HBO’s House Of The Dragon, a new show based on the Game Of Thrones universe, has currently captured the eyes of audiences worldwide. What’s that got to do with the NBA? Well, wars of succession, which is the premise of the show, are something the league is quite familiar with. Dynasties like the Celtics, Lakers, and Bulls have all enjoyed their time before another team rose, and much as with teams, so has it been with superstars.
Michael Jordan may have been the greatest NBA player ever, but he followed Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and there was an interest to see who would inherit his mantle upon his second retirement. The league was stacked with premium talent in the early 2000s, names like Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan all enjoyed success and became household names.
But the question remained, who was the best player in the league in the early 2000s? These days, everything gets hotly debated on the internet across several social media websites. Back then, the internet was in its infancy, though, and one of the first basketball forums saw this question shared with its users. The votes weren’t exactly what one would expect, to say the least.
Tim Duncan Was Voted As The Best NBA Player On A Web Forum In 2003
A link to the page on Basketball Forum where the poll was contested was shared on Reddit. 100 people voted, a pretty small sample size, but it was the Big Fundamental who came away with the most votes, claiming more than 4 times as many as his closest competitor.
Tim Duncan received 48 votes, with Kobe Bryant receiving 11. Tracy McGrady was perhaps a surprising 3rd with 10, while Kevin Garnett had 7, just 1 more than Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter’s 6.
Tim Duncan was a superstar in his prime, no one would dispute this, but he is not often someone that wins polls like these with such a hefty margin, he is historically underrated. It says a lot about his play during those days with the San Antonio Spurs that he was ranked over many of the flashier names on that list. It probably helped that in 2003, the Spurs had just clinched their 2nd championship in the TD era.
The question also probably helped, if people were asked who the biggest star was, for example, the answer might have been different. Duncan’s style of play wasn’t exciting, but there were very few holes in his game. Duncan being named the best is a testament to how great he really was in his prime.
