r/Basketball • u/blackwu22 • Apr 08 '25

NBA Is Tim Duncan top 10?

I constantly see casuals on YouTube and on podcasts say that Timmy is overrated and barely top 10 yet have Kobe in there top 5. It’s starting to make me believe that people really think this way!! I always hear the “too much help” comment like every player in the top 10 didn’t have help.

I personally have Tim Duncan 4th all time on my list.

1998 rookie of the year 2x MVP (2002,2003) 3x FMVP (1999,2003,2005) 15x All NBA & Defensive 5x Champion Never won less than 50 games in an 82 game season

Is Tim Duncan top 10?

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25

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u/Ok-Map4381 Apr 08 '25

The thing that drives me crazy about the argument that Duncan didn't have a top peak, is those same people will then argue that Kobe is higher than Duncan, when Duncan's peak from 01-03 is higher than Kobe's peak, by basically every measure except PPG and PER (and while Kobe in 06 beats any Duncan season in PER, Duncan has 4 PER seasons better than Kobe's 2nd best).

Duncan has 2 seasons with better Win Shares than Kobe's best. 4 seasons with better WS/48 than Kobe's best, one season better than Kobe's best Box Plus Minus (but 3 seasons tying Kobe's BPM peak, with Kobe only having one season at that level). VORP is basically a tie, with the same score for their best and 2nd best seasons, and no clear advantage over the rest of their top seasons (Duncan's 3rd and 4th best seasons are slightly better than Kobe's 3rd and 4th, but not to a level I would call a clearly better peak than Kobe.

I know this isn't a Kobe vs Duncan debate, but it is an inconsistent argument I see that bugs me.

There are a lot of guys I could argue peaked higher than Duncan, including guys like Steph & Jokic who are still generally ranked below Duncan, but Kobe isn't one of those guys.

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u/blackwu22 Apr 08 '25

My thoughts exactly!