Parker proved his point
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
June 8, 2007
SAN ANTONIO – Through these city streets, where the San Antonio Spurs just had the championship parade, Tim Duncan chauffeured Jason Kidd on his recruiting trip. Four years ago, Duncan drove him in his car to dinner for the final sell, the two stars meeting Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford at a posh San Antonio restaurant.
Tony Parker was out of the country that July weekend, out of mind. The Spurs cleared the cap space for a $90 million offer and spent a year researching so they could climb inside the mind of the New Jersey Nets star. For months, Popovich had assured Parker that the front office and coaching staff believed the two could exist together in San Antonio's backcourt. They assured the 21-year-old that they weren't signing Kidd to eventually trade Parker.
"My plan was to keep him," Buford said. "In my mind, guys like Tony, Tim, Jason and Manu (Ginobili) can play with anybody."
Back then, Parker wasn't sold on the scenario.
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Four years later, nothing has changed.
"I don't want to think about it," Parker said Friday, "but if he came here, I don't think I would be in San Antonio."
Looking back, Kidd's spurning of San Antonio turned out to be the threshold where these Spurs truly began to belong to Parker. He was unstoppable with 27 points in Game 1 of the NBA finals on Thursday. He has grown into one of the best little-man finishers in the sport's history, developing an uncanny knack to get shots to flutter over long arms and into the net. Maybe he'll never be a three-point shooter, but his mid-range game is devastating. And along the way, he's become a pillar of poise.
Parker has come a long, long way from the soft French 19-year-old whom Popovich had to be sold on drafting with the 28th pick in 2001.
"I came so young, so it was a little bit like father and son," Parker said Friday. "He was always hard on me. He always screamed at me and tried to push me because I (was) a little nonchalant in practice, and a bit lazy. And even if I play great, he always thinks that I can be perfect."
Across most of the 2002-03 season, though, Parker nodded when Popovich talked to him about Kidd, told Popovich that he understood the reasons and welcomed the chance to play with him. They met in the '03 NBA finals, Parker outplayed Kidd on the way to the second championship in franchise history, and he finally called Johnny Ludden, the Spurs' beat writer for the San Antonio Express-News, to unload.
"I know I'm the best point guard for this team," Parker told the newspaper. "I can lead this team. I know deep down in my heart I can. I'm only 21, but I'm going to get better.
"I love Pop. He's like a second father to me. Pop gave me my chance to start and everything. That's why I was so diplomatic. That's why I had a hard time trying to be clear with him. I was young and a little bit scared talking. I didn't want to cause problems. I didn't want to say nothing during the season and distract the team because we were trying to win a championship. But I always thought if we won the championship, we wouldn't get Jason."
The Spurs still tried desperately to sign him, and nearly did. In the end, Kidd always felt funny about making the leap to a team that had just beaten the Nets for the NBA le. He always felt it would look like he had climbed on the gravy train. What's more, his estranged wife, Joumana, had little desire to move to San Antonio. At the time, New Jersey had won back-to-back Eastern Conference les and had a core of Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson.
Since then, Kidd, at times, has regretted it. Never the Spurs, though.
"That never happened, so I'm happy about that," Duncan said.
With Kidd's contract, there's no guarantee San Antonio could've signed Ginobili. Maybe the Spurs would've had to trade Parker. Kidd is brilliant, a Hall of Famer, but it's hard to make the case that they would've had more success with him. Ginobili has been a terrific player here. More than that, he sells tickets in a city where the Latin-American population has embraced his Argentinean heritage.
Now, San Antonio has won two les with Parker and Ginobili playing important parts with Duncan. They're on the way to a third. Parker has grown into one of the best point guards on the planet. Popovich has ridden him hard, turning him into a true extension of the coach on the court. Once Kidd turned them down, Popovich had truly turned the running of these Spurs over to Parker.
That summer in 2003, Popovich traveled to France to visit Parker. He laid out everything that would be expected of him as San Antonio's point guard. "Pop had been honest with Tony for a year," Buford said. "There was nothing that caught Tony off guard. … I think that's the real beauty of Pop and his relationship with his players. That's one of Pop's gifts."
Now, Parker is 25 years old and practically peerless at his position. No, the Spurs were never thrilled to hear Parker defy them publicly on the push for Kidd in July of '03, but he was right. Kidd is Kidd, but over and over, Tony Parker has made his case that he was the best point guard to run this dynasty.
Adrian Wojnarowski is the national NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Send Adrian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
i was never sold on jason kidd for san antonio. i've felt that i trust the spurs front office, a lot more than some of the other fans on this board. but i felt like kidd as not a good fit. sure, he's a great player.
pippen was still a great player when he signed with the rockets. not a good fit.
parker has evolved into an all-star, and he's helped change the spurs offensive style. i'm glad that signing didn't go through.
I was always for a backcourt featuring both Parker and Kidd...
Parker has yet another finals opportunity not to disappear.
In perfect world, Tony would have embraced playing alongside Kidd, Ginobili would be content with MLE type of contract, and Bowen would have suddenly had the athleticism to play above the rim & gotten the benefit of Kidd's alley oop passes.
Ofcourse it's not, and i'm damn happy it turns out to be this way.
I always thought Pop was a little too harsh with tony, but it sounds like thats exactly what he needed... a good swift kick in his lazy French ass.
Too bad you've missed another oportunity to STFU....
Not signing Kidd is the best mistake the Spurs franchise never made.
Anyone who doesn't appreciate that TP has matured and gotten better every year would probably maintain that negative viewpoint--in spite of his brilliant 27 point game 1.
