Offensive Thoughts: Tony Parker - Feb. 13, 2012

[timvp]

He also seems to have increased his use of pivoting in the keyway and short step back 8 foot jumpers. His offensive game is just so smooth at the moment.

Yeah, TP is definitely stopping in the paint to take short jumpers more than ever. He's taken a lot of Sam Cassell-ish shots, which is good since Cassell was pretty damn useful until he was about 38 years old.

Surprisingly, given the shots he is taking, he has also seen a rise in FT attempts per game. Not really sure why that is. Making being more aggressive when teams are in the penalty late in quarters due to having more scoring responsibilities with Manu out.

That would be my guess as well. Manu usually gets those end of quarter isos, which often lead to trips to the line.

That's another thing to keep an eye on: if his free throw rate goes down a bit with the return of Ginobili and eventually Ford.

[timvp]

It keeps defenses honest though, and that's why it important that he keeps shooting it. A 22 foot jump shot anywhere but the corner is the worst shot in the game to take percentage-wise, but as long as you're mixing it in with other aspects of your game, it loosens up the defense slightly, and for a guy like Tony, he just needs an inch of daylight to get to the rim.

The midrange jump shot has gotten a bad rap for being inefficient but like you said it keeps the defense honest. 3's can be less efficient if they lead to fastbreaks for the other team.

Something that was brought up in the previous thread about Parker that is probably true: Parker's rise in assists and drop in turnovers could be partially due to him taking more jumpers and short shots instead of going all the way to the rim. It's easier to pass when you're not in mid-air trying to finish amongst the trees.

[eric365]

One thing that also explain the low percentage of shot at the rim is the free throw attempts number.
Parker has been at the line a lot since the Manu injury

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Yeah, TP is definitely stopping in the paint to take short jumpers more than ever. He's taken a lot of Sam Cassell-ish shots, which is good since Cassell was pretty damn useful until he was about 38 years old.

That would be my guess as well. Manu usually gets those end of quarter isos, which often lead to trips to the line.

That's another thing to keep an eye on: if his free throw rate goes down a bit with the return of Ginobili and eventually Ford.

Sam Cassell is exactly the type of aged Parker I would love to see. He wasn't fast anymore, but was so smart, crafty, and mastered that mid range short range game.

A quick aside.....why don't more PGs imitate Sam's game? The lack of imitation makes me doubt Parker doing it, but sure would be nice.

[Keepin' it real]

Nice write up, but did you have to use the freaking pie charts?

[TJastal]

Something that was brought up in the previous thread about Parker that is probably true: Parker's rise in assists and drop in turnovers could be partially due to him taking more jumpers and short shots instead of going all the way to the rim. It's easier to pass when you're not in mid-air trying to finish amongst the trees.

This is all very interesting, Timvp. The drop in "athleticism" might actually be the best thing to happen to Tony Parker. Now he has finally realized he can no longer play with reckless abandon, and in doing so has become a more controlled and effective all around point guard.

Lord knows people (including myself) have been harping on it for years.

[Bruno]

I find it interesting to look at who Parker has passed the ball this year.

So far, Parker has made 212 assists?
Assists made by Parker to:
Duncan: 48
Blair: 34
Jefferson: 34
Splitter: 27
Bonner: 21
Neal: 15
Green: 10
Leonard: 10
Ginobili: 8
Anderson: 5

Now if you pro-rate with the time spent on the court:
Assists made by 48 minutes to:
Splitter: 4.17
Ginobili: 4.04
Bonner: 3.55
Duncan: 3.49
Blair: 3.11
Jefferson: 2.49
Neal: 2.41
Anderson: 2.31
Green: 1.36
Leonard: 1.03

Some conclusions:
- Parker is making mainly his assists to bigmen. 130 of the 212 (61.3%) assists are made to Duncan, Splitter, Bonner and Blair.
- Even if the sample size is mall, Parker do pass the ball to Manu.
- Stats confirm that the Splitter/Parker connection works really well.
- If you look at the FG made by minutes, players who proportionally benefit the most from Parker's assists are Bonner, Splitter and Jefferson.

