant on the All-Decade team was enough, for some, to wonder why San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan missed out on the distinction as well.
With obvious respects to his true prime in the 2000s, Duncan’s game translated seamlessly into the next decade, where he sacrificed statistics for longer seasons.
From 2009-10 to 2015-16, Duncan made three more appearances on the All-NBA team, was a three-time All-Defensive selection, and went on to play in two NBA Finals, winning one.
Where Bryant’s Finals MVP in the first year of the decade holds weight, Duncan evens it by anchoring a steadying ship in San Antonio.
Over that seven year run, the Spurs went 403-155, and Duncan — never a player whose sole impact is found in box score statistics — regularly raised his game when the “second season” came around.
But if Duncan’s case were enough to get on, who would come off?
The “easy” answer here would be Giannis Antetokounmpo, considering he didn’t transition into superstardom until 2016-17. Still, as one of only seven players in the decade to win a Most Valuable Player Award.
In whichever case, Duncan at least has an argument as to why he deserved a nod over the likes of Antetokounmpo, Aldridge, or even Paul George.
While he dialed back his offensive efforts to allow younger teammates to elevate their games, he boasted a case as arguably the most effective interior defender in the NBA.
To illustrate that point: only two players (Joakim Noah and Rudy Gobert) had a higher defensive box plus-minus than Duncan over the past decade.
Tracking statistics around the rim began to pick up steam around the back-half of the decade, starting in 2013-14.
Looking at that season specifically, among the 38 players to have five or more shots attempted at the rim against them, only eight interior defenders forced shooters into a worse percentage than the 37-year-old (51.6 percent).
That also represented a minus-8.6 percent difference than what those players were accustomed to shooting.
The trends continued as Duncan aged further; he generated a -7.3 percentage decrease in 2014-15 and made an appearance in the top five (minus-10.0 percent difference) in 2015-16, his final season.
This helps to counteract the narrative that Duncan’s lack of eye-popping scoring means he was no longer an elite player.
It also challenges the hypocrisy of fans who on one hand, say offense and defense are equal, and then contend that Duncan, an elite defender, wasn’t as potent the rest of the league.
As a whole, Duncan’s case has plenty to consider. It doesn’t help that the Spurs had a few high-profile hiccups; in four of the six seasons he played, the Spurs lost in the postseason as favorites heading into the series.
If a few of those go differently, and Duncan’s career spanned a bit further, odds are he makes this list. For a five-time NBA champion, and all-time great, though, it represents a battle too small for him to ponder too much over.