There was some extra intrigue when it came to this year’s Hall of Fame speeches, mostly centered around the NBA inductees. Would we only get to hear about Kobe, the basketball player, from Vanessa Bryant? Would Kevin Garnett start randomly yelling at some point? And more relevant, at least for Spurs fans, would Tim Duncan speak for more than 30 seconds?
Reality clashed with those expectations, to a degree. Kobe got mythologized and humanized in equal parts, Garnett was funny and lighthearted, and Tim Duncan, the man who avoided speaking whenever he could as a player, gave a long, eloquent speech during which he looked perfectly comfortable.