http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...r.283d34d.html
Spurs' Parker must prove that he can handle success
Web Posted: 10/27/2007 05:28 PM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News
There is fame, and then there is Fame with an uppercase. Tony Parker knows them both.
The first is the kind of celebrity that comes with being a stage actor, a state senator or a reality-show contestant. It elicits a "Hey, it's that guy" from passersby on the street. The second is the domain of the uber-celebrity — the movie star, the head of state, the Pope, the Beatle.
Parker, the Spurs' 25-year-old hiccup-quick point guard, has come to understand the distinction between the two.
In America, where outside of San Antonio he is still best known as Eva Longoria's husband, Parker has fame. In his home country of France, where Eva Longoria is best known as his new wife, he has Fame.
There is a difference.
Just ask the hundreds of invited guests at his July wedding in Paris. Or the dozens of paparazzo who attended sans invitation.
Or ask Ian Mahinmi, the 20-year-old Spurs rookie who hails from France and, until this summer, idolized Parker from afar.
"In France, Tony is Famous," Mahinmi said. "You don't even know how Famous."
Mahinmi means the capitalized version of the word.
"He can't even walk down the street," Mahinmi said.
After a coming-out party last season, Parker is poised to attain that kind of name recognition on this side of the Atlantic as well.
He wasn't exactly anonymous in NBA circles last season, but his first career All-Star berth and a Finals MVP award served to boost Parker's profile among the league's most casual fans.
Heading into his seventh season, Parker is a rising star on a team that still has Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. It's a distinction he vows will not become a distraction.
"I just have to play the same way," said Parker, who averaged 18.6 points per game last season and 20.8 in the playoffs. "I don't think I have to try to do too much. I think it would be bad if I tried to do that. I just have to be myself."
It's new territory for Parker. There was a time not long ago that some factions of Spurs fans wished he were Jason Kidd.
Earlier in his career, Parker was criticized for his penchant to disappear in the playoffs. After the Spurs won a championship in 2003, they briefly flirted with bringing in Kidd as a free agent.
But last season, Parker shook off his June jitters for good.
He posted games of 32, 30 and 23 points in the conference semifinals against Phoenix, games of 25, 21 and 21 in the conference finals against Utah and games of 30, 27 and 24 against Cleveland in the NBA Finals.
In the end, he cemented his breakout postseason by becoming the first Spurs player other than Duncan to be named Finals MVP. He hopes to ride that wave into this season, which opens Tuesday against Portland.
"Tony is in a good, comfortable position right now," guard Brent Barry said. "In the past, he's handled adversity very well. Now it will be interesting to see how he handles success."
The Spurs are hoping Parker handles one the way he has handled the other. By getting better.
Since coming into the league at 19 years old in 2001, Parker has improved his jumper every year. As such, his game has improved a few feet at a time.
In time, the Spurs believe Parker could be a lethal 3-point shooter. He showed flashes of that last season.
"He's gotten better every year he's been here," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He definitely has that capability."
There aren't a whole lot of red-blooded men, American or otherwise, who wouldn't want to be Tony Parker right now.
He is a budding basketball superstar. He has a movie-star wife.
He has fame, and is working on Fame.
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He wasn't exactly anonymous in NBA circles last season, but his first career All-Star berth and a Finals MVP award served to boost Parker's profile among the league's most casual fans.
Weird article, didn't really mention much aside from some quotes....
hmmmm
Parker must prove he can handle Eva!
He should share her with the team....they cover him on defense every trip
no Tp is a shoot first PG, he doesn't pass the eva
haha fair point. Wheres Jax....our Wildcats got owned last night
I think TP has proved he can handle success. From the time he joined the club as a young rookie to MVP he hasn't made a misstep and has improved.
McDonad has yet to prove he can handle success as the Spur beat writer. Make that he has yet to prove he can BE a success as the Spurs beat writer.
So far most of his stuff is so obvious and jejune it wouldn't rate with the best of comments on Spurstalk.
I think Parker has matured well.
The thing I respect most about him is his response to how hard Pop was on him in the beginning and is still on him now.
Many 19 year olds would have responded exactly the opposite of Parker.
They would have believed if they were good enough to make the NBA they didn't need a coach riding them that hard.
I think Parker swallowed his ego, as all successful Spurs do, and understood that he had a lot to learn and that Pop was his best teacher.
I think that even with his game coming so far, to an elite level, that he still understands this.
I admire that.
I like McDonald, if only because he's producing a of a lot of content...
Plus he's writing about some of the most discussed things on this board and providing info on them.
Yeah he's green, but that's to be expected.
I think he's doing a good job for a new guy...he'll get better at it too....
wtf??? 3 rings as the starting pg and a finals mvp!!!! and now he needs to prove something??? this is getting dumber by the day... .. he could retire right now and be a hall of famer and get his jersey retired.... what a stupid ass take........
Sorry, im a huge Parker fan, but no.he could retire right now and be a hall of famer
You're a dip , so what does it matter?
Tony has grown immensely before our eyes, esp in the last 2 seasons.
Even given his limited athleticism, his recent growth is amazing, while other, much more talented ballas waste their talents.
Tony's even learning how to shoot a basketball (still can't get the ball's rotational axis correct)
Does anybody have the impression that Tony has peaked? Has no more potential?
I don't.
lol @ sequ
What is this article about? I don't get it...has parker done anything unmature? He is handling things and taking advantage of them. This article would do better with Kobe...
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