Shortly after the Finals, there was a Battle Blog started here en led 'Is Tony Parker overrated'? While I'm a huge fan of the Battle Blogs for the most part, being one of founding fathers of fullsportpress, it's somewhat beneath me to engage is such juvenile online banter- as many of you know, that's not my style. Allow me to take this opportunity to lay out the facts as only Walton can- from a clearly objective and professional stance on this twenty- three year old point guard whose six year, sixty-six million dollar contract kicks in just as the Spurs embark on defending their NBA championship.
Fist off, one cannot ascertain the word 'overrated' when dealing with professional athletes without looking at the market value for the position they play. For example, many basketabll minds label Yao Ming as 'overrated' but his 5.6 million dollar salary in today's market isn't a bad deal at all considering what other starting centers who put up much worse numbers playing for much weaker teams are making (i.e. Adonal Foyle and the 4 years, 34 million left on his deal). In looking at Parker's worth and value juxtaposed to his contract, take into account that 1. he's only twenty three years old, 2. he should conceivably get better as those six years progress and 3. having a stable point nowadays is a luxury in this league. Take a look around the league and the salaries being collected by some notable 'star' point guards; Stephon Marbury (never won a le I might add) 4 years, 76 million, Baron Davis (never played a full season, let alone won a le) 4 years, 62 million, freaking Jason Williams of the Heat (by the way Heat fans, I'll be addressing you in my next post) who can't spell win, let alone get the job done is on the books for 25 million over the next three years. The list goes on and on of guys that have yet to prove anything when it counts and are being paid exorbidant amounts of cash to do so- now that's how I define overrated.
Not everything however is Rosie O'Donnell here. For starters, I have a huge problem with Parker's tendancy to perform a disappearing act in big moments. Some might argue that his role is to become a distributor while Manu and Tim take on the scoring duties down the stretch of close games- this is complete BS. Tony Parker too often looks like a Asian in Pamela Anderson's cleavage when the going gets tough and this is something that opposing coaches are catching on to. During the fourth quarter of game seven against the Pistons, Parker attampted one shot- an airball. Notwithstanding a jumpshot that is less consistent that John Kerry, the guy pretty much was the same player in the championship clinching game this year that he was in 2003, when Speedy Claxton bailed him out. This is a huge concern. Tony Parker should be working on his game with his newly appointed personal shooting coach this summer, rather than taking his 66 million dollar deal to France. He's entering his fifth season as the team's starting point guard and needs to start showing more than baby steps if he expects to continue wearing the silver-and-black.
Gregg Popovich was noticeably les harsh with Parker this year compared to seasons past but everyone can rest assured that if Pop continues to see the same mistakes and the same lack of killer instinct from his starting point guard, then that new contract will soon be someone else's concern- maybe the French team's........
Most Valuable Poster out........
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