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guess were not the only ones who know tony is a ballhog
Spurs Mailbag: For right price, watch Parker hog ball up close
Web Posted: 12/04/2006 08:02 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....510d1de9.html
Still looking for the perfect Christmas gift for that special Spurs fan in your life?
Well, for the low, low price of $2,250 you can get him or her one ticket to an upcoming game.
Not just any ticket. THE ticket.
This season, the Spurs are selling four seats on the scorer's table next to the team's bench for $2,250. That's $2,250 per seat per game.
Each seat features a small TV display and comes with as much food and drink as the fan can ingest. (Of course, for $2,250 there are some people who think you should also be able to choose either Tim Duncan, Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili as your designated driver.)
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich even throws in a free vocabulary lesson during games. Earmuffs for children 16 and under are not included.
While the tickets are costly, they aren't the most expensive in the league. Courtside seats at Los Angeles' Staples Center went for $2,500 apiece last season.
Of course, if you're sitting courtside at a Lakers game, you might get Denzel Washington or Jack Black as your neighbor. In celebrity-starved San Antonio, you'll only be sitting next to the Spurs' beat writer.
Is it just me or is Tony Parker (for all his burgeoning talent) a tad selfish at times? It seems he has become enamored with calling his own number on the high pick-and-roll, to the exclusion of his teammates. I'm always a little leery when a point guard consistently leads his team in shots. I know Pop lets him call his own plays but where's the balance?– Patrick, Lagos, Nigeria
Do you think Tony Parker will ever evolve into a passer as a point guard? He can shoot very well, but he cannot get others involved when it is critical to do so. His assist numbers have not really improved to be an elite point guard in the NBA. I think he is too one-dimensional. The assist package would also prolong his career when he may no longer rely on speed alone.– Jared, San Antonio
The only surprising thing about these questions is that neither came from Argentina.
(This reminds me of my all-time favorite news conference moment. In the summer of 2005, Manu went to Buenos Aires to help conduct one of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders camps. At the introductory press session, a local TV reporter asked Ginobili, "Why does Tony Parker not pass you the ball? To Argentina, he is the Anti-Christ.")
So, while Tony is not the Anti-Christ, he is, indeed, selfish at times. But that's not always a bad thing.
Think of Tony as a scoring guard. He's not a conventional point guard like John Stockton or Steve Nash. That's not what the Spurs ask of him.
Pop wants him to be aggressive. And he wants him to shoot when open. It's hard to argue against that when Tony is making better than 50 percent of his shots.
Parker's greatest skill is his quickness, which allows him to penetrate and collapse defenses. Sometimes that opens shots for his teammates. Mostly, it opens shots for him.
Does Tony dominate the ball too much at times? Yes. Does that make the offense stagnate at times? Yes.
Striking a balance between scorer and distributor remains a constant battle. Sometimes Tony can't win for trying. During the Seattle game, Pop chewed on him for not attacking enough. The next night against Golden State, Tony got yelled at for shooting too much.
Pop might have been right in both cases. The challenge for Tony is to adjust to whatever the situation dictates.
The Spurs are fortunate that Manu also can create and distribute. In fact, they ought to stop differentiating between point guard and shooting guard and simply call both him and Tony "guards."
Also remember this: Chauncey Billups didn't average more than six assists per game until last season, his ninth in the league.
How would you use the Spurs pick in the upcoming 2007 draft? Have you any particular player who you like most? Don't you think that the Spurs lack "a-little-bit-bad" player who would pump them up during games? I think they are too "polite" on the court.– Fics, Zilina, Slovakia
Sign No. 1 your favorite players are getting a little soft: Someone named Fics from Slovakia says they're "too polite."
As for how I would use the Spurs' 2007 pick? Right now, I'm kind of partial to Greg Oden.
What is the Spurs all-time playoff record?– Craig Olcott, Charleston, S.C.
Why can't I get more questions like this? The answer isn't subjective, is easy to look up and takes about three seconds to type: 8-12 in the ABA; 128-114 in the NBA.
When the Spurs play the Mavs, why don't they clog the lane and make the Dallas cutters to the basket (Dirk, Josh, Devin) PAY when they go to the hoop and take them to the floor or give them a "friendly elbow" like Miami did in the Finals? If Pop is too chummy with Avery, and we keep chasing them around all over the floor we'll never beat a younger team like they are in a seven-game series doing that.– Kevin Schreiber, Dallas
For the Spurs to "take them to the floor," as you advocate Kevin, they first must be close enough to the Mavericks to touch them. And that, sir, has been part of the problem.
I went back and looked at the Nov. 24 game between the teams. Not including put-backs or tip-ins by big men, Dallas scored at the rim six times in the halfcourt. Two of those were back-to-back layups by Anthony Johnson, which promptly earned Beno Udrih a seat on the bench for the rest of the game.
At least one other layup was the result of a back screen that left no one in position to give a "friendly elbow."
I agree it wouldn't have hurt to drop Devin Harris on his rear a time or two, but I also think the so-called "intimidation" foul is one of the most overrated plays in basketball.
