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After he signed that three year deal most of us thought it would be his last. But with the way he's played since do you guys think he could play a few years past 2015?

I think it's all about how he feels next season. If he feels good with no nagging injuries, he might play longer. Any major injury or a culmination of nagging injuries like Manu last year and I think he will be done after the contract.

My prediction is that Manu and Timmy announce next year is their last year. They'll retire together. That'll be our last "hurrah".

In general, I agree that it will be about how he "feels". But it is my guess that for Duncan it will be about a lot more than just his physical condition, or even his mental outlook.

I think that the guy is one of the ten best to ever play the game, and the best "makes his team better" player since Magic. Oh, and he is also really smart and very knowledgeable about the game. So I believe that he not only has to "feel" good, but he will have to see himself as being a major contributor. I just don't see him signing another contract and being a role player scoring 3 pts and getting 2 rebounds playing 10 minutes a game.

It is kind of sad to see some formerly very good players do that. I just don't see Duncan doing it. More than likely, he has been a lot smarter with his money than many (maybe most) of the players are. But even discounting that, I don't believe that he will be a "benchwarmer". To me, that just isn't Tim Duncan.

And, on a side note, I rank him as one of the four best "makes his team better" players. Duncan, Magic, Bird, and Russell are the best ever at that, not necessarily in that particular order.

marcusaurelius wrote:In general, I agree that it will be about how he "feels". But it is my guess that for Duncan it will be about a lot more than just his physical condition, or even his mental outlook.

I think that the guy is one of the ten best to ever play the game, and the best "makes his team better" player since Magic. Oh, and he is also really smart and very knowledgeable about the game. So I believe that he not only has to "feel" good, but he will have to see himself as being a major contributor. I just don't see him signing another contract and being a role player scoring 3 pts and getting 2 rebounds playing 10 minutes a game.

It is kind of sad to see some formerly very good players do that. I just don't see Duncan doing it. More than likely, he has been a lot smarter with his money than many (maybe most) of the players are. But even discounting that, I don't believe that he will be a "benchwarmer". To me, that just isn't Tim Duncan.

And, on a side note, I rank him as one of the four best "makes his team better" players. Duncan, Magic, Bird, and Russell are the best ever at that, not necessarily in that particular order.

But with the way he's played and kept in shape to this point to really think he'll regress that much in a year or two? His game is all skill based and as long as he still has decent foot speed he'll be effective.

2 years is a lot in the NBA, especially if we're talking about guys in the late 30s. Example, Steve Nash and KG, even Corey Maggette.

Just like what Manu said last year, once you get older, the little injuries last longer and you work harder to get healthy. The body doesn't heal like it used to.

Duncan's been pretty healthy the last 2-3 years. I can't even recall him having an injury, even if he just twist his ankle. But once that happens (and it'll happen some day right), that's when I think he'll feel like he had enough.

Duncan had a resurgance the last couple of years. He went from an 18-10 guy in 2009 and became a 13-9 guy in 2010. But after that he improved his numbers into a 15-9 guy and last year a 18-10 guy.

This year, I'm really not expecting an improvement anymore. He's not gonna continue on this trajectory and become a 20-10 guy. If anything, I expect him to go back closer to his 2010 self averaging 13-9 as he becomes less of a scorer. And in two years, at 40 years old he's gonna be averaging closer to 20-24 a game instead of his usual 28-30 minutes.