Tony becoming a passing PG?

Why hasn't Pop seen what a lot of us Spurs fans have been seeing? A "true" point guard should have more assists than shots attempted. Hey, Tony, share the ball!
– Josie, Lytle


Something tells me that if Josie were in charge of balloting for the Basketball Hall of Fame, only one point guard in the sport's history would be inducted: John Stockton.

I took Josie's standard for determining a "true" point guard and applied it to 10 players widely considered among the greatest points to ever play: Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Steve Nash, Isiah Thomas, Stockton, Bob Cousy, Jason Kidd, Walt Frazier, Tiny Archibald and Gary Payton.

Of the 10, only Stockton routinely had more assists than shots attempted. And I tend to think that if Stockton had been blessed with Tony Parker's quickness, we would have seen those too-short shorts zipping to the basket a little more often.

So, once again: Does Tony sometimes shoot too much? Yes. But making him a full-time distributor would deprive him – and the team – of his greatest skill.

The key for Tony is to find a balance between his roles as scorer and creator. So far, he looks like he's making strides in that direction. In nine games this month, he's averaging 7.8 assists.

A point gaurd that raps in French.... T.P.'s the shit!

Assist goal helps boost Spurs' Parker in hot streak

By Johnny Ludden
Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...r.34d116b.html

Michael Finley sets the same goal for Tony Parker each game. No matter how good Parker's shot is feeling that night, no matter how easily he's splintering the opposing defense with his quickness, Finley wants him to create 15 assist opportunities.
"If you give a teammate a chance to score — whether they score or not — 15 times a game," Finley said, "that's a great number to shoot for."

While there have been times in Parker's career where he appeared to have little interest in shooting for anything but the rim, the Spurs' point guard has routinely hit Finley's target this month. In the past nine games, Parker has averaged 7.8 assists, nearly three more a game than he averaged in November.

The Spurs credit Parker's unselfishness as one reason why they enter tonight's game against Memphis with an 8-1 record in December.

"He's not the type of point guard who's going to come in and set records with 20 assists — even though he's capable of doing that," Finley said. "But he puts himself in position to make plays not only for himself, but for others.

"And when he does that, it makes us a whole different team."

Parker's assist production probably will never rival that of Phoenix's Steve Nash or New Jersey's Jason Kidd. Manu Ginobili shares in the ball-handling duties and the Spurs continue to run a good portion of their offense through Tim Duncan.

But as Parker builds a case for his second consecutive All-Star selection, he continues to work toward striking a better balance between his roles as scorer and distributor. Or, what Spurs coach Gregg Popovich calls "one of the last stages of his development as a point guard."

"It's a very difficult stage when you start out as a scoring point," Popovich said. "But he looks at film, he watches other players, he discusses with me that concept and he wants to get it down."

Parker's improvement has shown in recent weeks. He picked apart the Los Angeles Clippers with his passing on Dec. 8, handing out a career-best 15 assists. In four of the past six games, he's had at least eight assists. He reached that mark just twice in all of November.

Parker is averaging 5.9 assists for the season, up slightly from a year ago. But he also hasn't played too many fourth quarters this month because the Spurs have won five games by at least 20 points. As a result, his minutes have dropped to an average of 32.8, the fewest since his rookie season.

Parker said his goal is to have at least six assists a night. In November, he said, "I was under five and under five is not good."

"Not only does Tony have that mentality as a scorer, but he's successful at doing it," Finley said. "A lot of point guards come in and want to be scorers, but they can't score.

"Tony's had success at scoring and, as a result, it sometimes makes it hard for him to see the easy pass."

Parker's ability to get to the rim makes him a dangerous offensive weapon. In addition, he also now owns a fairly reliable jump shot. His .523 shooting percentage is second to Nash (by .0001) among all point guards.

But while Parker averages a team-high 15.1 shots per game, Popovich frequently reminds him he can use his quickness and other skills to also create scoring opportunities for others.

"With him, it's all about pace because he can't beat everybody in the league to the bucket," Popovich said. "There are other things he can do out on the court to cause havoc and get the ball to teammates."

Finding the perfect balance, Parker admits, remains an ongoing battle. At the end of the third quarter of last month's victory in Seattle, Popovich ripped him for not being aggressive enough. Parker responded by scoring 12 points in a six-minute burst.

The next night against Golden State, Popovich chided Parker for shooting too much.

"Pop wants the best of both worlds: He wants me to score 20 points and have 10 assists," Parker said. "But do it in the right way. Take good shots, have a high percentage and at the same time get everyone involved.

"That's why it's hard sometimes."

Parker's assists have increased this month in part because some of his teammates — most notably Ginobili — are shooting better. But he also has done a better job of sharing the ball.

In the Dec. 8 victory over the Clippers, Parker even surpassed Finley's goal. Not only did he have more than 15 assist opportunities, he finished with 15 assists in just 30 minutes of work.

Parker valued the performance as much as if he would have scored 30 points himself.

"It's always good to have those games because I don't feel like I'm a selfish player," Parker said. "I want to try to get everybody involved."

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My take is that...

Tony has the talent, willingness, intelligence, work ethic and confidence to do whatever the Spurs ask him to do, and become whatever the Spurs want him to become.

He's proven this already at the age of 24. He's done everything asked of him and improved in everyway asked of him, almost as if on cue.

And he's still the age of some rookies.

I remember Pop saying in an interview when asked what he wanted of Tony...I want him to be John Stockton and Isiah Thomas at the same time. That was a change from earlier in his career when Pop just wanted him to be Isiah.

Now was Pop making a joke? Or was Pop making a statement on what he thinks Tony can be? We'll never know but it's not like Pop to throw around statements and put the pressure on an individual like that...and I think that was 2 years ago in the playoffs when he made that comment.

When asked about Tony now...Pop just says, "he's a stud".

I remember Parker showing some nice passing talent early in his career, in fact I think that was the most developed part of his game when he first stepped on the court, and I think Pop wanted to work on his scoring because Tony showed he had the talent and knace to do it early in his first season...


I've always said Tony can pass and it won't surprise me to see him make that transition at some point in his career....he's never failed to grow his game yet.

Tony is going to have an amazing career IMO.


There are a lot of great passing PG's in the league but there are only like 2 or 3 capable of scoring as efficiently as Tony.

Holala :-).

always critics for TP.

This guy shot 52 % ... he can shoot more if you want my opinion.
6 assists per game ... hummm ...
You can't ask to replace his shots by teamates shot because he has a very good selection (even jum shots now).
So you have to give him more the ball instead of Manu or Beno but i prefer him share minutes and try to put the ball in Manu's hand trying to regive him confidence.
Hoppefully for SA, you have other creative player. Kidd has allways the ball, CP3 too ... Tony just fit in a old system, he is not the system like Kidd, Chris Paul or Nash could be ...
If he don't have assist it's not because he don't share the ball, it's because he shares creativity with Manu, TD and the Spurs team system.


Avery Johnson just hitted 13 pts and around 8 assists for his SA carreer without sharing minutes and creativity with teammates ...


Drclic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RC's Boss

What I'd like to know is what PG would posters prefer over Tony????

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None at this point.

Paul can be argued but Parker knows the system and fits into it better.