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The magnitude of Tim Duncans contributions over his 19-year career are every bit as remarkable as the announcement of his retirement on Monday was understated: Duncan collected five titles with the San Antonio Spurs and 1,001 regular-season victories, all with the same team in a small basketball outpost held over from the ABA-NBA merger.In an era defined by athleticism, Duncan was a master of mechanics. While contemporaries built careers on defying gravity, Timmy deked opponents with jab steps, shoulder fakes and line-drive bank shots, with both feet on the ground. He didnt captivate fans or sponsors with his exploits or charm them with charisma. He was wholly uninterested in the salesmanship required to build a personal brand and didnt give the NBA and its marketers much to work with as the league harnessed its star power to expand its global reach.For Duncan, the postgame podium wasnt a platform, but a sentence.Yet something improbable happened while he was slinking out of the Spurs locker room and dodging the spotlight:Inside the league, Tim Duncan became the most influential player of his generation. Though he had little public appeal outside central Texas over his two decades in the league, Duncan ushered in cultural change in NBA practice facilities, locker rooms and executive suites.The present-day NBA has become singularly consumed with the adoption and implementation of organizational culture. Forever looking for competitive advantages, franchises have turned to workplace culture as a bulwark. We might not be able to attract a top-line free agent, or hit the jackpot in the draft, but there are 44 games in an NBA season that can be won if we value the right things.This is the leagues guiding principle in 2016, from Atlanta and Salt Lake City to Oklahoma City and Brooklyn, where disciples of the Tim Duncan era learned the art and science of team-building in San Antonio. Theyve applied the findings and sculpted them to suit a particular roster or market. Some have enjoyed modest success while others are just getting started. But try as they might to replicate the Spurs recipe, all of them are forced to concede at a certain juncture that theyre missing one essential ingredient:They dont have Tim Duncan.We walk into our houses and thank Tim Duncan, Atlanta Hawks head coach and longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer says. You think about all the coaches and all the GMs and even the assistant video guys who are now assistant coaches, all the people who have climbed the NBA ladder -- we all owe our success, our place in the league to Timmy.The magnitude of that, the number of people in this league who have enjoyed opportunity or found fortunate spots in the league, you can trace it back to this one guy -- to the way Timmy played ball and the conducted himself. The culture is Timmy.Kevin Durant was a credible leader during his tenure with the Thunder -- a founding father of the program, in the words of general manager Sam Presti. Begrudging a first-rate star like Durant the opportunity to forge his own professional path is unwarranted, but his departure from Oklahoma City underscores a truth that owners and execs learn sooner or later. An organizations culture can shield it from disaster, but that culture is only as strong as its leading player.Thats why more measured voices in the Golden State Warriors wince when they read about their owner taking a victory lap for an organizational structure thats light years ahead. Its why every Spurs alum now in a senior managerial role elsewhere understands theres a limit to what infrastructure can do for a team absent a transcendent leader on the roster.And its why Gregg Popovich said a couple of years ago, Before you start handing out applause and credit to anyone else in this organization for anything thats been accomplished, remember it all starts with and goes through Timmy. As soon as he [retires], Ill be 10 steps behind. Because Im not stupid.Theres an ethic of reticence in San Antonio, where Duncan managed to shroud himself in mystery for 19 years. I dont feel comfortable putting myself out there, he told me in 2013. Im just a basketball player. I play the game. I go home. Confidants describe the public relations part of the job as torture for Duncan, an affront to the game. The periphery of the NBA life, everything outside the practice facility, is nonsense.Trying to be something that youre not gets you out of your comfort zone, Duncan said then. Im not that guy. I did a little bit of that. Ive done my share of it, but Im just not that guy. I dont think of myself in that respect. I love playing basketball and thats what I want to do. I dont need the extra stuff.But in the Spurs day-to-day operations, Duncans emotional intelligence was the connective tissue that held together Popovichs disciplined structure. Duncan would readily pass the mantle to Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, then celebrate their success as if it was his own.The thing that amazed me about how Timmy built relationships was how subtle it was -- the touch, the arm around the shoulder, the thing that would look like little or nothing to outsiders, Budenholzer says. It affected people, maybe because it was subtle and under-the-radar.Blake Griffin, who has admired the way Duncan carries himself, sought out Duncans counsel a few years back. Griffin was part of a Los Angeles Clippers team that now had several loud voices and wanted to glean how quiet leadership could make a difference. The thing I took away the most was this idea that a leader isnt the guy whos pounding the chest, or huddles or giving motivational speech, Griffin says. It was really reassuring to me as a younger guy, that you dont have to be something youre not. Of many things you can say about him, thats the thing that sets him apart -- he never tried to see who wasnt. And it works.At any time, theres always the one guy theyll use as an example. Maybe its Russell Wilson for a year or two. Then they move on to Tom Brady or [Kevin Garnett]. But [Duncan] has been the guy you constantly hear about whos constantly doing it right. Hes the guy who deserved the shine, but was riding underneath it.For a man who was so inaccessible to those looking in from the outside, Tim Duncan was an everyman. Most of our lives and careers emulate Duncans: We do the work quietly and diligently and dont have much cause to glory-hound. The job is the job, and if youre lucky, you do it because you love it, but not for any external affirmation, other than you want your partner, family and friends to be proud because its nice to be admired by the people in the world you care most about.Tim Duncan invented the NBAs modern vision of team culture. Now the rest of basketball is trying to imitate the guy nobody found fashionable. Chipper Jones Jersey Large . