David Robinson insisted he would overcome his injuries and return to top form this season.
Now he's backing up his words with action.After missing all but six games with back and foot problems last season, Robinson again is compiling big numbers and leading the San Antonio Spurs to the top of the NBA's Midwest Division with a 26-12 record.
At a time when several other star centers are sidelined or struggling with injuries, Robinson is shining.
"As far as the game coming to me, you don't sit a year and come back like everything's OK," Robinson said.
Then he added, "I'm a little smoother than I was."
Robinson is averaging 23 points per game, fourth best in the league, and more than 11 rebounds, fifth in the NBA.
"This hasn't been a surprise because I watched David work out for 31/2 hours a day all summer," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
"It is a result of his dedication to hard work. He's having a fabulous year."
It is a much different story than last season.
San Antonio finished with a franchise-worst 20-62 record as Robinson mostly watched from the bench with a lower back strain and a fractured left foot.
The foot healed sooner than the back, and skeptics wondered whether Robinson, at 32, could ever be the player he once was.
"At this point I can say my back is 100 percent," Robinson said. "It's been tested. There's been a lot of banging early on, and it's held up."
It helps that Robinson's supporting cast has been strengthened by 7-foot forward Tim Duncan, the top draft pick from Wake Forest.
Both players are popular with the fans in balloting for the All-Star game. In the most recent tabulations, Robinson led perennial all-stars Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers and Hakeem Ola-ju-won of the Houston Rockets in voting for the starting Western Conference center. Duncan was third behind Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz and Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves among forwards.
Last year was the only time in his nine-year NBA career that Robinson didn't make the All-Star team.