I say this having watched Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili get clubbed to the floor countless times over the past four, five seasons. And each time, they got up, dusted themselves off and drove right back down the middle of the lane. In fact, if there's any criticism of the Parker and Ginobili, it's that they penetrate too much.
In Game 2 of last season's second-round series between the teams, the Spurs' big men tried to deter the Mavs from scoring at the rim. In the process, they allowed at least three and-ones. If you're going to foul, you better make sure the foul is hard enough to keep the guy from scoring.
The truth is, the league has had few, if any, intimidating enforcers since Charles Oakley (and possibly Karl Malone) retired.
Miami beat the Mavericks in the Finals because they had a big man (Udonis Haslem) who was quick and physical enough to stay with Dirk. And because they had Dwyane Wade, who went to the free-throw line about a dozen times a game because the Mavericks kept fouling him every time he drove into the lane.
Will the NBA ever change the playoff format to 2-2-1-1-1 so we can see the Spurs win in 5 at home?– Robert Garza, Dallas
Umm ... the format is already 2-2-1-1-1 for every round but the NBA Finals.
And if you were referring to changing the Finals format, you're making four big assumptions.
1. That the Spurs have homecourt advantage. If they don't, they would be playing Game 5 on the road.
2).That they're able to win in five games. Of their three championships, only the one in 1999 ended in five.
3. That they're able to win the Finals. Getting there doesn't automatically mean you're going to win it.
4. That they're even in the Finals. Last time I checked, Dallas was the team that made it last year. And Dallas is currently one of two Western Conference teams with a better record than the Spurs.
If I remember right, the NBA changed the format to 2-3-2 for the 1985 Finals. Back then, the Lakers and Celtics were routinely facing each other and the league thought it had become too much of a travel burden to make the teams – and media – repeatedly crisscross the country.
How come Duncan hugs the ball before each game?– T. Martin, Leander
He's supers ious. Or lonely.
guess were not the only ones who know tony is a ballhog
I guess you missed the point of the article.
no comment.
Duncan is ballhog
take a look at my avatar
yea tony hogs it a little bit
Parker hogging the ball helps my fantasy team.
Concurred
The only surprising thing about these questions is that neither came from Argentina.
comparing Tony's game to Chauncey's is laughable. Tony needs to continue to attack the basket and stop falling in love with the jumper. Tony is most inconsistent when he rely's on his jumper. He was so much better last year because he attacked the bucket. Chauncey on the other hand can flat out shoot from outside.(except for maybe this year.
I think he was only making the point about distributing with Chauncey, not saying anything about their shooting strengths.
Look at Chauncy's early years in the league. Parker is light years ahead of him.
A bad sign for the rest of the NBA is Parker has played like crap for the last couple weeks and he's still averaging 20 points on 51.5% shooting from the field. He's only played up to his potential a couple times this year.
Once Parker finds his rhythm, he's going to have a very solid year. He's a player that starts to get going around the beginning of January each year, so I expect the same this year.
The people who call Tony a ball hog don't understand his role on the team. He's a score first point guard that plays in a low post dominated motion offense. Most NBA point guard rack up assists on plays where its setup for a shooter to go around picks and catch and shoot. Who many times do you see a play like that run on this team? John Stockton wouldn't average 8 assists in this offense.
Even Beno, who everyone loves to hail as some sort of ultra pure pass first point guard, averages less assists per minute than Parker. This offense just isn't built for assists from the point guard position.
If Parker is playing at his best, he's averaging 22 points and getting between 6 and 6.5 assists per game.
Not to mention that this teams horrible outside shooting so far has hurt Tony's assist numbers. Now that Bruce is hitting his numbers should improve, and if Finley ever gets going then they'll just improve further.
True. I was thinking about that the other day. Manu is shooting around 41%. Beno, Fin, Horry, Bonner are all shooting under 38%. So unless Tony is throwing it to a Tim, Barry or a center, he doesn't have much of a chance for assists.
Does anyone think TP needs to bulk up a little bit?
no. You want to kill a speed guard's best weapon, have them hit the weights.
Parker is about as big as you want him. Make him any thicker and you start taking away some of his speed and agility that make him the player he is.
Its funny... I'm so used to everyone ranting on Tony Parker. He'll never be good enough.
Good thing the Spurs never got J. R. Smith or the hate would have really flowed around here.
Ludden is coming off sounding like a real ass in these columns. The question about who the Spurs should look at in the draft is a good one, and Ludden all over it. He's starting to sound really arrogant, and when he's putting crap like this in his columns it comes out looking really lazy.
You're right about the response to the draft question, bb. That was lame.
Been talking to Eva?
With Parker focused on his upcoming nuptials with Eva it is unlikely that his game will improve this season.
I agree... although to Ludden's defense, the timing of the question is a bit early no? I mean how would he generate any significant non-speculative response at this point in the season - without the benefit of next year's March Madness as a 'stock' filtering medium before the draft....
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