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Custom Orlando Cepeda Jersey . 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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- While much of the rest of the nation played at least one game over the weekend, South Carolina waited three more days to get its new season started.After waiting about 20 months to play a game for the Gamecocks, that belated tip came not a moment too soon for Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray. Transfers eligible for the first time with their new team, they had a lot of lost shots to make up for.Behind 37 points from Davis and 24 points from Gray, fourth-ranked South Carolina outlasted No. 7 Ohio State 92-80 for a road win as impressive as any they earned a season ago. By way of Georgia Tech and North Carolina, respectively, Davis and Gray combined to outscore everyone else on their team. The pair scored 61 points and took 39 shots. Their teammates scored 31 points and took 25 shots.Without them, South Carolina would have lost Monday night.With them, well, its fun to imagine what is possible in the months ahead.Youve got to let the players play, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. For us, weve never been this fortunate in allowing them to make plays. You dont have to control everything. Once you try and do that, you get in the way of everybody.For the first time in a long time, there was no Tiffany Mitchell for South Carolina. One of the programs all-time greats moved on to the WNBA after last season. The surprise Monday was that there was barely any Aja Wilson. Foul trouble limited the All-American to just 16 minutes and five points in a matchup that looked on paper like it would be an early player-of-the-year primary against Ohio States Kelsey Mitchell.Even when Wilson was on the court, Davis wasted little time scoring her first South Carolina points and the first points of the game. Closing a sizable amount of space in just a few steps, she stole an offensive rebound, relocated to the top of the key and knocked down a jumper. By halftime, she had 15 points -- two more than Mitchell. Gray had 10 points and South Carolina had a 44-39 lead.With Wilson getting in foul trouble early, that made it kind of difficult just to get the ball inside, Davis said. I think tonight was just one of those games where we kind of ended up by ourselves and maybe taking certain shots we wouldnt take in other games.While it sounds strange to say about a road game against a top-10 opponent, circumstances set up well for Davis. The Buckeyes want any game to have as many possessions as possible, and even on a night when they were dissatisfied with the pace, the tempo suited a scorer. And without Wilson, there was no awkward dance of deference.As a sophomore at Georgia Tech, Davis averaged 19.2 points per game. She also had the luxury to shoot 36 percent from the floor. She was the offense. She could shoot herself into rhythm. That wont be true at South Carolina, not all the time. Not when Wilson and Alaina Coates need the ball. Not when Gray has a hot hand. But she had leeway to settle in Monday.I think were still learning how to make that fit perfectly, Davis said of finding the balance. Like I said, tonight was a little different just because of the foul trouble situation. But I think it may be a game-by-game thing. Also in practice, were figuring out where that works and during what times to take what shots. Obviouslyy we want to start off with our bigs.dddddddddddd I think theyre some of the best bigs in the country, if not the best. We want to start there and work our way out.But with Wilson again on the bench after picking up her fourth foul midway through the third quarter, Davis took over in a way fans in Columbus are used to seeing -- just not from a visitor. After Mitchell pulled Ohio State within a field goal at 53-51, Davis hit a long jumper. Then after Gray took her turn, Davis hit a 3-pointer. Then another jumper. Then two free throws. The burst pushed the lead to eight points late in the third.When Ohio State again closed the gap, Gray and Davis again supplied the bulk of a run that put the game away. Davis capped it with a high arcing rainbow of a 3-pointer, exactly the kind of shot Mitchell so often makes on the same court.Asked if she was generally comfortable with Davis taking 20-plus shots -- South Carolinas single-game high for field goal attempts last season was 19 -- Staley joked that she was but that her assistants cringed when the shots started flying.Im still feeling them out, Staley said of Davis and Gray. Last year, they practiced with us but they didnt practice within the rotation -- we did it toward the end of the season because we knew we were kind of passing the torch. But Im still learning. Were not going to be the team we were in the past years where the point guard actually controlled the tempo, everything worked through the point guard. Youve got some guards that can initiate the offense and see over defenses, and were going to play off what they do best and not pigeonhole them into what we look like yesteryear.It is not as if Davis or Gray took Ohio State by surprise. One of the last games Gray played at North Carolina was a win in the NCAA tournament against the Buckeyes. And there was ample familiarity with Davis, the second-ranked recruit in her class in 2013.Ive seen them play; I know how good they are, Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. But I think the biggest thing would be its just hard to focus on any one particular person. You start focusing on them too much and then Aja Wilson and Coates are going to have a field day around the basket. Thats what makes them so dangerous; theyve got so many good players.You can start talking about playing zone or double teaming the post or whatever it may be. But basically, essentially, youve got to get down and youve got to guard them and be really sound with what you do. When we werent sound, Davis and Gray really made us pay.South Carolinas schedule, with games looming against Louisville, Texas, Duke and UCLA, makes it likely there will be a stumble. Maybe two.But to add guards like Davis and Gray, not just scorers but big, strong rebounders and passers from the perimeter, to what the Gamecocks already had in the post?The possibilities are fun to think about.Obviously having Ohio State away as your first game back can be tough ... Davis said of her debut. I was excited to get here and get on the floor and play with this group of girls.It was a long time coming. Now the clock is ticking to figure out how to stop them. ' ' '