I. Who is Tim Duncan: Some interesting facts
Name: Timothy Theodore Duncan
Position: Power Forward
Team: San Antonio Spurs
Uniform Number: 21
Height: 7-1
Weight: 258 lbs
Birthday: April 25, 1976
Age: 24
Shoe Size: 16
Birthplace: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
High School: St. Dunstan's Episcopal HS (Christiansted,
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands)
College: Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Graduated: 1997 with a B.A. in Psychology
Marital Status: Single
Parents: William Duncan & Ione Duncan (Mother deceased)
Tattoos: Merlin the Magician and a Joker
Cars: Yukon Denali & Porsche
Hobbies: Collecting knives, watching movies and playing
video games
Favorite Actor: Chris Tucker
II. Timeline of Duncan's Career
| TIME | EVENT |
| 1976 | Born in St.Colix, Virgin Island, US |
| 1993 | Entered Wake Forest University |
| 1997 | Drafted as The Number Overall Pick to the NBA |
| 1997-1998 | Named as All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive Second Team |
| 1998 | Rookie of the Year |
| 1999 | Helped the Spurs to win the NBA Champion first ever in the franchise history of the Spurs |
| 1999 | Final MVP |
| 1999 | Went to the White House with the team |
| 2000 | Selected to the Western All-Star Team and has beaten the Eastern All-Star Team, was named as the Co-MVP |
| 2000 | Selected to Olympic Dream Team to compete in Sydney |
| 2000 | Named as All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive Fisrt Team |
Tim Duncan grew up on the island of
St. Croix. His father is William Duncan and his mother Ione Duncan. He
has two sisters, Cheryl and Tricia. As a small child, Tim's dream was not
to become a professional basketball player, but to follow in the footsteps
of his older sister, Tricia, who swam for her country in the 1988 Olympics
in Seoul, Korea. At the age of 14, Tim had become a top U.S. competitor
for his age group in the 400 freestyle and was well on his way to achieving
his Olympic dream when an unexpected event dramatically changed his life.
This event was hurricane Hugo, which hit St. Croix with such power and
force that it destroyed all of the swimming pools on the small island.
Not only did Hugo destroy Tim's Olympic dreams; it had a more devastating
effect on his young life. At the time, Tim's mother, Ione, was battling
breast cancer. Unfortunately, the hurricane knocked out all power lines,
making Mrs. Duncan's much needed chemotherapy treatments impossible. Without
the chemotherapy, breast cancer soon overcame Tim's mother and she sadly
passed away.
The destruction of the swimming pools
caused Tim to focus his efforts on basketball. Tim first played organized
basketball in the ninth grade and continued to refine his skills during
high school at St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School in Christiansted. He
soon became one of the more dominant players on the island. In 1992, Chris
King, a former Wake Forest student who had recently been drafted in the
NBA draft, was visiting St. Croix with other recent draftees on a goodwill
mission to promote the NBA in the Caribbean. King was so impressed with
Tim's game that he persuaded Wake Forest coach Dave Odom to take a closer
look at the 16-year old prodigy. Although Tim was recruited by Georgetown,
Providence, and Delaware, he ultimately decided to attend Wake Forest in
1993.
IV. A rising star at Wake Forest University
While at Wake Forest, Tim compiled
an impressive list of awards, including receiving the Wooden Award and
the Naismith Award and being named the NCAA National Player of the Year
by the Associated Press, the US Basketball Writers, the Sporting News,
the Basketball Times and others. Although the general consensus was that
Tim could have left Wake Forest after his junior year to become the number
one pick in the NBA draft, he decided to forego the lure of the NBA for
one more year to complete his degree in psychology, primarily to fulfill
a promise he had made to his mother. Before her death, Mrs. Duncan made
each of her children promise to earn a college degree, which all three
Duncan children have successfully achieved. It had been a brilliant four-year
college career at Wake Forest for Timmy Duncan. Duncan was a three-time
winner of the NABC National Defensive Player of the Year award and left
school as the ACC's all-time leader in blocked shots with 431, second in
NCAA history. He ranked third in the ACC in career rebounds with 1,570
and was only the 10th player in NCAA Division I history to accumulate more
than 2,000 career points and 1,500 career rebounds. As a senior, Duncan
won all the national player of the year awards.
