Parker reaches rafters
Mikael Pietrus and Boris Diaw were born in the same year — 1982 — but for the new generation of French players who have taken the NBA by storm, the timeline began with Tony Parker.
He was the 28th pick in the 2001 draft — the Celtics famously took both Kedrick Brown and Joseph Forte ahead of Parker in addition to scoring a hit with Joe Johnson — and didn’t cross the radar of many teams outside San Antonio.
“Nobody really knew who he was,” Gregg Popovich said prior to a recent game against the Celtics. “Of course, RC (general manager Buford) knew who he was, but he didn’t seem to be getting much traction anywhere, so we brought him in for a workout. Everybody’s heard about that, it was a disaster. So he asked to come back, he did it again, but those are my earliest memories.
“That second workout, I stacked it. Brought in a couple of guys to beat him up more or less,” he said. “All we did was post. We didn’t really play out on the court at all, I just wanted to see what he was made of, if he was going to fold or whatever. See how physical he could be, or what he could take, what he could dish out. He really impressed me.
“During training camp and the first couple of games, I was really tough on him, I gave him a lot of things to think about, a lot of things to do. Put him on the best players on the other team, whenever I could. He showed that he had the fortitude and courage to do this and that the challenge of taking over a team that’s supposed to be successful wasn’t going to matter to him. He was just going to play.
“I gave him the ball and said, ‘This is yours. Figure it out. I’m going to love you and I’m going to dump on you.’”
And that’s what Popovich did, repeatedly. He wouldn’t name the tough guys he brought in to tenderize Parker, cracking, “I’ll be getting sued. Defamation of character.”
But after retiring in a Charlotte uniform last season — the only one of his 18 seasons outside San Antonio — the Spurs retired jersey No. 9 before a game against Memphis last Monday.
Eleven players, including Celtics rookie Vincent Poirier, are in the NBA this season, and they all made it there thanks to the career of this 28th draft pick.
He’s a guy who came here when he was young and had a lot of success here in America and back in France with the national team. For us, when I was a kid he was the best. He’s still the best,” said Poirier.
Parker’s importance, according to Poirier, lies in his ability to prove that a French youngster with a love of the game could make it in NBA.
“He changed the mentality for sure,” said Poirier. “Now we can trust that a French guy can have success overseas here. He was the first to create this mentality.
“He proved that work is important, whatever the people say, you work on your game and good things can happen,” he said. “It’s now a mentality we all try to have, never mind if you were drafted last in the first round or whatever, he shows that everything can happen.”
Parker was still capable of inspiration last season, as a Hornet. It was Kemba Walker’s eighth year in the league, and he was not too old to learn, especially from a legend.
“I wish I (could have been) here for that. It was amazing,” Walker said of the retirement ceremony. “Tony is a great friend of mine, and I’m blessed to have gotten an opportunity to be alongside him, and I’ve learned so much playing with him just in one year.
“He’s a guy I admire, and I looked up to as a point guard for a long time,” he said. “It’s definitely much-deserved that he’s getting his jersey retired. I was very blessed to be here last season when he came back and his tribute video and things of that nature. That was a special night for him, and I was definitely really excited to be a part of that.”
And like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili before him, Parker set the standard for one of the NBA’s great dynasties.
“I was 18-years-old when this all started,” said Brad Stevens. “From afar they’ve just stayed the course. They’ve had really good players, really good coaching, really good front office. Hasn’t always been exactly what they wanted, but they just stayed the course with it, even through some of the early playoff exits, and as a result they have a ton of banners.
“On the other side maybe (Parker) wouldn’t have been the perfect fit with other franchises,” he said. “He was a special player and special talent, and they brought that out of each other here. Duncan had a lot to do with that, and that leadership he had was passed down from (David) Robinson and others. It’s a great organization, and everybody that contributed to all those banners deserves a ton of respect.”
Celtics timeline
Today, 3:30 p.m. at Sacramento — One of the league’s great young rosters, but a team that has also stumbled in the early going. De’Aaron Fox is out for the short term with an ankle injury, eliminating a major weapon from the scouting report.
Monday, 9 at Phoenix — A potential trap, coming as it is on the back end of a back-toback. Aaron Baynes is exactly what the Celtics no longer have — an experienced, consistent, dominant defender in the paint. Coach Monty Williams has also produced the biggest surprise of the early season — a Suns team that just might be playoffbound.
Wednesday, 10 at L.A. Clippers — Doc Rivers’ load management schedule being what it is, it’s hard to tell who will be on the floor here. But Paul George made his Clippers debut last week with 33 points in a loss to New Orleans. Combine him with Kawhi Leonard, and the Clippers have the greatest wing combination in the NBA.
Friday, 9 at Denver — The Celtics wrap up their fivecity swing against their third straight member of the Western Conference’s playoff iron. We’ll know a lot more about this Celtics team by the time this game ends.