On the value of not trading Tony Parker

The Spurs are the wisest team in the NBA, hands down. There were so many douchebags - on this site, specifically (coincidentally, most of them do not post on here anymore as a result) - calling for Tony’s head, calling for R-Jeff not to be reupped, just stupid chatter really.

TP, other than last season, has proven to be THE best PG year in, year out, that this team has ever drafted! He was an absolute steal that year, I mean, think about it….we could have wound up with Forte from UNC or Tinsley from ISU, who are both out of the league already.

When you think about what has happened in less than 1 year, going from a middling team to 40-7, everyone should be thankful that RC, Pop and company run the S&B rather than so of the yahoos in the media as well as some of the bloggers on this site.

Here’s to seeing the Spurs go 8-1 on the RRR!

Several good points, Alix. I was getting tired of many of those posters calling for a complete revamping of the team, so I stopped posting as often. Last season this place turned into just another angry message board. This season, things are much more pleasant.

Another one of those PGs that we could have ended up with in the TP draft was Gilbert Arenas, who I was really hoping we would pick at the time. I’d say drafting TP has worked out pretty well.

Jwalt is right about the importance of resigning Parker, but I’d take it a step further - the fact that he was going into his walk year was THE reason for exploring his trade value. If he was determined to test the market and not sign an extension, the Spurs would have had to choose between going for the title one last time but then suffering a dramatic drop off and a long rebuild around Hill, Blair, Splitter, and a 34 year old Ginobili OR trading Parker for young players/picks with potential, settling into a 5-8 seed this season, and attempting to get the young players ready to seriously compete in a year or two. Resigning Parker removed the guillotine hanging over the front office’s head.

Meanwhile, would the Kings have given us the #5 pick for Parker on draft night? If they got him to pre-agree to an extension, I’d think yes. Daniel T., you wouldn’t trade Parker for Cousins? I’d think hard about it. Cousins is immature and a lousy defender now, for sure, but he’s already one of the most talented big men in the league. And he’s huge. If he was on the Spurs, I think it’s safe to assume Pop and Duncan would teach him how to play the right way…and if that happened we’d have a new Twin Towers, a repeat of the Duncan-Robinson dynamic, and our foundation for the next 10 years. It’s easier to find a Parker than a Cousins. I can’t see the Spurs ever trading for a player with Cousins’ character concerns, but it might have been a risk worth taking (albeit moot now).

I agree with Bankshot21 statement that TP is easily the most replaceable out of the big 3. But unlike him, I admittedly was on the Trade Tony Parker bandwagon. For two reasons, one I was afraid what he would want(i.e. - a max or close to max deal, that would hamstring us after TD and Manu had rode into the sunset) and two, he always seems to be one play(bad injury) away from going from borderline All-Star to borderline back up in the NBA(and I was equally afraid that last year’s injury was the one to begin his decline). I know the comment about becoming a back up is a bit strong, but if he suffers a leg injury and loses his quickness, he will lose much of what makes him a very good player. Without his speed, to beat players off the dribble, he would be reliant on an improving jump shot(would be afraid what his % would be if defenders didn’t respect his ability to drive and play off), his great knowledge of the system and ability to run the team(But acknowledge and enjoy that now Manu is often the one bringing the ball up court and starting the offense in the last few minutes of the game), and he would still have suspect perimeter defense. I love TP for what he done for the team, the sacrifice he made for taking a lesser contract, and for what his future hopefully holds(another title and another all star nod). But will continue to dread the day his next leg injury turns up.

Re-upping Jefferson for $39M was still a bad idea.

They should have gone after Matt Barnes, Dorell Wright, or Ronnie Brewer, in that order. All three are good defenders and rebounders and they all are younger and more athletic than Jefferson. Barnes and Wright are also better shooters than Jefferson. Most importantly, they all are getting paid between 1/8 and 1/3 of what Jefferson is making this season, meaning the Spurs would have been looking at enough room under the tax (assuming the cap rules are similar in a year) to use their full MLE.

Good call. Manu’s our best player, but Tony’s penetration is still out best weapon.

Speaking of the draft, how good would Landry Fields look as a back-up wing on this team? Near as I can tell, the only time he shoots is on threes or off of cuts to the basket. So yeah, I think he’d fit in here. Hope Anderson can play some good minutes this year too.

