I don't think he's the best ever, but I think he is the best point guard in the NBA.
After watching Tony school the Suns for the entire night, Mark Jackson said Tony be should not only be considered one of the top five "point guards" in the league today, but at only 25 years old, we should be talking about him as one of the top "point guards" ever to play the game.
Please discuss ... or if this specific topic on Jackson's comments is playing ... please merge and give me directions. Thanks!
I don't think he's the best ever, but I think he is the best point guard in the NBA.
Opps ... the le should have been "One Of The Best Ever".
And while I think it is still a little early, eventually this discussion will have merit. Tony will certainly end his career as one of the highest scoring players in playoff history, have multiple rings and at least one Finals MVP. And at only 25 his points and hardware is sure to increase.
Right now Tony is playing like the second best PG in the NBA behind Chris Paul, but its still early even though his Game 3 was HUGE for the team to put the stranglehold on a very good Suns team.
If he can keep this up and help lead the team to the Finals, then you could make a case for him turning a corner and being a true elite in the sense that the days of being a borderline all-star are gone, and that he might become a superstar.
But I would settle for him just simply being his own version Isiah Thomas in the playoffs. Isiah was a guy who always seemed to play BETTER in the playoffs, his regular season numbers weren't always awesome, but he always came to play in most of the big playoff games. If Tony could just explode like this from time to time, the Spurs could put themselves on the same level as the Celtics in terms of how dominant they are playing.
Tony might not ever reach the Chris Paul level of consistency, but he does seem to possess the talent to score as well if not better than any PG in the league right now. And thats all the Spurs need now. If he can keep this up, he will be as effective as the Spurs need him to be. Score a lot, score efficiently -- keep the turnovers. Then you have a superstar playoff performer.
Great start, but I want to see more.
Watching Tony speed by the Big Cactus and the rest of the helpless Suns I was reminded of the old Roadrunner cartoons.
BEEP! BEEP!
Last edited by wildbill2u; 04-26-2008 at 04:04 PM. Reason: Got the sig working
Glad to see Tony is starting to get the "Manu" type of over-hypingIt was about time!
i dont know about best ever, but watching him expose nash and shaq last night was a thing of beauty. plus i watched the game with some gringos i met, who just happened to be suns and mavs fans. it was great!!!
Not that I put too much weight on Peter Vecey's often re ed rants but he too said on NBA TV the TP should be put into the "one of the best of all time" discussion.
We have watched Tony grow. He has all the skills. He went from driving the lane in games 1 and 2 to beating the out of them with his jumper in game 3. And adding in 12 assist along the way.
Spurs certainly playing like Champs now.
And if I was a travel agent in Phoenix, I would hang around the arena Sunday.
His hardware will increase as long as he plays alongside Tim.
People said that Tony would be unstoppable offensively if he were able to develop an outside jumper.
That day has clearly come.
However, CP3 must be recognized. Dude is younger than Parker and puts up similar numbers to parker's last night, with an "inexperienced" team that he has to serve as the leader to. Tony is VERY Good right now, in a ZONE so to speak, but I don't think he really deserves to be put in BOAT talks quite yet.
Think about it, the modern list of best PG of all time include some names that Tony can't touch:
Magic
Oscar
Stockton
Then, guys like AI, Kidd and Payton put up ridic. numbers for a long time as their team's leader. Each was extremely consistent over the years; some great rebounders, some great scorers, some excellent at assists.
Parker is probably one of the best of all time at penetration, and last night he looked similarly like one of the best jump shooters of all time. 12 assists in the playoffs is similarly golden. But he would have to continue this performance before I think about even talking about him in the top 10.
Top 5 pg today? I never doubted it.
Tony was AMAZING last night. And he has been big in all 3 games. And he was awesome in the Finals last year. But with all due respect, there's no way he is the best PG in the league right now. Chris Paul is the best. And Deron Williams is not far behind. Tony is definitely in the top 5, and maybe top 3.
Umm, you forgot Steve Nash (2 league MVPs) and Isaiah Thomas (two rings, 1 Finals MVP).
TP is top 5 point guards in this league no question about that... what his place in history is... i dunno but depends how many rings he gets by the time he retires he'll be right up there...![]()
hey guys... 3 great games in a row are not enough to consider TP one of the best PG ever. Just like 3 bad games in a row doesn't mean we need to trade him.
We will see at the end of his career. He's 25, still has a lot to acomplish before we can talk about his ranking among the Greatest PG. Those kind of game just proves that TP and Manu are not just TD team-mates.
difficult to rank him all-time, since his numbers actually go down when Duncan isn't in the lineup, so it helps having Timmy and Manu..
he has an argument for 3rd in the NBA though..I don't know how strong the argument is, but it's there..
no way he's ahead of Paul or Deron though..
This one deserves a thumb up.
I have to be totally with you on your take.
Who seriously cares if he's n°1 or 22 on the pg fandom list, all we want from him is to deliver big time when the team needs it come playoff time.
Manu and Tony are close to being the best sidekicks ever though !
What I thought was interesting and very telling of the mindset of the Spurs was this: Coach Pop was asked if it bothered them that Tony wasn't talked about as one of the best PG's. Pop's response: we don't care about that - we're not interested in personal accolades, it's all about the team winning!
Just last week Jackson called Iverson the greatest to ever play the game.
Best ever PG is Spurs history
This Pop quote is the reason for the Spurs success.
My order for true PGs in the league right now.
Chris Paul
D Williams
Tony Parker
Nash
Kidd
Mark Jackson, just melo-dramatic look-at-me drivel to fill-up his airtime. They are both very good. Chris is clearly ahead of Tony for his age.
Good chance that we'll see Tony and Chris H2H in playoffs Monday 5 May at latest. DAL-NO Game7 would be Sat May 3 @NO.
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