It wasn't too long ago that Tony Parker was a 19-year-old point guard still learning how to play NBA basketball
. Over seven years later Parker has developed into one of the best point guards in the league.
However, it's easy to forget just how difficult things were for Parker early in his career. In addition to having to learn how to quarterback a NBA team, superstar Tim Duncan rarely talked to Parker. Heck, Parker at times felt lucky if Duncan even acknowledged his presence. As if having your star player not talking to you wasn't tough enough, Parker's head coach also rode him relentlessly.
When your friendly neighborhood columnist asked Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich if that was a fair characterization of his early years coaching Parker, Popovich replied with a smile: "I would say that's fairly accurate."
"He gets credit for living through it, for sure," Popovich said half jokingly. "But it was the only way to find out if he was going to have the chutzpah to be a of a player in the league."
Popovich learned some important things about Parker very early on in the process, too.
"If a coach gives you the ball immediately when you're 19, I better find out quickly whether I'm making the right choice or not," Popovich explained. "I thought to be on him constantly to see if he could handle it and to see if he really wanted to improve or if he was going to find excuses and say, 'Gee coach, don't be so hard on me' or if he'll say, 'Hit me with everything you've got. I want to be perfect, I want to get there quick.' I found out very soon that he was the latter where he was a compe or and whatever I gave him he wanted more."
The end result is a point guard that can get basically wherever he wants to on the floor whenever he feels like it. Add to that an amazing ability to finish in the paint and you have the All-Star point guard Tony Parker has become today.
"He's always on the attack," said Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl. "He's got tremendous confidence to drive in amongst the trees. Now he has a spin move, the tear drop, he can get fouled. He has all kinds of ways to score in there."
Karl even mentioned stopping Parker as being more of a priority than stopping Duncan whenever the Nuggets face the Spurs.
"I would say if I have one wish it would be to control his penetration," said Karl. "That would be my first wish."
San Antonio newcomer Roger Mason Jr., a player who has had the chance to guard Parker while he was a member of the Washington Wizards and has also seen all of his moves in practice, lent some interesting insight into what makes Parker so tough to defend.
"He's very, very quick, but he also has a little bit of an unorthodox game from playing in Europe," noted Mason Jr. "He's got steps that we in the States haven't really seen before. It's that and the fact he's quick and crafty around the basket. He finishes as well as anyone I've ever seen in the paint."
Popovich noticed similar qualities in his point guard but had a hard time pinpointing what exactly makes Parker so good at what he does.
"I wish I could answer that adequately for you," Popovich said after stopping to think for a few seconds. "When we talk about it we said that the last guy who could do what he could do at the rim was Rod Strickland. Rod was really great at the rim and Tony has that same knack. I, of course, did not coach that. Some guys have it. It's just a matter of timing, understanding space. You've got to have a good left hand as well as a right hand. It's just a knack that he has and not too many guys have it. I can't explain it any better than that, I'm sorry."
No apologies necessary, coach.
Perhaps the fact it's hard to pinpoint why Parker is so good at what he does is part of what makes him so difficult to defend.
And you can bet the Spurs hope Parker remains a mystery the rest of the league has a very difficult time trying to solve.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=11433
A lot of internet people like to about Tony (funny thing is I never hear anyone talk about shopping Parker or wishing we had a different pg in real life), but I for one appreciate what he has done and how he has handled everything in the last 7 years. I was excited when the spurs drafted him and he hasn't let me down since.
Tony is one tough mofo.
he could have easily folded like beano long ago
Interesting to note, that if the spurs win or lose in the playoffs he has always taken it to opposing guards who are suppose to be better.
02' smoked PAYTON, fisher.
03' had a little trouble with MARBURY but came around,fisher, NASH and even KIDD.
04' torched jason williams, PAYTON and fisher again.
05' miller, ridnour, NASH, BILLUPS.
06' BIBBY, had a little trouble with harris but still played well.
07' finals mvp. enough said
08' NASH for the 4th time since he came in the league.
his scoring abilities especially when he first came into the league were underestimated but he kept torching the so called better players.
I pulling for parker to be in the top 10 for assist per game this year. He has 3 legit spot up shooters in mason/finley/bonner. If he can rack up some more assist for the year and hopefully get to 7 per game he will be unstoppable accross the board in my book.
wtf? I don't remember Tony killing Billups in 05... it was actually the other way around
He didnt stop billups, but he kept up his end of the bargain. billups played well, however he didnt stop parker who wasnt as well respected as he is now.
Parker sucked (by his standars) in that series, he didn't even play the last minutes of game 7, and if I'm not mistaken he sucked in the '03 finals too. But that's a thing of the past, he's a top 3 PG in the NBA right now without a doubt.
who are the other 2?
Paul and Williams
amen to that
Maybe Billups, definitely not Calderon.
yeah, I watched the toronto game last night. Turrible, Turrible Turrible as charles barkley would say. They need to make some adjustments to their offense. Most of the plays were Calderon waits at the top for a shooter to come off a screen and hopefully the shooter will hit. thats 100% a coaching flaw. they need to get more picknrolls and legit low-post isolations for bosh and oneal.
from French Rat to American Pimp
I just like the fact that he's not getting outplayed. The only one who has his number was jameer nelson and even thats iffy.
When all is said and done, I think Tony may end up as one of the top 3 most important Spurs.
Of course, the haters will never acknowledge that.
who are the other 2?
i think he already is, behind Tim and DRob.
he is going to have to carry the Spurs through a couple of tough series to pass Manu.
yeah, i was about to say. cause no matter how tough a game manu can be having he affects the game in so many ways besides scoring and is always their at the end win or lose. not to say that parker is to be ignored by any means. He carrys his weight and then some.
Do you just make stuff up as you go along?
Gervin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TP
agree, but way too many >
I ing love Tony Parker.
do you think parker played well enough in 03' an 05' playoffs?
Tony Parker is prolly already the best point guard that the Spurs have ever had. With respect to Avery and Johnny Moore, but they just don't come to the level of Tony Parker.
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