May: Why Tim Duncan reminds me of Jay Leno

Watching Jay Leno say his final good-bye last Thursday night as the 22-year-host of “The Tonight Show,’’ I couldn’t help thinking of Tim Duncan.

Leno and Duncan are still bringing it, on top of their respective games in their respective vocations. But both also have been told to make way for the next demographic group, er, age-appropriate successors. The departures were involuntarily.

Leno is rightfully peeved about being forced to surrender his microphone, leading the ratings in his time period and still able to deliver a crushing, piercing monologue. But the poobahs at NBC thought it was time for him to go, even as the older David Letterman continues at CBS with fewer viewers.

Duncan is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, but, I’m guessing, is anything but peeved about not having to participate in All-Star Game weekend in New Orleans later this month. He wasn’t selected in the fan balloting – no surprise there – and the Western Conference coaches didn’t include him either.

Duncan’s reaction, according to the San Antonio Express-News: “He nearly rolled his eyes out of their sockets.”

For just the second time in his career, Duncan will not be a member of the Western Conference team at the All-Star Game.

He also missed the game in Orlando two years ago. (He played only 8 minutes in last year’s game in Houston, where is coach was, you guessed it, Gregg Popovich.) He has appeared in 14 of them, tied among active players with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, neither of whom will play in New Orleans. (Kobe is hurt. KG was not picked.)

Once the news came out that the man they call The Big Fundamental or Groundhog Day or Death and Taxes responded with a four-game run in which he averaged 23 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3 blocks a game.

Those are not the numbers of a man who should be expected to age gracefully and pass the proverbial torch. They are the numbers of a man who, like Leno, still is among the absolute best at his craft. He just hasn’t been good enough, apparently, to warrant a spot on an All-Star team in 2014.

If you want to go by numbers, fine. Duncan is averaging a double-double through Friday’s games at 15.4 points and 10 rebounds. He hasn’t averaged a double-double for an entire season since 2010. His team has the second-best record in the conference – and only one All-Star – and fourth-best overall.

“Everything the Spurs are today stems from Duncan, and that should be celebrated in all corners of the NBA, not just here in San Antonio,’’ wrote Dan McCarney of the Express-News.

The fans voted in Kevin Love, a wonderful player on a team that was two games under .500 through 50 games.

The coaches added LaMarcus Aldridge, whose Portland Trail Blazers were a game behind the Spurs through Friday, Dwight Howard, whose Rockets were three games behind the Spurs, and Dirk Nowitzki, whose Dallas Mavericks are in eighth place in the Western Conference.

Those four fellows all have better individual numbers than Duncan, but they all play considerably more than Duncan, who is averaging less than 30 minutes a game. And that’s what matters when All-Star selections come into play – numbers. That’s why Sacramento coach Michael Malone could say with a straight face (we think) that DeMarcus Cousins deserved strong consideration.

Duncan, of course, is the anti-individualist. His came doesn’t always translate seamlessly to the box scores that all the numbers crunchers like to cite. He sets picks. He helps out on defense. He is among the best passing men of all time. He has a coach who watches him over him like a Welsh nanny.

He won’t be the only first-ballot Hall of Famer who will enjoy the time away from the calamitous madness that has come to characterize All-Star weekend. Garnett won’t be there. Ray Allen won’t be there. Steve Nash won’t there. Paul Pierce won’t be there.

Duncan won’t mind a bit. He treated the mandatory Friday press briefings as if it was the night before his colonoscopy. (At 37, I’m guessing he doesn’t know what he’s missing. He can always ask Pop.) He saw the actual game for what it was – basically everything he deplored. He is not going to miss it.

But that’s not to suggest that he shouldn’t be there. He should. Not as a “Commissioner’s Replacement” for some injured player, which new commish Adam Silver knew would be a snub.

Silver wisely (unless you ask Sheridan) chose Anthony Davis of the host Pelicans to replace Kobe.

But shouldn’t there be room for a selfless player whose team wins, who still puts up decent numbers, who understands the game and how it should be played?

Duncan hasn’t changed in 2014. He is still the same guy that got picked to 14 previous All-Star Games, never missing one. His performance hasn’t declined to the point where he doesn’t warrant serious consideration.

He still has game, as we’re likely to see come playoff time in April, May and possibly June. But others decided in January that it just wasn’t good enough to be an All-Star.

Those “others” need not be excoriated or denounced. They are merely doing the same thing that the supposed know-it-alls at NBC did: Tell a good man it was time to yield – well before it was really his time to do so.

Peter May is the only writer who covered the final NBA games played by Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. He has covered the league for three decades for The Hartford Courant and The Boston Globe and has written three books on the Boston Celtics. His work also appears in The New York Times. You can follow him on Twitter.

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