Van Gundy said something like "Parker is the best small finisher since Tiny Archibald" in game 1 of the Finals. I'm pretty sure he said Archibald, but could be wrong. At any rate, I have to ask - did you ever see Kevin Johnson play? Rod Strickland? Tim Hardaway? Good lord. Could you imagine Kevin Johnson playing in today's rules? The guy might be the best player in the league. If you think this is just another bash Gundy thread ... I don't really care.
Good Lord, the man's a color announcer. They're paid to fill in the silences. They're supposed to pretty much say whatever stuff just pops into their heads. It's not an easy job coming up with game-relevant stuff to say on the fly.
I am glad you mentioned KJ. I think he is the most underrated PG of all time. He would get 20 and 10 while shooting 50% from the field on a yearly basis. It was amazing yet he went under the radar. I agree. In todays game he would dominate. He would be a franchise player rather than a supporting character.
By the way I really like JVG as a color announcer. And he is much more open in his responses. You can get a real sense of what he thinks about things as an announcer, much more than a coach. I wish him well at ABC/ESPN. DD
Kevin Johnson is in my top 3 favorite point guards all time, with Magic and Jason Kidd. Pretty hard to get maximum spotlight only playing 50 games a year and missing entire seasons (think Grant Hill). Even hobbled with injuries he could give you 20 and 10... Van Gundy is expected to say the "proper" thing and be a spot-on expert. While its okay for Bill Walton to spout nonsense about someone's play reminding him of the GREAT (insert All-Time great) whoever... Parker does shoot a very high percentage from the field for a small guy and in the league LEADERS in points in the paint, up there with the big guys. So its not totally without merit. "Best finisher for a small guy" is somewhat a vague category anyway and what Van Gundy said serves to START the discussion as to who that might be, and is not the final verdict. JVG = a rare pass on this one.
I saw all 4 of those guys play. Strictly on the issue of finishing, TP is as good as any of them. If he ever becomes deadeye from 20+ feet, TP will rank up there even though he probably will never be the passer that Tiny and KJ were. When it comes to attacking the basket and finishing, TP is poetry in motion. For him, the best is yet to come. It's hard to believe he just turned 25.
Yes, I have, and Tony Parker is on par or better than all of them at getting to the basket and finishing. So I agree with coach in that he's one of the better finishers I've ever seen at his position. Tony Parker might be the most underrated player in the league from an offensive standpoint. He's extremely efficient shooting the ball and is probably the single best player at breaking down defenses with his penetration. He's also one of the smartest guys in the league, his shot-recognition is second to none, on par or better than Wade's. It's scary that the guy is just coming into his own. Barring major injuries, that Spurs team will be scary for at least another 3-4 years.
I wonder if some of the other announcers are jealous of him... they've been announcing all season, and here comes the new kid getting to do the finals.
he overrated Tony Parker just a little because he had to watch Rafer Alston all season which skewed his opinion.
i don't know, this guy had a pretty good finish... <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifx_gRF-ouU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ifx_gRF-ouU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Completely agree on TP but for Manu and TD it's even par or downhill from here on. Bowen, Horry, Barry, Finley are all old guys and the Spurs don't have other perimeter players in line to take their place. I think this will be their last championship unless Pop pulls some kind of miracle during the summer. The rest of the NBA (especially the WC) isn't standing still.
It seems like JVG has become a guilty pleasure for a lot of the people on clutchfans. At first it was all about: FIRE GUNDY and there were a hundred threads about that. Now that he is gone, its about his qoutes and a hundred threads on that. Who cares what he says, he is an annoucer and those are just his comments. How come there aern't a thousand threads about Stepen A Smith's comments, at times he is the biggest dufus. I'm surprised one of these threads doesn't have a sticky! Just my thoughts...
