Image via Complex Original
Not every dominant athlete dominates the headlines. Some are fundamentally sound without being flashy. Some give boring soundbites. Others just don’t get covered because they play for bad teams.
Tim Duncan fits the criteria. In today’s short-attention-spanned social media age, no Vine of the Big Fundamental sinking another bank shot is going to break the Internet. And while every basketball fan knows that Duncan—who may or not be hanging up his kicks after 19 of the most impressive seasons in NBA history—will go down as one of the best ever, has his greatness truly been appreciated by us all?
Look at the stats of some of the most popular players from the last 20 years and you’d be shocked how much some of them have flown under the radar. In honor of Duncan and all he's accomplished, this is the list of the “I didn’t realize he was that good” players from the past 20 years—The 9 Most Overshadowed Players.
Tony Romo
Overshadowed By: His own failures
Career Stats: 34,154 yards, 247 touchdowns, 117 interceptions, 97.1 passer rating
No player has been the target of more NFL memes than Tony Romo, and perhaps rightfully so. His late-game mishaps are perhaps the most documented follies in NFL history.
But Romo is statistically elite. He has at least 26 touchdowns in eight of his last 10 seasons. He has more touchdown passes than Hall of Famers Jim Kelly, Steve Young, and Terry Bradshaw. Everybody always talks about how Russell Wilson came from being drafted in the third round, but nobody ever talks about how Romo went from being undrafted to a perennial Pro-Bowler.
It’s time to appreciate Romo for who he is: A spectacular, elite talent—and punchline.
Pau Gasol
Overshadowed By: Bad Grizzlies teams, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose drama
Career Stats: 18.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 2002 Rookie of the Year, 2 NBA titles
Only once has Pau Gasol failed to averaged fewer than 16.5 points per game and seven rebounds per game since he came into the NBA in 2001. But he played much of his career on mediocre Grizzlies teams—he never won a playoff game until he was traded to the Lakers in 2008. And even then, he played second-fiddle to Kobe Bryant.
Gasol is still putting up All-Star numbers as a 35-year-old with the Bulls, but that has been lost in the current swirl of drama surrounding the organization. He will have, believe it or not, a compelling case for the Hall of Fame when he hangs 'em up.
Carlos Beltran
Overshadowed By: Bad Royals teams, Derek Jeter, David Wright, Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS
Career Stats: .280 avg., 399 home runs, 1,458 RBI, 311 steals
You probably didn’t even realize Carlos Beltran’s statistics were that good.
Beltran has been dominant on all fronts during his 19 seasons in the big leagues, hitting for power, average and blazing through the basepaths—not to mention the three Gold Gloves he won in center field.
However, he spent his first six seasons on losing Royals teams. And he is perhaps best remembered for striking out looking with the bases loaded in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Despite his choke that season he is one of the best postseason hitters to ever play, with a .332 average, 16 homers and 40 RBI in 52 playoff games. Such is life when you sign with the Mets.
Fred Taylor
Overshadowed By: Edgerrin James, LaDainian Tomlinson, Priest Holmes, Adrian Peterson
Career Stats: 11,695 rushing yards, 66 touchdowns, seven 1,000-yard seasons.
The former Jaguars running back had more career rushing yards than O.J. Simpson or Eddie George. And somehow, he made just one Pro Bowl in 13 NFL seasons.
Zach Randolph
Overshadowed By: Small markets, Off-the-court transgressions, flip phones, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Kevin Garnett Career Stats: 17.0 ppg, 9.4 bpg, 17.3 career PER
Z-Bo has been a model of consistency few others in sports have matched: He has averaged at least 15 points and eight rebounds in 11 of the last 12 NBA seasons. You probably didn’t even realize that because Randolph’s a name that seldom gets mentioned with the superstars.
After playing his first six years with the Blazers and the next two with the Knicks and Clippers, he was underrated not just to fans, but executives. L.A. traded him to the Grizzlies for journeyman Quentin Richardson, who was traded three days after being acquired. Randolph has made two All-Star teams and was a pivotal part of Grizzlies teams that made the playoffs six straight seasons.
Curtis Martin
Overshadowed By: LaDainian Tomlinson, Jerome Bettis, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk
Career Stats: 14,101 yards, 90 touchdowns, five Pro Bowls, 2012 Hall of Fame inductee
The only three players to rush for more career yards than Martin are Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders. He recorded at least 1,000 yards in each of his first 10 NFL seasons. Yet when he was playing, it often seemed that he flew under the radar. Martin’s highlights lacked the game-breaking speed of Barry Sanders or the physicality of Eric Dickerson. But he’d give you a solid four or five yards every time he touched the ball, which is equally as impressive.
Chris Bosh
Overshadowed By: The 2003 NBA Draft class, America
Career Stats: 19.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG, 2 NBA titles
Chris Bosh is more than just a dinosaur doppelganger: He’s one of the best players of his generation.
His first seven seasons in Toronto made him the NBA’s most overlooked superstar at the time: He averaged at least 22 points per game from 2006-2010.
Had he stayed there he could still probably be putting up 20 a game. But when you move to a team with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, you’re only going to get so many scoring chances—though Bosh has never averaged less than 16 points per game with the Heat while morphing into a reliable outside threat. And let’s not forget the fact that he has two rings to his name.
Marvin Harrison
Overshadowed By: Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, his own personality
Career Stats: 1,102 receptions, 14,580 yards, 128 touchdowns, Hall of Fame finalist 2014, 2015
When did you ever even hear Harrison talk while he was playing?
He lacked the flash of T.O., the speed of Randy Moss, and the star of Harrison’s teams was the best statistical quarterback to ever play the game. So there was a lot keeping Harrison away from the spotlight.
Despite this, Harrison has the seventh-most receiving yards in NFL history and the fifth-most receiving touchdowns. Peyton Manning may not be the quarterback he is today had it not been for Harrison—who was his favorite target in Indy.
Tim Duncan
Overshadowed By: Shaq, Kobe, LeBron, everyone
Career Stats: 19.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.2 bpg, back-to-back MVPs, 5 NBA titles
If everyone knows you’re underrated, does that still make you underrated?
Tim Duncan is without question a Hall of Famer and is quite possibly the greatest power forward in NBA history. Nobody denies that.
But during his 19 years in the NBA, Duncan has never gotten the attention that many of his contemporaries have received. Kobe, LeBron, Shaq, Curry all have spent far more time in the limelight than Duncan—despite Duncan winning the same amount of rings as Kobe, one more than Shaq, three more than LeBron and four more than Curry. He doesn’t sell jerseys; his silver-and-black No. 21 didn’t even register in a list of the 15 best-selling NBA jerseys this season.
Nobody’s ever waiting in line to cop a pair of Air Duncans.
Yet, Duncan remains one of the greatest players in NBA history—dominating in three different decades. If this is it for Duncan, it’s been one heck of a run.