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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v SPURS

June 6, 2007

Tim Duncan

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Practice Day

Q. You never command monetary mention and you don't have a slew of endorsement deals. Where did your humbleness come from? Where did you get that?
TIM DUNCAN: I am what I am. I don't know how else to explain it. I've been the same way all my life, and it is what it is. But if you've got some endorsements out there that you can throw my way, I'll take them (laughter).

Q. Robert is going for his seventh ring. What do you think about his collection of rings?
TIM DUNCAN: I think he should retire so I can catch up with him. That's my personal opinion. You know, what he brings to the table year in and year out, it's something you can't measure. His experience, his timeliness, and of course we understand the way he hits big shots. But he's one of those guys you can put in the game and you're just never worried about what he's going to do because you know he's going to do the right thing. Of course it shows in the championships that he's won and the different teams you've done it with, and the right situations he continues to put himself in.
What he does for us is immeasurable.

Q. You and LeBron, different styles on the court but both No. 1 overall picks and at a young age, playing for an NBA Championship. What do you remember about that first time, going to the NBA Championship, preparing for that, and what LeBron maybe going through?
TIM DUNCAN: I cannot relate to him in any way, honestly. I was in a much different situation. I was on a veteran squad and I was more of a piece of the puzzle. I think he's a much bigger piece of this puzzle. They're asking him to do a lot more. I don't know what our age difference was, but I'm going to imagine I think I was a little older than him. But I had guys like Avery and Dave and Sean and Mario. These were veteran guys that had been around the league. The ability to kind of lean on him and follow them through it is I think a bit of a different situation than LeBron has.

Q. Does that make it even more impressive what he's been able to do to get here because, as you said, you had all those guys to fall back on?
TIM DUNCAN: Absolutely. It's absolutely impressive. I don't think I deny the fact that it's impressive what he's done thus far to get here. What the team was from a couple years back, and then to pick him and to put the right pieces around him, I think a lot of credit to Danny and Mike and the rest of the Cavs organization for putting that together. But of course, again, he's a big part of that and a big part of that turnaround in getting to this point.

Q. How much will Mike -- how much of a factor will Mike Brown be given that he knows your team so well?
TIM DUNCAN: He'll prepare them well. I think him and Coach Egan and we've got a couple of other guys that were there that have been around our system and been with us for a couple years.
But the beauty of the NBA Finals is there are not too many secrets. I think you go in and you face a team, there are not too many things you're going to sneak people with. You have to execute your stuff, you have to bring the effort, you have to be able to play well for all that we can bring to the table and all that he can bring to the table about the opposing teams. It's about going out there and actually doing it.

Q. Why do you think more people don't shoot bank shots? It seems to be the general consensus as you say of coaches that it's a more forgiving way to make an angled shot.
TIM DUNCAN: Again, I can't answer that one. I've found it works for me and it's something I've stuck with. As I said, it makes shots easier for me, and as long as it works, I stick with it. I can't answer the question why nobody else uses it.

Q. What David meant to you that first season, not only as kind of a mentor figure but also just as a guy who was a focal point of this team, kind of allowing you to not carry as much of a burden that first Finals, what did he mean to you that run?
TIM DUNCAN: Well, I think having another big guy in the backcourt in the NBA, having someone that you can count on, is a really big deal. You don't see that in too many places where you can look across and have two big guys that can play at the same level. And in saying that, I think you've got to give a lot of credit to the other guys that were on that team, also, along with Dave, Sean and Avery and Mario. As I said, of course, those guys along with Dave were the ones that kind of put that team together, kind of kept -- made it easier for me to play the game and not be so stressed about it.

Q. We've heard about all the defenses that teams have thrown at LeBron, different looks. You get so many different looks, as well. But what are you expecting from the Cavaliers defensively?
TIM DUNCAN: I'm expecting a lot of changes, a lot of different things. I'm guessing that Mike won't throw a steady diet of anything at me. I'll have some opportunities to play a little bit of one-on-one basketball, I'll see a lot of double teams, I'll see double teams come from different areas. I've got to imagine that he's got a bunch of things that he'll throw at me and not just -- try to change it up so I don't know what's coming.

Q. You're depicting yourself as almost a complementary piece back in '99, but because of the evolution that you've gone through with the younger players, Tony and Manu and Bruce, does it make it more gratifying for you now, being the focal point and leader of this team?
TIM DUNCAN: It was an evolution, and just as I was brought into the situation with those guys, same thing with me. I was given the opportunity to have an influx of kind of young guys with Manu and Tony and Bruce being here for a couple years, and it's our responsibility to kind of bring them along. I hate to say responsibility now because those guys have been through this situation and they've got the experience just like we do. So we're just at a good point with a good mix of guys, young, old, guys who have been through it. It's just a good mix right now. I don't know how else to answer that.

Q. With these Finals being billed sort of as LeBron's big debut and everything, is that something that you're happy for him to be drawing all the attention away and you guys sort of being able to fly under the radar a little bit?
TIM DUNCAN: The fly under the radar question. It doesn't matter to us. It doesn't matter. It's great, it's wonderful for the NBA, it's wonderful for NBA fans. I think there's a lot of hype behind these Finals, and that's great for us, too. We're not worried about who gets the hype or what gets the hype, we're about winning four games and worrying about it then.

End of FastScripts

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