Looking back at one of the greatest days in franchise history

[Splits]

747510858759168001

Outside of drafting Timmy, I can't think of a more consequential day for the organization.

Congrats TP9

[tbdog]

He gave us a solid 12 years of starting quality play, including helping with 4 championships and a finals mvp (which he deserved). That is the only reason I don't want him traded. My greed for more titles says we must trade him.

[Clipper Nation]

The title says "one of the greatest days in franchise history," yet the picture shows one of the worst. What gives?

[DeRozan m8]

He's been good for sure, just a shame he's so washed up now with a terrible contract.

[spurs1990]

Best thing about the photo is that Nike Spurs cap.

Really. Not being disrespectful. I just really dig those hats back then.

[baseline bum]

I remember watching it live and thinking "this little fucker is our new point guard?" But then I was also happy because I knew the front office wanted him badly. The Spurs didn't really start keeping things too secret until New Jersey stole Nenad Krstic two picks before the Spurs in the 2002 draft (likely in no small part to how well Parker performed). It was funny, I was watching the draft with a bunch of people who lived in my building and one of them was a guy from Germany who had played against Parker when they were both like 16. He said on one hand he couldn't believe seeing someone he played against in the NBA, but on the other that Parker was a fucking madman to play against.

[baseline bum]

He's been good for sure, just a shame he's so washed up now with a terrible contract.

Parker isn't so overpaid any more. Not when Kent Bazemore is going to make even more. Don't get me wrong, I'd trade him in a second to improve the team since without his speed he's just a somewhat average point guard now.

[TheGoldStandard]

It's not Tony's fault the FO gave him such an inflated contract for his mediocre play. Truth is they could have offered him 8m a year and he would have taken it because it's still 8m a year and he plays for SA. It's Pop and RC who are to blame.. There sentimentality and fear of the unknown is the reason why our starting PG next season will be Tony and why Murray either gets rushed too early or becomes the scapegoat. "Well, we don't have any other veterans on the team so we have to play Tony"

[TheGoldStandard]

Parker isn't so overpaid any more. Not when Kent Bazemore is going to make even more. Don't get me wrong, I'd trade him in a second to improve the team since without his speed he's just a somewhat average point guard now.

I think we can thank the TV deal money kicking in much later for the Parker deal not being extremely bad. Imagine if this TV money were in place 2 seasons ago

[FromWayDowntown]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

[emanueldavidginobili]

1999, 57th pick>>>

[Keepin' it real]

B-b-but his current contract. -- spurstalk :cry:cry

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/18381375.jpg

[baseline bum]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

No doubt about it.

[Russ]

Hmmmm . . .

Fifteen years ago a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 28. Four titles follow . . .

Now a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 29 . . .

:flag:

[Blizzardwizard]

MVParker :cry

[bklynspursfan]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

Yup. I gather many on this forum weren't the way they talk

[DeRozan m8]

B-b-but his current contract. -- spurstalk :cry:cry

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/18381375.jpg

Some of us care about this team tbh

[Spurtacular]

8/10

[spurtech09]

Yes Tp was one of the best PG's in Spurs history...Yes he is not what he use to be but he still one of my fav. players.....

[TheGreatYacht]

Great thread OP, per par.

MVParker, one of my favorite players of all time :worthy:

[Mister Sinister]

Gr8 b8 m8.

[BatManu20]

GOAT French PG under 6'3 imo.

[apalisoc_9]

The title says "one of the greatest days in franchise history," yet the picture shows one of the worst. What gives?

Splits is a confused homosexual liberal male.

[daslicer]

I remember how depressing it was to watch the Spurs get swept by the Lakers in '01. It was pretty bad the fall out of that sweep. It seemed like the Spurs would be a long ways away from winning a championship again. I tuned in to that draft to see who the Spurs would draft but wasn't expect anything great since the Spurs had the last pick of the first round. When I heard the name Tony Parker I was kind of shocked because I had never heard of him since he was a foreign prospect and back then it wasn't common to draft those type of players in the first round. Then when I heard his interview after getting picked which went something like this "I'm confident I can help the spurs win another championship." It was at that point I was sold this guy could be a big time contributor for the Spurs. As crazy as sounds I liked his cockyness back then and felt the Spurs needed some of it after getting embarrassed by the Lakers.

