Probably discussed or mentioned by some of you before but I don't read a lot of threads in the Spurs section. It's just an observation, but does it feel like Tim Duncan is basically handing over the reigns of the team to Tony Parker? Obviously, Tim can still dominate games and when the match-up is favorable, I'm sure he'll still be the guy to go to. But, night in and night out, it appears Duncan is content allowing Tony being the star. Is he taking on a role similar to they way Robinson did for Tim? Is this a transition period? Will it change towards the end of the season and in the playoffs? Or did Tony Parker solidify his role on the team with the Finals MVP last year? Not that it's about who's team it is. We all know the Spurs are all unselfish and play for the team. But, do Spurs fans get this sense? Honest and sincere question.
i wish to see duncan DOMINATES the game for 3 maybe 4 years again...TP is 25, @ 29 he can be the star but not now...too early for me
obsviouly, duncan is resting...for the big games, now spurs dont need him as before. gino & tp increase their level as they did in recent games in order to rest TD for the PO
the real transition will be in 2 years...
Maybe he is content to let Tony be the guy in the Reg season but come playoff time it is all about Timmy. If he lets Tony do it come playoff time, Spurs will not win jack . Tony's really just a scorer. I would not even say that he is a dominant scorer. He is not a big assist guy and plays average D. Tony only got finals MVP because they played the worst team of the playoffs in the finals. Tim as usual got us there by playing great against the superior teams. It is early in the Reg season anyway. By the end of the year Timmy will be 20 and 10 again and Tony will be around 19 PPG or so again.
There's no handing over the reigns here. When Duncan can no longer lead this team, the Spurs are going to have to look to draft another franchise player. Neither Tony nor Manu can fill that void.
Of course, this is assuming Parker doesn't keep playing like tonight'cause if he does, we're looking at 10 more championships baby!
In a way, yes, i think TD starts to defer a lot more this season. Perhaps, he really feels confident about his co stars, especially Tony this season -Manu is already proven himself to be a reliable in the past. TD is a very cerebral guy, he has a strategic ways of thinking, and ego means nothing for him, so it really comes as no surprise for me.
Tony needs to shoot, there's no denying that. I wish Duncan would still be the dominant star of the team, but that's the hardcore Duncan fan in me. I think he is still capable and thus should be. It's probably best that he hand over the reigns to Parker during the regular season, though. It makes me sad to know his career is almost over.
I believe Duncan did hand the reigns to Parker in the Finals last year. It was best for the team with the way the Cavs played us. Duncan knows when to push and when to pass.
This is still Duncan's team, I think it will be for the rest of his career. But I do think he'll let the flow of each game dictate how dominate he needs to be. He is selfless on the court, the win is all that matters to him, not the boxscore.
Come playoffs Duncan will rise as he always does. He's a compe or and it is his team. It all goes through him. But again, because Parker has turned a corner, become an elite player, Duncan may not have to be the one that carries us in every game. Which is a good thing. We always talk about "the big three" or four even, with Bowen's defense being so critical to our success. It's great that the team has so many strong options.
Duncan got us to and through the playoffs last year. Parker sailed us through the Finals, again, because of how the Cavs matched up with us.
Yes, it's a transition of sorts. I don't see Duncan ever coming off the bench as a role player. He'll play as long as he's at the top of his game and then he'll turn it completely over to Parker. The groundwork is in place, we see the beginning of it. It will take a few seasons to complete.
And yes, I think Duncan is content with it. He's about the wins. Some fans, myself included, would have loved to see him dominate the Finals and take that MVP home. But if you're a Duncan fan you know he was okay with how it turned out. Parker deserved it, and Parker said later that Duncan was thrilled for him.
Times change. The game changes. It's an honor to watch Duncan play, even on an off night. When he's ready to hang it up he'll leave his team in great shape for the future. And I'll consider myself blessed to have watched him play.
Tony is standing on Tim's shoulders.
first david robinson, then tmi duncan...i need a third PF/C to cheer!!! for years to come
in france we say "jamais 2 sans 3"..."never 2 without 3"
Ian..you have many pressure ;-) now
even with Parker/Ginobili picking up a lot of the offense, if Tim were averaging the 37-40 min that he used to, his per game averages would be around his career numbers.
not that i'm the world's biggest fan of PER, but even with the slow(er) start, it's still up around 23/24.
i prefer to see td dominate the game, then see parker....
and plz tp is not all that, he won finals mvp cause a rookie gibson was defending him
splitter is our future
i can see tp movin to a big market team
There's no handing over the reigns here. When Duncan can no longer lead this team, the Spurs are going to have to look to draft another franchise player. Neither Tony nor Manu can fill that void.
Of course, this is assuming Parker doesn't keep playing like tonight
If only Anthony Johnson guarded TP every night
I still think it is a little early to say Tony will be the man all year long. The thing with the Spurs is they are so good these days that they will basically blow out all inferior teams and that does not lend itself to big stats for the teams best player. Obviously if the Spurs were not this good Timmy is going to have to come up with 25 and 12 a night for great success to be possible. Personally i am all for him resting up for most of the year letting Tony do his thing and then come playoff time dominate like he always does. I think that if the CELTS stay healthy they will be in the finals so Timmy may need to be fresher than ever come this postseason.
