With Tony Parker in Decline, Loaded Spurs Must Find Ways to Mask New Weakness
The San Antonio Spurs don't rebuild; they reload.
When age and injuries started to exact their tolls on David Robinson's body, the Spurs snagged Tim Duncan with the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA draft. Once Avery Johnson and Sean Elliott were gone, San Antonio imported Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili from overseas. Not long after Bruce Bowen retired in 2009, the Spurs restocked with not one but two three-and-D wings in Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard.
This summer, the cycle came full circle, with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West signing on to preempt whatever backslide into which San Antonio might've slipped once the Big Fundamental called it quits. The returns of Leonard and Green on multiyear deals all but ensure that Ginobili's eventual departure won't leave the Spurs flat-footed.
But what happens when Parker, the third and (arguably) most important leg of the Spurs' original Big Three, sees his game slip slidin' away? San Antonio might soon find out—if it hasn't already.
Three years ago, the shifty Frenchman put together perhaps the finest overall season of his decorated career while leading the Spurs to within a win of capturing what, at the time, would've been their fifth Larry O'Brien Trophy.
That year (2012-13), Parker was his vintage self, fresh off leading Les Bleus to a sixth-place finish at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He was still slithering his way into the lane, averaging 8.8 shots in the paint per game, per NBA.com. Among non-bigs, only LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant shot from the most precious part of the court as much as Parker did.
| Dwyane Wade | 6.5 | 3.0 | 9.5 | 15.8 |
| Russell Westbrook | 6.7 | 2.7 | 9.4 | 18.7 |
| LeBron James | 7.1 | 2.1 | 9.2 | 17.8 |
| Kevin Durant | 4.3 | 3.5 | 8.8 | 17.7 |
| Tony Parker | 5.4 | 3.4 | 8.8 | 15.1 |
Since then, those high-percentage looks have begun to vanish from Parker's potent repertoire.
To his credit, he seems to have responded by sharpening his stroke. Last season, Parker hit more than 40 percent of his threes for the first time in his 14-year NBA career. In fact, had he taken enough shots from beyond the arc to qualify for the three-point shooting title, his 42.7 percent mark would've been the ninth best in the league.
Not that Parker suddenly became an off-the-bounce marksman. According to Basketball-Reference.com, 94.7 percent of Parker's threes were assisted last season. The lion's share of those came from the corners, where Parker has long been proficient and spent more and more time over the years.
Parker has seen his share of the Spurs' offensive responsibility shrink year over year—and not solely because of San Antonio's equal-opportunity approach. Along the way, he's been plagued by injuries, most notably to his ankle and hamstring. He still played at an All-Star level in 2012-13 and 2013-14, despite missing 16 and 14 games, respectively.
Parker took precautions thereafter, going so far as to recuse himself from France's run to bronze at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.
Even that couldn't save Parker from another setback. A troublesome strain in his left hamstring last December not only knocked him out of the lineup for 14 games but limited his effectiveness long after. He finished the 2014-15 campaign averaging 14.4 points, 4.9 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 0.6 steals—his lowest output since his rookie season in 2001-02.
"First two months [of last season, I felt good]," Parker said, per ESPN's Michael C. Wright. "Once I got my hamstring thing, it dragged all season long. It was just one of those years. Things happen over the course of a career. You have ups and downs. Now I just want to put it behind me."
He didn't appear to have moved past his problems this summer, struggling at EuroBasket 2015, during which he shot a dismal 32.3 percent from the field for France, albeit while becoming that tournament's all-time leading scorer.
But Parker insisted that his body wasn't to blame for his shooting woes.
"Physically, I felt great," Parker explained, via the San Antonio Express-News' Dan McCarney. "I just didn't make shots. It happens."
The Spurs have to hope that's the case. The decline in Parker's game to date isn't unusual for any 33-year-old point guard. Such a slip is even more likely for one whose body has taken the sort of pounding that his has from all his years running around the court and driving into traffic. San Antonio has been aware of the toll he has suffered for his style and service since at least 2011.
As USA Today's Sam Amick revealed in 2013:
"He was running longer and harder than the rest of them, hitting the floor at three times the rate of any of his teammates and paying a collective toll that deserved to be taken into account when it came to how he was perceived by his bosses. The hard-driving [Gregg] Popovich will never let players off easy, but there was, [R.C.] Buford said, "an acknowledgement of the workload that goes into playing that position."
