Just a thought, I mean the guy was bothered by some serious injury all season last year and thats a good excuse but, does anyone think that injury will still bother him? As always, he stepped up his game in the playoffs, averaging 26 ppg and 10 rpg, along with 3 apg. But - with Tony Parker being more and more of a 1st option for the Spurs and Manu coming into his own (despite the injury last year), will Tim Duncan be depended on less? Will his numbers go down more? Thoughts?
It's hard to say. I think he will still be a great player, but I dont know how much that injury will effect the rest of his career.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zards @ Aug 11 2006, 10:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Just a thought, I mean the guy was bothered by some serious injury all season last year and thats a good excuse but, does anyone think that injury will still bother him? As always, he stepped up his game in the playoffs, averaging 26 ppg and 10 rpg, along with 3 apg. But - with Tony Parker being more and more of a 1st option for the Spurs and Manu coming into his own (despite the injury last year), will Tim Duncan be depended on less? Will his numbers go down more? Thoughts?</div><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">Well there are many players that have nagging injuries that affect them (Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Allan Houston) hopefully it doesn't get to that degree with Tim Duncan. if it means deferring to his teammates more, then that's what he should do. if it means trading to get some fresher legs on the squad, maybe the management should do that. Whatever will keep Duncan healthy should be done</span>
if he stays healthy hes a top 4 player and will be for a couple more years...this year and last year were injury's fault, and he still played greatwhat a warrior, plantaar faciitis HURTS<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ProStix#6 @ Aug 11 2006, 11:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">Well there are many players that have nagging injuries that affect them (Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Allan Houston) hopefully it doesn't get to that degree with Tim Duncan. if it means deferring to his teammates more, then that's what he should do. if it means trading to get some fresher legs on the squad, maybe the management should do that. Whatever will keep Duncan healthy should be done</span></div>those are completely different situations
Another thought. The one person that does not care if tim Duncan's numbers go down is Tim Duncan. He is all about the team, and if Tony Parker does become the number one option, it just gives TD more room since defenses want to collapse on Parker.
I don't think Tim is going to disappear. He might decline, but it's not like you're going to be like, "Oh man, he is no longer the go to guy." His game is really smooth, which helps a little bit in the case of injury because he doesn't have to depend on outworking the other players all the time necessarily. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense to anyone else, but I'm pretty sure he'll be strong this year.
Next year he'll put up better numbers than this year for sure. When your numbesr improve it isn't declining. I think after this upcoming season though Tim Duncan will start to decline. What he did in the Mavericks series is only a preview of what to expect this season from a healthy Tim Duncan.
For a Tim Duncan that was supposed to injured, he sure didn't play like it in the playoffs. He put up big numbers, I don't see how he's on the decline.
I dont think Timmy's on the decline just yet. Last year, he simply had an off season and he wasn't at the top of his game during the regular season and the injuries bothered him. If you look at Duncan's stats this was the first season in his career that he had averaged under twenty points per game and had a career low averaging eleven rebounds per contest. During the season Duncan was bothered by some nagging injuries which brought his numbers down but when you look at the post season against the Mavericks Duncan really performed as well as he's ever performed in his career.In game one Duncan scored thirty one points,grabbed thirteen rebounds and blocked two shots. In game two Timmy had twenty-eight points, nagged nine rebounds, and swatted the ball four times. In game three, Duncan had thirty-five points and twelve rebounds and in game four he scored thirty-one points and grabbed thirteen boards. In game five he scored thirty-six points and nagged twelve boards and in game seven he put up fourty-one points(season high) and fifteen rebounds.I usually don't judge playing level by statistics but Tim Duncan ended the season on a high note and the Spurs have been doing this all the time, they usually win a nba title and then lose the next year and have not repeated in their three nba titles they've won so next season,with the possible addition of Bonzi Wells, Duncan and the new looking Spurs will make their way to the nba finals.
Well i dont think tim duncan will be getting any better cos he is gettin older. but he will definitely be able to contribute to the spurs for a few years to come. lucky for them they have heaps of depth so they dont need to rely on him as much as they did when they won the championship
One thing is different between Shaq's decline (which is very evident), and Tim Duncan's so-called decline (which won't happen quite yet, but is inevitable. Shaq relies on raw power. You might say he has a nice little drop step, a small hook, but his game is still power. Strength, as with athleticism, doesn't last that long. 30 years old, and then you go down.Now, for Duncan, that footwork, the spin move, the hook, the bank shot, those kinds of things don't desert you. Well, they do, just like everything else, but not for a long time (the same goes for shooting, that's why you see a lot of fat, bald white guys still playing at age 35). That's why he'll last longer, and be more effective for longer than Shaq. That's also why he'll eventually get that fourth ring (maybe even the fourth Finals MVP), and maybe, just maybe a fifth.
Well I think Shaq has something in the tank still. He's losing weight, and salvaging what he has left. As for Timmy D, I don't think so quite yet, but in a couple years, like starting 07/08 or something, he'll be dropping off.
I'm not saying Timmy will get any better than he's been previously but I do think that he'll average about 23 ppg and 13 rpg next season for the SAS and lead them to the finals against my Bulls.
he was playing better, especially in the playoffs..........i don't c that as someone who's declining.
