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 2008-10-13 19:21  #1
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10.13 Parker's role with Spurs evolving

Parker's role with Spurs evolving

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Parkers_role_with_Spurs_evolving.html

Web Posted: 10/13/2008 12:00 CDT
Jeff McDonald - Express-News

Tony Parker picked up his cell phone one day in August, took a deep breath, and prepared for the most nerve-wracking moment of his career.

Only hours before, Parker had watched on television as Spurs teammate Manu Ginobili went down in a writhing, injured heap at the Olympics.

Now, Parker was about to call his coach and request permission to play with his French team in an international tournament as well. That is, if Parker could keep his hands from shaking long enough to dial.

“I almost had a heart attack,” Parker said, recalling that phone call.

Parker needn't worry. Gregg Popovich gave his blessing, and Parker spent 10 games in September with his French amis, playing in a Eurobasket qualifying tournament.

It turned out to be the most productive thing the Spurs point guard could have done with the final month of his offseason.

He survived unscathed — save for that near heart attack — and arrived at training camp in prime condition, rested enough but ready for his eighth NBA season.

Compared to the summer before, when Parker's hectic offseason included a Hollywood wedding in Paris, three weeks of basketball in Europe was a jog in the park.

“For me, it was a good way to get back in shape,” Parker said. “Play some real games, instead of running in the hills.”

After averaging 18.8 points and six assists last season, Parker appears poised to build on his already elite résumé.

Two games into the preseason, he seems in midseason form. In two short cameo appearances, Parker has averaged nine points and 14.5 minutes, sinking 9 of 14 field goals.

In what has to be as an encouraging sign for Parker and his ever-improving jump shot, only three of those field goals have come in the paint. The rest have come from midrange.

In many ways, Parker is a NBA anomaly. He is a grizzled veteran, with seven seasons under his belt and the three championship rings on his fingers. Yet he is young enough, at age 26, to still be improving.

The proof was in the playoffs last season, when Parker averaged a team-high 22.4 points per game, performing even better than he did during a 2007 postseason in which he was named Finals MVP.

Parker's continued progress will be critical for the Spurs this season, especially early. With Ginobili expected to be sidelined until mid-December after ankle surgery, Parker will be the only guard in the team's lineup capable of consistently creating his own points.

“He's definitely improved on his jump shot, and he'll improve another step this year, I believe,” Popovich said. “It's a matter of confidence at that position, and understanding what the defense is giving you. I think that progression has to continue.”

Meanwhile, Parker also aims to improve his presence in the huddle and locker room.

He is no longer content just to be the Spurs' starting point guard. He wants to be a team leader. And he wants to be a mentor to rookie George Hill, who is jockeying for a position as Parker's backup.

He wants his voice, complete with French accent, to be heard.

“I'm trying to establish myself as a leader, and be more vocal,” Parker said. “I want to take more responsibility. My biggest role this year will be to get everybody involved.”

That part of Parker's game has taken a while to come out of its shell. When he arrived as a 19-year-old rookie in 2001, he experienced considerable and understandable trouble imposing himself on a team overflowing with veterans.

Somehow, he sensed, a 37-year-old NBA graybeard like Terry Porter wasn't going to be taking basketball advice from a teenager fresh from Paris. At the time, Parker felt it better to be seen, but not heard.

“When you have David Robinson and Steve Kerr and all those guys, you just watch and you listen,” Parker said. “Now, this is my eighth year, (and) we've got a lot of young guys. It's my job to help them.”

Popovich saw signs of that leadership emerging in Parker last season. Finally comfortable in his own NBA sneakers, Parker had no qualms about bossing around even a future Hall of Famer like Tim Duncan.

“He's being really demanding of his teammates, and not worrying about hurting somebody's feelings,” Popovich said. “He's not here to win king of the Fun-a-rama. He's here to make sure everybody does their job.”

After a summer of downtime and basketball, of fun and work and relaxation all rolled into one, Parker is primed to take another step forward this season.

