Ludden: Pop asks Parker to shoot less

[telecomguy]

I think the kind of players who want to win more championships instead of being on top of the stats.

Good for Tony,but great for the team.

wait a second.....since when did it become that the only way to get on the all-star was by scoring? Is Nash the best scorer? Is that why he is going to the All-Star?

I think TP can become a great player if he can learn to distribute better and get better shots for his teammates. He can still get his 15 pts. at 55% and if he can up his assist number to say around 9 or 10 and also become a better defender, and a jump shooter, there wouldn't be too many coaches or fans who wouldn't recognize his abilities.......not to mention probably a few more rings for the Spurs.

As it is right now, if TP plays the way he has been, we are not going to win the ring...and that is what it is all about in the end. Not all-star selection.

[ArgSpursFan]

It's all about the Xs and Os.

What happens when Parker drives? Well, for one thing, the entire defense of the opposing team collapses on him. This means that if he gets out of position or he misses, they suddenly have 3-4 players around the boards for rebounding.

Even if they -don't- collapse, if you'll watch, Parker goes to the opposite side of the bucket that Duncan has posted on (right side). This means that there is not only a defender with Parker near the hoop, but one between Duncan and the basket. If Parker misses, or even if he passes to a teammate for a shot, the other team has effectively pulled in a bit. Duncan doesn't want to go over the back and pick up a stupid foul, so he has to give up the space and the rebound.

Compare this to the Tony Parker that drives and dishes. Now, he has a step on his man (who has to follow him out of the post), the defense has fallen back a bit, and we have open shooters who can move the ball just about anywhere. Since Tim doesn't have to worry about being in Parker's path when he drives, he can repost for better rebounding position if we miss.

As a side bonus, we control the game clock a lot more in this case, which means less time for the opposing team to have the ball, which means our defense will yield fewer PPG.

As a second bonus, Parker will most likely be fresher for the 4th quarter, meaning he can play better D and have better penetration. I've noticed that teams make almost as many adjustments to Parker now as Duncan. If you wait till the 3rd and 4th quarters before letting him loose, you could surprise a lot of teams who think they've been able to stay in front of him the whole game.

With a balanced Ofence you become less predictible on the ofensive end+ the other team can´t get many fast break points.

[telecomguy]

It's all about the Xs and Os.

What happens when Parker drives? Well, for one thing, the entire defense of the opposing team collapses on him. This means that if he gets out of position or he misses, they suddenly have 3-4 players around the boards for rebounding.

Even if they -don't- collapse, if you'll watch, Parker goes to the opposite side of the bucket that Duncan has posted on (Duncan usually posts to the left side in this case). This means that there is not only a defender with Parker near the hoop, but one between Duncan and the basket, assuming they aren't fronting him. If Parker misses, or even if he passes to a teammate for a shot, the other team has effectively pulled in a bit. Duncan doesn't want to go over the back and pick up a stupid foul, so he has to give up the space and the rebound.

Compare this to the Tony Parker that drives and dishes. Now, he has a step on his man (who has to follow him out of the post), the defense has fallen back a bit, and we have open shooters who can move the ball just about anywhere. Since Tim doesn't have to worry about being in Parker's path when he drives, he can repost for better rebounding position if we miss.

As a side bonus, we control the game clock a lot more in this case, which means less time for the opposing team to have the ball, which means our defense will yield fewer PPG.

As a second bonus, Parker will most likely be fresher for the 4th quarter, meaning he can play better D and have better penetration. I've noticed that teams make almost as many adjustments to Parker now as Duncan. If you wait till the 3rd and 4th quarters before letting him loose, you could surprise a lot of teams who think they've been able to stay in front of him the whole game.

excellent post. exactly what i have also observed.

[ChumpDumper]

@ folks who think Tony is the guy holding this team back.

[timvp]

if he can up his assist number to say around 9 or 10

You do watch the Spurs play, don't you?

