Proclaiming the Best Creates a Need for a Second Best

Fans and commentators of sports seem to always like to speak in superlatives about their favorite event or performer. Whether they are talking about “the greatest fight that they have ever seen” or “the greatest performance in a Super Bowl ever”, the subjective seems to always become objective, or something is the best, most or greatest, because someone said so. While these statements are only a matter of opinion and are not truly measurable, sometimes, it is better to pull back on proclaiming someone or something the unquestioned best or greatest something.

Throughout the current NBA season and playoffs, commentators have proclaimed Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant as two of the five top players who are presently performing in the NBA. Strangely, Cleveland’s Lebron James and Golden State’s Steph Curry have also been dubbed as two of the top five players in the league, and it is here where the superlatives create questions. If James, Curry, Westbrook and Durant are all among the top 5 players in the NBA, then who is number five?

The likely candidates are Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, James Harden or Kawhi Leonard, but each of these individuals plays for a team that is currently sitting at home watching the conclusion of the NBA Playoff. The question, however, is whether or not best player translate to best team. Chris Paul is considered one of the best at his position in the league, but his teams have never been past the second round of the playoffs while Lebron James is considered arguably the best in the league, but his teams have four defeats in six trips to the NBA Finals. Regardless, James’ two titles match the total number of titles of the other three “top-4” players, so team success seemingly has no basis towards being “the best player in the league”.

Determining the best something at something would seem to be more difficult that stating that someone or something is “among the best ever”. Unless there is a statistical basis against which the criteria can be measured, it would make more sense to state that someone is simply “one of the best in the league” instead of assigning that person with a position that can be too easily disputed. However, if we did that, there would be less room for debate, and it is the debate that makes sports special.

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Father Time Appears to Have Claimed Another Victim

First of all, allow me to say that I am a huge fan of Tim Duncan and of the San Antonio Spurs. I love the way the Spurs go about their business, both on and off the basketball court. I love how the team concept is more important than individual glory. I love how Duncan, a player who could be yelling about touches and shots and wages like so many current players, is willing to sacrifice his personal numbers and his salary so that the team can be more successful. I love how Duncan is willing to discuss areas where he can improve, instead of always placing blame on his lesser regarded teammates. I love all of these things about Duncan, which is what makes this so difficult.

There is a saying in sports that Father Time is undefeated, and nothing could be truer. Sometimes, with athletes, age comes on gradually, as it did with Ichiro Suzuki, and sometimes it happens all of a sudden, as it did with Peyton Manning. However, during the San Antonio Spurs 2016 playoff run, it appears that Father Time has claimed another victory.

In the Spurs Western Conference Semi-Final Series, won in six games by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tim Duncan looked both brilliant and inspired, and past his prime and tired. In game 6, Duncan accounted for 19 Spurs points, but after only scoring 17 total points through the first five games of the series, and only 25 total points through the four-game sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Duncan was the anchor of a team that won 67 games through the regular season and that tied a league record with a 40-1 home record, but that was through sacrificing his game for the sake of younger players. However, throughout these playoffs, the man who is second only to Derek Fisher for most playoff games appeared in looked as if these games might actually be his last.

Some will point to his lack of production as Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich possibly saving Duncan for the inevitable meeting with the juggernaut Golden State Warriors, while others will say that Duncan was simply taking a back seat to the future of the franchise, namely Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Whatever the justification, to the uneducated eye, it appears that Duncan might not have much gas left in his tank, but that would be totally acceptable after 19 years in the league, and after contributing more wins to a single franchise than any other player in the history of the game.

If Duncan is finished in professional basketball, the man will leave the game with more personal and team accolades than can be listed in a short piece. He will also leave the game with the respect of his teammates and peers, who saw him as a man who played the game the right way and was rewarded for it. The next move, however, is up to Duncan, but instead of destroying the man for possibly staying in the game too long, I choose to remember the player and his unmatched career. I choose to remember the player who never played in less than 70% of his team’s games in any season; the player whose team never won less than 60% of their games, who made the playoffs all 19 years of his career, and whose team only failed to survive the first round of the playoffs four times in 19 years. That is the Tim Duncan I choose to remember, and that is the Tim Duncan I am a huge fan of. 

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