V. Fulfilling his dream on Spurs
It was a lot to live up to, and the pressure increased when, as expected, Duncan was selected with the top pick in the 1997 NBA Draft by the lottery-winning San Antonio Spurs. But Duncan delivered. As a rookie, he ranked third in the NBA in rebounding (11.9 rpg), sixth in blocked shots (2.51 bpg) and 13th in scoring (21.1 ppg). Robinson, a perennial All-Star center, gracefully deferred to his new teammate, adapting his own game to allow Duncan's to develop without limitations. Duncan became the first rookie to be named to the All-NBA First Team since Larry Bird in 1980 and was also named to the 1998 All-Defensive Second Team. As an encore, Duncan showed that "sophomore slump" was not in his vocabulary, as he led the Spurs to the 1999 NBA Championship, the first NBA title in the history of the franchise. He was seventh in the league in blocked shots (2.52 bpg) and was the only player in the NBA last season who ranked in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding, blocks and field goal percentage. Duncan, who was named to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive first teams last season, showed his resolve by increasing all his stats in the playoffs, from rebounds and blocks to scoring and assists. In the five-game Finals series against the New York Knicks, he averaged 27.4 points, 14 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in what was truly a memorable performance. Tim was unanimously recognized as the MVP of the series in addition to his strong defensive effort and leadership. Although Tim finished third in regular season MVP voting, Tim has been widely recongized as the premier player in the NBA at this point in time. Despite his amazing success in the NBA thus far, Tim remains focused in his work ethic and quietly confident in his attitude."He's obviously the best player in the NBA," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said after the decisive Game 5. "And not just because of his skill level. I think it's his maturity, knowledge of the game and that he just cares about winning. ... I think from where I stand, he'd be just as happy scoring fewer points if that's what it took to help the team win."
This season, Duncan has continued to make his mark as one of the league's best, ranking third in the league in rebounding (12.4 rpg), seventh in blocked shots (2.23 bpg) and ninth in scoring (23.2 ppg). He led the NBA with 66 double doubles. Tim further distinguished himself as the only rookie selected for the 1998 All-Star game. In Playoffs, Duncan missed the first two games of the Spurs' first-round series with Phoenix because of torn cartilage in his left knee, and his status for the rest of the series is uncertain. This much is certain: If Duncan had come back for Game 3, Phoenix would have had its luck thus far; if Duncan had come back, this world would have had the greatest hope to see Tim help Spurs become the second NBA champion; and if that had happened, the Spurs' opponent, whether the Lakers, or the Knicks, would have had its hands full with the pride of St. Croix.
VI. The slam dunker hero and "I"
At the airport on the lovely Virgin
Island of St. Croix, a banner proudly reminds all visitors that this is
Tim Duncan country. Birthplace of the 1998 NBA Rookie of the Year. Home
of the 1999 NBA Finals MVP. Native land of the player many consider to
be the best young all-around star in the league. But the San Antonio Spurs
forward has developed a fan base that stretches far beyond that island
paradise. And it's not just for his feathery shooting touch on offense
it's also because Duncan and teammate David Robinson can bring the hammer
down on defense. "We grind it out for 48 minutes, turning up that defensive
intensity in those last four or five minutes," Duncan said, describing
the key to success for the reigning NBA Champions. Duncan and Robinson
have become San Antonio's Twin Towers, two intimidating defensive forces
wreaking havoc throughout the league. They each finished in the top 10
in blocks for the past three years, and Duncan was fourth in the NBA this
season with 8.9 defensive rebounds per game.
His mastery technique as well as virtue in athletics won
him piles of praises. Clare Martin, an NBA professional reporter, remarked
that Tim is "a defensive tower of power". "He's
obviously the best player in the NBA," the New York Knicks' Head Coach
Jeff Van Gundy spoke his mind.
Perhaps what is of equal importance in making Tim
our hero is that he not only plays a superb basketball, but roles as a
model citizen that cares for others. "Together let's make a strong statement
that shows our commitment to caring for our community and its people!"
This is what Tim Duncan recently said on The Bowling For Dollars Charity
Event to Benefit Breast Cancer Research.
It is no wonder then Tim Duncan won the remark by
Bill Clinton, who said, "I realized he is a man with a keen understanding
for human nature, human spirit and what it takes to make things happen,"
said Bill Clinton. This is, I am sure, the greatest comment one looks for
in the value of life.
Main reference
Kevin Kernan (2000): Tim Duncan: Slam Duncan (Superstar
Basketball Series, 5). Sports Publishing Inc.
Mark Stewart, Mariah Morgan (Editor) (1999): Tim Duncan: Tower
of Power (New Wave). Millbrook Press.