He also had some good teammates early too much like Wemby

IIRC he was a 4 year college starter and basically was ready to go day 1

Pretty sure Tim had David Robinson for that first championship on his team.

I remembered Timmy being the best guy on that team but it was a long time ago so I had to look it up to be sure. Some interesting stats –

Edit: This is just for the NBA Finals against the Knicks.

Timmy’s stats were ²⁷⁄₁₄, Robinson ¹⁶⁄₁₁. (Pts/Rebs)

Robinson was 33 years old at that point.

Robinson had 3 blocks per game, Timmy had 2. So 5 blocks per game average between them.

Timmy shot 53% from the field.

Dude Timmy was so good.

Legit the best first 10 years of a career since the merger. If his age 31-35 seasons weren’t legit the worst of anyone in the top-10, he might be viewed more unanimously in the top-5; instead he’s just one of many who have an argument in the spots immediately behind Jordan, LeBron and Kareem

His first eight years he was first team all nba all eight seasons, won three finals mvps, and two regular season mvps. If Wemby matches that people would probably be calling him the goat. Timmy is so underrated.

Obviously he was really good but also he was on a really good team bc Robinson got hurt. They had won 62 and 59 games the prior two seasons then Robinson got hurt and they got the first pick

TD, with two healthy knees, was a sight to behold

I think people are starting to forget how good Kobe was during the threepeat too.

“I don’t care what else he does in his career, taking this team to the finals will be the greatest thing LeBron has accomplished.” - SVG during that game

Yeah that was crazy. That was Lebron’s “I have arrived’ moment, similar to Wemby’s WCF game 1 perfromance.

Agreed

He demolished my very good Pistons team

Made it look like practice

absolutely absurd.

Bill Walton won with the Blazers in his third season. He is probably the most similar to Wemby in that it was also his first playoff run.

If we are going to talk about Russell and Kareem, we should also mention who they played with. Russells rookie year was with Cousy who was the MVP that year. Kareem was the MVP in his second year, but the Bucks brought in Robertson who was the second best point guard in the league, and 5th in MVP voting.

This would be like pairing Wemby with SGA or Luka.

Yeah it could be confusing, so I just find it simpler to use the Basketball Ref definition of “age season”

Yeah that’s a good catch, the age cutoff thing in the NBA can make these comparisons tricky. Still though, being in the same sentence as Shaq and Duncan at that stage is wild no matter how you slice it.

It wasn’t meant as an insult to the current NYK. Only wanted to point out the similarities of both involving the Knicks/Spurs and unlike the others, Duncan (and Wemby) were not facing all time great teams/players.

22 yr old Shaq faced an all time GOAT at his peak in Hakeem, Hakeem faced the same in Bird as well as Lebron in Duncan. Same with Dwight facing Kobe and Durant facing peak Lebron.

I lived in NYC in ‘99 (still do) and completely agree. This team is miles better than in ‘99. That was one of those post-Jordan era East teams that was just woefully below what the West offered (all due respect to their achievement). 

Just to add: We also lost Ewing on the way in 99

And I’m not saying we win or something - like you said, we kinda just had a great run - but if you’re facing an all-time great double big lineup like Timmy D/ DRob, who better to pair with Marcus Camby than Patrick?

Also want to add that ‘The Ewing Theory’ is complete and utter bullshit. For starters, he was essentially our 3rd option at that point - not our ‘best player’, cause he was fucking 36yrs old and had sawdust for knees.

But anyway were certainly weren’t fucking better without him; we beat the 1st seed Heat with him, then swept the Hawks with him, and were up 1-0 on the Pacers when he went down. Literally doesn’t even fucking add up: 8-2 with him that run; 3-6 without him. Bill Simmons is just a hater

And then fluked your way to the finals in 2026 by beating a bunch of frauds who were also coming off game 7 series. Spurs gonna win 4-1 avg margin of victory 15

For real, that ‘99 run had a massive asterisk with the lockout season and everyone being rusty. Y’all actually look legit this time around.

“Fluked” with a 37-13 record.

“This time we have talent” implying that generational players in Robinson and Duncan are not talented.

Yeah that 82 run especially gets overlooked cause people just remember Magic’s rookie year and then the 80s Showtime stuff. Kareem was still putting up ²⁵⁄₈ in those finals runs while being the defensive anchor.

They could have given Kareem the FMVP with his stats sure, but Magic turned on a master class HOF game when the team needed it the most. Dropping 42 to close out the nba finals as a rookie is crazy alone and there was no promise that Kareem was even coming back in Game 7 if they lost. Most teams are dead in the water when their best player goes down the 20 year old isn’t expected to carry the weight. Bro started at center ,away in Philly, eventually played all five positions, and blew them out. There’s a little bit of recency bias of course, he was literally the man of the hour with an insane game, but he’s THE reason they crossed the finish line.

People that say Kareem deserved finals mvp are just contrarians trying to be different. Magic literally won it for the lakers without Kareem. There has never been a single other instance of a single game obviously being the most defining performance of a series that deserves winning mvp

Kareem didn’t play and the Lakers still won…because of Magic Johnson

That series was declared over when Captain went down, so Magic as a rookie playing out of position from PG to Center and pulling the assignment to Guard Dr. J? Bro deserved that FMVP

Booker was also 23 (24 by the finals) at the start of the ‘21 season where he led the Suns to the finals.

Thanks! Knew I forget someone. I’ll add him in.

Luckiest nba franchise all time. Robinson, duncan, wemby( George gervin) 

Just a shorthand/term I’m using for being widely considered the best player on the team.

Man I remember they used to lob it up to him like he was Calvin Johnson. He didn’t have any post game, but you couldn’t let him catch the ball under the rim.

What happened to Dwight, I mean why did he fall off so hard ? Was it injuries ?

Having a degree in psychology helps.

Aside from his flirting with joining the Magic and his infamous laughing on the bench, I cant think of any other drama.

KG’s stories about Duncan’s version of trash talk are hilarious

Yep, and he was easily the best player in the hardest series against the Spurs. also famously it was those same playoffs when Shaq said that Kobe was the best player in the world.

The 90s bulls would have won in 6. Maybe 5

Honestly same

Thanks for the info! I didn’t know Russell wasn’t the best player on his first title team.

2021 was Booker’s age 24 season and while has an argument for the best player of that Suns team, especially among Suns fans…I left him off because Chris Paul was 5th in MVP and All NBA 2nd team that year while Booker got an AS spot.

That’s a fair point.

They were the original twin towers and one of the most “what if” teams in NBA history.

Hakeem was looking like a future MVP in only his 2nd season and Sampson was a generational athlete.

Everyone today knows about Hakeem, but Sampson also avg 21 and 11 his rookie season (1984) and looked like a future HOF. Entering the league Sampson was and one of the most decorated and hype centers ever to enter the NBA.

A 7”4 Big man with the athleticism and game of a forward (for that era).

3x National player of the year

2x Wooden award winner

Unfortunately Sampson would never reach his potential and was never the same after knee injuries and surgeries post 1986.

They beat the showtime lakers that season, dream’s second year in the league

This iteration of the Spurs is far more talented than the 99 Spurs imo

if there’s an argument to be made that a player is not the best on the team, you can’t really say they led the team there i don’t think.

What is disrespectful about saying that Shaq was the better player on those Laker teams?

It’s just a shorthand/term for being the Best player on the team for this list,

No one can’t. Wemby is the MVP of that team. Backed up by any advanced stat you can find.