Tim Duncan:

 

Current Team: San Antonio Spurs

Current Number: 21

Position: Forward / Center

Born: 4 / 25 / 1976 in St. Croix

Height: 7-0

Weight: 255 lbs.

College: Wake Forest

BIO:

Timothy Theodore Duncan was born on April 25, 1976 to William and Ione Duncan, in St. Croix (an island). He had 2 sisters, Cheryl and Tricia. As a small child, Tim's dream was to become an NBA player, but also to follow in his older sister's (Tricia's) footsteps, who swam for her country in the 1988 Olympics in South Korea at the age of 14. Tim had become a top U.S. competitor for his age group in the 400 freestyle and was well on his way to achieving his Olympic dream when an unexpected event dramatically changed his life forever. This event was Hurricane Hugo, which hit St. Croix with such power and force that it destroyed all of the swimming pools in St. Croix. Not only did Hurricane Hugo destroy his dreams but it had a much more devastating effect on his young life. At the time, Tim's mother had been fighting breast cancer. Unfortunately, the hurricane knocked out all the power lines making Mrs. Duncan's much needed chemotherapy treatment impossible. Without the chemotherapy, breast cancer soon overcame Tim's mother and she sadly passed away.

The Destruction of the swimming pools caused Tim to turn focus his efforts on basketball. Tim first played organized ball in the ninth grade and continued to refine his skills during high school at St. Dunstans Episcopal High School. He soon became one of the most dominant players on the island. In 1992, Chris King, a former Wake Forest student who had recently been drafted in the NBA Draft, was visiting St. Croix with other recent draftees on a goodwill mission to promote the NBA ib the Caribbean. King was so impressed with Tim's game that he pursauded Wake Forest coach Dave Odom to take a closer look at the 16-year old prodigy. Although Tim recruited by Georgetown, Providence, and Delaware, he ultimately decided to attend Wake Forest in 1993.

 

While at Wake Forest, Tim complied an impressive list of rewards, including the Woodsen and Naismith Award and being named the NCAA National Player of the Year by the Associated Press, the US Basketball Writers, the Sporting News, the Basketball Times and others. He finished his carrier as the all-time leading shot blocker in Atlantic Coast Conference history with 481, second in NCAA annals behind Colgate's Adonal Foyle. He also finished third on the ACC carrier rebounding list with 1570 and was the 10th player in NCAA Division 1 history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,500 rebounds in his carrier. In 1996-97, Duncan led Division 1 in rebounding (14.7 rpg), was 10th in blocked shots (3.3 bpg) and field goal percentage (.608) and was 28th in in scoring (20.8 ppg). He was the ACC Player of the Year for  the second straight season, leading the conference in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, and blocked shots. Although the general consensus was that Tim could have left Wake Forest after his junior year to become the number one pick in the NBA Draft, he decided to forego the lure of the NBA for one more year to complete his degree in psychology , primarily to fulfill a promise to earn a college degree, which all three Duncan children have successfully achieved.

 

In the 1997 NBA Draft, Tim was selected as the #1 pick by the San Antonio Spurs. and Duncan had a brilliant rookie season, winning Rookie of the Year honors by garnering 113 of a possible 116 votes (New Jersey Nets Keith Van Horn got the other three). He was the Rookie of the Month for all six months, joining Ralph Sampson (1984) and David Robinson (1990) as only the third rookie to sweep the award. Robinson ranked 13th in the NBA in scoring at 21.1 ppg, third in rebounding at 11.9 rpg, sixth in shot blocking at 2.51 bpg, and fourth in field goal percentage t .549. He led the NBA with 57 double-doubles for the season and became only the 19th rookie in the NBA history to too average over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. He scored in double figures 77 times in his 82 starts, including each of his final 52 games. He had 20 points 50 rebounds, at Golden State on March 4. He set a Spurs rookie record by hauling down 22 rebounds at Chicago on November 3, handed out a carrier-high nine assists against Detroit on Feb. 17 and twice blocked eight shots. Duncan was selected as a reserve for Grant Hill in 1995. He scored two points and tied for game honors with 11 rebounds in just 14 min. In the playoffs, Duncan started all nine games and led the Spurs with 20.7 ppg, shooting .521 from the field. He was second behind David Robinson in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and shot blocking (2.56). He would then with the help of Sean Elliot, David Robinson and the rest of the Spurs go on to win the 1999 NBA Championship.