Emmitt Smith - Greatness Taken For Granted

 

To me, it's mind-blowing that a running back like Emmitt Smith's caliber can be so underrated. It's almost impossible to have one of the greatest records in all of sports and all of the other accomplishments that Emmitt piled up and still be underrated, but that's exactly what he is. In my opinion, Emmitt is undoubtedly a top 3 all-time running back, and a case can be made for him as the GOAT. What makes Emmitt underrated is that most "experts" have a hard time putting him in their top 3 and possibly top 5 all-time running backs list.

It just blows me away that for whatever the reason is, Emmitt seems to be the only all-time great that gets penalized for the teammates he had. All great teams have MORE THAN ONE great player. You don't hear much of anything about wins coming so easily for Jim Brown, Joe Montana, or Jerry Rice because of the talent surrounding them. All of the evidence proves the opposite, and Emmitt Smith is the only case you can say that about. Jerry Rice's team won the Super Bowl the year before he got there, and every year he was dominant he had a Hall Of Fame QB (see Joe Montana, Steve Young) throwing to him. Jim Brown's teams were always dominant, and he always had at least 3 Pro Bowl/Hall Of Fame linemen blocking for him.

Here is the evidence on Emmitt Smith:

1.) Made The Cowboys A Winner

The Cowboys were the worst team in football in 1989 with a 1-15 record, then had a 6-game turnaround in 1990. The team wasn't a winner before Emmitt and haven't been without him.

2.) Made Everybody Around Him Better

The best example of this is the fact that most of Emmitt's offensive linemen were there years before he got there, even blocked for a prime Herschel Walker, and still no Pro Bowl. Also, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin would be the first to tell you that their careers didn't take off until Emmitt became their teammate.

3.) Most Important And Talented Player On A GOAT-Level Team

The Cowboys won games without Troy Aikman or Michael Irvin, but not without Emmitt.

4.) Most Successful Running Back Of All-Time (Stats/Rings)

Emmitt was the most consistent and successful running back ever at every level. He is the only running back in the history of football to break the state rushing record in high school, the school record in college, and the NFL all-time rushing record.

5.) Enduring Greatness

After the Super Bowl years and Emmitt had slowed down, he had a bad line, the Cowboys had no other weapons on offense, defenses still sold out to stop him, and he still had the greatest post-30 football career of any running back in NFL history, not to mention his 2 years with the Cardinals. Judging from the impact he had on his team, I don't know if there has ever been another running back in the history of the NFL that made as big a difference to his team's success as Emmitt. In his 15 seasons in the NFL, he made an impact that few players can match at any position or any era.

As far as which running back made the biggest impact in the NFL in his career, I would definitely have to choose Emmitt Smith. There is more to the story than stats alone could possibly tell, especially since they don't always reflect the contribution or value of a player to his team, but at the same time numbers don't lie. In my opinion, Emmitt is the most productive and important running back in NFL history. No running back has ever contributed to the success of their team like Emmitt did. No franchise rode a back harder, longer, or to as many championships as the Cowboys did with Emmitt. No running back has accomplished more. That's why a case can be made for Emmitt as the GOAT. Let the "experts" tell it, a 5'9" running back that runs a 4.5 in the 40 is not supposed to be an NFL star, but now Emmitt has the most prestigious record in football.

One other thing I want to point out is that the rushing record is the hardest to get because a running back has to go through a lot of defenses selling out to stop him, along with staying healthy. To me, that's pretty convincing. I was lucky enough to grow up watching Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, and even though I'm not old enough to have seen Jim Brown play, I have seen a bunch of his highlights and heard personal accounts from several people at NFL Films who all have basically said he was a monster. I would easily have Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, and Walter Payton as the top 4 running backs ever, and not necessarily in that order. A case can be made for all of them as the best ever.

Emmitt Smith was everything you want in a running back. He was the epitome of a complete running back. He was tough as nails, a warrior (with durability only matched by Walter Payton and Jim Brown), a ferocious blocker, a lethal receiver out of the backfield, and if he had an open lane, most likely he would be adding another football to the collection in his storage room. He was also the Cowboys' best 3rd down back, best goal line back, and best pass protector........in the good and bad years.

