{"id":280625,"date":"2025-09-12T20:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/280625\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T20:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:48:12","slug":"hes-gotta-get-a-rap-video-or-do-an-mtv-commercial-gregg-popovich-took-a-jab-at-reporters-for-not-giving-tim-duncan-enough-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/280625\/","title":{"rendered":"“He’s gotta get a rap video, or do an MTV commercial” – Gregg Popovich took a jab at reporters for not giving Tim Duncan enough credit"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a notable surge in the popularity of an array of NBA stars in the early 2000s. Guys like Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant were all the media was talking about. Then there was Tim Duncan<\/a>, who was the polar opposite to those guys. That’s why, despite his on-court greatness, he wasn’t getting nearly as much attention.<\/p>\n

This frustrated\u00a0San Antonio Spurs head coach\u00a0Gregg Popovich<\/a>. The person he is, he made sure to publicly stand up for his players, especially since the media was favoring the fan favorites even in the MVP ladder that season (2001-02).<\/p>\n

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“He’s gotta get a rap video, or do an MTV commercial, or he’s gotta moon somebody, and then you guys will notice,” Popovich told<\/a> reporters about Duncan’s great run.<\/p>\n

Popovich called out the media<\/p>\n

Duncan undoubtedly deserved recognition for his performances in the 2001-02 season. He didn’t miss a single game and averaged a career-best 25.5 points per game.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Kings were the best team that year, but the Spurs were right behind them. Popovich felt the media hadn’t put enough emphasis on the additions they made and how Duncan managed to maintain his high level of play despite having to adjust.<\/p>\n

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Instead, they were pushing the narrative that there was nothing new and interesting to discuss about the Spurs.<\/p>\n

“You guys (reporters) are living in a phone booth back east,” Popovich continued. “The guy’s led the league all year in rebounding and he’s doing whatever he’s been doing in scoring. Everyone is acting like we just picked up where we left off last year. We’re a brand new team with two new starters and a 19-year-old (Tony Parker) at the point. And Tim, in the midst of that, has been our leader all year.”<\/p>\n

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Related: “If I beat you in a game of H-O-R-S-E would you come and visit my school?” – When a college coach challenged Larry Bird to a game during a recruitment trip<\/a><\/p>\n

Duncan rightfully won the MVP award<\/p>\n

In the end, the NBA rewarded Duncan’s exceptional run that year. He was crowned MVP of the season after leading the Spurs to a 58-24 record, the same tally they registered in the previous campaign.<\/p>\n

The Spurs were on a roll that season, but the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated them in the second round. However, Duncan continued his dominant individual run despite the loss. The following season, he averaged 23.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game to secure his second consecutive MVP award.<\/p>\n

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The Spurs met the Lakers in the second round once again, but this time, they upset the defending champions. With Duncan leading the charge, they went on to win the NBA title, their second NBA championship in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Duncan enjoyed being lowkey<\/p>\n

Duncan was once asked why he was always low-key<\/a> and nonchalant despite his undeniable success. As expected, he came up with a simple answer.<\/p>\n

“It sounds somewhat arrogant, but I don’t really want to change. I like who I am; I like how I do things,” the NBA legend told Sports Illustrated in 2012. “I try to be that way.”<\/p>\n

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Duncan is living proof that the media sometimes overlooks great players due to their lack of marketability. Luckily, all of his peers know how great the Spurs legend was. And it seems the fans use their words when judging who Duncan was as a player.<\/p>\n

Related: “I didn’t get a call or a text or anything” – Chris Bosh recalls the moment he realized the Heat had moved on without telling him<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Sep 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a notable surge in the popularity of an array of NBA stars in the early 2000s.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[6170,7,3349,3064,1536,150,6,477,969,474,4075,4074,534,2594,1674,8079,2685],"class_list":{"0":"post-280625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-allen-iverson","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-gregg-popovich","11":"tag-kevin-garnett","12":"tag-kobe-bryant","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sacramento-kings","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","18":"tag-sanantonio","19":"tag-sanantoniospurs","20":"tag-spurs","21":"tag-the-spurs","22":"tag-tim-duncan","23":"tag-tracy-mcgrady","24":"tag-vince-carter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115193295933493396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}