Pop on Parker: 'If he's not the Tony Parker of past years, we’re not going anywhere'
If there's one tangible reason the San Antonio Spurs haven't quite looked like the well-oiled machine they've been the past several years, it's the discernible dip in the quality of Tony Parker's play.
Parker will turn 33 this year and has almost 1,200 regular-season and playoff games on his NBA odometer. He hasn't been fully healthy, feeling the effects of a left hamstring strain that cost him 13 games earlier in the season.
Still, the drop-off has been jarringly precipitous. Parker is posting his lowest scoring (14.5) and assist (4.7) averages since his rookie season in 2001-02. His minutes (29.1) and rebounds (1.8) are at career-lows. His trips to the free-throw line are less frequent than they've ever been. And, perhaps most shockingly, the Spurs have been 9.2 points per 100 possessions better with him on the bench.
Head coach Gregg Popovich knows that needs to change if the Spurs hope to make typical Spurs-ian noise in the postseason.
"If he’s not the Tony Parker of past years," Popovich told Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News on Wednesday, "we’re not going anywhere."
Parker has continued to improve as a spot-up shooter and - despite his struggles - he's actually having one of the finest shooting seasons of his career, connecting on 50.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.
But Popovich knows the Spurs need a lot more from him than just that.
"His aggressiveness is a huge key for us, because of his ability to penetrate and get to the rim, and he hasn’t done that like he has in the past," he said. "It’s because of a lack of confidence in that leg and a lack of conditioning, a combination of those two things."
The result is a Spurs offense that ranks 12th in the NBA, after finishing in the top-seven in each of the past four seasons.
"He’s the main part of our game as far as pace and scoring," Popovich said. "He makes a lot happen when he’s getting 18, 20, 26 points.
"There are not many nights when Timmy (Duncan) or Manu (Ginobili) or going to get 26 or 28, but the teams we are playing have a lot of those guys. Tony is our guy and we need that back."