Prime Tim Duncan was and nonetheless is a job mannequin for a lot of basketball gamers around the globe. He was the epitome of fundamentals and confirmed that you simply didn’t should be a strolling spotlight actual or trash-talker to be a winner. He led together with his play on the courtroom and introduced 5 championships to a small-market staff whereas by no means letting his ego get in the way in which.
Nonetheless, in some methods, Duncan could find yourself being an excellent larger position mannequin for gamers who’re previous their primes. He could not have been as gifted of an athlete or as spectacular as 40-year-old LeBron James appears to be like proper now, however Duncan is thought for his profession longevity, enjoying in 19 seasons regardless of coming into the league after 4 years in school and having notable knee points within the final quarter of his profession.
It began after the 2010-11 season, when after a red-hot common season, the highest seeded Spurs hobbled by means of a primary spherical upset to the eighth seed Memphis Grizzlies. It’s simple to level a number of the blame of that sequence in direction of Manu Ginobili’s freshly-broken elbow (which he admirably performed by means of) or Gregg Popovich’s confounding determination to stay with Dejuan Blair over rookie middle Tiago Splitter towards Memphis’ backcourt of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, however Duncan wasn’t himself both.
He turned 35 throughout these playoffs, and with age comes flair-ups from outdated accidents — on this case, a torn meniscus from 2000. As a substitute of pointing fingers for the huge upset or simply accepting he was approaching the tip, Duncan reformed himself. He modified his weight loss plan, misplaced weight to take stress off his knees, and accepted that he would wish to put on a particular brace for the remainder of his profession. None of it was enjoyable, however he was decided sufficient to maintain enjoying and maintain successful that he did what was needed. The reward was one other championship in 2014 earlier than retiring two years later, which included toughing it out for yet one more season than he deliberate because it meant the Spurs acquired LaMarcus Aldridge. Timmy at all times put his staff forward of himself.
Quick ahead ten years, and there’s a brand new period of massive males dominating, particularly Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. They each have MVP’s to their title, and their match-ups are extremely anticipated — once they really occur which isn’t usually sufficient as a result of the previous by no means appears to be obtainable. Embiid’s profession has at all times been injury-riddled. He ended up lacking his first two seasons from 2014-2016 throughout “The Course of” with a foot harm that didn’t heal proper after one yr and required surgical procedure to repair. (Random reality: this implies he by no means really matched up towards Duncan.)
He lastly made his NBA debut within the 2016-17 season, however even then he solely performed in 31 video games after struggling the identical harm as younger Duncan did early in his profession: a torn meniscus. Nonetheless, regardless of nonetheless happening to turn out to be a perineal All Star himself, that is the place Embiid and Duncan’s profession paths deviate. Regardless of the early setback, Duncan was an iron man and by no means missed video games until completely needed, and when Pop introduced participant administration alongside in his twilight years, he fought it the very best he might.
Against this, Embiid is coming into his eighth season at simply 30 years outdated — nonetheless comparatively younger and what must be thought of his prime — having solely appeared in a median of 54 video games per season. 2021-2023 was his greatest stretch, the place he appeared in 66 and 68 video games in consecutive seasons whereas successful his solely MVP title in 2023, however these are additionally the one seasons he would have met the brand new 65-game threshold that the NBA set for such awards in no small half because of Embiid’s (amongst others) lack of video games performed.
You possibly can’t blame Embiid an excessive amount of for being harm inclined — some gamers are simply extra unlucky than others — however there’s an argument to be made that he might do extra to take higher care of himself. Usually clocking in at 280 kilos or extra, he has been thought of chubby and out of practice most of his profession, resulting in missed video games within the common season and exhaustion within the playoffs, when he needed to play in each recreation. Not solely does his weight put extra stress on his knees, however his “floppy” type of play — always diving or falling to attract foul calls — doesn’t assist both.
Now, it’s a brand new season, and Embiid is already dealing with new scrutiny. He by some means wasn’t able to play within the 76ers season opener final evening, which they misplaced to the Milwaukee Bucks, and gained’t be prepared till at the very least subsequent week. This has led to many questions and even a possible investigation by the league to see if he’s breaking any participant participation insurance policies. Sure, he suffered yet one more harm final season and solely appeared in 38 video games, however he returned for the playoffs and performed for Workforce USA on the Olympics. Sixers coach Nick Nurse has confirmed Embiid doesn’t have a brand new harm; he simply flat out isn’t able to go.
On prime of that, Embiid himself additionally doesn’t appear too involved about being there for his staff, nonchalantly admitting final week he could by no means play in a back-to-back once more. Whether or not back-to-backs ought to nonetheless be a factor is one other story, however once more, he’s solely 30, and each different participant within the league has to take care of them as properly. Not solely that, however amidst all the shortage of participation, he’ll nonetheless inform you he’s the very best participant within the league and can complain if he doesn’t win MVP.
All issues thought of, it appears like he would favor the league conform to him as a substitute of the opposite manner round. Whereas he has reportedly misplaced “20-30” kilos this offseason, meaning he has been exercising exhausting within the final couple of months and must be in ok form to play, proper? His plan appears to be to only sit out half of the common season video games and hope he has sufficient “power” left to make a championship run within the playoffs, however then that begs the query: won’t enjoying in lots of video games really accomplish that feat? It appears extra seemingly he’ll simply be even much less ready for the grind of the playoffs.
Embiid is the third highest paid participant within the league, so not solely is he doing a disservice to his teammates by taking his time coming again and taking video games off, however he’s not residing as much as the contract he signed, and that’s seemingly why the NBA is investigating his lack of participation. The truth is that if Embiid actually needed to, he might get himself in higher form and prepared for the complete grind of an NBA season.
If he ever decides he’s able to put in that work, his first telephone name must be to one of many biggest huge males of all time, who confirmed that longevity might be achieved with the correct coaching, preparation and care. Tim Duncan had that successful, unselfish mindset that he would do something to assist his staff, metropolis and teammates win. If Embiid ever reaches that mindset too, he ought to know who to name.
