“Timmy D you know how I feel about you, what you did for me and for the entire National Basketball Association. Really clever, incisive people with ideas that really blew your mind”.
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Kobe Bryant – who, like Duncan, won five league titles over a two-decade career with the same team, the Los Angeles Lakers, before retiring – tweeted: “Congrats TD #19yrs #GoSpursGo”. Last year, Spurs recruited all-star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge as a possible longterm replacement to Duncan. He was known for dressing casually for even the biggest events, while other stars wore flashy, eye-catching new styles.
That it was followed up by a press release Monday morning confirming the San Antonio Spurs forward’s 19-year-career had come to an end – one that was eight paragraphs long and contained no quotes – was even more fitting.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Duncan “one of the most dominant players in NBA history” and lauded him for an “understated selflessness (that) made him the ultimate teammate”.
Popovich added: “He’s the most real, consistent, true person that I’ve ever met in my life”.
Tim Duncan has retired, which means that today the National Basketball Association is a less dope place than it was yesterday, but which also means that we can travel back to when it wasn’t today.
In his first season San Antonio Spurs fans knew Tim Duncan would be one of the greatest players.
Duncan, a native of the Virgin Islands, was a three-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player and a two-time regular season MVP. “That’s really who he is”. “I had a chance to sit down with him and talk for 20, 25 minutes”.
“I don’t think we’re going to see Timmy going up and down the sidelines much”, Popovich said.
Choking up at times and making wisecracks at others, Popovich bade a public farewell to Duncan’s playing career on Tuesday.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr played with Duncan for four seasons. “It wasn’t fun as much”, Duncan said of the decision. Many attribute Duncan’s greatness to the tutelage of David Robinson. We will miss seeing you on the court.
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I think it will be a seamless transition for the team, former National Basketball Association coach and current television analyst Jeff Van Gundy said. “And to think he’s gone makes it very hard to imagine walking into practice, going to a game, getting on a bus, grabbing a piece of carrot cake whatever it might be, so he’s been true to himself”. And people don’t see those things. “He’s not pointing to the sky, he’s not glamming for cameras”.
