Stephen Curry puts Spurs’ Tim Duncan in his all-time NBA starting 5

Stephen Curry put San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan in his all-time NBA starting five.

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The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most successful organizations in the history of basketball. Victor Wembanyama has stolen the spotlight for the past few months, as the Spurs took him with the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, but before him, there was Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who were also first-overall picks.

The two big men established themselves as some of the best players in NBA history, but Duncan took things to another level. He’s widely viewed as a top 10 player of all time, as he led the Spurs to five championships during his time with the organization.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry recently placed Duncan in his all-time starting lineup. (H/t BuzzFeed Celeb, SpursNationCP)

“Past or present? NBA players,” Curry said. “I would pick Shaquille O’Neal as my center, Tim Duncan as my power forward, [and] Larry Bird as my small forward. Am I on the team? Michael Jordan as my shooting guard. Late addition, I’m not taking Larry. I’m taking Kobe [Bryant] as my small forward. Jordan at my shooting guard. And Magic [Johnson] at point guard. I won’t be on the team.”

In his 19-year NBA career, Duncan was a 15-time All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA player, a 15-time All-Defensive player, a two-time MVP, and a three-time Finals MVP.

Curry left himself out of the starting lineup, instead choosing to include Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson, wrapping up the lineup with a healthy mix of defense and scoring.

How many championships would this squad win?

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A photo of Victor Wembanyama towering over David Robinson, Tim Duncan had NBA fans in awe

This photo is wild.

Time to add another photo to our list of snaps of 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama making other famous people look comically small.

The San Antonio Spurs rookie tweeted a photo of him with some legends from the franchise he’s now a part of: David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott.

A reminder: Robinson and Duncan are tall people — 7-foot-1 and 6-foot-11, respectively. But Wembanyama makes them look … well, not that tall!

It’s just wild. This is the snap from the first team dinner Wemby had with the Spurs, and NBA fans were so much in awe of it on Saturday:

MORE VICTOR WEMBANYAMA:

Victor Wembanyama raved about his dinner with a few ‘generous’ Spurs legends

A handful of Spurs greats have already taken Victor Wembanyama under their wing.

Not even two days removed from the 2023 NBA Draft, San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama has already learned from some of the franchise’s great players.

Wembanyama reportedly dined with Spurs legends Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Manu Ginobili on Friday night, and the rookie raved on Saturday about how much they taught him and invested in him for their few hours together.

“In probably a couple hours, I learned more about the NBA than in my whole life,” Wembanyama said. “It’s comforting to see that these people, who are so important to the city of San Antonio and to the franchise, are such kind people, and generous, because they genuinely wanted to share with me their experience.”

What a cool moment it must’ve been for Wembanyama to get to engage with those Spurs legends in such an intimate setting.

The new San Antonio franchise face also has support from his fellow countryman and Spurs legend Tony Parker, as the two already had an established relationship with each other before Wembanyama was drafted.

“I know he wanted to go to San Antonio, and so it feels like it was destiny, with the French connection we built over the years,” Parker told AP. “And he is going to keep the legacy going. It’s pretty cool.”

Wembanyama is going to carve out his own legacy in San Antonio history, and it’s already so neat to see the Spurs greats of yesterday already embrace the franchise’s future star.

Anthony Davis joins Duncan, Hakeem and Kareem in exclusive group

Anthony Davis has had a nice start to the NBA Playoffs, especially defensively and on the boards, which has put him alongside three legends.

Although he had a poor offensive outing in Game 2 of the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Anthony Davis has been getting the job done overall.

He registered 22 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocked shots and three steals in Game 1, blocked five shots in Game 2 and had his best game on Saturday with 31 points, 17 boards and three rejections.

In total, Davis has accumulated 66 points, 38 rebounds and 15 blocks over the first three games against the Grizzlies.

In doing so, he has joined Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players in NBA history to put up at least 65 points, 35 rebounds and 15 blocks in the first three games of a postseason.

Davis has some lackluster offensive games from time to time, especially when opponents consistently double-team him, but when he plays the way he did in Game 1 and Game 3, the Lakers are very tough to beat and possibly a legitimate championship contender.

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ML Carr on when he tried to talk Gregg Popovich out of drafting Tim Duncan

As you might guess, it did not go well.

Rick Pitino is a name that has not been a popular one among fans of the Boston Celtics for many years now due to the gross mismanagement of one of the NBA’s marquee franchises during his tenure as team president and coach in the mid-to-late 1990s.

At least some of the animus against Pitino may not be entirely his fault, such as the bad luck leading to the San Antonio Spurs ending up with Hall of Fame big man Tim Duncan in the NBA draft. But that did not make the job of ML Carr any easier when it became his responsibility to try and talk the Spurs out of the top pick of the 1997 draft.

“We worked very hard to put the team in position to get, potentially, the first pick,” said Carr to NBC Sports Boston. “It didn’t happen.”

The Golden State Warriors are officially the new San Antonio Spurs and Steph Curry is their Tim Duncan

Steph Curry has led the Warriors to heights we never thought they’d reach

Immediately while watching the Golden State Warriors break down in emotion after winning their 4th NBA title in 8 years, my mind went straight to an interview put together by my colleague, Prince Grimes.

