Frosty wrote:I agree he's a top talent but IMHO he's not top 10.
Could you give a top 10 so I have an idea of who your ranking above Duncan?
Frosty wrote:
He wasn't exactly beating the 80's celtics either. And his supporting cast has been very good. In fact SAS has been the most stable team for the past decade. Other teams have gone through lots of turmoil but SAS has kept their team competitive throughout. He came to a very strong team as a result of an injury influenced draft lottery win and has seen some very good Euro's become excellent NBA players. He's also always been surrounded by good coaching and solid roleplayers.
He never won a title during the LA reign, until LA suffered injuries allowing SAS to get past them. They've won 4 times (* by the one joke of a season) but never defended.
As much as you try to make fun of the SAS competition, LA still won three straight titles and in the surrounding years of the three peat the spurs beat them twice. They were 2-2 vs the Shaq/Kobe lakers until LA added two hall of famers for the 2004 series. That's a fact that your trying to spin and its dishonest. Also LOL at you giving in * to one of their titles. They competed on a level playing field that year, and absolutely dominated the league.
In 2005 they beat one of the greatest defensive teams of all time and a defending champion in Detroit, plus one of the single season greatest offensive teams in Phoenix, and in 2007 they cruised through the playoffs. They have beat plenty of great teams. You can get lucky and win a championship in an off year once, you can't do it four times.
With regards to them never repeating:
Wilt: No repeat championships
Bird: No repeat championships
Moses: No repeat championships
Kareem: Only has one repeat championship and that came when he was the fifth or sixth best player on the Lakers
West: Only one championship
Erving: No repeat championships
With regards to the roster stability argument against Duncan. Yes, TD has had the benefit of great management. So, did Bird, Russell, Magic and yet you don't hold it against them. There is no player besides Duncan who played on the 00/01 Spurs and is still on the team, and yet they have averaged 58 wins over a nine year span.
To be clear the spurs have averaged 58 wins for nine seasons, with only one constant: Duncan
Frosty wrote:I wonder if he played center (officially) during the eighties and nineties how he'd rank.
He began his career next to David Robinson, so its perfectly legitimate that people consider him a power forward for the first six years of his career. Next, was Rasho who has always been a center and can't really play the four. Only after Oberto came aboard in 06/07 can you really start complaining about TD being listed as a power forward.
If he did what he did in the 00s which was leading his team to 55+ win seasons constantly,while winning a few titles. He would be a top 10 player. Can we say for certain that he would have if he played then? NO, but you can't assume any player would accomplish exactly what they did if they played somewhere else in a different time. The only fair thing to do then is to evaluate players based on what they did do. TD, had a top 10 career and deserves to be recognized as a top 10 player