So many people have a hard time acknowledging that Emmitt was a very special running back. He made it look easy, and so many people took it for granted. There is a reason the Cowboys could never win without him in the '90s. I'm not taking anything away from Troy Aikman or Michael Irvin, or anybody else from Emmitt's supporting cast, but the offense was completely different without Emmitt. He was the key to the offense running so smoothly. Nobody knows for sure what Emmitt's prime would have looked like without that supporting cast. I won't argue that he would still be the NFL's all-time leading rusher if he had switched places with Walter Payton or Barry Sanders. I also won't deny that he benefited from some good fortune, which ALL record holders do. All I'm saying is that Emmitt is one of the very best running backs in the history of not just the NFL, but football period.

The fact that Emmitt Smith's resume is full of the words first, most, greatest, and record-breaking still doesn't impress a whole lot of these "experts" who crave flashier and more dynamic players. Here is a look at everything Emmitt did in his career to become the most accomplished running back in football history:

-NFL All-Time Leading Rusher

-NFL All-Time Leading Postseason Rusher

-Monday Night Football All-Time Leading Rusher

-Dallas Cowboys Ring Of Honor (2005)

-Pro Football Hall Of Fame (2010)

-NFL 1990s All-Decade Team

-8x Pro Bowl Selection (1990-95, 1998-99)

-4x First Team All-Pro (1992-95)

-Second Team All-Pro (1991)

-3x Super Bowl Champion (XXVII, XXVIII, XXX)

-Super Bowl XXVIII MVP

-1990 NFL Offensive Rookie Of The Year

-1993 NFL MVP

-1993 PFWA NFL MVP

-1993 TSN NFL MVP

-1993 Miller Lite Player Of The Year

-1994 TSN Sportsman Of The Year

-2x NEA NFL MVP (1991, 1992)

-1993 Bert Bell Award

-5x Galloping Gobbler Award

-3x First Team All-SEC (1987, 1988, 1989)

-1989 SEC Player Of The Year

-1989 First Team All-American

-1987 SEC Freshman Of The Year

-1987 National Freshman Of The Year

-Gator Football Ring Of Honor

-College Football Hall Of Fame (2006)

-Florida High School All-Century Team

-Florida High School Athletic Association Player Of The Century

-1986 USA Today High School Player Of The Year

-1986 Parade Magazine High School Player Of The Year

NFL Records

-Most rushing yards in a career (18,355)

-Most rushing touchdowns in a career (164)

-Most rushing attempts in a career (4,409)

-Most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (11)

-Most 1,000-yard seasons in a career (11)

-Most 100-yard games in a career (78)

-Most games in a season with a touchdown (15 in 1995)

-Most games in a season with a rushing touchdown (15 in 1995)

-Most rushing yards after turning 30 years old (5,789)

-Most playoff rushing yards in a career (1,586)

-Most playoff rushing touchdowns in a career (19)

-Most playoff total touchdowns in a career (21 - tied with Thurman Thomas)

-Most consecutive playoff games with a rushing touchdown (9)

-Most 100-yard playoff games (7 - ties with Terrell Davis)

Accomplishments

-Only running back in football history to be his state's all-time leading rusher in high school, school's all-time leading rusher in college, and the NFL's all-time leading rusher

-Only running back in NFL history to win a rushing title, MVP, Super Bowl, and Super Bowl MVP in the same season

-Only running back (since the merger) to lead the NFL in carries, rushing yards, all-purpose yards, rushing touchdowns, and total touchdowns in the same season

-First running back in NFL history to win a rushing title and Super Bowl in the same season

-First running back to rush for 1,400+ yards in 5 straight seasons

-One of 2 non-kickers in NFL history to score over 1,000 points in a career (Jerry Rice)

-One of 5 players with 10,000 rushing yards and 400 receptions in a career

-One of 3 running backs to start their careers with 7 straight 10-touchdown seasons (Jim Brown, LaDanian Tomlinson)

Tim Duncan - A Basketball Unicorn (Part 2)

 

Disclaimer: The mental gymnastics and contradictions that the media spits out all the time are so agenda-driven that it's laughable. They are the ones most responsible for Tim Duncan/the Spurs having the "boring" stigma attached to them. Whenever people parrot that agenda, it tells me how little they appreciate the game of basketball itself and how much they prefer highlight reel plays over the subtleties of the game. The same way I did in Part 1, I'll be using inarguable facts to disprove false narratives and make my case for Tim Duncan being the greatest player of his generation, as well as one of the 5 greatest players ever. Once again, I'm here to educate, not to push my own narrative.

