What an amazing run. Seems like yesterday that I was celebrating the Spurs picking the speedy point guard from France who I thought could be a good change of pace backup point guard for a few years before hopefully one day being starting material. Little did we know that he'd be thrown into the fire a couple weeks into his rookie season and play better than anyone thought possible. Handling nightly Pop tirades before he could legally drink, dominating playoff games against HOF PGs from his very first year, leading transitions from the Four-Down Era to the Penetrate And Kick Era to the Beautiful Game Era, playing with an unbreakable confidence in himself and an unbreakable trust in Pop's directions, and the list goes on.
If David Robinson was the foundation of the championship era, Tim Duncan was the backbone and Manu Ginobili was the heart, Tony Parker was the engine that made it go.
Thank you.