2011 NBA Playoffs: Tim Duncan's Historical Comparison Is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

After the Summer of LeBron, the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat entered the 2010-2011 NBA season as the favorites to meet in the NBA Finals and finish first in their conferences. Both teams can still reach the NBA Finals, but neither finished first in its conference.

Derrick Rose took his game to a superstar level and the Chicago Bulls will enter the 2011 NBA Playoffs as the first seed in the Eastern Conference. Although their success is surprising to many outside of the Chicagoland area, no team surprised anyone more this season then the San Antonino Spurs.

Many people saw the Spurs as an aging team whose best days were behind them. They hadn't advanced past the second round during the previous two postseasons and looked like they needed to rebuild their team.

They didn't make any flashy moves in the off-season by signing an All-Star. Instead, they began the season with three NBA rookies on their roster (James Anderson, Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter.) Franchises like San Antonio don't rebuild, they retool.

Neal has gone from an undrafted free agent from Towson University to one of the Spurs' key bench players. Just like George Hill from the year before, R.C. Buford and the Spurs management always fill their roster with undistinguished or unknown players, and succeed with them. Their ability to do this has made them the New England Patriots of the NBA.

Looking back, it's shocking to think the world is surprised by their success during the 2010-11 NBA seasons. The Spurs have only missed the playoffs once since David Robinson arrived in 1989. That 1996-97 playoff-less season was followed by the arrival of Tim Duncan in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Fourteen years later, they have yet to win less than 50 games or have a sub-.600 winning percentage in a season (with the exception of the 1998-1999 lockout season, when they went 37-13 with a .740 winning percentage.)

Tim Duncan has been the one constant on this team and has always won, no matter who he has played with. He is no longer the best player in the world, but his presence is still vital for the Spurs' title chances. In a recent stretch without him, they went 1-4 and were far from the best team in the NBA.

There is no doubt the Spurs are still Duncan's team no matter how much his playing time has decreased in recent years. This season was the first time the 35-year-old power forward failed to average a double-double. The reason for the decline can be directly attributed to the drop in playing time; however, he is still as dominant on the court as he was in 2005.

At this point in Tim Duncan's career, his historical parallel is beginning to resemble that of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In his 14th season, Duncan is averaging 13.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 28 minutes per game. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averaged 21.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 32.2 minutes during his 14th NBA season (1982-1983 season).

Both made the NBA All-Star Game during those seasons and remained an important part of their franchise for the foreseeable future. Abdul-Jabbar played six more seasons before finally retiring at the age of 42 in 1989. Duncan could play to a similar age and continue to have a big impact on the Spurs.

Although Duncan and Abdul-Jabbar in the latter part of their playing days resemble each other now more than ever, they have always shared several similarities in their NBA careers.

Both were drafted first overall in the NBA Draft (28 years apart) by small-market teams. They both won NBA championships in their second seasons, with aging teammates that are considered NBA legends. The Milwaukee Bucks brought in Oscar Robertson before the season to give Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) a championship caliber sidekick.

Robertson was far from the triple-double threat he once was, but could still play at an All-Star level. The complete opposite happened in San Antonio in 1997. David Robinson was the aging superstar, and a young stud was being brought in to fortify the franchise. Duncan and Robinson formed a duo known as the "twin towers", becoming one of the more memorable center/power forward duos in NBA history.

Duncan and Abdul-Jabbar were considered the best player in the world at one point in their career, and will go down as two of the best to ever play the game. However, no historical parallel between any players will sync up perfectly.

Duncan has spent his entire career in San Antonio and has helped the Spurs win four NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Lakers in 1975 and didn't win another championship until his career was rejuvenated when Magic Johnson came to Los Angeles four years later (Kind of like what Duncan did for Robinson).

Duncan made his living as a the ideal defensive anchor for a team, while Abdul-Jabbar was the definition of a finesse offensive center. The supporting cast Tim Duncan has had in San Antonino is championship caliber, but the talent on the 2005 or '07 San Antonio Spurs pales in comparison to that of the 1985 or '87 Los Angeles Lakers.

Tim Duncan is without a doubt the most underrated superstar in NBA History. He is one of only seven players to have won multiple championships and multiple MVPs. The other six are Bill Russel, Wilt Chamberlin, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar.

Those six players are on most people's top-10 list for greatest players in NBA history, yet Tim Duncan has never gotten the respect or attention he deserves. Part of this has been playing for a small-market team, that will never get the attention like that of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Also, the NBA has never promoted Duncan as one of the faces of the league. When he was winning championships and MVP trophies, hyped players like Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson couldn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs. A fifth NBA championship in the 2011 NBA Playoffs may finally give them his due.

Whether or not the San Antonio Spurs are the 2011 NBA champions, hopefully it won't take years of hindsight reflection for Tim Duncan to be recognized as an NBA legend like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.