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Why do people insist that Parker has to become a pure point guard? He's not. The Spurs don't expect him to be. They don't need him to be.
His game is built upon his speed. He's supposed to be aggressive and attck the rim. Either he blows by his man for a layup or the defense collapses on him. When the latter happens, that's supposed to create passing opportunities.
His passing and assists depend upon his penetration and his aggressiveness. The trick with him is to find the happy medium so that he's not overaggressive and out of control, or too passive and ineffective. He's gotten better at that every year.
If nobody is cutting him off in the lane and he's getting easy layups instead of assists, that's great. A Parker layup is a higher percentage shot than a Duncan jumper from the top of the key or a Finley midrange shot. Don't forget what a great finisher Parker has become around the rim.
(The only caveat with this is when Avery Johnson pulls out the "Steve Nash" defense and lets Tony run wild so that nobody else can get involved.)
And now that Tony's getting better with his jump shot, if teams try to pack the lane, he can just drift behind a screen or stop-and-pop. Then if they try to stop that, he can find the open man.
He's not a Steve Nash kind of player who sees all the angles and threads the needle from the top of the key. He'll never be that type of player. Stop holding him to that standard. His game is predicated on his quickness, and it makes him very effective.
Now if he ever tears an ACL, we'll have a serious problem.
