To me KG is the greatest Power Forward to play this game (With honorable mention to Dave DeBusschere, Kevin Mchale, Bob Pettit, and Elvin Hayes)
Honestly I never respected Tim Duncan. Not for him as a person or his unselfishness on the court, but his career.
Duncan is not a power forward. He is a center that plays power forward. He played PF due to him playing with Robinson. Then when he retired, Duncan was too scared to play against Shaq when he was on the Lakers so he stayed in that position.
Also people really overlook how stacked those Spurs teams were. From the '99 team with Avery Johnson, Mario Ellie, Shawn Elliot, Robinson, etc. Then later Kerr, Stephen Jackson, Ginobili, Parker, etc. Let someone say KG had any body on his team close to that. None of his teammates were no where as good as even one of Duncan's. To me its impressive that KG lead his teams to the playoffs and lost in the WC Finals in 2004 with Sprewell and Cassell as his best teammates
And now on Duncan the player. As crazy as it may sound, Duncan was overrated. He is the perfect example of a system guy. Duncan was the lone player in all those 4 titles, but so was Popovich as a coach. Popovich to me is one of the greatest coaches of all time IMO. One of the best at creating plays, and recognizing the talent he has and utilizing it to its greatest potential to succeed. One of the best half court executing teams. Duncan was not that great an individual talent offensively or defensively. I will admit had a very high BBall IQ and utilized the "system" to perfection and had the physical tools to do so. Not to mention he was the ultimate team player. He knows exactly where to be and it helps that he is a good passer. But when have you ever seen Duncan put someone in a phone booth defensively or dominated someone offensively? What I'm basically saying is Duncan's greatness is predicated on Popovich's off and deff sets.
KG on the other hand never had a steady coach on the Wolves except for Flip Saunders for a few years. Was the anchor on defense on a poor defensive team. One of the best defensive players of any position IMO. An exceptional passer. Also one of the best footwork for a big man. Only Mchale and Olajuwon are in his league in that regard. Duncan's defense is again a "system" defense. He plays good defense on only power forwards since he really is a center anyway lol
To say Duncan is the best because of his titles is wrong, given his very talented teammates and hall of fame coach. Is Kobe better than Oscar Robertson because of his 5 titles? Um..hell no. Duncan is not in the same league as KG
This is not a shot at Duncan to make KG look good. I am simply stating that he is not the player people portray him to be. Duncan should still be in the Hall of Fame obviously, but not in that all time elite status. KG, instead of Duncan, should be regarded as the greatest PF to ever play
Topic: Why Tim Duncan is overrated and KG is underrated (Read 18221 times)