He interviewed San Antonio Spurs legend Tony Parker. They talked about his career playing for a dynastic team in the San Antonio Spurs, operating as a front office member on the national scene in France, and whether the NBA was in his future.

But, of course, they broached the topic of the Golden State Warriors. After all, they were playing in the NBA Finals. Obviously, this would be a topic. It was one they got to almost immediately.

When they did, Parker just gushed with admiration at what Golden State had built so far.

He reflected on the fact that he could see how special this team could be back in 2013 when his Spurs played Curry’s Warriors in the playoffs for the first time.

The Spurs won that series in six games, but most of them came down to the wire until Steph Curry rolled his ankle and the Warriors eventually ran out of gas in the final two. It felt like we were on the brink of one of his incredible performances before things went left.

San Antonio managed to escape, but it was close. And Parker knew it. He knew just how close that series was. He told Prince he was happy they were out the way.

“I remember when we played them in 2013, I was like, ‘Man, this team is going to be good for a long time.’ Like, they were so hard. That series was so hard. And I was happy when we were done playing them because I was tired — with Steph and Klay — and I was just happy to be done with that series.”

That’s the sort of respect Curry and Golden State commanded from, arguably, the most successful franchise in the last 20 years at the time. That’s high praise.

But it was easy to tell that Curry and his Warriors could be good at that moment. That wasn’t a hot take. But what we didn’t know was that the Warriors would spend their next decade chasing the same success those San Antonio Spurs had.

After these Finals, that chase is over. They’ve done it. They’ve caught them.

They came into this thing babyfaced. Now they’re grizzled vets. The photos from their first championship run to this one look like before-and-after pictures for some beard growth product.

This journey has been remarkable. But it’s not just the test of time that says they’ve caught up — it’s the numbers, too. From 2015 until now, they’ve run the NBA. There hasn’t been a more dominant force — only LeBron James has an argument.

Let’s run it down. They’ve been to 6 NBA Finals in the last 8 years and they’ve won 4 of them. LeBron James is the only force in the NBA that can even think about claiming to be as dominant.

It doesn’t stop there. We saw them eclipse those same aforementioned Spurs in these NBA Finals. During this series, the Warriors’ big 3 of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green officially passed the Spurs’ big 3 of Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan for the most NBA Finals wins by a trio in the last 30 years, per Yahoo! Sports. They now have 21 total.

At the center of it all is Steph Curry. If the Warriors had a Tim Duncan, he’d be it.

Yes, before you start, I’m well aware he’s far more flashy. And there’s certainly not a physical comparison to be made here. But the comparison was never physical — it’s what they represent.

Duncan wasn’t the flashiest player. He didn’t drop-step and dunk on your head disrespectfully like Shaquille O’Neal and he wasn’t draining fadeaway jumpers while throwing down windmills like Kobe Bryant. He didn’t have the same mean streak as Kevin Garnett and wasn’t as smooth as Tracy McGrady.

But it didn’t matter. He got the job done and did it as well as any of them.

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Curry is certainly a far more exciting player than Duncan — and he can get pretty cocky, too, which is also quite a treat. But you always hear about what and who he isn’t.

He’s also not the biggest. He’s not the strongest. He’s not the tallest. He isn’t Kevin Durant. And he almost certainly isn’t LeBron James.

But he is Steph Curry. And when the currents get their roughest and when the pressure is piling on, Curry is the Warriors’ bedrock — their foundation. None of this success is possible without him.

Because of that, he might be his generation’s best winner. And that matters more than anything else.

Steve Kerr compares Steph Curry to Tim Duncan after Warriors win title

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr compares Steph Curry to NBA great Tim Duncan.

The Golden State Warriors were able to win their fourth title in eight years on Thursday after they knocked off the Boston Celtics in Game 6 on the road. It capped off an impressive run for the franchise after they were given a 0.1% chance to win the title before the 2021-22 season began.

Steph Curry won the Finals MVP award for the first time in his career after they won the title after dropping 34 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the clincher. He did not win the award in any of Golden State’s previous three title runs as Andre Iguodala won in 2015 and Kevin Durant won in both 2017 and 2018.

After it was all over, coach Steve Kerr compared Curry to one of his former teammates, Tim Duncan. The two of them are humble, they are great human beings, and they are obviously supremely talented.

Now, Curry and the Warriors get to celebrate another championship during this amazing run they have put on. The Golden State dynasty might have just picked up again with this fourth championship.

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Manu Ginobili is a first-ballot Hall of Famer as one of the best international players ever

Manu is an official all-time great.

The Spurs’ dynasty of five championships might be over but they’re far from done getting their flowers. It doesn’t stop at the steward of their run, Gregg Popovich, becoming the NBA’s all-time wins leader in early March.

The latest news concerns one of the more unique championship pillars ever to grace a court in any basketball sense: Manu Ginóbili.

A gifted and deft scorer for 16 years in San Antonio, it sometimes felt like Ginóbili wasn’t appreciated the way he should be. Those legendary Spurs teams that managed to beat Shaq, Kobe, and LeBron in so many big games never do so if they don’t have the Argentine on their side.

