My Open Letter to Tony Parker

Very nice! CD should contact TP and ask him if he has seen this one and Edg5’s page.

I, for one, am glad to see the love for the Wee Frenchman today.

Great job Big50. Your fanpost puts mine to shame. I think sometimes us Spurs fans don’t realize how lucky we are to have seen players like Tony in the Silver and Black.

I would have signed it, “With Outmost Respect,”. Very sincere and moving, Big50. Oh, . . . and a big, fat rec’d for you too.

Thank you Big50. I do think the Tony detractors are a small minority, but they are so vocal that it is difficult to determine that from a quick read of the posts.

TWO Tony Parker “love posts”? Is it time to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic?

Good post. I always thought that the frustration with Tony comes from knowing that he can pass. There are games where he shows he’s got the skills to be one of those pass-first showtime point guard that make us drool. So when he doesn’t, it’s that much painful.

Hill, on the other hand, has yet to prove he has it in him.

Well put, and rec’d.

I love that he’s taking time off this summer to rest and enjoy time with the lovely Mrs. Parker. And going into free agency, I’ve no doubt that he wants this upcoming season to be a great one.

Parker has endured, not just from fans, an incredible amount of criticism throughout his career. People forget sometimes that he joined the Spurs very young and that he was often the target of Pop’s withering criticism for his first few seasons. How many teenagers do you know have not just the talent, but the mental and emotional toughness to not only survive, but thrive in such a pressure-cooker environment?

And he even has to guts to say “Coach, you crazy?!” but then goes out and does what Coach Pop wants anyway. Gotta love a player like that.

He’s worked his butt off to improve his game. Remember all that criticism about him just being a quick slasher before he worked over the summer to develop his mid-range jumper?

He’s not perfect — I grind my teeth whenever he runs down the clock and puts up a bad shot (but in his defense, it’s usually when nothing else in the Spurs offense is working anyway) — but he’s perfect for the Spurs system. And he deserves our respect for his loyalty, for working hard and doing whatever the organization has asked him to do, and for handling the criticisms by improving his game every year. He deserves better from us.

Another excellent pro-tony post

Great, warm post. Lebrec’d.

Thanks Big. Great post.

Awesome post. Well written. Just a great job of summarizing all that Tony has done for the Spurs.

Good stuff, Big50.

Love the video mixes; especially the moment in the 2nd one, after his dunk against the Rockets, when he turns to see Manu’s expression.

Tony is the man. I never said he was a bad player and i am one of the people who have said i wouldn’t be upset if we traded him. I just don’t want to see the guy leave and we get nothing in return. I remember when he was a young guy carving up the Seattle Supersonics defense. I was calling Gary Payton the disposable glove to all my homeboys who rooted against the Spurs! I hope he stays and sign’s a decent contract to finish out his career with the Spurs.

I love the pic of the original Big 3. I think Timmy just said “HA! i got your nose!” and Tony is like “wtf man, give it back!”

Damn, idk what to do with all you people showing TP love (especially you Argies).

Interesting personal tidbit—my second NBA jersey ever was a Parker jersey (my first was a white-on-white Timmeh jersey. I still have it!). Didn’t get a Manu jersey till Christmas in 2005 (loooooooong story—let’s just say that my parents only thinly veiled their desire for the ‘05 Pistons to beat the Spurs because SA didn’t have as many players that, ahem, “looked like us [i.e., black]” :P Needless to say, they gained a ton of respect for the Big 3 after the ’05 Finals and broke down and bought me a Gino jersey lol. Still have that too! Wear it almost every time I go play ball at the gym.

The only problem I’ve ever had with Tony is the same problem I had with Manu, that they played for their national teams and risked injury and getting worn down even though Timmy’s championship window of opportunity is clearly shutting very quickly. That said, the whole reason I cared about and was frustrated by those decisions was because of how valuable those guys are. Tony may not fit the J. Kidd mold of a PG, but he is in a lot of ways the prototype for the new breed of Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall type PG’s that are now flourishing all over the league. The league has basically custom made the rules to benefit speedy perimeter players like him that can get to the rim, and he has the perfect game to take advantage of it with his floaters that he can drop in even when he’s “among the trees.” Plus, I don’t think he gets enough credit for how important he is in terms of putting a lot of pressure on other teams PG’s to guard him on the offensive end. In the past, he’s been able to force Nash to expend a lot of energy chasing him around, or even more importantly in match ups with the Lakers, has been able to absolutely torch Fisher. If we want any chance to win the West this year, we’ll have to go through the Lakers, and Parker is a key part of that puzzle because he can exploit the Lakers biggest defensive weakness.

Picking on Tony Parker is ridiculous. He is the one guy within the Big 3 who we can expect to still be improving his game. He is a must keep if you ask me. Spurs would have a very very difficult time without him.

Tony is awesome. My favorite Spur after Bruce.

He was a child when he met David Robinson for the first time. After that when he and his brothers played ball, it was always Spurs v. Bulls. Now he’s a Spur and helped David win a ring the year he retired. So awesome.

As is the fact that he says things like, “Pop he yells” and “I pass the ball to Timmy” in a broken accent. He’s not a super terrible rapper, either.