You can argue about his injury. However, you cannot argue that he is way past his prime and has no chance but to go downhill. I feel that the Spurs's window of dominating the league is about to close, either this season or next season. Do you guys agree?
from what i have read he has plantar fascitis..... the only real cure is rest for months which they obviously don't want to do till the off season... the key is manage it with ice, anti inflamms, taping etc and deal with some pain if he wants to keep playing....... rest in the off season and he is fine... certainly not done tmac is probably more down if one wants to exagerrate about the effects of any injury
TD definitely has nowhere to go but down, but he's pretty high up. They are evolving into a more perimeter oriented team. This year and next year are their big windows as TD and Bowen slow down. They need a youth injection to keep things rolling and I'm sure Pop and RC have a few ideas. When Duncan leaves, Pop will be close behind him.
This is their last year to compete. Tony Parker and Ginobili just aren't enough. They will have a hole in the frontcourt. Nazr and Rasho are scrubs.
You can argue the same thing about Tracy McGrady. Sure, 27 isn't past your prime, but 27 with chronic back problems is.
td will have played 10 seasons after this year, plus all four college seasons ... I think he has another great year, then you'll see him decline ... based on age you can expect him to not make the allstar team in '09, that's part of getting towards the end of your career
just looked at TD's stats, his points/rebounds have steadily declined for the past four years... some of that is just more balanced attack from the spurs, and of course not needing TD to play big minutes cuz they win so easily some nights ... but I do think he only has a couple more all star years left
I know one thing for sure: the Spurs are VERY much beatable if either Dallas or the Suns can get their act together in time. TD is not the same man, but their team is still pretty darn good because they don't solely rely on TD to carry them, they have an excellent, well-rounded team that can compete with anyone and not to reliant on any one player. Every year the Spurs won it all, someone stepped up for them besides TD; last year it was Genobili, this year it might be Parker the way he's playing (he's certainly been their best player and their MVP this season). That's the sign of a good team when role players can always step up and beat you.
TD is a warrior to be playing through this...he should probably rest it, I would not be surprised if he sits if they get a couple of games behind Dallas. DD
He doesn't play that many minutes/that much to begin with, if anything, Popovich has been VERY careful with the minutes TD logs every season, he always says that the season is not everything, that his #1 priority during the season is to just get into the playoffs and have his players healthy and ready then.
Way past his prime? Downhill? Hakeem won his MVP award at age 31, and he was averaging 23 ppg at age 34. Duncan probably has 3 more seasons of MVP caliber play (23 and 12) then probably 3 or 4 seasons of 15-18 ppg and 7-8 rbg, which would still put him in the top 25 players in the league. Plus, the Spurs have one of the best scouting departments in the league. I think the Spurs could compete for the title for four, maybe five more seasons...
sadly, i agree. the guy has an injury that needs a little rest. after he gets it, he'll be the same old Tim. i'm with Sam...i'm far more concerned with T-Mac's situation. chronic back injury doesn't just magically go away.
Duncan is not really a guy who relies that much on athleticism. This injury is probably only offering a glimpse of what he will be like in the latter years of his career. Right now he has no hop in his step, yet he's still putting up some good numbers. He'll be better next season.
didn't see today's game but in the games i've seen this year he hasn't looked nearly as good. although the numbers are there, i haven't seen him dominate the way he used to. you used to be able to count on him to dominate at some point in a game, but now it seems pretty rare.
Right opposite of JVG. JVG's entire offense depends/depended on Tmac and thus he hardly got rest. Tmac had to carry the bulk of the load the entire game. Now he is gonna ride Yao. Tmac and Yao need some sort of relief. JVG depends waaaay too much on these two for eveything. Please get some decent role players and some plays for them to run so that Yao/Tmac can get some rest.
JVG has no choice but to play T-mac big minutes. The reason he can't play Yao big minutes is because Yao can't play big minutes without dropping production significantly. This is purely due to the Rox management who can't draft well and sign FA well.