I'm betting you're a member of the Flat Earth Society as well as a proponent of bringing back Antonio Daniels and and Malik Rose.
Completely against the idea of signing Jason Kidd back then.
Here's a tidbit I found in the local paper this morning regarding this topic:
Had the Spurs signed Kidd, they likely wouldn't have been able to keep either Parker or Ginobili, or possibly even both of them. In their effort to clear salary-cap room for Kidd, they traded a first-round pick to Phoenix, passing over a chance to take Josh Howard. The Suns picked Leandro Barbosa.
You can actually see Pop´s face more relaxed while talking to him on important games like these.He doesn´t yell at him no more like He used to.And Timmy and Manu trust Him more now tham in the 05 Finals by letting him take more shots in the 4rd quearter.
07 Finals TP>>>>>>>>>05 Finals TP
Obstructed View is trying the whottt super reverse double jinx on TP.seems to be working so far
I know Tony opened his mouth about this situation in the summer when the Spurs were gunning for Kidd, but I think it showed maturity that he actually waited until then because it was obiviously bother him during the season, but he didn't want to cause distractions during the season. I'm glad TP is now the undisputed pg of the Spurs becuase he does a very good job leading them.
I cursed the Spurs then for even considering such an assinine trade. It made no sense then and it makes on sense today. I don't give a what Buford says or how he fails to admit what a mistake it was courting Kidd.
It was obvious then and now that Parker was the better fit for this club. While Kidd is still one of the best PG in the league - the guy still can't shoot. So how the would that have helped the Spurs?
What the article and many folks fail to realize is that while pairing up of Duncan and Kidd together on the court may have been a dream for some, from a salary cap standpoint it would been disastrous. Kidd makes almost as much money as Duncan. Think about it. Where would this team be now if Parker or Ginobili or even both were not on it?
Any deal involving Kidd would have drastically changed the complexion of the roster as we know it and would have severely crippled the Spurs ability to bring in the kind of supporting talent they've had over the past four years.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Buford has done marvelous things during his tenure, but he "screwed the pooch" that summer by chasing Kidd and passing up Josh Howard. Whether he admits it or not.
the only thing i can say since that year all those marquee n FAs who didnt select to play for the spurs
kidd = enjoy losing with brooklyn nets
ghill = dude who sat on the magics bench for 80% of his contract wrong move for magic
brand = enjoys losing with the LAC of else he wouldve bolted when he had the chance
JO = agreeing to stay as long isiah is still on the pacers, karmas a when 1-2months into his new contract isiah was fired.
Out of that bunch, the one I really wanted was JO. What a moron.
Ya'll are crazy, and hindsight is 20/20! Kidd is a Hall-of-Famer who carried a mediocre Nets team for years! He took that team to the Finals twice (and people make a big deal about LeBron doing it). He made Miki Moore look like a borderline All-star this year!
Having Kidd on the team would have been sort of like an Avery Johnson who was big, could play D, make all-stars out of average players, create Ginobili-like havoc in the passing lanes, effectivly doubleteam, create a dozen easy shot opportunites per game in fast break, and even unload a few 3's once in awhile.
History shows that most great teams have at least two Hall-of-Fame type players. Kidd is one of those, a game-changer who modifies the opponents game plan.
That being said, it has worked out really well for us. Ginobili and Parker are extremely good at what they do, and we are much more versatile than we would have been with Kidd. But I think it's a big mistake to think Kidd and Duncan would not been an effective, and perhaps championship-caliber duo.
Kidd to Sa.
With Duncan and Kidd, the Spurs might well have won the 2005 NBA Championship. Their 2004 run would have been wrecked by his knee injury.
After 2005, Parker and Ginobili would have left via free agency.
How is that better?
Now, if the Spurs had never pursued Kidd in the first place, the worst thing would be that the fans would have crucified them for trading away Josh Howard this past offseason for a #1 pick, to get under the luxury tax threshold, even after Howard had played an important role in winning the 2005 and 2006 les. This rancor would have been assuaged by the Spurs' current run for a three-peat.
Yeah I was really hyped when I heard of the possibility of another two headed monster in the post. TD and JO would have just dominated the game down there. Nothing anyone could do. I believe with TD and the rest of the Spurs, we would have made JO look like Wilt Chamberlain down there. His numbers would have ballooned and would have won every le since
The notion of Kidd and Parker in the backcourt is ing ridiculous. Who was going to shoot the J? The key to beating the Duncan double team has always been having players who can hit the outside shot.
From a salary cap standpoint it would of been a mistake. But lets look at things from a basketball standpoint.
1. Parker showed frustration against marbury.
Parker was taking it up the backside from marbury all series long. I am sure the Spurs thought with a bigger more experienced pg problems like that would have been completely erased.
2. The lakers were down...but not completely out yet.
We had been dominated by the Lakers for years. Sure we finally beat them...but that Horry shot goes in and it is a completely different story. I am not sure that I believed that we could have actually beaten them again...and I am sure that is what they were thinking. Not to mention all the Payton and Malone talk that summer surely pushed them to want to land kidd even more. There is now way our front office could have forseen us dominating 4 years later in 07.
3. Kidd was the highest mvp canidate right after tim during this time.
This deal I am sure seemed too sweet to pass up. Surely the picture of those two dominating could make anybody salivate.
That being said I am glad things turned out the way they did. However I would never criticize somebody for not forseeing what parker and ginobilli would become. It seemed like the perfect thing to do at the time.
I was bothered by the fact that David Robinson had just retired and they were pursuing a point guard. Big men don't grow on trees, yet we were pursuing a point guard.
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