Can you make the case that Duncan is top-7 all time?

[ryan in Maine]

He's 6 on my list.

1. Bird
2. Magic
3. Jordan
4. Lebron
5. Kareem
6. Duncan

[Johnny Tomala]

YES.

Hugely unjust he never won DPOY either.

That Marcus Camby DPOY pissed me off so much. I think playing with Bruce Bowen probably robbed him of a bunch of votes which might have sent him over the top, which is weird and lame.

As pointed out in another thread, one of only a handful of players in NBA history to have won five titles with the same team.

Ja ja. Russell, Kareem, Magic, Jordan, Kobe... and Timmy.


I'm very comfortable with Duncan in the top 7.

Not in my top 7.

MJ, KAJ, Russell, LBJ, Wilt, Magic, Bird, Hakeem all higher than him. I have him 9th all time then Shaq 10th.

What would possess you to rank Hakeem higher than him?

Hakeem was just better player, especially at their both peak. I rate Hakeem higher on offense and on defense.

[tsherkin]

Hakeem was just better player, especially at their both peak. I rate Hakeem higher on offense and on defense.

Do you have any kind of robust argument to that effect, or just the statement?

[Hornet Mania]

I think he's clearly top 5.

For me he's 4th behind only MJ, Kareem and Lebron.

I think 7 is his floor to be honest. And that's only if you insist on putting Wilt/Russell ahead as pioneer legends with Bunyan-esque rings/stats, and Magic ahead because he's offensive GOAT. Personally I'd take Timmy's resume over all three, though to be fair to Magic if not for HIV he'd probably have them all beat.

[druggas]

Take out Wilt add In Russell, basically my top 5

I'm not gonna argue with you, but for me, pure talent wise, and physical stature, Wilt stands above all for me. He is my personal #1 Physical talent of all-time. Love Russell. His tenacity, and will always reminds me of all-time Pistons greats, but Wilt was truly a one of a kind athlete. Just absurd.

Sure but not a top 8 player!

Maybe on your list.

[dhsilv2]

I'm not gonna argue with you, but for me, pure talent wise, and physical stature, Wilt stands above all for me. He is my personal #1 Physical talent of all-time. Love Russell. His tenacity, and will always reminds me of all-time Pistons greats, but Wilt was truly a one of a kind athlete. Just absurd.

Sure but not a top 8 player!

Maybe on your list.

Not on any sane person's list. As we all know he's not a great offensive player, a very good one of course, but we can all agree he wasn't an elite offensive unit. You know he's a top 50 or so offensive guy. And I'm sure everyone who follows the NBA would agree.

[CobraCommander]

Boston gonna hate me- but he is better than Russell based on every thing I’m seeing

[Godymas]

yes, pretty easily actually

2x MVP 3x FMVP 5x Champion

won in 3 different decades

arguably the best defender to not win a DPOY

yes, it's pretty easy to make the argument

I mean universally he's not touching the "GOATs" - LeBron, MJ, Kareem. However, past those 3, I can see the arguments for putting him top 5, top 4. I can see people ranking him above Bird or above Magic. I can see people saying he was more skilled than Russell, etc. He has everything on the same level as those "franchise legends"

[boomershadow]

I'm surprised more people don't make the argument he is above LeBron

[tsherkin]

I'm surprised more people don't make the argument he is above LeBron

I imagine it's tied to the large difference in offense, coupled to the MVPs, the similar number of titles, and the array of Lebron's other accolades, as well as the large difference in conventional statistics. Plus, he was a pretty good defender himself before age took that away. Obviously not at Duncan's level over time, but still. Duncan's reserved persona probably didn't help, but it's not like you can argue clear separation from Duncan.

[HMFFL]

I'm surprised more people don't make the argument he is above LeBron

I do.

Tim Duncan and Jordan are the two players I disliked the most in recent memory. My dislike for them was built around respect. I knew when they would step on the court it was going to be a magical experience for their fans and not myself.

Once they retired I knew I could enjoy both even more for the elite talent they had.

[Pelon chingon]

Yes he bumped Magic out.

[makubesu]

The only case is recency bias. I’ve never once seen someone break down his game head-2-head against Hakeem and said “in this aspect, Duncan was better”

[CobraCommander]

Mj - lbj- wilt- KAJ- Duncan- bird- magic - Jokic coming for these guys - but those the guys 7 best ever -

Duncan did it during the Kobe Shaq Dirk Nash LeBron Yao tmac eras with a bunch of hyper role players - let’s be honest - everyone on those teams was good but manu or Kobe- Parker or Nash etc -

Duncan gets credit for who he dominated as well as his teammates

[Mavrelous]

There is 0 argument he isn't top 7, he can go anywhere from 4 to 7 depending on priorities.

[CobraCommander]

There is 0 argument he isn't top 7, he can go anywhere from 4 to 7 depending on priorities.

YeAh this is easy- he can bump anyone but my 4 best -
Wilt mj lebron and KAJ-

After that it’s bird magic and Duncan - kinda easy easy

[CobraCommander]

The only case is recency bias. I’ve never once seen someone break down his game head-2-head against Hakeem and said “in this aspect, Duncan was better”

Yeah but do we really feel like Hakeem wins one ring if MJ doesn’t retire? I feel like Hakeem was amazing but he didn’t really slay the final boss of his era and Duncan WaS the final boss of his era -

No one ever wants to be perceived as disrespecting Hakeem or Russell cause they were great men on and off the court - but Russells team was indeed maybe the best super team ever relative to his competion and Hakeem was kinda one of the guys in an era dominated by MJ- That counts against Hakeem

[CobraCommander]

He's 6 on my list.

1. Bird
2. Magic
3. Jordan
4. Lebron
5. Kareem
6. Duncan

This plus wilt is my 7

Your order is interesting but you know-

[itrsteve]

Duncan won 5 titles without another top 10 teammate in an era where he had to face Shaq/Kobe and Lebron Heatles. I think he's clearly ahead of guys like Shaq/Kobe all-time and I think he's right there with Magic at #4/#5 but Duncan was a better defender and had a much longer career.

The other thing about Duncan is he might be the GOAT leader because he always raised up his teammates never said he needed more help never was trying to play GM.

This is an understated point when we have the endless GOAT discussion as it always crosses back to the era they played in. It's arguable that he crossed the bridge of being elite in two significant eras spanning from 2003 to 2014.

[Quattro]

A better question would be "can you make the case that he ISN'T?"