The most underrated superstar has retired but is Duncan. The number one power forward in history is too low-key

On July 28, in the vast history of the NBA, Tim Duncan's name always exists in an almost humble manner. This legendary star, recognized as the "No. 1 power forward in history", won 5 championships in his career, 3 finals MVPs, and 2 regular season MVPs, but rarely became the core of the discussion of "Best Player in History". When people are keen to compare the historical status of Jordan, James, Kobe and even Curry, Duncan's name is often ranked around seventh - this "low-key misalignment" is precisely one of the most intriguing phenomena in basketball history.

###1. The dominance covered by data

Duncan's career average of 19 points and 10.8 rebounds seems "unusual", far less shocking than Chamberlain's 30+20 or O'Neal's violent aesthetics. But in-depth analysis will reveal that his victory contribution value (WS) is fifth in history, his defensive victory contribution value is third in history, and his playoff double-double is first in history. More importantly, he allowed the Spurs to maintain more than 50 wins for 19 consecutive years, and even Jordan's Bulls dynasty failed to achieve this stability.

The 2003 Finals against the Nets had a "quasi-four double" in a single game of 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks, as well as the terrifying data of averaging 24.2 points, 17 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 5.3 blocks per game in the Finals, making it the most underrated peak performance in NBA history. Byron Scott, then head coach of the Nets, once said: "We developed three plans to defend Duncan, and he destroyed them all."

###2. Subverting the traditional "anti-superstar" traits

Duncan's "low-key" is essentially a subversion of basketball philosophy. He refused fancy cross-dribbling and violent dunks, instead of 45-degree shots, textbook low-post singles and precise defense positions. This "boring" technical style made ESPN show in a 2013 survey that only 7% of fans thought Duncan's game "watching" - although the Spurs team cooperation was hailed by experts as "the ultimate form of basketball."

His leadership is also anti-traditional: he did not roar and beat his chest, only studied videos with Popovich before the game until the early morning; he did not give a dressing room speech, but he used his actions to grow from a "crying rookie" to a FMVP. After winning the championship in 2014, Duncan silently gave up the C position in the locker room to the young Leonard. This "de-personalized" superstar temperament is an alien in the NBA, which emphasizes personal heroism.

###33. Cognitive bias in the context of the times

Duncan's career (1997-2016) just spanned two media eras: the lack of data visualization tools in the early Internet era, and his defensive influence was difficult to be intuitively displayed; after the arrival of the social media era, his "face paralysis" expression became a symbol of entertainment interpretation. In contrast:

-O'Neal has the "Superman" tag and the TNT commentary platform

-Kobe has Hollywood-style narratives and 81 miracles

-James benefited from the all-weather media exposure

Spurs reporter Jeff McDonald revealed: "When the ratings of the 2005 Finals hit a record low, President Stern privately complained that 'Duncan's basketball is too textbook'." This invisible deduction of commercial value objectively influenced his historical status evaluation.

###4. Reevaluate the historical coordinates of "Stone Buddha"

When reviewing with modern high-level data, Duncan's "real value" began to be rediscovered:

1. **Core of the defense system**: From 2000 to 2010, the Spurs' defensive efficiency was 8 times in the top three in the league, and Duncan's defensive coverage area was equivalent to the prototype of the modern "front sweeper".

2. **Inter-era adaptability**: From the "Two Tower Age" to the "Early Ball", he has been perfectly compatible with different generations of stars such as Robinson, Parker/Ginobili, and Leonard.

3. **Champion value**: The 5 championships have defeated 7 60-win teams of different styles (including the Peak OK combination, James Heat, etc.), and has never relied on the "super team" configuration.

The famous data analyst Ben Taylor uses the "Champion Probability Added Value" model to calculate that if Duncan retires in 2000, the probability of the Spurs winning the championship in the next five years will drop by 73% - this single-core bottoming ability is second only to Jordan.

###5. The basketball wisdom behind low-key

Duncan's "undervalued" essentially reflects the contradictions in the basketball evaluation system: we advocate individual heroism, but ignore the ultimate goal of "let the team shine" is the ultimate goal of competitive sports. When he retired in 2016, he refused all commemorative activities, leaving only one sentence "I am just a part of it." This philosophy of ascribe greatness to the collective is perhaps the scariest quality in the contemporary NBA.

When Parker said in his Hall of Fame speech, "Without No. 21, we all would not stand here", he perhaps gave the most fair evaluation: Duncan is not the darling of the data age, but the eternal coordinates of the winner basketball. In the hustle and bustle of pursuing "historical ranking", the existence of "Stone Buddha" itself is the silent interpretation of the essence of basketball.