Tony Parker is such a underated defender

[gospursgojas]

Tony has been playing great D all year. And looking back at the last 3 games, against 3 of the top point guards in the league. (PG's whom most would rank higher than Tony) ...

Westbrook, Rose, and Willams shot a combined 42%. Thier point totals maybe high but Tony is making them work for each and every shot.

[DesignatedT]

I agree. He seems to have much more active hands this year and is also playing the passing lanes great.

[jestersmash]

I don't know if I'd say "underrated." He's markedly improved as a defender, and I'd say most people (spurs fans, certainly) have taken notice.

He doesn't let as many people blow by him as often as he did in past years, probably because his lateral movement on defense appears to be somewhat improved and he's making better decisions in terms of spacing. That is, he's better at finding the happy medium between guarding an excellent slasher too closely and staying too far back from an excellent mid range shooter.

[DesignatedT]

His defense has always been good tbh. Obviously he's back to being in great shape which makes the world of difference.

[jestersmash]

If you had to point to one aspect of Parker's defense that has truly improved substantially - it's his ability to steal the ball. He's averaging 2 a game so far this season. Last season he averaged a mere .5 steals/game.

[jjktkk]

If you had to point to one aspect of Parker's defense that has truly improved substantially - it's his ability to steal the ball. He's averaging 2 a game so far this season. Last season he averaged a mere .5 steals/game.

I'm sure Parker's injuries last year had a lot to do with his subpar defense.. But besides the fact hes healthy this year, I think his pending divorce is making Parker focus even more on the court.

[alfahdlan]

If you had to point to one aspect of Parker's defense that has truly improved substantially - it's his ability to steal the ball. He's averaging 2 a game so far this season. Last season he averaged a mere .5 steals/game.
watch out he may even steal your Ws??? LOL:rolleyes

[Rummpd]

The idiots ought there ranking Westbrook or Rose (or Rondo or even Williams/Paul - the two consensus "best pgs" really unaccomplished in the biggest stage) definetely better than Parker are the idiots in the first place.

Parker is a top tier guard however you rank him - wake me when other guards have a finals MVPs, 3 championships + the shooting efficiency he does and now he is even better than before in regards to assists. Watch the BSPN and other pundits slowly comeback to bringing Parker back into the conversation and as much as I do not like Parker's thing with Erin or whomever he is just a hell of a basketball player period.

[igruex]

His defense has always been good tbh. Obviously he's back to being in great shape which makes the world of difference.

His effort there wasn't steady though. TP's defense is really making us a LOT better team atm.

[igruex]

The idiots ought there ranking Westbrook or Rose (or Rondo or even Williams/Paul - the two consensus "best pgs" really unaccomplished in the biggest stage) definetely better than Parker are the idiots in the first place.


Tony plays for the Spurs. He's more than two steps ahead of players like Rose or Westbrook. The media's been specialy awful this season.

DW and CP (you can include Nash) are more important to their team than Tony is for us, which is a good thing, we are a lot deeper.

[ohmwrecker]

What's new? The worst part is that his defense is mostly underrated by Spurs fans.