Tony Parker at the Top of His Game

Before this week’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters, with his tongue in cheek, “Parker makes the All-Star team and becomes hard to deal with, so we’re going to sit him and teach him a lesson.”

Whether this was a joke or not, T.P. 9 has every right to be a little “cocky,” given his career accomplishments, current game, and future potential. Playing in Texas for the San Antonio Spurs, who in his shoes wouldn’t walk with a little Texas sized “swagger?”

Parker, the 26-year-old superstar Frenchman point guard who is currently in his eighth season with the Spurs, was recently was named an All-Star reserve. In addition, Parker is having a career-high season thus far, averaging 20.7 points per game and 6.6 assists. He is now a three-time All-Star, earning this honor in 2006, 2007 and now 2009.

Despite Parker’s lack of size, (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) he is known most for his tremendous skill at penetrating and slashing to the basket, as well as his patented “teardrop” shot. Parker is fearless when it comes to driving to the basket, and “spinning like a top” to finish spectacular lay-ups.

Parker’s incredible explosiveness and agility as a player earned him the votes by his peers in a 2007 poll as “one of the quickest players in the NBA.”

Over time, he has also established himself as a potent scorer, averaging 50 percent from the field this season, second only to his career high of 54.8 percent during the 2005-06 campaign.

Parker is a fearless, intensely-competitive point guard who knows how to run the Spurs offense. It is quite possible that he may not have fit quite as well anywhere else in the NBA, due to the fact that the Spurs offense is centered around one of the best power forwards in the NBA, Tim Duncan.

Parker became only the second French player to ever play in an NBA game in 2001, and the youngest Spur in the history of the franchise to wear the silver-and-black at 19 years, six months of age.

Like many current players and stars in today’s game, Parker was heavily influenced by Michael Jordan, and chose to play basketball over soccer. This is also likely due to the fact that his father, Tony Parker Sr., influenced him when he played for Loyola University (Chicago) and also played professionally overseas.

What you may ask will give a player like Parker perceived cockiness and the likelihood that a 28th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft will in my opinion secure him a future spot in the NBA Hall of Fame? Perhaps the following achievements he has accumulated in his still very young career will serve as an indication that this may in fact happen:

3-Time NBA Champion over the span of five years-2003, 2005, 2007

2007 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (First European-born player to receive the award)

3-time NBA All-Star-2006, 2007, 2009

The very fact that he is still a very young athlete and given the experience he has as an NBA champion, leads me to believe that he will only add to this already impressive resume over the next 3 to 5 years.

Parker’s popularity as an NBA superstar has also become very apparent, as he is on the cover of NBA Live 09 by EA Sports. This may lead younger kids to one day emulate him, and want to “be like Tony.”

On top of all this, you’ve got to give the guy credit for branching-out in his current career. In 2007, Parker recorded and released a hip-hop album with Faboulous and Booba in “Top of the Game.” What basketball player wouldn’t dream of being a rap star or what rap star wouldn’t dream of being a basketball player?

To put icing on the cake, Parker is married to Eva Longoria of the TV hit show “Desperate Housewives.” Forget about the fact of being an NBA superstar or hip-hop artist, this gives him the biggest reason to walk with a Texas-style swagger.

To make his life even more balanced, Tony Parker donates 20 tickets for each home game to underprivileged youth, and he is the first ambassador for “Make-a-Wish France.”

What will Tony Parker do for an encore in his already-celebrated career? Perhaps he will star in a Hollywood movie, win an Olympic Gold Medal, or win another championship or two with the Spurs.

Anything is possible for the calm, cool, and collected NBA All-Star point guard. The sky is the limit, indeed.