Post by Rog on Mar 9, 2017 21:18:57 GMT
Tony Parker, the 69th Nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame, was a energetic scoring point guard for many years in this league, somewhat flying under the radar but always doing his thing, which was pretty damn good. Was he overlooked at times because he just wasn't great or was he just a guy who preferred to work under the radar but was actually Hall of Fame good? Lets take a look.
Career Stats
37.5 MPG, 20.3 PPG, 8.2 APG, 4.9 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 1.9 TOPG on 44.7% from the field, 83.2% from the line, and 38.9% from three
Best Season
Bulls(2015) - 26.4 PPG, 8.9 APG, 5.4 RPG, 2.4 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 1.8 TOPG on 45.6% from the field, 89.8% from the line, and 43.4% from three
Career Highs
Points: 49
Rebounds: 14
Assists: 20
Steals: 9
Blocks: 4
Achievements
Championships: 2
Player of the Game: 329
Player of the Week: 7
Player of the Month: 2
Double Doubles: 517
Triple Doubles: 24
Accolades
2008 - All-Star Game Participant
2009 - Playoff MVP
2010 - All-Defensive Team
2015 - All-Star Game Participant
2015 - All-League Third Team
Arguments For Induction
- Parker played in two All-Star games, was named to an All-Defensive team and was also named to an All-League third team. He also won two titles in his career, one winning playoff MVP in.
- Parker was a pretty damn good defensive point guard, which is likely his best calling card for his career. He averaged over 2 steals for his career, and was pretty consistently over 2.3 in his career. He also carried an A rating defensively all the way till he was 37 and retiring, which is incredibly impressive. At times in his career he had a A+ rating. Parker was damn good defensively, just didn't put up huge steals numbers enough to be nominate for All-Defensive teams. He did however finish his career 2nd All-Time in steals. Thats a Hall of Fame stat if you ask me.
- Parker was also really good at scoring the ball, averaging over 20 points a game in his 18 year career. He had six straight seasons from his 2nd through 7th seasons where he averaged at least 21 points a game while shooting around 45% from the field, this all while still struggling to get his three point shot down, which he developed later in his career. For sixteen years he never fell below 17.5 points a game, again all while shooting near 45% and being one of the most effective bulk scoring point guards at keeping the ball in his teams hands. Impressive. He did finish top 10, at 9th, All-Time in points. Thats two top 10 stats in his cap making the case that he truly was a great player.
- Parker was a good, though not great, passer. He averaged 8.2 assists per game, getting over 8.5 nine seasons in his career, over 9 four times, and doing over 10 twice. Those aren't amazing numbers but considering his defense and scoring abilities, they showed he was an All-Around good point guard. And assists are another top 10, also 9th, statistic for Parker to hang his hat on.
- Seriously, Parker was one of the best All-Around point guards in the league for a long time. He was pretty elite defensively, but he did everything else really well also. He averaged over 5 rebounds a game 11 of the seasons he was in the league, and most the other seasons he was just under that number. He had 24 career triple doubles, won 2 titles, won a playoff MVP, and helped a number of teams take steps into relevancy. Three top 10 counting stats, a long career where he was at least good, at times reaching for greatness. This is a guy you could count on for 15 years to give you 21 points, 8.5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2.3 steals, decent percentages, little turnovers and just a guy that you could count on to be a solid point guard.
Arguments Against Induction
- Not enough awards, pretty disqualifying if you ask me.
- Was he a great defender? I mean, if he was wouldn't you have figured he would have been on more All-Defensive teams than he was? The A+ with the steals is a pretty good indicator he was a great defender, but we don't have a lot more to go on that, and its hard for me to induct a player based on him potentially be elite at something we just don't know.
- Good, but not great scorer, which isn't really a case to make for a guy when he couldn't even score 20 points consistently throughout his career or shoot the ball with any kind of top end efficiency.
- Overall, I don't think I need to say much to dissuade a case. Parker is a fringe guy and without elite per year statistics I don't know that he has much ground to stand on. I think we all should be able to recognize that counting stats on a 18 year guy are just about how long he played. Which is a true plus when you got a guy for that long doing good numbers, but I don't know that you can ever say he was great. Defensively maybe, but is that enough? Vote wisely.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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