In my opinion, Tim Duncan is the most overlooked and disrespected superstar in NBA history. He is the one player that gets repeatedly left out of the discussion of pantheon basketball players time after time that shouldn't be. I understand that it's hard to not put certain players high on the list of all-time greats, but TD is of the same caliber as any player that has ever played the game. All of those other guys were amazing, but a strong argument can be made for TD when you measure his entire body of work against theirs. 

Yes, this is a subjective topic, but I still haven't heard anybody come up with a good enough reason why Tim Duncan can't measure up to those players. I'm not expecting people to start calling him the greatest ever, but I don't see how it's possible to leave him out of the discussion. It's actually not all that hard to come up with reasons why TD could be considered a better basketball player than some of the consensus all-time greats. He absolutely should be considered one of the 5 greatest players ever. With his body of work, there is no argument to keep him out. 

Statistically, there are many players ahead of TD on the all-time lists, but when you're on a basketball court, there is so much more than just statistics. For those reasons alone he's a pantheon player. He knew how to win and did it his whole career. His game was built around consistent dominance throughout his career. TD was reliant on making the right decisions on the court, playing smart basketball, and making his team better as a whole. That's why certain players seem to outshine him at first glance, based on a few seasons, but it doesn't mean they were better than him. He was all about long-term success.

When you put it all together - 5 championships, individual accolades, regular season winning percentage, statistics, postseason dominance, 2-way dominance, longevity, adaptability, the clutch gene, intangibles, the ability to elevate his team, etc. - Tim Duncan checks all the boxes for being a GOAT-level player. Once you factor in all of those elements, the list of players that check all of those boxes starts to shrink pretty fast. There is also the fact that some of these all-time greats that are considered better than TD have blemishes on their resumes that he doesn't have. This IS NOT about tearing those other legends down to build TD up.

Every last one of those players in the GOAT conversation have holes in their resume. It's just that people let things like raw numbers, highlight clips, and even revisionist history cloud their judgment when it comes to supporting their favorite players and having their beliefs justified. Largely because of that, some of these legends have their shortcomings whitewashed by certain historic moments in their careers. Aside from the amazing resume he put together, here are some things Tim Duncan did that get routinely overlooked:

*Sacrificed stats to win

*Won 4 championships without another All-NBA teammate (most ever)

*Won 4 championships as his team's only 20-point per game scorer

*Won all 5 championships without a teammate averaging 20 points per game

*Best player on the team for all 5 championship runs

*Best player on the team for all 6 NBA Finals appearances

*Took his team to back-to-back NBA Finals as their best player at 37 and 38 years old

*Started on a championship team in 3 different decades

*An All-NBA First Team selection in 3 different decades

Name me another franchise in the NBA besides the Spurs that contended for and won championships every single year for approximately 2 decades with the EXACT SAME PLAYER as the focal point throughout the entire run. There is no other one, especially in today's NBA with rampant free agency and the way the salary cap is set up. There is one other huge factor in Tim Duncan being one of the all-time great champions in basketball history: He's the only player of the modern era to win 5 championships with the same franchise, but with an entirely different supporting cast around him. The only other player to do that was Bill Russell. TD also did all of this without a truly dominant sidekick. He accomplished a lot in the NBA before and after his best teammates had come and gone. 

A major part of what makes Tim Duncan a basketball unicorn were things like his leadership, competitiveness, mental fortitude, and will to win, which were all unmatched. He also had every intangible in the book. The intangible that gets overlooked most is the same one that became the foundation of the Spurs' culture - SELFLESSNESS. TD had that trait in spades. Unfortunately, it was a big reason he flew under the radar and the media didn't talk about him until they were forced to. His game was based on team-centric fundamentals that couldn't be measured in stats. I always felt like TD would have been putting up video game-like numbers if he played in a system that required more selfishness.

A lot of players say they want to win, but when you ask them to do things like taking a pay cut or coming off the bench, they have a problem with it. Whatever was asked of Tim Duncan that would make the Spurs better, he did it willingly. People don't understand the egos that come along with that and how unheard of or unparalleled that was by TD. Not every superstar has the ego to deal with what Gregg Popovich throws at them. These days when a coach tries to tell a superstar what to do and they don't like it, they go over the coach's head to the GM or owner. Players know that the NBA is a player's league, and they want to make sure they are on the same level with the coaches in the power structure.

