NBA: 30 most unguardable moves in league history

30 most unguardable moves in NBA history: 14. Tim Duncan, bank shot

There are more layers to Tim Duncan’s offensive game than an onion, but the most famous layer is his signature bank shot. The Greatest Power Forward of All-Time must’ve read up on his physics and geometry while in school because he perfectly dropped his shots off the right angle of the backboard for an easy bucket almost every time out.

Duncan’s bank shot can be categorized in a variety of ways. Sometimes, he’d bank in a normal face-up jumper after catching his defender off-guard in a faceup stance. Other times, he’d fling the ball up like a point guard shooting a floater, gently tapping the ball off the backboard and into the basket. One way or another, you had to know that shot was probably going to fall as soon as it touched the backboard.

Over time, Tim Duncan’s legacy in the NBA has been belittled by fans of rivaling franchises and a new generation of fans that missed his entire prime. At his peak, Duncan was a one-man-army through which an entire offense could be conducted. Part of the reason why it was so easy for Duncan to pour on these buckets is because of his unwavering commitment to his teams and his defender’s awareness of the rest of the court. On many occasions, coach Gregg Popovich used Duncan’s scoring threat as a decoy while the rest of the play developed.

In any instance where a play fell apart, the shot clock wound down or Duncan backed down a competitive defender, he’d revert to old reliable: The shot baby hook off the glass.

Timmy did an excellent job of using his length, high release point and physicality to draw contact and finish through layups. Oftentimes, he did this by banking a shot in over his defender. Shot attempts from 3-10 feet from the basket can be extremely inefficient, but the legendary big man mastered the bank shot to excel in a range where most others fail. For his career, he shot about 45% from 3-10 feet from the basket and shot over 45% from that range in eight of his playoff runs.

Like the man himself, Duncan’s signature shot was never the most exhilarating, but it sure was reliable. Every single one of Timmy’s matchups knew the bank shot was coming and still never learned how to properly defend him from getting that shot off. For that, his bank shot lands in the upper-echelon of all-time NBA moves.