Where does Tony Parker rank among PGs in the 2000s?

[Big#50]

Top ten.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Parker's played like a top 5 player in each of the last 2 or 3 seasons. No joke.

His stats might not say it, but he completely dominates the tempo of a game like maybe only CP3 can. It's insane.

[Patrick Chewing]

#1 or #2

[Big#50]

No way he is top 3. People actually think he is number one?? wtf

[Artillery]

Not that high. Definitely behind Nash, Billups, and Kidd.

He was by far the least important member of the Spurs trio during the 2000s. High usage, low efficiency chucker with mediocre court vision. Did a poor job running the offense back then. Always under-performed in the playoffs too. His numbers fell across the board from regular season to post-season.

In 2003 he was horrid. Couldn't run the offense properly at all(96 ORtg in the playoffs). It got to the point that Pop had to replace him in 4th quarters with Speedy Claxton. Really, really bad efficiency too(.468 TS% in the playoffs).

Than there's his awful performance as a second option in 2004. He shot 7-23 in the pivotal game five of the conference semis against LA. Most of his shots should have been going to Duncan or Manu that series.

In 2005, TD and Manu carried the team to the title. Parker was a glorified role player. TS% of .490 throughout the playoffs that year. Horry, Barry, and Bowen were more important than him.

In 2006, Duncan and Ginobili both had strong playoff performances against the Mavs in a close seven game series. TD averaged 32 pts/12 rebs on .61 TS% against Dallas in the playoffs. Ginobili averaged 21 ppg on .64 TS%. Unfortunately, the albatross known as Tony Parker dragged the team down with yet ANOTHER horribly inefficient series. Averaged 20 ppg on an Iverson-esque .47 TS%. Parker's crappy shot selection resulted in numerous wasted possessions.

Parker won Finals MVP in 2007 but it was a hollow award seeing as TD and Manu were both much more important than him throughout that post-season run. Parker took advantage of the biggest mismatch in Finals history with the Cavs using Boobie Gibson to defend him. Meanwhile, Duncan had to deal with Varejao/Ilgauskas and Ginobili had Lebron guarding him for large portions. Makes sense that Parker had such a big series when Cleveland was throwing all their defensive attention towards other players on the Spurs. Mike Brown used to coach under Pop - He knew from personal experience that Parker would choke if he became the primary scoring option(see 2004 playoffs against the Lakers). Unfortunately for Brown, Parker actually had the series of his life and hit most of his jumpers for a change.

To his credit, he's actually improved in recent years. The last two seasons he's been a pretty damn good PG. If you ignore his chokejob in the Finals, he has an argument for best PG in the NBA in 2012 and 2013. He's been really disappointing this year though(combination of fatigue from playing for France and him slowing down).

[bdreason]

Probably 3rd after Kidd and Nash.

[Artillery]

Probably 3rd after Kidd and Nash.

You forgot Billups. Replace Parker with Chauncey and the Spurs probably three-peat or four-peat from 2004 to 2007.

[Sarcastic]

2000's version of Scottie Pippen. Riding the coattails of a GOAT player to overrated status.

[ninephive]

The people that actually watch all the Spurs games understand Parker is the best player on the best team in the NBA. And to everyone who says he underperforms in the playoffs...lol. His points go up in the postseason and he gave Lebron his only playoff loss in less than six games in a sweep in the Finals. Think about that for a second. A Parker-led team embarrassed Lebron in a Finals sweep. That's more than pathetic, while a Parker "choke" is losing to Lebron in 7 games while he was injured. Obviously Young X and Artillary are ridiculous in their bias. Keep hating while Parker keeps leading the best team in the NBA.

[bballnoob1192]

behind DFish

[houston]

Top ten.

yup this true

[FKAri]

I put him ahead of Billups.