Corporate Knowledge: Tim Duncan is (expletive) good

by Jesse Blanchard

“(Expletive) you’re good.”

-DeMarcus Cousins to Tim Duncan, via the Sacramento Bee

DeMarcus Cousins isn’t particularly insightful with this statement. He’s likely watched Duncan for most of his life, been matched up with him a few times, so it’s not like this is some profound epiphany. But the brutally simple and blunt delivery Cousins chose to deliver this message makes this perhaps my favorite quote of the year so far.

Tim Duncan is still good, and perhaps he shouldn’t be. But he’s been getting stronger over the second half of the season, and that’s been enough of a surprise that we should also express that fact so colorfully.

• Over at the Express-News blog Spurs Nation, Tim Griffin presses pause on the excitement to note that the Spurs still aren’t an elite defensive team. Noteworthy is a quote from Gregg Popovich that might make some fans angry, but is absolutely true:
  

  “For our part, we spend more time on our offense these days because our defense won’t be as good as our defense used to be in the past,” Popovich said. “It just won’t be. So we have to pick it up some place, so we are a little bit faster paced.”

• Fixing defensive woes isn’t as simple as not playing Matt Bonner or emphasizing it even more in practice. And as nice as it would be to bring in a 7-foot shot blocker to help Duncan inside, most of the salary is tied up into the core of the team. Elite defenses are built around elite defensive players, and finding those guys along the front line can be expensive. Duncan has aged beyond the capacity to anchor one, so instead the Spurs have compensated in other areas.
• The Spurs still pay more than tribute to defense, which is good, because for every string of stops the Spurs put together they are able to put up points in a hurry, as the Kings found out last night. Over at Hardwood Paroxysm, Jared Dubin breaks down the scoring binge that put away the Sacramento Kings.
• Over at ESPN’s think tank Hoop Idea, it feels like Henry Abbott and Beckley Mason are trying to solve for everything the Spurs currently exploit, so it comes as no surprise that a Spur, Tony Parker, would win their first Flop of the Night Award.My thoughts? If you want to solve for flopping, don’t extend your elbow and set illegal screens in the first place.
• Manu Ginobili is rounding into form, but he’s also different. J.R. Wilco of Pounding the Rock details how.
• Even as an offense-oriented team, the recent additions have been enough that Sekou Smith over at NBA.com believes that the Spurs are primed for another extended playoff run.
• Over at Hoops World, Lang Greene thinks the Spurs are loaded up for one final title run. I disagree. When the core of your team gets to a certain age, if you keep saying this is the last run, eventually you’ll be right.But I think the Spurs can still be relevant the next season or two. After all, Tim Duncan is still (expletive) good.