The San Antonio Spurs announced on Wednesday morning that team cornerstone Tim Duncan has won the 2014-2015 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award The award is voted upon by 300 of Duncan’s peers after being nominated by a panel of six National Basketball Association legends.
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San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan attends a news conference…
The Twyman-Stokes award is named for Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes, teammates with the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals from 1955-58.
The award voting doesn’t allow players to vote for a player from their own team, so it’s truly a reflection of how the players around the league view who is a top teammate and someone they’d want to play alongside.
Duncan received 72 first-place votes. Vince Carter of the Memphis Grizzlies tallied 818 (28), while Elton Brand of the Atlanta Hawks recorded 707 (21).
“I know how to be the way I am because of the people that came before me”, Duncan said. All those things are big pieces in what I am today and who I am today. Stokes was a young All-Star with a blossoming career who suffered a career-ending injury after falling on his head during the final game of the regular season in 1958 and experienced a seizure days later, fell into a coma and became paralyzed.
Twyman supported Stokes for the remainder of his life, becoming Stokes’ legal guardian and advocate. It honors the “ideal teammate” while identifying the player who is selfless and commits themselves to the greater good of their respective team. In 1970, Stokes passed away at the age of 36, and thanks to lobbying by Twyman over the years, was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. This year may be the year Duncan’s attitude has shown the most across the league as he’s helped the team secure arguably the best offseason in the franchise’s history.
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“I’m excited about him, I’m excited to get to know him, because of that and other reasons”, Duncan said. Second, the Teammate of the Year award is meant for the old guys. A couple of now-retired players, Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers and Shane Battier of the Miami Heat, won it the previous two seasons.