Long ago, I was willing to pull the trigger on a Parker/Kidd deal. When that fell through, that was the last I seriously thought of trading the Wee Frenchman. His trademark forays into the paint had become too integral to our success on the offensive end for me to feel comfortable brining in any other PG.

Everybody is an expert on sports anymore. There are a lot of teams in the league you could question but the Spurs are not one of them. More often than not they make the right decisions so as fans of the team we should just sit back relax and enjoy what Pop and RC do.

I know I would not want either of them telling me how to do my job because they would have no clue what they are talking about just like we don’t when we suggest who should be traded, signed, or played more. They can have their job and I will be happy keeping mine.

@Daniel

I don’t quite know the specifics but the Spurs had little flexabilty in free agency. If they didn’t resign Jefferson then they may have been under the cap and not able to use the MLE. They could have used the full MLE to sign a player but then they wouldn’t have been able to sign Splitter because the LLE wasn’t enough and they still din’t use the rest of the MLE.

Re-signing Jefferson really didn’t affect what they had to offer free agency wise. It may have affected their overall cap number and may have an impact going forward but this year it really did little.

Damnit Jim, I’m just an old one dimentional country doctor, not a multi-talented nurse. Hats off to our hard working nurses by the way. Any who Spurs fans, Tony Parker. Hmmmm… For a long time, he was this ONE DIMENTIONAL player, unlike some of his counterparts such as CP3 & D-Will & Rondo, perhaps. Some of these guys can assist, defend, & hit the 3 ball as part of their asenal as PG’s. TP, on the other hand, uses his speed to drive into the lane for lay-ups or uses his teardrops. As time has gone on, he has developed a nice jumpshot & midrange shot. His defense is not bad, perhaps against PG’s his size & under, but to me, he’s been pretty much one dimentional, something that has been my pet peeve with him. ARRRG! Now, I’m sure that Pop saw that his quickness was his strong suite, & as time goes on, as he has matured, he would need to develop other skilled areas. As we all know that he’s not getting any younger, so now, we are hopefully starting to see him to develop more skills such as 3 point shooting & his assists numbers are starting to go up some. Now, if Tony, like J-Kidd, plans to be in this leauge for quite some time, he will need to begin to reinvent himself in the near future in order to stay healthy & affective as the Spurs PG. NO MORE TUMBLING & FALLING TO THE FLOOR AFTER LAYUPS, PLEEEEZE! IT’S SCARY!!! So, with the coaching staff he has, I believe they can make it happen for him. Tony, since his draft to the Spurs has been an important factor to thier 3 championships, so it would be great to see him also retire here as a Spur because he really deserves that. Any who, live long & prosper Spurs fans, hope TP & the Spurs will too, & GIT ONE FOR THA THUMB!!!

Hobson13
February 1st, 2011 at 10:03 am

It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback on trades that were proposed a year ago. If trade situations and ideas are highly fluid and can change in a month, how much more can they change in a year? As I said, there were legitimate reasons AT THE TIME to consider a Parker trade, but this team is NOT in the same situation as it was 12 months.

Bottom line: it’s unfair to name call or finger point at last year’s trade ideas that took place under certain conditions and circumstances that have drastically changed over the course of an entire year.

Hobson, I respect what you said but my point is that people feel that the solution is almost always to make a trade….my point has always been that Pop simply needed to inject some youth into the team and that would be enough to propel them.

Trading away players and for other teams and ignoring home grown talent by opting for the draft and stash of Euros, as was the case with ignoring Carlos Boozer at the end of the 1st round, trading Barbosa to Phoenix, trading Scola for a 2nd rounder from Houston when you were adamant about waiting for a 1st rounder the year before, trading Dragic, etc.

Those were all moves that hurt the team because they refused to inject any youth - gotta trust your vets to help bring the youngsters along. The braintrust is changing their way of thinking and it is paying dividends.

Tony has morphed from the player who was quick to basket but could offer little else, to the player who had to be subbed during the 05′ Finals against the Nets with Claxton, to the 07′ Finals MVP. His talent has never been in question…..just like RJs, they have a precedent in their body of work, TP needed to heal and RJ needed time to assimilate.

