Tim Duncan is probably the best power forward in NBA history but
outside of the city of San Antonio he excites nobody. There are
millions of basketball fans who literally wor****p basketball stars; so
why are fans consistently indifferent to Duncan? I think Duncan and
David Robinson are strikingly similar in that they are both supremely
gifted & skilled players devoid of basketball passion. Duncan was not
a basketball junkie during his formative years. He did not spend
endless summers of his childhood shooting hoop alone while pretending
the clock was ticking down as he sank a jump shot at the buzzer. That
is a playground dream sequence played out countless times by every fat
middle aged hoop fan as a young boy; but not Duncan. Tim Duncan spent
his early years devoted to the s****t of swimming and he was damn good
at it. Mother Nature altered his destiny by growing him into a seven
foot giant. Duncan made a cold, calculated, practical decision to
pursue basketball because it offered him the best chance at a free
first rate college education, and a shot at a magnificently lucrative
NBA. Duncan dedicated himself to the repetitious drills necessary to
master the fundamentals of basketball. His methodical, machinelike
style of play reflect his emotionally detached, robotic, efficient
approach to the game. Nobody can deny Duncan's greatness. But the vast
overwhelming majority of fans are not awestruck or astonished when
they watch Duncan play basketball. Tim is universally respected for
the superb mechanical precision of his skills; but he will never get
the love and adulation fans reserve for great players who manifest the
breathtaking beauty, creative artistry, dynamic aesthetics, and sheer
childlike joy & exuberance of playing basketball.
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