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Sitting next to my Dad I asked "am I really seeing this" and my Dad who watched the Spurs since their first ABA days said he had never ever seen anyone that fast. We were slack jawed-drooling.
NBA GMs were going nuts watching him in the summer league. Like I said above, the Sonics went from thinking who wants a 19 year old Frenchy on draft night to "hey, you can have Payton for him, Pop!" a couple of weeks later.
Sitting next to my Dad I asked "am I really seeing this" and my Dad who watched the Spurs since their first ABA days said he had never ever seen anyone that fast. We were slack jawed-drooling.
I remember thinking, "holy the Spurs are actually going to get Parker" when Orlando drafted Jerryl Sasser. They were trying desperately to trade with Toronto to move up because they were scared to death of Boston or Orlando taking him.
This is actually a good/tough question. It's between Green and Kawhi for me. Green went from being cut twice to being a key component on almost two championship teams. Kawhi's maturation and improvements from year to year have been impressive as well.
Well, we were dealing with a poor decrepit Terry Porter at the time constantly getting blown up by Kobe's defense. With Parker that all ended.
Green pounded at the rock and developed himself into an irreplaceable champion and quintessential Spur.
Went from dancing with Lebron on the sideline to a business-like cool.
Whatever the Spurs have needed he's been there. Whether it's a crucial surprise block in his first year or two as a Spur or the barrage of 3 pointers that you know is just around the corner even if he's been in a slump, DG has been exactly what we need when we need it more times than not. The man has gone well out of his way to improve his handles (and finishing at the rim) when all we ever would have expected of him is to make the open 3.
He just does his job, kicks ass and takes names (quietly) and that's what you want in a Spur. None of us ever dreamed Danny would be what he is to this team.
Remember who sparked us into recommitting to defense when we had more or less given up hope on that end circa 09-10?
It was Danny.
I'd have to go with Green as well. He was really a fringe NBA player, cut twice by the Spurs (apparently for at ude problems?) and yet he managed to turn things around and become a valuable piece on a championship team. His growth as a Spur has been phenomenal.
Then I'd have to say Parker, because he came into the league very young, as an unknown quan y, and Pop mentioned he didn't even want to draft him after the 1st workout. Parker had to push for a 2nd workout to convince him. Maybe everybody was convinced he would be great after the Summer League (and I think Nike Hoops Summit?) but I remember that he was under a lot of fire from Pop and fans alike during the first couple of years. I had high hopes for him but his resume is now way beyond what I could have imagined, and he's purely a Spurs product, shaped by Pop and Chip, unlike Manu who was influenced by Messina and his time with Argentina NT as well.
Kawhi still has time to develop, but in terms of improvement he's one notch below because he was clearly lottery talent and people are still wondering how he fell into the Spurs lap at #15... On the other hand the sky is the ceiling for Kawhi, so when all is said and done he's likely to have one of a resume.
At the time of drafting it has to be Manu. Obviously he was already super special by the time he joined the team.
Parker was always going to be good, Kawhi's worst case would have been a Gerald Wallace , who still had a decent career and made some money.
Green, though, had everything stacked against him - no exceptional qualities, bad work ethic and at ude, cut a few times - he was destined to play on a bad Euro team. Then something happened and he transformed into what he is today seemingly overnight. He still could have been forgotten somewhere in Europe but for an unfortunate Anderson injury ( OT : hey Durant lol ). Now him and Anderson have switched places, it's almost like Danny stole Anderson's career.
If Kawhi continues this to a b2b, I'm changing my answer.
Yes, Manu was TOP 3 Player in Europe when coming to the Spurs.
Kawhi's flirting with supers om has made this a tough question. We have seen Parker's ceiling (2013), but Green still has some room to improve and the sky is the limit for Kawhi.
I agree that it can't be Manu because he was already damn good before he joined the team.
He definitely been better. People overrated him last season. I was skeptical but he's been very solid. Excellent finisher around the basket, very good rebounder but average defensively though.
15.7 MPG, 6.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG .554% FG% 15.7 P.E.R
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