Perfect player for troubled times

Tim Duncan isn't showing signs of slowing down at age 32. Greg Nelson/SI Related Links SI VAULT: Duncan the best big man of his era Winning Is Everything The Spurs have been the NBA's best regular-season team since Tim Duncan's arrival in 1997 Rank Team Record 1 Spurs 630-263 (.705) 2 Lakers 578-316 (.647) 3 Mavericks 550-342 (.617) 4 Suns 542-352 (.606) Steve Aschburner's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Steve. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

Every time Spurs rookie George Hill tells the story, someone runs over to Tim Duncan to confirm it. And Duncan winces. It happened again the other night in Minnesota: Tell, run, confirm, wince.

"I have it in a case and everything. It was, like, a 'gold millennium' card,'' said Hill, a San Antonio guard who took the underdog route to the NBA -- he starred at IUPUI -- but had pull in all the right places at least this once. An aunt of his worked with security and ushers at the Indiana Pacers' home games, giving little Georgie ("I was 11 or 12'') access to the arena's back hallways on a night when San Antonio visited to face Reggie Miller, Rik Smits and the fellas.

The happy result? An autographed Duncan collectible -- "When we get back home, I'm going to bring it to practice and show him I've got a card he signed'' -- and a tale that makes Duncan feel old beyond his 32 years. Hill might as well have told his large teammate that he grew up watching kinescope replays of Duncan's battles with Alcindor, Thurmond and Mikan.

"Yeah, yeah,'' Duncan said, eager to change the subject. "I don't enjoy the story, no.''

And yet there it is, signed, sealed and soon-to-be-delivered evidence of Duncan's senior status and staying power. For all of his team's tweaks, adjustments and shifts in emphasis, he remains the big tent pole holding up the canvas over San Antonio's center ring. With Shaquille O'Neal on his way out and Dwight Howard still on his way in, Duncan still reigns as Goldilocks' choice as the league's best big man.

He takes heat for his boredom quotient; the new Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, courtesy of the FreeDarko Web site folks, dubs Duncan "Mechanical Gothic.'' It describes him as "the methodical plumbing that allows the NBA universe to function'' and claims he stands for "the magnificence of the mundane.'' It means all that in the best possible sense but, be honest, none among us would want to be likened to indoor plumbing or something from a utensil drawer.

Duncan, I would argue, is more than a thinking man's player or a purist's favorite. He is the perfect player for our troubled times, cash on the barrelhead in a world reeling from credit-default swaps, as reliable as U.S. treasury bills for folks snookered by the latest Bernard Madoff. There is something reassuring about a guy such as Duncan, whose season-by-season log is like a sheepdog -- at first glance, you're not sure whether you're looking at the front end or the back end, his rookie year or this, his 12th season.

"I pride myself on being consistent every year, and playing at the same level,'' Duncan said after finishing with 17 points (on 7-of-13 shooting) and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes in a recent victory at Minnesota. It came in between his performances against Atlanta (19 points, 11 rebounds, 7-of-15, 35 minutes) and Oklahoma City (20, 12, 6-of-12, 36). The only things missing were a clock to punch and the coffee breaks.

"Obviously, you want to be the best you can be, but it ends up where I'm sitting around the same area just about every year," he said. "I'm very proud of that and I hope to be able to do that until I walk out the door.'' A.k.a., quitting time.

Duncan's stats are self-contained and virtually interchangeable. If you clipped his personal record horizontally, one line at a time, you could toss them into the air and reassemble them in whatever order you picked them up. He is to 20-10 what Dr Pepper is to 10-2-4, what Hugh Downs was to 20/20: Bankable.

"The Big Fundamental. That's what I think of when I think of him,'' said Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love, who studied Duncan's prowess under the tutelage of his dad, former NBAer (and for 12 games with the Spurs, ABAer) Stan Love."That, and regardless of whether he's having a terrible game, regardless of whether he's having a great game, he's the same.'' As in deadpan expression. Stone face. Same old, same old.

"I think of winning, too,'' Love said.

San Antonio got incredibly lucky in 1997, coming up with the top pick in the lottery that May just as Duncan was wrapping up four years at Wake Forest. He got incredibly lucky, too, landing next to David Robinson on a good team experiencing a blip rather than next to Antoine Walker on the complete rehab project in Boston. Duncan, Robinson, coach Gregg Popovich, the rest of the Spurs and their fans have flourished together; San Antonio has won 630 of 893 regular-season games since (a league-best .705 winning percentage) and four NBA titles. Only Shaq, among active greats, has as many championships.