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That realization came around the same time the Spurs started rejiggering their offense from a slow, methodical, post-oriented approach fashioned around Tim Duncan's talents to an uptempo attack built on passing, pick-and-rolls and Parker. The concerns seem to be coming home to roost now, after all the wear-and-tear that's been tacked onto his 6'2", 180-pound frame during San Antonio's recent postseason renaissance.
The Spurs don't figure to be quite so dependent on their point guard this season. The addition of Aldridge gives San Antonio a new singular scoring force around whom it can retool its offense, whether or not Parker is prepared to assume his previous duties. West figures to fill a similar need in the Spurs' second unit.
Installing those two into their scheme will be a process. Each is still adjusting to his new teammates and responsibilities, just as the Spurs are still getting to know them.
"[Aldridge and West] are trying to adjust, but they're adjusting very unselfishly," Green told Amick. "From my perspective, I think they should be more aggressive, and make us adjust around them. I tell them, 'Be aggressive, go make your move, and we'll adjust to you guys' games.' But that's just them."
Popovich shouldn't have any trouble fitting Parker into his plans, even if his beloved point guard is somewhat limited. Whatever the size of his role, Parker's performance will be pivotal to the Spurs' hopes for title contention. The West is absolutely loaded at point guard, from Stephen Curry in Golden State and Chris Paul in L.A. to Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, Mike Conley in Memphis and now Ty Lawson in Houston.
If Parker can't hold his own against those guys, San Antonio could have a tough time keeping up with the Joneses.
So far, TP seems intent on doing his part to keep himself in proper shape, via ESPN's Wright:
"If I want to play at the level I was playing in 2014 when we won the championship, I have to do [the extra work]. It takes more time, more commitment, more sacrifice. I'm ready to do it. I'll do anything just to get back to that championship level. I just want to be healthy. I just want to feel good. I don't really have a goal stat-wise. My only goal this year is to be healthy because I know if I'm healthy, I'll play well.
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Popovich will have a hand in that, as well. Chances are, he'll rest Parker regularly, as he has with all of his stars in recent years.
Patty Mills looks like the Spurs' best bet to fill in for the Frenchman right now. He's heading into his fifth season as Parker's understudy and has had his fair share of highlights through the first four, including back-to-back double-digit scoring games in the 2014 Finals.
The 2014-15 season was a struggle for Mills, though. He missed 31 games while rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery and shot 38.1 percent from the field thereafter. After a summer of recovery, Mills says his shoulder is in much better shape.
"It feels a whole lot different and stronger and more flexible with range of motion, much more so than when we ended the season last year," he said at Spurs media day. "It was a good solid offseason of rehab. It made a huge difference. I'm back to what it was."
Mills' health will be key to keeping San Antonio competitive with the best in the cutthroat Western Conference while Parker is presumably on a regular-season maintenance plan. Mills isn't the slasher that Parker's been over the course of his career, but the Australian's outside stroke (39.1 percent from three for his career) could be vital to the Spurs' efforts to spread the floor for Aldridge's interior scoring opportunities.
Even with "Patty Thrills" in better shape, the Spurs aren't as deep at point guard as they used to be, now that Cory Joseph is with the Toronto Raptors. San Antonio has since replaced him with Ray McCallum, a young floor general who spent his first two seasons on the Sacramento Kings, and Jimmer Fredette, whose skill set is more befitting of an off-guard.
Beyond this season, there's no telling where San Antonio will stand with Parker—or with any member of its aging Big Three, for that matter. Duncan, the NBA's second-oldest active player (behind only Minnesota's Andre Miller), turns 40 in April. Ginobili, who turned 38 in July, has seen his game slip over the same time that Parker's has taken a hit.
The odds of the latter retiring after this season are far slimmer than those for Duncan and Ginobili. While San Antonio's eldest statesmen have player options for 2016-17, Parker is locked in with eight-figure salaries until the summer of 2018.
By then, he will be 36 and, perhaps, on his last legs in the NBA. How the Spurs go about replacing Parker down the line is anybody's guess.
But if San Antonio's past is any indication, the future could feature (and require) yet another reload for the league's model franchise.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
