Off-Season Focus: Tony Parker

[Samr]

Sam Reinhart

SpursCentral.com







Over the course of three championships, and especially the last two, the Spurs have developed a very specific formula. They bring in players, educate them in the system, and place them in roles where they are most likely to succeed. With Parker, Ginobili, Bowen, Barry, Duncan, Nazr, and (possibly) Horry all under contract for next season, the Spurs are facing a unique dilemma:



Where do we improve?



What the Spurs have to be careful of is not simply stacking their team with talent “just because.” In 1999, the Portland Trailblazers learned as much, and they’re still recovering. Just like the military sniper looking for a specific target, the Spurs’ will benefit more greatly from finding players that fit a certain mold, and possess certain qualities that are beneficial to the success of the whole.



Perhaps the best way to look at the possible moves this off-season is to break down the Spurs, position by position, and focus on where they can improve in that specific spot. For some roles, they cannot; for example, you cannot improve on a Tim Duncan. But for others, like Tony Massenburg, there might be better options. Let’s see.



point guard- Historically, this has been a strong spot for the Spurs. Avery Johnson was the unquestioned vocal leader of the 1999 squad that won the franchise’s first championship. While he was on the older end of his career, he still managed to produce throwback 20-assist nights, and made the plays when the Spurs needed him most. He even proved Damon Stoudemire wrong when the Spurs did, in fact, with a championship with Avery Johnson as their point guard.



In 2003, it was the young Tony Parker who would guide the Spurs to their second title. While he had the natural, raw talent that made him so dominating in some games, it was his immaturity and, with it, inconsistency that placed him on the bench during the critical game 6 fourth quarter. This year, Parker made a strong case to be an All-Star. But once again, pressure, immaturity, and lack of self-confidence proved to be too much for the Flying Frenchman. While he had his moments down the stretch-- his defense on Rip Hamilton during the final possession of game 5 will go down as one of this season’s most pivotal plays-- Parker largely disappointed. But fortunately for Spurs fans, he is still young. At age 23, he already has two championship rings and is primed for many more.



As has been the case with past off-seasons, Parker once again needs to hit the weights. At points during the playoffs, coach Gregg Popovich was forced to play rookie point guard Beno Udrih on Billups for the simple reason that Beno was stronger, and would not get pushed around defensively. Tony has the natural speed that makes him one of the league’s toughest players to stay in front of, and he has the talent and fearlessness to penetrate against almost any opponent. He just needs the strength to stay on his feet.



In addition to weight training, Parker also has been lacking the jump shot to keep his defenders honest, and don’t let his clutch three in game 7 fool you. Parker’s entire offensive production revolves around penetration. When you take away the lane, you take away Parker. His teardrop runner has been a fantastic addition to his offensive repertoire, but it is not enough. If Parker can develop a consistent 10-15 foot jumper, and slowly extend his range beyond the Horry Arc, his all-around game will improve tremendously.



2005 regular season performance grade: A



2005 playoff performance grade: B-



likelihood of hearing name in trade talks: C



optimistic outlook for 05-06 season: Parker will add on some more weight, develop a solid jumper from outside 10-15 feet, and see his minutes in crunch time increase significantly. He’ll receive a selection to the All-Star Second Team, and join Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan as the most dominant trio in the NBA.



pessimistic outlook for 05-06 season: With a summer of international ball, Tony won’t have much time to improve his strength and conditioning. He will come into the season looking a little worse for wear, and will not really get into the flow of things until mid-December. All-Star team is still likely for Tony, though, because as the rest of the league gets older, he only continues to improve.



And with him, so do the Spurs.

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I love.....Championships

Edited by: Samr at: 7/11/05 7:18 pm

[tphuey]

Nice, Sam. But it was Rip Hamilton, not Chauncey, that Parker stopped on that critical play in game 5.

[Samr]

Eh, that is all a hazy memory. Thanks for the fact check!

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I love.....Championships

[Spursman]

Quote:

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for example, you cannot improve on a Tim Duncan

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I disagree on this one. Everyone can be improved, and in Tim's case it is free throws. By playoffs he did improve, but his FT's were and issue at certain parts of the playoffs.

[Samr]

But in context, it was talking about improving at a specific possition. Tim Duncan is the ceiling as far as power forwards go. Parker, meanwhile, is not.



There are better pointguards out there than him, but in the Spurs' case, it is better simply for their pointguard to improve during the off-season than it is to trade for more tallent.

___________________________________________



I love.....Championships

[usckk]

Do you guys think Eva will become a major distraction for TOny?

[Blondie]

isn't she already?

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[jcsgirl2608]

I was gonna say something here on Eva, but last time I did I got a message from Blondie, so I'll just leave it as that.



Eva still bugs me though.

[Samr]

JCSgirl- make it funny, make it appropriate, and I don't see where the problem is

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I love.....Championships

[ryno]

Very nice article Sam, I enjoy anything that both rips on the Jailblazers and give the Spurs props.



Although Avery was a vocal leader throughout his career I think most of the vocal leadership credit in 99' should go to Mario Ellie. He showed them the toughness it took to become NBA champions.

Silver and Black Baby

Edited by: rynospursfan at: 7/15/05 3:09 am

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11/5/08 Tony drops a double nickel.
1999 2003 2005 2007

[Blondie]

Quote:

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I think most of the vocal leadership credit in 99' should go to Mario Ellie.

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Here Here! Mario was the difference maker toughness wise that season. I truly believe he was critcal to the Spurs making that next step up in competitiveness.

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[jcsgirl2608]

LOL Samr, make it funny. LOL LOL Okay I'm gonna go do something else.