[TJastal]

I find it interesting to look at who Parker has passed the ball this year.

So far, Parker has made 212 assists?
Assists made by Parker to:
Duncan: 48
Blair: 34
Jefferson: 34
Splitter: 27
Bonner: 21
Neal: 15
Green: 10
Leonard: 10
Ginobili: 8
Anderson: 5

Now if you pro-rate with the time spent on the court:
Assists made by 48 minutes to:
Splitter: 4.17
Ginobili: 4.04
Bonner: 3.55
Duncan: 3.49
Blair: 3.11
Jefferson: 2.49
Neal: 2.41
Anderson: 2.31
Green: 1.36
Leonard: 1.03

Some conclusions:
- Parker is making mainly his assists to bigmen. 130 of the 212 (61.3%) assists are made to Duncan, Splitter, Bonner and Blair.
- Even if the sample size is mall, Parker do pass the ball to Manu.
- Stats confirm that the Splitter/Parker connection works really well.
- If you look at the FG made by minutes, players who proportionally benefit the most from Parker's assists are Bonner, Splitter and Jefferson.

More fuel to the "Splitter should start" fire.

[timvp]

Great work, Bruno.

Where did you get those assists stats?

/jealousy

[Bruno]

Where did you get those assists stats?

Handmade from the play by play. Took me 15 minutes to do.

[tp2021]

Threads like these are why I'm on ST religiously. I hope that Tony gets to retire a Spur.

[timvp]

Handmade from the play by play.

[timvp]

For reference in the future, here are Parker's clutch stats currently:

60 minutes
45 points
8 assists
17-for-35 from the field
1-for-2 on three-pointers
10-for-10 from the line
+27 plus/minus

That's for when New Age Spur Fan claims TP is a choker when the truth is Pop just draws up plays for Manu in the clutch when Manu is healthy. TP, when needed, has always been pretty darn good in clutch situations.

Manu is one of the clutchest playmakers in the history of the game but that doesn't mean TP (or TD, for that matter) is a choker. On most other teams in the league, TP would be the closer and has a history of closing well.

[benefactor]

Great stat work fellas. Thanks again.

[will_spurs]

Handmade from the play by play.

[BoricuaCJA]

This is the reason I go on Spurstalk every day a few times. Thanks for all your work and hopefully Parker continues playing really well even though we know his stats will be going down since he'll be playing less minutes and with Manu being back.

[lefty]

TP doing a good job with our best player out

[Paranoid Pop]

Very interesting, it basically comes down to the floater. Not really that surprising, OKC didn't have an answer for it, when he went all the way to the rim they got more physical but they couldn't do anything against the floater.

But the floater is not important only for Tony, it's very important for Neal too, it may be the single shot that make him work so well as a back-up PG or second creator on the floor in complement to his passing ability. Basically all of ST has to eat crow about that, myself included, Pop was right to try to turn him into a creator/PG, he helps so much more now even tho his handles are still suspect.

And it's also somewhat helps Bonner, his successful cuts to the basket mostly ends with a floater.

[Brazil]

TP doing a good job with our best player out

Lefty with the backhanded compliment as usual

[will_spurs]

Lefty with the backhanded compliment as usual

Although calling TJ Ford the Spurs best player is maybe a bit over the top

[SpurNation]

I find it interesting to look at who Parker has passed the ball this year.

So far, Parker has made 212 assists?
Assists made by Parker to:
Duncan: 48
Blair: 34
Jefferson: 34
Splitter: 27
Bonner: 21
Neal: 15
Green: 10
Leonard: 10
Ginobili: 8
Anderson: 5

Now if you pro-rate with the time spent on the court:
Assists made by 48 minutes to:
Splitter: 4.17
Ginobili: 4.04
Bonner: 3.55
Duncan: 3.49
Blair: 3.11
Jefferson: 2.49
Neal: 2.41
Anderson: 2.31
Green: 1.36
Leonard: 1.03

Some conclusions:
- Parker is making mainly his assists to bigmen. 130 of the 212 (61.3%) assists are made to Duncan, Splitter, Bonner and Blair.
- Even if the sample size is mall, Parker do pass the ball to Manu.
- Stats confirm that the Splitter/Parker connection works really well.
- If you look at the FG made by minutes, players who proportionally benefit the most from Parker's assists are Bonner, Splitter and Jefferson.