DRob handed the team over to TD because TD was the better player, even at that early stage.
Tim Duncan strikes me as being pretty content and willing to share the team responsibilities. I think he'll only turn it on when he wants to wake up and gets game angry, since he's a great compe or, but right now, during first half of the season games against the Hawks, more power to him in not forcing intensity when he doesn't have to. Preserving his regular season stats is probably at the bottom of the list in his priorities.
It's obvious over the last couple of seasons that Tim is pretty much locked in to the idea of conserving strength for the playoffs (as is Pop). It can be a tough balancing act, performing well enough during the regular season but always holding something back, and it's sometimes hard for Spurs fans to figure out or accept.
For the past three years there's been Regular Season Tim and then there's been Playoff Tim. Given that Playoff Tim has never been less than dominant, we have to assume that he knows what he's doing. Although it does make for some frustrating regular season nights.
I think its important that TD try to sustain his offensive game. Not for personal glory but because the threat he poses makes the game so much easier for the others. Opponents who doubleteam him invariably allows for open perimeter shots when TD passes the ball out. Parker's emergence as an offensive force is great and he can create play on his own but this doesn't involve his teammates as much as when TD is the focus of the offense. TD makes others better to a greater extent than Parker does. If TD's offense slackens, defense can concentrate on shutting down the other Spurs. Not good.
well said
U must be ing smoking some weed.. Tony's defense on Iverson and Barbosa are some of the top-notch defenses seen in a Spurs PG for a ing long time..
I'm not sold on explanations I read in this thread.
I think it's just about having several weapons. Tony can be really effective against some teams... Same goes for Manu. If Tim can defer some of the load and the team can still win why wouldn't he do that. Makes everyone happy.
Good questions. It's actually tough to explain how the Spurs are currently built. It used to be (2001-2004) that the team was all Tim Duncan and anyone else on the team just fed off of what he did.
Nowadays, it's much more complex. When a team faces the Spurs, the first person they have to figure out how to defend is Tony Parker. If you don't figure out way to deal with Parker, the Spurs will win. He can cause too much havoc by getting into the lane and either scoring or finding three-point shooters.
Then you have Tim Duncan, who is still Tim Duncan. He hasn't slowed too much ... he's just not as big of a focal point as he used to be (at least in the regular season). Duncan is still the foundation and he's still the go-to scorer, but he's much more comfortable than he used to be during times when the Spurs don't run the offense through him. But don't be fooled, when Duncan needs to fill it up, he can score with anyone in the league.
What's funny is that on top of what Parker and Duncan do, Manu Ginobili might be the player who most determines whether the Spurs win or lose. He's extremely important to what the Spurs do. If Manu is rolling, the Spurs are rolling. If Manu struggles, the Spurs usually struggle. With him coming off the bench, he has the ball in his hands a lot and is free to basically do whatever it is that he wants to do. When he's on offensively, he's as unguardable as anyone on the league.
The Spurs truly are a three pronged attack. Duncan is the foundation, Parker is the engine and Ginobili is the ultimate x-factor. It's not fair to say Duncan is passing the reins to Parker because Manu is just as important as Parker. And really, Duncan isn't passing anything because he's still a top five player in the league when he wants to be. What has changed is Duncan lets the offense go through Parker and he lets Manu do whatever he wants, but Duncan always remains as the security blanket. When the chips are down, like they often are during the playoffs, Duncan will take back control of the ship.
And saying all that, I didn't even mention Bruce Bowen and Bowen is often as valuable as anyone on the team . . .
I agree with that.
But it's also obvious that every year, TP is affirming his importance. Though some people won't definitely see the curve, expect this year to be no different. He'll be even more important than last year.
You don't really follow the spurs, right ?
Average D ? He frustrated AI last year who had his worst PO series.
Assists : same thing all over again. Spur system don't necesseraly allow to have many ones. +, that's not necesseraly what Pop is waiting from him.
Parker's playmaking this season has been much improved. He's playing more and more like a "true" point guard. He's averaging a career-high in assists while at the same time averaging a career-low in turnovers. That's a pretty impressive feat, yet everyone likes to focus on his supposed faults.
Parker has to shoot and score a lot because, even if Spurs fans don't want to admit it, outside of the Big Three the Spurs are amazingly untalented when it comes to offense.
Yes, and it's called confidence, experience, maturity...
We'll have to wait to see if this trend goes on but as I noticed (and shared it in ST) during the euro champs, last year PO and finals made TP a different player. You could definitely see it last summer.
All that reasons and probably the marriage also made him envisage the game differently.
Damn, I can't wait to see him play after his first child !
Duncan going the way of D-Rob?
He has been on that same way for a couple of seasons already.
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