The easiest and best example of Tim Duncan's selflessness that I can give is him embracing his role change:

Imagine being a perennial All-Star/All-NBA player, the greatest to ever play your position, and you carried the team on your back to 4 championships. You still have some elite basketball left in you and are still capable of carrying a team, but your coach wants to revamp the offense to do more running and 3-point shooting. He also tells you that he needs you to concentrate on rebounding and defense, that you'll be scoring less, and that you'll be playing fewer minutes because of this new up-tempo style and to preserve your legs.

On most occasions a superstar would crucify his coach, manipulate the local media to stall the team's new direction, and get the whole front office fired before he forced a trade from his team and leave them to pick up the pieces. Some players would rather be the best player on a bad team than the 2nd best on a championship contender. Tim Duncan sacrificed shots, minutes, and money for the sake of his team. Also, superstars don't check their egos and allow their coach to dress them down in front of teammates. TD did it because he wanted to set a standard for his teammates on what's OK and what's not OK. He didn't just give lip service to wanting to win championships.

The fact that Tim Duncan was STILL willing to sacrifice his body, touches, money, and time away from his family.....in his late 30's AFTER winning multiple championships and pilling up countless accolades, when he had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING left to prove, speaks volumes about his character. Things like that are what make him the GOAT teammate. It's a shame how somebody like that can be so undervalued and underappreciated.

It's a testament to Tim Duncan's enduring greatness that he was able to change his game after his knee injury and become an even better player than his pre-injury self, then transform his body and reinvent his game as he got into his mid to late 30's and continue to play at an All-Star level as he was approaching 40. Here is a quick summary of the changes TD made to alter his game:

*Lost weight to improve quickness and lessen the wear and tear on his knees.

*Drifted away from the basket at a steady pace, going from shooting most of his shots close to the basket to shooting from further than 10 feet.

*Started taking more jumpers off the dribble.

*Adjusted from being a high-level post player to being a master high screen facilitator.

*Went from having the offense run through him in the post to the 2nd or 3rd option on most plays, allowing him to save energy for the defensive end of the floor instead of fighting for position in the paint on every possession.

It was absolutely amazing to see Tim Duncan have a Benjamin Button-like renaissance and get better at an age where most players have either had a significant decline in their games or have already retired. That's a testament to his talent, fundamentals, and basketball IQ. Even though TD's role on offense had reduced, he was still the linchpin - still engineering the Spurs with his passing abilities, wide variety of moves in the paint, and his creativity and decision-making. He was rewarded with a 5th championship in 2014 for his willingness to adapt to a new system and role, which speaks to how easy TD was to play with. A 1st round exit in 2011, whispers of him being done, and a shakeup in his personal life gave TD all the motivation he needed to take his game back to MVP-consideration level.

The best thing about Tim Duncan's greatness, especially late in his career, was that he continued to build a legacy instead of clinging to past accomplishments. He wasn't some oldhead just holding on and chipping in every blue moon in his last few years. As TD got older, he worked harder to stay in shape so there would be little drop-off in his production. Also, his leadership and willingness to be coached are what separated him from other superstars in the NBA. That was critical to the Spurs' ability to bring in new role players every year that seemed to be a perfect fit. Those unicorn-like traits were also a major part of how TD was able to anchor the NBA's model franchise on both ends of the floor and in the locker room for 19 years.

One other transcendent aspect of Tim Duncan's game that he doesn't get enough credit for is adapting. He was a staple of multiple systems that produced championships and perennial contention at worst. He won championships in 3 different decades with different rosters around him. TD also wasn't era dependent like a lot of other stars. He was an All-Star and All-NBA player throughout different eras as the game changed. His staying power, competitive edge, and drive were right up there with Michael Jordan's. TD's combination of professionalism and competitiveness is the rarest of the rare.

Tim Duncan is the measuring stick for sustained excellence, and rightfully so. He redefined success in the NBA. Michael Jordan and Bill Russell might have won more championships, but they didn't play as long. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the most career wins ever for an individual player, but he changed teams and had some down years early in his career, even missing the playoffs. Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James all played for different coaches - with Shaq and LeBron playing for multiple teams. TD played his whole career with the same team and for the same coach.  He won NBA championships in 3 different decades (1990s, 2000's 2010s). TD was also an All-NBA First Team selection in 3 different decades. Nobody else in the history of the game has done that.

