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Heat Central: Bam Adebayo names his top 5 players of all time: Kobe Bryant Steph Curry Michael Jordan Kevin Durant Tim Duncan No LeBron James 👀
Ray Allen: ‘One of the things that I'm devastated about is all the big men that don't have a place in the game anymore. It used to be amazing to watch guys score. We used to throw the ball in the block and guys could score or you got to be a great passer out of the post. Two-man game. Like, it's arguable who the best power forward of all time is. A lot of people will say Tim Duncan. We'll never see another Tim Duncan again the way the game is played right now because we've taken that from the big players, the big guys, because we won't allow, coaches aren't playing this throw the ball in and out. I like shooting threes and that was something I I like driving to the hole. I love pick and roll. I love posting up. So I would assume or I would think that it will revert back at some point because there's going to be some bigs that come along where you got to just because they're too good.’
DeMarcus Cousins on Tim Duncan: It was either rookie or my second year. And you know you play Timmy enough you kind of pick up on the sh*t that he does. Tim got some tricks to his game that people don’t know about. So one thing he was infamous for is when he’s guarding the big he pulls you down on one shoulder so he can get up and block it. That sh*t used to frustrate. I’m like, “Yo, this a foul.” Yo, like I can’t jump if he’s pulling me down on one shoulder and blocking me. I’m like, “That’s a foul, bro.” So it got to the point it go so frustrating. I’m like, “You know what? I’m about to manhandle Tim.” Like, I just started going through his chest. So, I got maybe two, three buckets in a row. I get to popping it like, “Yeah Tim, you too little out here.” So, you know Tim ain’t really got too much to say. So, I think Tim ran off about a good 14 to 16 like just straight. No extra moves. Back down jump hook, turnaround jumper, face up jab off the bank. I’m just like, god damn. So, by the end of it, you know, he just say good game.
Shams Charania: Spurs chairman Peter J. Holt, CEO RC Buford, GM Brian Wright and coach Mitch Johnson traveled to Paris to meet and spend time with Victor Wembanyama and his family and reps Friday. Wembanyama was essentially a lock to earn a $303M supermax if he played 65 games next season -- but he opted for a significant sacrifice at a flash point for the Spurs' rise. In the Spurs championship past, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker had a history of taking less for the betterment of team-building.
The stoicism, it turns out, has an origin story. “I think it started off just being on the Spurs,” he says, “just seeing the older vets and how they carried themselves and what they wanted their players to act like on the floor.” The Spurs, under Gregg Popovich, famously ran one of the most understated franchises in professional sports — a culture shaped in no small part by Tim Duncan, who won five championships and retired without ever seeming particularly interested in being celebrated for it. Leonard was young and paying close attention. “Once I started doing that, they kind of put me in the Tim Duncan thing because they wanted me to be the face of the franchise,” he says. “And I don’t know, it just kind of carried on from there.”
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Draymond Green compares Cameron Boozer to Tim Duncan: Tim Duncan never had to blow you through the roof. Yet he was so great. He’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen. But it wasn’t like gonna jump of the page at you from an entertainment standpoint to call it low on the entertainment value of it but very high on the production value of it. And I think that was Tim Duncan. And you look at Cam Boozer, he has a similar thing. Not saying Cam Boozer is going to be Tim Duncan. I don’t know that Tim Duncan’s greatest power forward we’ve ever seen play. But what I’m saying, it’s not like there’s no wow to it. It’s just results after results after results.
Iman Shumpert says it’s time for Wemby to work with Tim Duncan to find a go to move: “He wasn’t ready. I know if they haven’t already, this is your year with Tim Duncan. It’s time to sit down with Tim Duncan for the whole summer and understand how to get to something. How to have a plan that nobody can do anything about… He’s gonna have to watch Dirk, you’re gonna have to watch some Kobe. Go watch some Tim Duncan”
Tom Petrini: Mike Brown with high praise (and a playful burn) for Mitch Johnson: "He's lightyears in front of me. He's a way better coach than I was when I was a young guy. The job that he's done is fantastic. It's second to none. He's got a great guy to help him out in Pop. Not only does he have Pop around, but, you see Manu, you see, Tim Duncan, you see David Robinson, even Sean Elliott, you have those guys around as players that can not only give you guidance here and there, but also uplift you when you're down... To have that support system around with the knowledge that he has already as a young coach is phenomenal. I don't know him well, but I know he appreciates the situation that he's in, because he's blessed, lucky and fortunate. The only thing is, I think even though he went to Stanford, I went to University of San Diego, better player than him, that might be the only advantage I have, but we're not playing."
Wagner alumnus Jordan Clarkson has vivid memories of the "amazing energy" that reverberated throughout San Antonio during the Spurs' Tim Duncan-led championship years. "My stepmom worked at the Westin, so I would see the parades through the hotel balconies," he said. "I would sneak around there at the hotel, with (the opposing teams) staying there, being able to take pictures and run up on players for autographs. I was definitely that kid, seeing that energy and how alive this city comes when the Spurs are in the Finals and winning championships." But the New York Knicks guard will do everything in his power to make sure the championship parade after the 2026 NBA Finals weaves through the streets of Manhattan and not along San Antonio's Riverwalk.
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But veteran guard De'Aaron Fox pointed out that Popovich isn't the only Hall of Fame resource walking around the building every day as a valued source of knowledge and expertise on the championship stage. Current CEO R.C. Buford, the team's former general manager and two-time NBA Executive of the Year, is also a trusted voice within the organization along with Duncan, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson and a host of other Spurs all-time greats such as Sean Elliott and Bruce Bowen. "It's great," Fox said. "Not even just Pop, just the organization as a whole. It's a lot of people walking through this building that have been there and done that. We could just have practice, and Manu is there or Tim is there. We have these guys who have won multiple championships and been to the mountaintop multiple times. You can ask them anything.
Bibi: Exactly. LeBron misses his shot, the Spurs play the possession, and I have someone next to me who was not only on the floor, but also on the bench and may have some insight. One of the best rebounders in NBA history is not on the floor. The Spurs are playing smaller. I understand it was to defend the three-point line, but— Tony Parker: It was to defend the switch. It was not to defend the three-point line. It was to defend the switch. Pop preferred having Boris for the switch rather than Tim. After that, with coaching choices, you never really know. That has been said and repeated. It is clear that most people would have preferred Duncan to be on the floor. But as a player, with things like that, you never know. It is difficult.
Sam Amick on Victor Wembanyama skipping media duties: "It was a bad look because as a player accountability matters. When Tim Duncan would never talk to the media, he would always talk to the media when they lost, because he didn't want his teammates having to sit there and answer questions that he thought that he should be answering. With Victor, he's barely done this sort of thing over his first three years. It was definitely a break from his norm. The people I talked to basically said like he was not only pissed, but just it was a philosophical thing about I don't care about anything else other than answering the call after I had a bad Game 5 and of course the whole season was on the line. So to his credit, I mean if they lost last night and if he laid another egg, then he would have been looking at three months of I think ridicule when it comes to the fans and social media."