Perfect player for troubled times (cont.)

Tim Duncan (above) would have been a great Celtic alongside Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, according to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. AP Steve Aschburner's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Steve. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

The hard part from where we sit is trying to come up with something new to write about Duncan, who shows far softer edges to the public than elbows to opponents. It's like figuring out something new to say about the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River or the Sphinx (at least when the great stone critter isn't whining over a referee's whistle). As in: It's, uh, still there. And, y'know, still great.

"He, as a 'big' right now, is by far the best,'' Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale said. "He's smart. He doesn't run around. No wasted energy. Things I'm trying to get our guys to do -- basketball's a game of read-and-react. Especially with young guys, they want to 'run' the offense. But the offense doesn't score -- the read inside the offense does. Things happen, Tim just stands there and goes [McHale very slowly looks left, very slowly looks right]. Then he moves into the open spot.

"Believe it or not, that's how everybody played. You didn't run on top of each other. You gave everybody space. He's different because, right now, for whatever reason -- either how the game is taught or how the young guys play in AAU or whatever -- it's, 'We're going to go as fast as we can, run around as fast as we possibly can.' He just takes his time. Let the defense make mistakes.''

Said Duncan: "I'm not a quick guy. If I can slow it down, take my time and go to my own strengths, I can neutralize a lot of what people are able to do against me. You try to make people react to you more than you react to people. When you can do that, you're the one in control. You know what's going on and everyone else has to figure it out on the fly. I try to base my game around that. That's how I've always played.''

For quite a while now. San Antonio recently commemorated Duncan's unofficial 1,000th pro game, adding up his regular-season and playoff (155) outings (but neglecting the preseason, his 10 All-Star appearances and a 2004 trip to the Olympics). It's a heavy load made heavier by the Spurs' routinely long postseasons.

"I don't care what anybody says, when you start getting to 140, 160, 180 playoff games, that's a lot,'' McHale said. "That's not like two extra seasons, that's like three or four extra seasons because of the intensity.''

In Duncan's case, then, it is both the years and the mileage.

"There are lots of things that change along the way,'' he said. "I've never been the most athletic guy, but my athleticism has gone down since I started. I'm not as quick, I don't jump as high, all that stuff. So [it has taken] a conscious decision about playing harder, positioning better, getting to spots, getting your feet set, giving yourself another half second to react to something, things like that.''

McHale, one of the great power forwards who played from 1980-93, indicated he would have relished an individual matchup with Duncan. He added: "There are guys who transcend eras. He's one of those guys. Back then, Moses Malone, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Bob Lanier, they just said, 'You better worry about me, too.' There are not a lot of guys who Tim has to say, 'I've got to worry about this guy tonight.' There's one now, Yao [Ming], who's going to give him the blues if he doesn't pay attention. But there are a lot of nights, I watch him play and I think, 'Boy, how good would it be to guard that guy on defense and save all your energy for offense? That's a pretty good trade-off.''

Popovich, too, could imagine Duncan back in the days of short shorts and tall hair.

"He's not Mr. Athletic. He knows it and he almost takes pride in it,'' the Spurs' coach said. "In that sense, he plays a little like [Larry] Bird and McHale played -- an innate understanding of the game and spatial relationships, what teammates are going to do and what's needed at a certain time. Never in a hurry. Always a patient, skillful player who understands the situation.

"I think that's how Kevin played, that's how Larry played. He's almost an anachronism. He's a throwback. He'd have been a great Celtic with those guys.''

Ouch. That probably isn't the way -- Duncan would have been a great Celtic -- Popovich or anyone else with the Spurs ought to put that. Not even these many years later.

Steve Aschburner covered the Minnesota Timberwolves and the NBA for 13 seasons for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has served as president or vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association since 2005.