[Sean Cagney]

Hmmmm . . .

Fifteen years ago a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 28. Four titles follow . . .

Now a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 29 . . .

:flag:

Yes I thought about that, can we have a prime Duncan back too though to go along with it and get another 4 titles?

[Sean Cagney]

I remember how depressing it was to watch the Spurs get swept by the Lakers in '01. It was pretty bad the fall out of that sweep. It seemed like the Spurs would be a long ways away from winning a championship again. I tuned in to that draft to see who the Spurs would draft but wasn't expect anything great since the Spurs had the last pick of the first round. When I heard the name Tony Parker I was kind of shocked because I had never heard of him since he was a foreign prospect and back then it wasn't common to draft those type of players in the first round. Then when I heard his interview after getting picked which went something like this "I'm confident I can help the spurs win another championship." It was at that point I was sold this guy could be a big time contributor for the Spurs. As crazy as sounds I liked his cockyness back then and felt the Spurs needed some of it after getting embarrassed by the Lakers.

Man I remember all of that too well Slicer, looked up his stats from overseas and saw his steals per game and pointed it out to my boy and he said that is insane. I thought he might be something but had no clue he would start his first year at 19 and become who he was today. That was a HELL of a pick, steal to say the least.

[LongtimeSpursFan]

One of my first memories of Parker is against the Sonics when he was being guarded by Gary Payton and drive baseline. He faked a pass to corner which Payton bit then Parker proceeds to lay it in. At that moment I knew we had a great PG but for some reason made me feel sorry for Payton.

[Chris]

Head of the snake :tu Spur's FO lightyears ahead of everyone

[YGWHI]

Outside of drafting Timmy, I can't think of a more consequential day for the organization.
Of course you can't, I wonder why. What's about..."With the first overall pick in 1987 we selected David Robinson" and "We traded Hill to Indiana for Kawhi in 2011"

[hooperflash]

Best thing about the photo is that Nike Spurs cap.

Really. Not being disrespectful. I just really dig those hats back then.

Next year bud, new jerseys!

[BillMc]

Second, or at worst third, best European player in NBA history (behind Dirk and maybe Pau). Best French player ever. Best Spurs point guard ever.

I'd say a pretty good pick. :flag:

[lebomb]

Yep, Tony Parker..... one of the all time Spurs greats. To the haters, fuck yall biatch ass biatches.

[Kool Bob Love]

great thread. :tu

MVPARKER :worthy:

[MultiTroll]

Outside of drafting Timmy, I can't think of a more consequential day for the organization.

Congrats TP9
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/RackTheMouse/bonpop.jpg
So many great moments.

[FromWayDowntown]

I remember how depressing it was to watch the Spurs get swept by the Lakers in '01. It was pretty bad the fall out of that sweep. It seemed like the Spurs would be a long ways away from winning a championship again. I tuned in to that draft to see who the Spurs would draft but wasn't expect anything great since the Spurs had the last pick of the first round. When I heard the name Tony Parker I was kind of shocked because I had never heard of him since he was a foreign prospect and back then it wasn't common to draft those type of players in the first round. Then when I heard his interview after getting picked which went something like this "I'm confident I can help the spurs win another championship." It was at that point I was sold this guy could be a big time contributor for the Spurs. As crazy as sounds I liked his cockyness back then and felt the Spurs needed some of it after getting embarrassed by the Lakers.

That's exactly the point. Parker was enough of a force from the beginning that while Pop tried to bring him off the bench at the beginning of the 01-02 season, he was outplaying Antonio Daniels (who had been one of the lone bright spots for the Spurs in the 01 WCF) by enough that after the 4th game of that season, AD essentially begged out of the lineup and Parker and his self-belief became a fixture.

