San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
JOURNEY COMPLETE
Duncan enters Hall of Fame, acknowledging help from others
The greatest Spur in history made it to his rightful place Saturday, but to label it destiny would be to do him a disservice. Tim Duncan’s ascent to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was not preordained.
In fact, as he stood on a stage in Connecticut on Saturday, having moved himself and his notoriously gruff coach and a ballroom full of basketball dignitaries to tears, he said he realized how easily it might never have happened at all.
“This story and journey doesn’t make sense,” Duncan said.
The only way his trip from the beaches of the Virgin Islands to hardwood immortality does make sense is to chalk it up not to fate, or to blind luck, but instead to a multitude of conscious choices, both by one of the hardest workers and best leaders the NBA has ever seen, and by all of those who lifted him.
Duncan spoke for more than 12 minutes Saturday, which might have been one of the most surprising statistics of his illustrious career. Most of that time was spent acknowledging others, from the parents who had “zero combined basketball knowledge” but still taught him “more about the game than anybody else,” to his sister and brother-in-law, to
his college teammates, to his doctors and fellow Spurs and Gregg Popovich, whose mask could not hide the way his face quivered while Duncan lauded his influence.
Duncan was not the showstopper during this particular enshrinement ceremony, which concluded, as expected, with a rousing tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, whose highlight reels always garnered more acclaim than Duncan’s muted dominance.
But that was fitting. Duncan always was fine about letting others soak up the adulation, while he focused more on everything that leads up to it.
Duncan, after all, was the game’s last true master of the bank shot, which requires the shooter to aim not at the ball’s ultimate destination but at the spot it needs to visit along the way. Duncan understood angles, see, and he recognized that taking the long route — the less glamorous route, the offthe-glass route — allowed a person more margin for error.
Not that he ever developed the habit of making errors, mind you. His penchant for precision was why fellow Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal dubbed him “The Big Fundamental,” a reverent nickname that other stars nonetheless might have taken as disrespectful if applied to them.
Being known for making every move by the book? How boring is that?
But if any of the unwashed basketball masses ever found themselves bored by Duncan, it was their own fault, not his. For 19 years, in winning five league championships and keeping his team in constant contention for many others, he proved that joy needn’t come with a primal scream, that excitement needn’t come with style points, and that excellence needn’t come with even an acknowledgment of the camera.
He knew had no choice Saturday, though. At the beginning of his speech, he joked that this — not any of his games in the NBA Finals — was “officially the most nervous (he’d) ever been in (his) life.” But by the time he got to the point when he was acknowledging longtime running mates Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, he was hitting his stride.
For Spurs fans, this should be the first of at least three consecutive years in which a Hall of Fame enshrines a San Antonio legend, as Ginobili becomes eligible in 2022 and Parker will be on the list of candidates in 2023.
And as the coach who’s won more total NBA games than anyone, Popovich could have been inducted years ago, but he made it clear to the Hall he had no intentions of accepting the honor until after he retires. He will join San Antonio’s parade to the museum in Springfield, Mass., soon.
“We have hopefully a couple coming down the pipeline,” Duncan said. “I’m honored to be the next in line.”
He used the word “next” instead of “first” for a reason. As much as the Spurs’ playoff dynasty became known as a collaboration of their “Big Three,” Duncan always has been steadfast in his insistence that the franchise’s championship foundation predated him. It was no coincidence he chose David Robinson, who teamed with Duncan for the Spurs’ first two titles and entered the Hall in 2009, to present him Saturday.
Sitting beside the lectern on stage, Robinson laughed throughout Duncan’s speech. But no one appeared to enjoy it as much as Duncan’s three children, who sat in the front row and giggled and beamed while their father got choked up speaking to them.
“I can’t wait to see what you guys do,” Duncan said, “because I know it’s going to be great.”
And when it happens? Chances are, they won’t chalk it up to destiny, either.