Duncan compared to Bird...

[Steve Huffman <stevhuff@eastky.net>]

Duncan's dunkin' the rookie competition

                 By Mike Monroe

                 Special to ESPN SportsZone



So Keith Van Horn scored 32 points in three quarters against the Denver
Nuggets
in The Meadowlands last week. Don't even think of suggesting Van Horn
might
wind up this season's rookie of the year.

I've witnessed this year's winner four times already, and each time I
see him, he
shows me something new, another revelation. The envelope, please ...
call off the
contest right now. Your 1997-98 NBA Rookie of the Year is Tim Duncan.

And stop comparing Duncan to Brad
Daugherty. It sells him short. There may
be no good comparison for the Spurs'
super-rookie. If you insist on such
meaningless exercises, though, there is
only one player who ever had the
combination of size, skills, grace and
court sense young Mr. Duncan has
evinced thus far in his NBA career. He
now coaches the Indiana Pacers.

Yikes! Did Monroe really call Duncan
the new Larry Bird? Hello. What I really
mean is this: Duncan defies comparison,
but he shows the same combination of
skills that will land Bird in the Hall of
Fame when this year's class of inductees
is announced in a month or two.