I just think it is unfair for people to pull the ripcord when things don’t fall the way they feel they should….now if you saw a decline in ability during / after this year, then you consider making changes but really, what value could you recoup for TP or RJ because of the salary cap restraints?

Sometimes standing pat and developing your youth and remolding your vets is the best way to go….and we all are witnessing the fruits of that way of thinking.

Can’t wait for June!

Great Article, and let me say that I AM a TradeTP FAN! But not for a draft pick and small french fires. The Spurs have 5 players not named TP that can score 20 points rather easily…. So A pass 1st PG(Rondo, Kidd-if he was cheaper, Nash, etc)would be better for this team than TP….. We would see RJ’s, TD’s, Neal’s, and Hill’s numbers all improve. With Manu’s staying about the same. Because as I have said he is a good player, but doesn’t make other players better around him, the way other Great playmaking PG’s can.

Now this would have been a great trade idea. Collison and the #10 pick. Which we could have used to get Ed Davis, who is looking like he will be a double double guy very soon. 2 good young players that would both be logging 15+ min and long term cap flexibility. Collison is still learning only 23, and would fit our pick and roll system perfectly.

Now as far as the Kings idea - that’s not bad either. Cousins is an idiot - would rather have Randolph any day…… But that aside - forget about both head cases and try this on……
TP for Casspi and then used the pick for a big like Davis or Monroe from Detroit.

So trading him isn’t a bad idea….. Just trading him for a pick straight up IS RETARDED………

On 2nd thought if the Kings rumor is actually true and they were willing to make a deal we should have JUMPED on it. The one I mentioned earlier
Kings get - TP
SPURS get - Casspi and a # 5 pick that could have been used for another wing player or BIG……. Monroe or Davis in my opinion. We would be saving like 15 million dollars over the next few years….. And got crazy young and athletic while still in the hunt for number 5.

Now the saving money thing would only happen if we didn’t sign RJ after he opted out - and the SPURS thought Splitter would be better than he had so far so they probably weren’t even thinking about BIG’s at the time.

By the time the late season and playoffs (and offseason) rolled around, I was in favor keeping TP (at least as sixth man) versus most scenarios, but was definitely against keeping RJ and Bonner. I was against sending even so much as Hill away for Murphy and the #9.

Would definitely have sacrificed to get back Cousins or Favors though, via a top 5 pick, even if it cost us Blair and a top player… I did not think a top 5 pick was even remotely likely (unlike those who thought either Philly or NJ would be looking to add TP.)

@td=best ever
manu doesnt make other players better?

With all the wide open looks he gets for people, who wouldnt get better by playing with Manu?

It was fine to discuss Parker trade scenarios last year, and even if some felt inclined to say that we need to trade TP i would listen to that too.

But I think the notion that TP doesn’t make the people around him on this team better is absolutely ludicrous. For one thing, Tony Parker is not the focal point of this team( a la Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, or Chris Paul) he has a Ginobili and a Duncan, two very good players. TP and Manu share ball-handling duties and yet TP is averaging a career high nearly 7 assists a game. And if you were to take into account the pass that sets up the assist, TP would have a bunch of those too.

The scouting report for opposing teams always says one of the goals is to keep TP out of the lane because he’s so efficient at getting inside the lane, and when that happens thats when defenses break down, and thats what leads to wide open 3 pointers, easy lay-ups and dunks, or offensive rebounds if not put backs caused by overrotation. And if you keep him out of the lane, TP is one of the best midrange jump shooting PGs in the league. All of this adds up to making his teammates around him better. Sorry that he doesnt average 10+ assists and have the best ball handling skills in the league.

I disagree.

(not sure if my last attempt posted)

Paul George. The player the Pacers drafted. .154 WS/48, 16.7 PER (limited minutes), and “looks smooth” according to the Pacers truehoop writers. He also has a lot of upside and might be better than Parker down the line. He’s also described as a very good defender by the same writers.

No, he wouldn’t have replaced Parker’s production at the point guard slot, but he is an extraordinarily productive rookie who would have helped the Spurs out this season, which was the question asked (even if the help he provided didn’t equate to the production lost by Parker).