Duncan and USA Today

Hot wife. Big cash. Three NBA rings working on four. Brilliant player.
I've never understood why guys get ripped for not being interesting interview subjects. Is it his job to entertain you?

 

Maybe he should rape someone, buy her off, request a trade, then cry while taking it all back. That'd be interesting!

 

Duncan's a true center but doesn't want to be labeled one, so has always been listed as a PF. That's why they put stiffs around him for four minutes and for the tip. (David Robinson not included there -- The Admiral was THE center and Duncan PF in that tandem for sure).

He is not in the same PF vein as was Karl Malone. Duncan, and he is great, more fits the Kevin McHale PF role, someone who could do both.

And Jermaine O'Nal has never been wanted to be called a center.

 

One of the reasons that Duncan has stayed with the Spurs (he could've made much more in other markets) is because he can play the PF position. He prefers it as opposed to being a center.
When he broke in, he had a true center in David Robinson which made the twin towers concept work much better than say when Houston tried it with Olajuwon and Sampson.
Much of the credit for Duncan's development should go to Popovich who allowed him to flourish as a power forward.

 

Elgin would be considered a small forward

 

Elgin WAS a small forward. AND one of the best to ever play the position in his prime.

 

boots, what does is a center required to do that Duncan does not do in every game? He plays nearly every possession on the block. Call it what you want, but that's a center.

 

Didn't Karl Malone do the same?

 

In Duncan's mind and the Spurs' philosophy, it's power forward and that's really all that matters. Even when David played with him, Tim patroled the paint.

 

Malone posted up a lot, but not all the time, as Duncan does. The Mailman routinely went out to the top of the key to hit jumpers, which Duncan doesn't do. And defensively, Malone certainly wasn't a center. As for Duncan, the only reason he is considered a power forward by some people is because that's what he played when Robinson was around, and because it's his personal preference to be called a PF.

 

Well, if that's simple:
From now on folks, I'm a best-selling novelist and screenwriter.
(Maybe that'll help me at my next high school reunion.)

 

Some guys who have covered him over the years swore to me that he isn't a saint.