The folks with the Basketball Hall of Fame agree.

That’s why Ginóbili is being inducted on the first ballot.

Goosebumps. I have goosebumps

The Ginóbili announcement comes on the heels of the reveal of the entire Class of 2022, which also includes:

  • Swin Cash — four-time WNBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist
  • Tim Hardaway — five-time NBA All-Star
  • Bob Huggins — two-time NCAA Coach of the Year
  • George Karl — sixth all-time in NBA wins

With all due respect to these legends, it’s Ginóbili who is the unquestioned headliner.

Now at the age of 44 and since retired, Ginóbili entered the NBA game a little late. He wasn’t breaking the hearts of the Lakers in a black jersey until he was 22 — over three years after the Spurs drafted him. Instead of jumping to the United States right away, the Argentine decided to plug away a little longer elsewhere and play in Italy.

Oh and at the same time: His beloved Virtus Bologna won the EuroLeague in 2001 where he was crowned EuroLeague Finals MVP.

When Ginóbili finally decided to make the leap and join Tim Duncan and Popovich in 2002, it was all downhill from there. Not only was he an integral part of four championship teams, he was a player of unquestioned versatility:

  • Two-time All-Star 
  • Two-time All-NBA Third Team
  • Sixth Man of the Year (2008)

Sure, it might not seem like the most impressive ledger at first. But when you remember that Ginóbili most often came off the bench for the Spurs to light other teams up, you reconsider. He was a one-of-a-kind microwave scorer and the heart and soul of one of the NBA’s best-ever teams.

Ginóbili will enter the Hall of Fame in the conversation for the best international NBA player ever. Which, you won’t hear any argument for me. As a proud Argentine, he helped grow the league and the game on a worldwide scale, and then some. I’d even go as far as to say that his status as an international player comes before his esteemed reputation as a cog in the Spurs machine.

Manu Ginóbili is an all-time basketball great. It’s really heartening to see the powers that be give him, among all people, the flowers he truly deserves.

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Which NBA players had the most blocks in their career?

Who has swatted the most shots in NBA history? Here are the league’s all-time blocks leaders.

The modern NBA is predicated on offense, with players pulling up from way beyond the 3-point line on a nightly basis. The emphasis on taking the ball to the rim has changed radically, as has the need to protect the rim. As such, the players in NBA history with the most career blocks feel like titans from another era.

The modern game has a few defensive stalwarts such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. They know how to protect the rim at all costs. Still, the modern top dogs on defense don’t hold a candle to the Association’s greatest.

From fingering wagging and intense tempers to safety goggles and mild manners, the men with the most career blocks in NBA history have one thing in common: They know how to lock it down on defense.

Nick Wright argues for Hakeem Olajuwon as greatest NBA defender ever

In response to Draymond Green arguing for himself as the NBA’s top all-time defender, Nick Wright explains why Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan should be No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

Current Golden State forward Draymond Green continues to make the case for himself as the NBA’s top defender of all-time. But there’s a Hall of Famer from the Houston Rockets who appears to have a better one.

Hakeem Olajuwon was twice named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, and he made first- or second-team All-Defense nine times. By comparison, Green has won Defensive Player of the Year just once and has made first- or second-team All-Defense six times.

Perhaps most notably, Olajuwon led his Rockets to a pair of titles as the team’s clear best player, which can’t be said for Green on a Warriors squad that is led by perennial MVP candidate Stephen Curry.

On Fox Sports 1’s First Things First, veteran NBA media personality Nick Wright recently made the case for Olajuwon over Green:

Draymond Green went out and once again and said he’s the greatest defender in NBA history. And, listen, Draymond is one of the greatest defenders ever. I believe he should have won three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards, I’m on the record on that from years ago.

With that said: Stop it. Here’s the deal, Draymond. We don’t even have to talk Bill Russell, it’s too long ago, set him aside. If we just go post-merger, we’ve got to respect our elders here, and I’m not even talking about the great and underrated and Top 75 snub Sidney Moncrief, or Dennis Rodman, or Scottie Pippen, or even Dikembe Mutombo.

Even if you think you’re better than all of those guys, the two greatest defenders in modern NBA history are: No. 2, the somehow wildly underrated Tim Duncan, and No. 1 with a bullet, unquestionably the greatest defensive player of the last 50 years in the NBA, Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon. Hakeem’s blocks record will never be broken, ever. He has 3,800 blocks. The next closest is 3,200. If you added up Ben Wallace’s blocks and Dwight Howard’s blocks, you would barely pass Hakeem’s blocks, okay? Steals, he’s 10th all-time. As a center! There’s not another center in the top 60.

Hakeem Olajuwon is the greatest defender of all-time and I’m not asking you to go to (old archives) to watch tapes of him. Your guys’ careers damn near overlapped. So, I respect you Draymond, but just simmer down a bit. Hakeem “The Dream”: Greatest defender ever. Everybody knows it. Let’s move on. Thank you, Draymond.

Wright’s complete rant on Green versus Olajuwon, which runs for approximately two minutes, can be viewed below.

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