I've written here a bunch of times about how that summer was actually the turning point for the Spurs franchise (in my opinion). Pop had a bunch of talented guys who could play in 2001, but many of them were perfectly willing to roll over and not fight once the Lakers took Games 1 and 2 in SA. That summer put an end to that. Since then, the Spurs have sought talented guys but have philosophically valued players who are competitors who don't back down from much of anything -- Parker, Ginobili (as the choice over Gordan Giricek), Jackson, Bowen, Horry, Finley, Oberto, Hill, Leonard, Joseph -- even if they aren't as talented as some other players. Those guys haven't always worked out as the Spurs might have hoped, but they all compete. And while they've had some bad losses and relatively disappointing seasons for a spoiled fanbase like this one in the intervening 14 years, those losses haven't been because they've refused to play hard. And that's the philosophical cornerstone of the Duncan era after 2001.


One of my first memories of Parker is against the Sonics when he was being guarded by Gary Payton and drive baseline. He faked a pass to corner which Payton bit then Parker proceeds to lay it in. At that moment I knew we had a great PG but for some reason made me feel sorry for Payton.

Parker was great in that series, particularly in Games 1 and 3, and his ability to perform at that level against Payton at such a young age certainly suggested then that he was ready for prime time.

[baseline bum]

Hmmmm . . .

Fifteen years ago a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 28. Four titles follow . . .

Now a 19 year-old point guard goes lower than everyone expected and falls to the Spurs at 29 . . .

:flag:

So five titles should follow . . . :flag:

[SASdynasty!]

A PG who would go on to:

-Win 4 titles & FMVP
-Be the winningest player in NBA history (minimum 1000 games)
-Be the all-time leading playoff scoring PG
-Knock the "best PGs" of his generation out of the playoffs: Payton, Kidd, Billups, Deron, Nash, CP3, Conley, Westbrook, Curry, etc etc etc

[Chris]

Boiled down...

Parker: 4
Eliancito: 1

[K...]

Boiled down...

Parker: 4
Eliancito: 1

Nash :cry
Cp3 :cry

[SpurSwag]

imagine being stupid enough to think tony hasn't helped the team tremendously since being drafted

[ohmwrecker]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

You can't dispute it past 2001 either.

[HarlemHeat37]

My favorite Spur of all-time, tbh:tu

[SquawkinHawkBigCock]

Between nerd Tim and nice guy David....is TP the most alpha Spur ever, tbh...?

[ElNono]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

this... but I have a bias since I'm a huge Parker fan, tbh

[50Bestspurever]

Best point guard in Spurs history, easily. If you dispute that, you weren't a Spurs fan before 2001.

couldn't have said it better. Best freaking point guard ever!! i remember year after year of wasting big Dave's career with shitty pg after shitty pg. from Cory to Negele and AJ. Thank god Timmy got TP for his career. Best Spurs point guard ever.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

So much stupid hate for TP on this forum, but the fact is he's been a superb Spur. In his prime he was the best PG in the NBA, regularly owning CP3 and DWill in h2h matchups, and often carrying the team through the down years (2008-2012). And he thoroughly deserved the MVP in 2007.

Props to TP for still being here 15 years later. :tu

[baseline bum]

this... but I have a bias since I'm a huge Parker fan, tbh

Put down the fucking burrito and lose some weight then gordo.

[ElNono]

Put down the fucking burrito and lose some weight then gordo.

Nigga, I lost 30 lbs since January, I'm swimming on the weekends, best shape I've been in a while, tbh... still need to lose another 10-20 lbs, tbh...

[baseline bum]

Nigga, I lost 30 lbs since January, I'm swimming on the weekends, best shape I've been in a while, tbh... still need to lose another 10-20 lbs, tbh...

What are swimming for, you already crossed the river man.

[ElNono]

What are swimming for, you already crossed the river man.

I still have family overseas, tbh, they might need help...