You could put Steve Nash in this offense and he wouldn't average 9 assists. Unless you want to install a new offense, if a player averages 6 assists, they are doing a good job.

[VaSpursFan]

i'm still marveling over this thread. people are acting like some fantastic insight has been revealed when the bottom line is we have discovered is that tony is doing whatever Pop asks of him. Pop know's a lot more about X and O's and part of me believes that he's either trying to shorten the rotation or have another role player overachieve in order to make a trade.

[Cry Havoc]

You do watch the Spurs play, don't you?

You could put Steve Nash in this offense and he wouldn't average 9 assists. Unless you want to install a new offense, if a player averages 6 assists, they are doing a good job.

Nash might get 9 assists because he would literally tell the defense, "Ok, I'm going to fake you out and lob it to Duncan. Ready? ready? Here it goes." *fake* *Layup for TD*

But Nash is a freak and an exception. The Spurs are all about making the 3rd and 4th pass, not just the first or second. Yet another reason why Parker's driving takes away from our offense -- it makes us a little closer to two-dimensional, especially when it's our primary method of scoring.

Also, and I just thought of this. Parker is our fastest player. You don't want your fastest player under your own hoop when the other team is throwing outlet passes down the court. If Tony is around the 3 point line, there is NO way to have a 2-0 or 1-0 fast break. The Spurs will always have at least one player back.

[telecomguy]

You do watch the Spurs play, don't you?

You could put Steve Nash in this offense and he wouldn't average 9 assists. Unless you want to install a new offense, if a player averages 6 assists, they are doing a good job.

hmm...are you really sure about that? Perhaps Spurs wouldn't play the way do today if Nash was running the offence. Also it is possible that if Parker lays out beautiful passes on a regular basis to an open player for layups or uncontested jumpers, are you saying the Spur player would either miss the layup or pass it again to a covered man?

basketball is baskeball. I do not think Pop ever told Parker to not find an open man for uncontested layups or wide-open jumpers. And it's not the Spurs system that is preventing Parker from doing his PG job. The fact is TP is just not very good at finding open man or freezing out defense to create shots for his teammates.

I like Tony..i think he works extremely hard and has a good at ude. But you would be a fool to completly ignore or be blinded by his obvious shortcomings even as he has shown so much potential and atheleticism in the past few years. His next level up is to get the jumper working and to CREATE and FIND open man so that he makes EVERYONE more effective, including himself. Numbers do not tell everything. Numbers on parker looks very good....unfortunately in my opinion, Parker does not play as effectively as his numbers tend to show.

[hitmanyr2k]

I've gained some respect for Parker.

How many players in the league would listen to their coach and stop shooting as much? Especially when the player is a borderline All-Star who by shooting less could play himself right out of contention.

Props to Parker for putting the team over any personal goals

??? It's not like Parker has a say in the matter. Common sense says he's not going to ignore Popovich and he's not going to complain because he'll just end up in the doghouse.

[ChumpDumper]

are you saying the Spur player would either miss the layup or pass it again to a covered man?

Oberto would miss the layup and Barry would pass it again to a covered man.

[Cry Havoc]

Oberto would miss the layup and Barry would pass it again to a covered man.

Still an upgrade from Nazr, who would fumble the ball for 45 seconds and then pump fake under the hoop 23 times.

[SequSpur]

So while Parker is playing like a ing allstar, popadip wants him to step back and be a role player like wussy duncan and the rest of the bags they picked up....

ing great... even more of a reason not to watch this popateam.

[Cry Havoc]

So while Parker is playing like a ing allstar, popadip wants him to step back and be a role player like wussy duncan and the rest of the bags they picked up....

ing great... even more of a reason not to watch this popateam.

You mean the one with three rings on their fingers?

Yeah. Don't watch. We don't need fans like you who think their knowledge of sports is all-encompassing.

[SequSpur]

You mean the one with three rings on their fingers?

