Tim Duncan, Without Supporting Cast, Would Never Be Considered Greatest PF Ever

Tim Duncan.

The mere mentioning of his name produces thoughts of a hall-of-fame worthy career, NBA championships, and possibly the greatest power forward in the history of the NBA.

But I'm here to challenge that.

If you take a close look at the rosters of his MVP and championship seasons, names of players such as David Robinson, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili come up.

The three mentioned are all destined for the hall-of-fame in my opinion, plus, David Robinson has already been enshrined.

So one has to wonder, without the inside scoring of Tony Parker, the big man tandem with David Robinson, and Manu's utter dominance, would Tim Duncan have had the highly-decorated career he has today?

I'm here to challenge whether or not he could.

Now, Tim Duncan is still as skilled as any other power forward ever to play the game. He has a nice post game, a sweet bank-shot, and is almost automatic at the charity stripe.

But if you take a good look, there have been countless players with such skill, but because of their empty trophy cases they have been forgotten and lost in the history of the NBA.

Also, basketball is notoriously a team sport.

If you take a look back at all of the NBA dynasties, the supporting cast surrounding the star of the team was always solid.

Here are a few examples:

Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Michael Cooper. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant(along with countless others). Larry Bird had Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Bill Walton.

You may or may not see this, but Tim Duncan had quite the supporting cast, also. I can name at least a dozen role players that, without them, the task of winning an NBA title would seem too large for Duncan's Spurs.

These players include Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen, Steve Kerr, and Brent Barry, who all contributed to their NBA title wins.

History has shown us that highly decorated players receive much of the glory and recognition. For example, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant all have been at the receiving end of NBA titles and MVP trophies, but one has to wonder, without the role players and supporting cast, would they ever be considered top 5 players of all-time(yes, Kobe is a top 5 player of all-time in my book)? Or would they ever had been able to accomplish their many feats?

Tim Duncan's name should soon also be added to that question.

Without the supporting cast, Tim Duncan would never be considered the greatest ever.