Duncan was a #1 draft pick in 1997, and without him, this would have been a much different team. For years (years!) the Spurs, a great team with a great center and superstar in David "The Admiral" Robinson, had gotten to the playoffs only to get knocked out in the first or second round. Jeez, that was awful.
96-97, we'd had a terrible season, the worst in memory. Everybody had been injured. Robinson was still a strong big man, but his career was starting to wind down, he'd been playing 48 minutes a game for most of his adult life, and you just had to feel sorry for the guy for working so hard for us for so long and having nothing to show for it come the end of April.
I've seen the footage of the team rep. when the Spurs card got pulled for the first pick of the '97 draft. If there's a picture of joy in the dictionary, it's that moment.
Duncan was, and has been, everything the Spurs needed. Big, strong, unselfish with the ball and nearly unbeatable in the low post, Duncan is the quietest superstar in the league.
Duncan will get the ball and wait. Facing the rim or away, it takes him about three seconds to feel out his defender before he makes his move, either getting to the rim, shooting in a jump shot in off the glass (his favorite), or drawing a double team and passing the ball out to a perimeter shooter for an easy shot (my favorite).
There's a reason that Parker has improved so much, that Ginobili so often finds his way through a defense, that Horry, Bowen or any of a series of 3-point specialists have found their own opportunties with the Spurs franchise - Duncan is such a wonderful threat that he easily creates opportunities for his teammates. He has no qualms about passing the ball instead of netting two points of his own.
Quiet, humble and a hard worker, he also sets the tone for his team. Defense as good as the Spurs' and the discipline to rotate to the open man or to make the extra pass takes a lot of hard work. Sticking to a system, never panicking, winning in 48 minutes - the defining characteristics of the Spurs - are there because Duncan has led by example in accepting them.
Robinson helped guide Duncan in his first few years in the league. It's easy to see his influence, even with the bad stuff - Duncan looks flabergasted whenever he's called for a foul, something Robinson had started doing in his last years in the league as he started to realize he had a limited number of games left.
In return, Duncan took on parts of the role that by that time was really hurting Robinson. Together, as the "Twin Towers," they proved unstoppable. When Robinson and many other Spurs veterans retired in 2003, they had captured not one but two long-awaited championships.
Robinson, now 42, spends a lot of his time with his family and watches every home game. Whenever the camera cuts to him in the stands, he is always smiling. The Robinson era has ended, but all of the great Spurs from my childhood can watch the Duncan era they helped create as it continues to transform the game.
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