He's 36 years old, plays about 75% of their games, his stats have taken about a 50% stat cut from his prime years. Why the heck wouldn't he take a paycut? He's not the same player anymore. He's lucky to even get a multi year contract worth that much in this stage of his career.
It's a nice story, but, it's not like he had outside offers of 15 mil. that he turned down to stay in SA.
This is a true story. He was even a great mentor for Steve Francis his rookie year and he seemed rejuvenated by Steve & Cat's enthusiasm and passion. I still remember that game where they made their first trip up to Vancouver and fans were booing Francis like crazy and throwing tomatoes. There was a put back dunk that Barkley had where it seemed like he turned the clock back by 10 years. His whole wrist was above the rim. Not long after that game his career ended when he blew out his knee he but he acted like nothing was wrong and didn't show the slightest bit of pain on his face when any other player would've squirmed in pain. He was a bad ass mofo.
Entering into the twilight of his career but still a very serviceable (15/9) center and took a pay cut to stay with his original team. Good show Duncan, very classy move.
He probably could have at least fought for more, considering the amount of titles he has brought to SA alone. That he took less (regardless of skills) and has stayed with the same team for all of his career, well that's a rare thing these days. And yes I realize he hasn't had a reason to leave, considering how successful they were...but then neither did Albert Pujols.
Tim Duncan deserves every penny he gets. He is the MJ of the Spurs as far as putting the team on his team on the map. MJ brought Chicago to world recognition winning 6 titles with them. Duncan did it with San Antonio winning 4 titles with them. He doesn't wine, cry, or start drama EVER, he brings his lunch pale to work everyday and does work, PERIOD. As much as I dislike our rival team, I can't knock the greatness that is Tim Duncan.
I'm not so sure I'd put Garnett above Duncan... to me they're basically the same player at their age. Both, even tho the Spurs were the only ones that admitted DNP-Old, miss games to rest their naturally aging bodies. Yet when they do play the games that matter, are at or near 15 pts. 9 rebs. per game... that's pretty good production for $10 million a year. On top of that they both have championship experience so they know how to win when it all comes down to it. Getting past the Heat and Thunder/Lakers will be a task of it's own for those 2 next year tho.
Duncan averaged 15 and 9 last year. I don't recall him ever averaging 30 and 18. Plus, in his prime he was playing 35-40 minutes a night. Last season he averaged 28 minutes per game. His production really hasn't fallen off that much. Offensive efficiency and durability are the main areas where I think he's declined. Don't get me wrong, I think his new salary is around the maximum amount he should be paid at this point in his career. I just think that he is still one of the best big men in this league.
This is actually false if you put into context. Bosh, Wade, and Lebron gave up around 600,000 dollars collectively to play on the same team. When you calculate the tax savings alone each individual is saving it more than makes up for this relatively "small" amount of money. Also factor in additional revenue they aquire from deep playoff runs and I think you get a clearer picture of how selfless those three guys really are. So lets just cut the BS on NBA players giving up money. As for TD... What team would actually pay more than 9 mil a year for a near retirement Tim Duncan??? His production currently is right on par, if not less than equal to his salary he will earn this season.
yup unfortunately the dream started looking human and declined rapidly.. Drexler retired and Quitten just sucked and blamed everyone else.. Barkley was easily our best player those few years he was on the team
LeBron takes a paycut as the greatest player on the planet. Timmy takes a paycut when he's about a year or two away from retirement. Yup.
