Tim Duncan

[...] Big men, who would otherwise be assigned the post, shoot threes now. Lord knows they have all long since wanted to. By way of example, Zach Randolph decided one day under the reign of Isiah Thomas in New York that he would cast start casting them up, despite a sub-30% success rate and the fact he was a 20/10 double-double guy around the rim at the time, while Tim Duncan and his famed resolution to never try and play outside of what he was capable of enjoyed the fact that he may have been voted into the 2002 All-Star Game as a de facto small forward because he felt it would allow to him “shoot more threes”. Big guys have always liked the novelty – see also, Dwight Howard in the All-Star game. But now, they actually do it. [...]

This post is essentially an addendum to this previous post. That post talked about an NBA contract that had accidentally been created and ratified in violation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Specifically, it talked about Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies.

It appears now, however, that that is not the only instance of the rule in question being violated. The rule in question - whereby the salary in a player option year cannot be for less than that of the year immediately preceding it, explained at much greater length in the previous post - also appears to be broken in the case of Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Per official league salary figures, Duncan's new contract, signed this month, calls for salaries of $9,638,554 in 2012/13, $10,361,446 in 2013/14, and an even $10 million in 2014/15. The final year is a player option year, NOT a year immediately following an early termination option (again see previous post), and thus the salary in the 2014/15 season should not be any lower than the $10,361,446 of the season before it. It appears, however, that it is.

It was previously said that it is very rare to see the league make a mistake on a matter such as this, and it still is. But to make the same one twice is even more so.

In re-signing for four years and $80 million with the Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki was able to secure himself only the second no-trade clause in the league. The other one belongs to Kobe Bryant. Not many players are eligible for no-trade clauses; to be eligible, a player has to have 8 years of NBA experience, at least four years of which have to have been with the team he's signing with (albeit not necessarily consecutive years). Other eligible players such as Paul Pierce and Tim Duncan could have had them worked into their most recent contracts, but didn't; then again, they didn't really need to. They're not being traded. Not now, not ever.

Only six players in the history of NCAA basketball have ever recorded more than 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks. Those six are David Robinson (1st overall pick, 1987), Pervis Ellison (1st overall pick, 1989), Derrick Coleman (1st overall pick, 1990), Tim Duncan (1st overall pick, 1997), Alonzo Mourning (2nd overall pick, 1992, behind only Shaquille O'Neal) and Kyle Hines (undrafted, 2008).

(The Cliff Notes version of my alternative non-Jamesy plan - sign Dirk Nowitzki for a hell of a lot of money; trade Kirk Hinrich to Orlando for Marcin Gortat and a signed-and-traded Anthony Johnson; sign Roger Mason, Marcus E. Williams, Brian Skinner and Eddie House; draft Xavier Henry, and buy a mid-second rounder and use it on Trevor Booker. But I'm fully expecting Dirk to re-sign with Dallas, as should you. There is barely such a thing as a lifer in today's NBA, but Dirk, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant should be four examples of such. In fact, if they're not, something's gone gravely wrong and people must be held accountable.)