Yeah. Don't watch. We don't need fans like you who think their knowledge of sports is all-encompassing.

Do you ride the short bus to the ATT center? Obviously, you don't watch the Spurs.

[Cry Havoc]

Do you ride the short bus to the ATT center? Obviously, you don't watch the Spurs.

Ah, I suppose it's no surprise that someone who openly states they know more about basketball than a head coach, and feels no need to watch their team anymore has to resort to insults about another person's intelligence to get his point across.

[T Park]

sequ spur gets owned and as usual, has nothing intelligent to say back.

[ArgSpursFan]

So while Parker is playing like a ing allstar, popadip wants him to step back and be a role player like wussy duncan and the rest of the bags they picked up....

ing great... even more of a reason not to watch this popateam.

them go watch denver,they´ve got ing Iverson,if that´s the kind of Basketball you like.but them,don´t spect them to win a championship

[diego]

If the team was shooting 50%, Tony wouldn't be shooting so much in the first place.

of course, and if tony shoots 53% it obviously helps the team % too. I dont think its a matter of shots per game, just keeping everyone involved and trying to put our players in favorable positions. Finley has been driving me crazy this season but if we arent getting a replacement we need to try and get something out of him, same goes for barry, udrih, etc. they get some good opportunities already and more talented guys would have probably been able to capitalize them but they've made it clear they need more help to be useful. if we go into the playoffs playing 3 on 5 we're going to have a hard time.

i dont know how many times i have to repeat, i have no problem with parker, quite the contrary, but pop has to figure out how to make this team he put together work the best it can.

[ShoogarBear]

Doesn't matter. The first game the Spurs lose with Tony taking six shots, the HaveItInForHims will talk about being too passive and not stepping up.

[SequSpur]

Ah, I suppose it's no surprise that someone who openly states they know more about basketball than a head coach, and feels no need to watch their team anymore has to resort to insults about another person's intelligence to get his point across.

WTF do 3 rings have to do with Duncan getting owned by a 6 2 guard on the Boston Celtics?

The Spurs are winning because of Tony Parker. Watch a game and get back to me.

[SequSpur]

sequ spur gets owned and as usual, has nothing intelligent to say back.

Get some snatch and get back to me. Might be awhile.

[cheguevara]

Finally I hear something that makes sence this year from Pop!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks god,he wasn´t out of his mind
I guess,we are gonna start watching some ball movement and sharing from now on.!!!!!!GO SPURS GO

I hope you're being sarcastic. The solution is not for Tony to shoot less, but to get SOMEONE, ANYONE more involved.

Again, for the fools that still don't get it, Pop didn't do this because Tony is a ballhog, but because we need to jumstart our team offense somehow.

It is basically equivalent to telling Manu to start on thebench, it's not because he sucks, but because our bench players are ing .

and Pop better be telling Barry if he passes on another open jumper he will put him in the inactive list.

[SequSpur]

Pop is just trying to get someone else's confidence and production up.

Isn't this the NBA? The top of the mountain. The big chulo.

This team has the tools to compete for a championship and now they are worried about massaging confidence and productivity?

How many more times are they going to go to Bonner and Bowen for a game winner?

You win when you put the ball in the hands of your best player and right now that is Tony Parker. Let him in play and dictate the game now. Duncan has become a role player. Manu is usually out of control or watching from the sideline... The rest of these guys are unpredictable... the only allstar left and Pop is muzzling him. WTF? Can I be a writer? This is bull . Parker is the only reason I keep watching this puss team and now I have to watch him pass it for a clanker?

It's getting worse by the minute.

[cheguevara]

Isn't this the NBA? The top of the mountain. The big chulo.

This team has the tools to compete for a championship and now they are worried about massaging confidence and productivity?

2 words, Beno Udrih

[SequSpur]

2 words, Beno Udrih

Parker doesn't pass to Beno Udrih...