Tim Duncan has played for Gregg Popovich his entire career, and there is no coach-player combo in National Basketball Association history with more wins.
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He joined Larry Bird and Michael Jordan as the only players to be named college basketball’s player of the year, the NBA rookie of the year, and the MVP of the All-Star game and the NBA Finals.
Popovich was asked what he thought the Spurs will miss most about Duncan.
The Spurs’.710 winning percentage over Duncan’s 19-year career is the best 19-year stretch in league history and the best record in any American major league sport over the past 19 years.
He was among the best defensive players in the league according to advanced statistics in 2015-16, as he used his canniness and experience to the fullest hilt.
The Spurs have won 1,072 regular-season games since the start of the 1997-98 season, 155 more than the next closest team.
He averaged 19 points and 10.8 rebounds per game during his career.
One of the more emotional moments during the press conference was when Popovoch discussed what Duncan’s father told him before he passed away.
Duncan, 40, hadn’t spoken publicly since the Spurs announced he was retiring.
He is one of four players to rank in the top 15 in all three categories, joining Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal. They reached the playoffs in every one of his 19 seasons, the team said in a statement.
His presence was what allowed Gregg Popovich – now considered one of the greatest coaches of all time – to coach the team the way he wanted. He graduated with a degree in psychology before he was drafted by San Antonio.
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”. During his 19 years of service with San Antonio, he never had problems with his teammates, the team or the coaching staff.
What endeared “Timmy”, as he is called by his teammates, coaches and Spurs fans, to basketball purists through the years was the lovely simplicity of his game.
With Duncan now retired, we can rehash a “what if” scenario.
The Nets lost to the Spurs in six games in the NBA Finals earlier in 2003. “He is very sound fundamentally, of course, and always gives credit to others”. “What a HUGE honor to have played with him for 14 seasons! Not every talented player can do that”. “But his team-mates have and that’s why his team-mates love him”. ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk spoke with Kidd about Tim Duncan’s retirement.
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To spend time with Timmy is really sublime in many ways, Popovich said.