Judging by the way he dialed his cell phone in August, you know he has the nerve for it.

“I feel really good, and I'm in good shape,” Parker said. “I just can't wait for the season to start.”
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 2008-10-13 19:24  #2
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Popovich might wish he had ex-NBA star

Popovich might wish he had ex-NBA star

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Popovich_might_wish_he_had_ex-NBA_star.html

Web Posted: 10/13/2008 12:00 CDT
Mike Monroe - Express-News

With one small slip of the tongue — a Freudian slip, perhaps — Spurs coach Gregg Popovich nearly added an imposing post player to the Spurs' preseason roster.

For the briefest of moments, Darryl Watkins became Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins.

Discussing how injuries have thinned the ranks of his big men, Popovich lamented the lost opportunity to take a long preseason look at injured second-year forward-center Ian Mahinmi. But he mixed up the name of Watkins, the 6-foot-11, 258-pound big man from the Syracuse University, with that of Dawkins.

“The disappointment is that Ian can't play,” Popovich said after Sunday's practice session. “He was going to get 35 to 38 minutes a game to see how far he had come. He came a long way last year in the D-League. We wanted to see that.

“I'm still not going to play Tim (Duncan) or Fab (Oberto) much, so we'll go small and play Dawkins — wait, what's-his-name, Watkins — and (Charles) Gaines as much as we have to so we can keep those guys rested.”

Dawkins, the 6-11, 250-pound center nearly as famous for naming his spectacular dunks as for completing them, played 14 seasons in the NBA, from 1975-76 to 1988-89.

Mahinmi's sprained right ankle has kept him out of practice since training camp began, and he is not expected to return before the preseason ends.

Popovich said forward Anthony Tolliver will continue to get many of the minutes he had planned to give Mahinmi.

“It's a great opportunity for Tolliver to see what he can do,” he said. “He's going to get a lot of minutes. He's doing a good job. He hasn't shot it as well as he'd like, but he's shown more of a focus on rebounding and playing defense and doing little things on the court.”

Long session: Unofficially, Popovich ran the Spurs through their longest practice of the preseason, a session lasting nearly three hours.

According to point guard Tony Parker, it also was one of the best practices of training camp.

“It was a great practice,” Parker said. “Everybody worked hard, everybody shot the ball well and passed well. We got a lot of work done.”
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秦七离线中   引用
 2008-10-13 19:25  #3
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回复: 10.13 Parker's role with Spurs evolving

Courtside


October 12, 2008
Jeff McDonald: The upside of injury

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/archives/2008/10/jeff_mcdonald_t_20.html

Nobody in Spurs camp is celebrating the nagging injuries to big men Ian Mahinmi and Kurt Thomas. Darryl Watkins and Charles Gaines, however, are fattening their wallets because of them.

For as long as Mahinmi and/or Thomas remain shelved, Watkins and Gaines are all but guaranteed to keep drawing a paycheck from the Spurs.

Gaines is a rookie forward out of Southern Mississippi. Watkins is a second-year center from Syracuse who played in nine games with Sacramento last season.

Neither stands a donut's chance in Shaq's kitchen of actually making the roster. On Sunday, Gregg Popovich momentarily forgot Watkins' name, calling him "Dawkins" instead. Not a good sign, if you're Dawkins/Watkins.

But the Spurs, with only three healthy bona fide NBA big men in uniform, will need the warm bodies of Watkins and Gaines to get through exhibition season. So they stand little chance of being waived just yet.

Popovich certainly isn't going to wear out Tim Duncan during exhibition season, and he'd like to keep Fabricio Oberto's minutes down as well. Matt Bonner has a nice motor, but he can't play 48 minutes a game.

That is good news for Watkins and Gaines.

It means the Spurs will either go small for large stretches of the remaining preseason games. Or they'll give Gaines and Watkins plenty of minutes.

Either way, that twosome is likely to stick around awhile. Watkins and Gaines might not be celebrating the Spurs' frontcourt injuries, but their accountants probably are.
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