Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Top defensive accolades: 15 All-Defensive Team selections, 15 years receiving Defensive Player of the Year votes
NBA rank: 3rd in defensive rebounds, 5th in blocks, 171st in steals
The all-time leader in All-Defensive Team honors, legendary power forward Tim Duncan earned the distinction an astonishing 15 times in his career, eight times as a 1st Teamer and seven times as a 2nd Teamer. That’s 15 times in a 19-year career, a ridiculous level for any player to attain, one that is almost hard to believe in hindsight.
Even more unbelievable is that despite Duncan making that many All-Defense teams in his career, he never won Defensive Player of the Year, one of the most shocking bits of trivia in NBA history. (He never even finished second in the vote either. He finished third twice, in ‘01 and ‘07.)
Regardless, Duncan ranks fifth in NBA history in total blocks at 3,020, as he had fantastic instincts when it came to protecting the paint, as well as the quickness and length (the Wake Forest product had a reported 7-foot-5 wingspan) to make a huge impact as a shot-swatter. Even as a 36-year-old in 2012-13, Duncan was still blocking 2.7 shots per contest.
Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs to five championships during his 19 seasons there, a number that would have been difficult to achieve without how great of a defender the big man was.
