Timothy Theodore Duncan was born on February 4th, 1976.
He grew up on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, and his favorite
sport as a kid was swimming.
Following his older sister, Tricia, who competed in the '88
Olympics, Tim was one of the top ranked swimmers in the U.S. for
his age group.
1989. Hurricane Hugo swept through the Caribbean. Duncan's team
swimming pool was ruined and Tim preferred to quit swimming and
not to practice in the ocean with the rest of the team (I think
the reason was sharks).
Tim started playing basketball as a 6'2 HS freshman. A couple of
years and 8 inches later, Tim was holding his own against Alonzo
Mourning.
In the summer of '92, Mourning and a group of touring NBA players
stopped in St. Croix for a day of exhibitions. Duncan, who played
against them, caught the eye of Chris King, a Wake Forest alum.
As a result, Wake Forest coach, Dave Odom, went to see the
talented islander.
Odom liked what he saw, and Duncan's impressing numbers: 25 ppg,
12 rpg and 5 bpg as a senior at St, Dunstan's Episcopal made him
recruit Tim.
As a freshman Duncan nearly averaged a double double in points
and rebound and set an ACC record for rejections: 124.
The then little-known 6'10, 230 pound kid with one year of
college experience was invited to play with college all-stars
against Dream Team II.
Duncan played 23 minutes, had 8 points, 5 rebounds and blocked
shot. He was playing against Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo
Mourning.
As a sophomore, Duncan raised his numbers to 16.8 points
(shooting 59% from the field), 12.5 rebounds and 4.2 rejections a
game.
In his junior year Duncan improved even more. It included a 33
points on 12-of-14 shooting against Maryland show, Wake Forest
first triple double in another meeting with Maryland and other
great games.
At the end of his senior season, Tim was named both the NCAA
Player of the Year and the National Defensive Player of the Year
(for the 3rd time in a row) and was named the ACC Player of the
Year for the second straight time. He finished as the all-time
leading shotblocker in the ACC history.
He was drafted 1st in the 1997 NBA Draft by the San Antonio
Spurs.
Duncan had a brilliant rookie season, winning Rookie of the Year
honors. He was the Rookie of the month for all sixth months,
joining Ralph Sampson (1984) and David Robinson (1990) as only
the third rookie to sweep the award.
In the playoffs, Duncan started all nine games and led the Spurs
with 20.7 points per game, shooting .521 from the field.
In his second season in the NBA he was named to the 1998-9
All-NBA First Team and the 1998-9 All-NBA Defensive First Team.
He led the NBA in double-doubles (37), also led the Spurs in
scoring (21.7 ppg, 6th in the NBA), rebounds (11.4 rpg, 5th) and
blocked shots (2.52 bpg, 7th).
Tim was named the MVP of the 1999 NBA Finals and helped his team
to win its first NBA title ever.
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