duncan228
12-28-2008, 01:40 AM
Spurs' Parker should be All-Star (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Parker_should_be_All-Star.html)
Mike Monroe
For all the justifiable attention paid to Roger Mason Jr. after his game-winning 3-point shot on Christmas Day, the pass he got from Spurs point guard Tony Parker went largely unappreciated.
You have to watch the replay of the final sequence of the Spurs' 91-90 victory several times to know that Parker's pass was the most difficult part of the play.
At full speed, and on the dribble after a crossover got him past Grant Hill at the top of the key, Parker leaned to his right, took a bump from Hill and fired a perfect, one-handed dart.
Had the pass made Mason reach, one way or the other, or not been as crisp, the Spurs' 3-point ace never would have been able to get it up as accurately or beat the final buzzer.
In living rooms all across San Antonio (and a few in Argentina), a segment of Spurs fans who believe Parker incapable of finding open teammates was incredulous.
But Parker made the pass, and you wonder how many of the league's point guards could have done the same.
The list is short: Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby.
Yet, Parker is fifth in the latest results of fan voting for All-Star starters, behind Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Paul and Manu Ginobili.
The Western Conference coaches will have to rectify this injustice to Parker, just as they have each of the past two seasons. This season, though, the competition in the West is especially fierce. Billups supplanted Allen Iverson as an altogether deserving Western guard, but Jason Kidd also is eligible in the West this season. Portland's Brandon Roy, who made his All-Star debut last season, has staked an undeniable claim to another berth.
Nash, merely a two-time MVP, is suffering diminished numbers because the Suns no longer try to put up shots in seven seconds or less. Utah's Deron Williams, bothered all season by injury, has all but conceded that he won't make his first All-Star appearance.
You wonder if the nine games Parker missed after spraining his left ankle in November will factor into the coaches' decision. Since the Spurs will have played 40 games by the time they vote in January, those lost games shouldn't matter, even with the strong competition among Western guards.
Paul and Bryant should be this season's Western starters, but McGrady always gets a boost from voters in China. They cast internet votes for Yao Ming and naturally support his high-scoring Rockets teammate. At this point, though, he doesn't merit All-Star status.
If Paul does overtake McGrady for the second starting spot — with more than two million votes cast, he trailed him by fewer than 21,000 — it will be interesting to see how the coaches deal with McGrady, who admits he is far from 100 percent and whose numbers are way down from his career norms.
This seems like a season that cries out for five guards on the Western roster. Paul and Bryant should be elected to start. Parker, Billups and Roy deserve the other three slots, even if it means four point guards on the roster.
Ginobili? He would be the first to tell you his somewhat choppy return after September surgery merits another long All-Star weekend of relaxation with his family, not a second All-Star berth.
Mike Monroe
For all the justifiable attention paid to Roger Mason Jr. after his game-winning 3-point shot on Christmas Day, the pass he got from Spurs point guard Tony Parker went largely unappreciated.
You have to watch the replay of the final sequence of the Spurs' 91-90 victory several times to know that Parker's pass was the most difficult part of the play.
At full speed, and on the dribble after a crossover got him past Grant Hill at the top of the key, Parker leaned to his right, took a bump from Hill and fired a perfect, one-handed dart.
Had the pass made Mason reach, one way or the other, or not been as crisp, the Spurs' 3-point ace never would have been able to get it up as accurately or beat the final buzzer.
In living rooms all across San Antonio (and a few in Argentina), a segment of Spurs fans who believe Parker incapable of finding open teammates was incredulous.
But Parker made the pass, and you wonder how many of the league's point guards could have done the same.
The list is short: Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby.
Yet, Parker is fifth in the latest results of fan voting for All-Star starters, behind Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Paul and Manu Ginobili.
The Western Conference coaches will have to rectify this injustice to Parker, just as they have each of the past two seasons. This season, though, the competition in the West is especially fierce. Billups supplanted Allen Iverson as an altogether deserving Western guard, but Jason Kidd also is eligible in the West this season. Portland's Brandon Roy, who made his All-Star debut last season, has staked an undeniable claim to another berth.
Nash, merely a two-time MVP, is suffering diminished numbers because the Suns no longer try to put up shots in seven seconds or less. Utah's Deron Williams, bothered all season by injury, has all but conceded that he won't make his first All-Star appearance.
You wonder if the nine games Parker missed after spraining his left ankle in November will factor into the coaches' decision. Since the Spurs will have played 40 games by the time they vote in January, those lost games shouldn't matter, even with the strong competition among Western guards.
Paul and Bryant should be this season's Western starters, but McGrady always gets a boost from voters in China. They cast internet votes for Yao Ming and naturally support his high-scoring Rockets teammate. At this point, though, he doesn't merit All-Star status.
If Paul does overtake McGrady for the second starting spot — with more than two million votes cast, he trailed him by fewer than 21,000 — it will be interesting to see how the coaches deal with McGrady, who admits he is far from 100 percent and whose numbers are way down from his career norms.
This seems like a season that cries out for five guards on the Western roster. Paul and Bryant should be elected to start. Parker, Billups and Roy deserve the other three slots, even if it means four point guards on the roster.
Ginobili? He would be the first to tell you his somewhat choppy return after September surgery merits another long All-Star weekend of relaxation with his family, not a second All-Star berth.