So many people over the years have misguidedly dogged Tim Duncan and thought he was just lucky to be drafted by the Spurs and that all of his success came too easily. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nobody said a thing about the Spurs organization until after he came along, and now people want to pretend like he walked into what they became under him. Attempting to revise history to pretend that the Spurs were a powerhouse before TD is disingenuous and discredits him. 

Tim Duncan was the centerpiece in all that the Spurs accomplished. People see the names David Robinson, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili and think he played on stacked teams his whole career. They also compound that belief by bringing up TD being coached by Gregg Popovich the whole time. Let me break it down for you: 

As great as David Robinson was, after he had 2 career-altering injuries he wasn't the same dominant MVP-level player he had been, and he was also getting older. TP and Manu weren't expected to become stars when they were drafted by the Spurs as late round picks. Did I mention that Coach Pop was almost fired in 1999 after the team got off to a slow start? One other thing TD should get more credit for is keeping the Spurs in contention all those years despite San Antonio not being a major free agent destination and the team getting low draft picks every year. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination to retool your team and keep winning when you pick in the 20s in every draft. 

The Spurs were always great largely because of how coachable Tim Duncan was, as well as his strong desire to be the best, among many other traits. You can't quantify his greatness with statistics. He did put up some good numbers, he also has plenty of accolades, but it goes way beyond that. To me, TD was the type of player that would score the least amount of points to win a game. If he felt like he could win the game by scoring 10 points, then would go for 10. If he felt like he needed 20, he would go for 20. TD was capable of putting up 30 every night if he really wanted to though. In that regard he is probably the most balanced player I have ever seen.

I believe it's safe to say that no other player on the consensus top 10 all-time list could or would have been able to spend their entire career in San Antonio and be able to win 5 championships like Tim Duncan did. It's hard to deny Michael Jordan's impact on basketball. For all of LeBron James' "dominance", he couldn't win a title without a stacked team around him. If you take a hard look at who surrounded all of these players when they won their titles it's awfully hard to push TD out of the 5 greatest of all-time. Nobody has done more with less than him.

Like I said in Part 1, there is no clear-cut GOAT in basketball because every candidate has flaws you can point out. There is a strong case for Tim Duncan being as good as any player in history. This is not just me trying to hype up my favorite basketball player. His resume speaks for itself. And if you take nostalgia and sentimentality out of the conversation, you can't name 5 players with better credentials than TD. Then once you factor in that he did most of it with only 1 healthy leg for roughly 85% of his career, that makes his case even stronger. Bottom line, Tim Duncan is more than worthy of being in the GOAT conversation.

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a sports genius, but I will say that my intuition might be a little more developed than others. With that being said, I always knew Tim Duncan was more than just a great player who was in the right place at the right time and lucky to be drafted into the situation that he was, and success coming easy to him. I always thought of him as the representation of the model superstar and what it takes to be a GOAT-level champion, especially on a small market team not in a glamorous city.

There are a lot of books that cover the other greats on the consensus top 10 all-time list, and their rise to stardom, but Tim Duncan's story was different. In my book The Underappreciated Greatness Of Tim Duncan, I go into detail about what sets him apart from all the other legends. When I was doing research for the book, I wanted to get a clear picture of TD's accomplishments from a historical standpoint and convey that to my readers. I knew he was doing things nobody else had done, but I wanted to double check the details.

The way I put it in perspective is like this:

Tim Duncan didn't pile up all of his accomplishments in Boston, Los Angeles, or New York. He did it all in San Antonio, where it was an extra challenge to make it all happen. And then there was the disrespect from the NBA and the media, rule changes designed to rein in his dominance, etc. It's like rapper E-40's saying goes: "Hate come with the plate". It's just an unfortunate reality. All of those things, along with the limitations of playing in a small market, made it an extra challenge to be 10 toes down in San Antonio for his whole career. 

For Tim Duncan to do what he did in that city, all the lives he enriched, the way he elevated the Spurs franchise, took in a bunch of castoffs from other teams and turn them into champions, and the general excellence that marked his career speaks major volumes to his greatness. To me, those things also make TD the greatest pro of all-time in any team sport. Since the NBA won't ever have another Tim Duncan, every fan of the sport should take some time once in a while to appreciate him.

If you truly want to know more about what makes Tim Duncan a basketball unicorn, I go into much more detail in this book titled The Underappreciated Greatness Of Tim Duncan: