Whether you believe he's one of the all-time great power forwards or, like Steve Kerr, you think he's a center, there's no arguing against the statement that Tim Duncan is one of the best big men in NBA history.
The San Antonio Spurs great won five championships, three Finals MVPs, and two NBA MVPs. He made the All-Star team 15 times, and he was named to the All-NBA First Team in 10 different seasons before retiring on Monday.
For a moment, let's go back to the December of 2005, when Duncan was at the pinnacle of his powers. He had just won his third NBA title and third Finals MVP award, and he was still under 30 years old, albeit just barely. On December 6th, his defending champion Spurs faced off with the Orlando Magic and their up-and-coming center, Dwight Howard.
Howard was only in his second year after entering the NBA draft straight out of high school. He was still two years from his first All-Star appearance, but his sheer athleticism and dominance inside had already started to captivate the league and its fans.
On this night, Howard was no match for the Big Fundamental. Howard went 4-for-18 from the floor; Duncan put up 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and had five blocks en route to a comfortable 110-85 victory.
After the game, Timmy was asked by the Houston Chronicle to evaluate the young Howard. In hindsight, his response is quite amusing.
(Thanks to Reddit user Len Duckworth for resurfacing this quote):
“I'm very old,” Duncan said, smiling. “I was looking at it before the game, and I'm something like 9 1/2 years older than (Howard). That's crazy. … “He doesn't look like a 19-year-old. He's got so much promise. I'm just glad I'll be out of the league when he's peaking.”
At the time, Duncan obviously had no idea that he'd play until the age of 40, and that Howard would seemingly peak from 2007 to 2012, in his early-to-mid 20s.
As Duncan continued to stick around, Howard's effectiveness slowly started to drop after he left Orlando. He has still been a strong player, but his impact on the floor is far from what it used to be.
Howard hopes to revitalize his career with the Atlanta Hawks this upcoming season and magically make Duncan's prediction come true. Still, even if he performs at a better clip than he did in Los Angeles and Houston, it's very unlikely that D-12 returns to his Superman days.
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