ESPN.com - Duncan finds best in himself -- eventually

ESPN.com: NBA

Monday, February 5, 2001
Duncan finds best in himself -- eventually

By Marc Stein
Special to ESPN.com

For someone so smooth and cerebral, someone who smooches bank shots off the window like no 7-footer ever kissed them, Tim Duncan isn't making this very clear and easy.

Not so simple to anoint him Game's Greatest Player, when Duncan isn't a unanimous choice for Game's Greatest Power Forward.

Not a slam dunk to pick a GGP or GGPF, when TD, KG and CWebb form the most evenly matched troika of talents at the same position this side of Derek, A-Rod and Nomar.

Not such a snap to crown a guy who doesn't even like himself, this junior towering twin from San Antonio who calls himself names.

Best in the NBA?

"I'm an idiot," Duncan said recently.

OK, then. No strong-side help coming from No. 21, who seems quite content to be known as the league's undisputed King Of Self-Deprecation (ESPN.com columnists aside). That title and championships are Duncan's only interests, as reinforced by his other recent revelation. The one about how he would have voted for Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett as All-Star starters.

A month ago, perhaps just a couple weeks back, no one would have argued. The banker wasn't dropping like usual. Almost half of Duncan's free throws were clanking, Shaquille O'Neal-style. He scarcely resembled one of the 10 best players in the Association, much less the No. 1, prompting to Duncan to make his "idiot" declaration.

	“	He's too mentally sound, too mature. He has a psychological thing right now, but he's starting to come around. He's just so damn hard on himself. We're finally getting him to be a little more forgiving of himself. ”
		— Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Duncan

Then came a game in Sacramento, followed by a trip to Utah, and suddenly we had all been hurled back in time. Without warning, Duncan decided he was finally ready to groove down low, to flex that left knee like it was 1999. Surely you remember '99. A millennium that signed off with Duncan as its undisputed prince on pro hardwood, undeniably better than every other name on the list.

In case you've forgotten, just watch the Spurs now. Amazingly, it was just Jan. 15 that Duncan shot a perfectly blemished 0 for 7 at the stripe in a 22-point humbling by the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Tune in today and chances are you'll witness a pretty reasonable facsimile of the monster who slinked off the MSG dance floor as 1999's NBA Finals MVP.

Idiot, my foot.

"He's definitely back," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says. "Tim took a while to get total belief in his body again, but over the last three weeks he really did. He's rebounding more. He wants the ball more. It's been a steady progression, but you can see it."

Webber caught it up close when Duncan hung 36 points and 21 rebounds on the Kings in a nationally televised resurrection Jan. 25. Two days later in Utah, Duncan scored 33 against the grandfather of GGPFs, Karl Malone. The Spurs, as of Monday, hadn't lost since, promptly jangling the nerves of Western Conference rivals who were praying for continued gingerly movement from the former (and future?) GGP.

"People forget that he got a late start rehabbing the only injury he's ever had," Popovich said of Duncan's post-surgery delay, caused in part by that Alamo City vs. Disney World free agent tug o' war last summer.

"After that kind of operation, you don't feel the same. It takes timing, and he's more from a Larry Bird mold than a Kevin Garnett mold. Tim's strength is his innate ability to read the game. But he needs all his quickness and all his confidence to do that effectively."

Duncan hasn't quite reclaimed all of it, of course, as his free-throw percentage remains an unsightly .547. But if you find any other flaws, let us know. No one in the game -- no one -- can match Duncan's arsenal in the paint, at both ends.

And if you think those woes at the line will last forever, think again. We're betting that Duncan eventually relocates his free-throw touch (76 percent last season) well before Hack-A-Dunc becomes a cliche headline.

MORE ON DA BEST

We have more coverage on the best players in the NBA than Tim Duncan. Ric Bucher from ESPN The Magazine hung out with Chris Webber, while Jeffrey Denberg discusses Allen Iverson. Check out the Best Player Index page to tell us your favorite and see all our features.

At 24, and with that window-kissing outside touch, he's too young to be idiotic forever.

"It'll be a blip," Popovich asserts. "He's too mentally sound, too mature. He has a psychological thing right now, but he's starting to come around. He's just so damn hard on himself. We're finally getting him to be a little more forgiving of himself.

"Offensively, he's real close [to '99], when he thought every shot was going down. Where he's improved, believe it or not, is defense. He's really starting to block a lot of shots. He's taking more pride in his team defense.

"The other thing he's doing better is starting to read double-team situations really well. People are coming at him at lot more than they did in the championship year. He knows they're coming at him and he's getting really good at not holding the ball too long, or turning it over."

Doesn't sound like many idiots we know. Doesn't sound so boring, either, as dunk-obsessed fans like my Duncan-dissing brother believe. Especially if Pop's right about next season, when he plans to let the idiot step even further away from the hoop on occasion.

Beyond banking range ... to swing from Steve Kerr territory.

Hardly boring, bro.

"Tim can easily be a 3-point shooter," Popovich swears. "We just haven't put that in the offense yet."

When that happens, ESPN.com's NBA Best Players list is bound to need some tweaking. If Duncan starts hitting triples, choosing Baseball's Best Shortstop really will be easier.

Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.