Me thinks it's a solid base for starting Parker, Neal, Jefferson, Blair and Duncan.

By the way...I second the...

Would be interesting to see the sample of Ginobili's assists prior to his injury.

[GSH]

Sweet piece of work! So nice to see the actual numbers, instead of going by feel. I would have never guessed that he is taking fewer shots at the rim this season. Not in a million years. Or that he was taking fewer 15-23 footers last season, for that matter.

The one thing that has been obvious this season is that floater. I've whined about his lack of that floater for several seasons. I think that's the shot that really makes him close to unstoppable. If the defenders wait for him to go to the rim, he burns them with the teardrop. If he sucks them out with the possibility of the teardrop, he goes around them to the rim. And (I think) when he is using that floater regularly, he has less of a tendency to over-penetrate and get stuck.

From the looks of that graph, he's just doing an exceptional job of mixing things up. NBA defenders are good enough that if you show a tendency, they are going to camp on it. If his 3P percentage was just a little higher, he would be one of the toughest covers in the league, period. As it is, though, he's shooting enough of them to at least keep the defense guessing all the time.

I'm still surprised to see that he is shooting as many 15-23 footers as he is. But he has always loved that shot from just inside the 3P line. I scream nearly every time he does it, but so many of them go in that I have to just shake my head and smile. The only reason I would like to see fewer of those shots is because of the times they are a last-ditch effort, after the offense has stalled.

Whether Tony has lost any significant amount of quickness is debatable. But even when he was in his first few years he couldn't jam it into the middle every single play. NBA defenses will eventually make you earn the points somewhere else. That floater was a big part of his skill set, even in his first few years in the league when he was at his absolute quickest. My strong opinion about all of this is that: if Tony keeps shooting that floater, and Tim can begin making that mid-range banker as effectively as he once did, this team will be MUCH harder to beat. Both of those things prevented the opposing bigs from being able to stack up right outside the restricted circle. And that's the main thing that keeps this team from being able to cut opposing defenses apart.

[MI21]

For reference in the future, here are Parker's clutch stats currently:

60 minutes
45 points
8 assists
17-for-35 from the field
1-for-2 on three-pointers
10-for-10 from the line
+27 plus/minus

That's for when New Age Spur Fan claims TP is a choker when the truth is Pop just draws up plays for Manu in the clutch when Manu is healthy. TP, when needed, has always been pretty darn good in clutch situations.

Manu is one of the clutchest playmakers in the history of the game but that doesn't mean TP (or TD, for that matter) is a choker. On most other teams in the league, TP would be the closer and has a history of closing well.

Thanks for this timvp. Tony is clutch as . I like the FT numbers for a guy that isn't an absolutely stellar FT shooter.

Do you have the figures for game winners made by Tony in his career?

Question.

[timvp]

Thanks for this timvp. Tony is clutch as . I like the FT numbers for a guy that isn't an absolutely stellar FT shooter.

Do you have the figures for game winners made by Tony in his career?

Question.

This is from two years ago:

Highest FG Percentage on Go-Ahead Shots in Final 10 Seconds of Fourth Quarter/OT Over The Past 10 Years

Category FG-FGA Pct.
Carmelo Anthony 11-21 52.4
Ray Allen 12-29 41.4
Tony Parker 9-22 40.9
Chris Paul 8-21 38.1
Tim Duncan 8-23 34.8
Jason Terry 7-21 33.3
Kobe Bryant 19-58 32.8

Anyone have more updated stats?




TP2 ain't half bad, tbh . . .

[MI21]

This is from two years ago:



Anyone have more updated stats?




TP2 ain't half bad, tbh . . .

TP2

I've been searching for the info for some time now, have had many people insist Manu has made more game winners - not true. Not that Manu isn't a superior clutch player, he certainly is. But when it comes to just making that final shot, I'll go Tony... *ducks head*