Replacing Tony Parker: 5 Candidates In 2017

If the last two postseasons are anything to go by, Tony Parker is unable to keep pace with younger, more athletic point guards in the West. The San Antonio Spurs need an upgrade at the 1. Here, we explore five possible replacements by the start of the 2017-18 season.

Recent playoff history suggests that Tony Parker is on a steady decline.

During his last 17 playoff games (seven in 2015 and ten in 2016), Parker bricked 25 out of 29 attempts from three. He finished last year’s epic seven-game series against the Los Angeles Clippers with negative Win Shares (-0.3) and a career-low Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 6.5.

With Patrick Mills unable to regain his 2014 playoffs form, the San Antonio Spurs have struggled to overcome the star-studded point guards out West due to the poor production of Parker and his Australian backup.

It’s why Gregg Popovich saw fit to add veteran Andre Miller to the roster at the trade deadline.

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Do note that Parker’s role within the offense has changed since the arrival of LaMarcus Aldridge. Pop has altered his playbook to accommodate post plays for Aldridge while reducing the number of overall three-point attempts.

During the 2014-15 season, Spurs attempted 22.5 three pointers a game. Last season, they attempted 18.5 a game, their lowest aggregate since 2005-05. Exactly two postseasons ago, they were shooting threes at a record pace during the 4-1 finals rout of the Miami Heat.

The Spurs attempted four fewer threes (in 2015-16) per game because Parker is no longer the drive-and-kick PG who dishes to the opportune cutter or finds teammates for corner threes.

Parker, once the quickest mover on a basketball court, is no longer able to penetrate defenses the way he once did.

Here’s another indicator of Parker’s reduced aggression and inability to attack the rim:

During his peak playoff years (2004-12), Parker drew a minimum of two shooting fouls every game. In 2007, he drew 56 shooting fouls from 20 playoff games before winning the Finals MVP.

Even during 2013-14 title run, Parker drew 23 fouls from 23 playoff games. These past two postseasons, Parker has drawn only 15 fouls from a total of 17 games. He just can’t attack the rim anymore.

This year, Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard fired nearly 34 shots per game during the playoffs. Parker, third on the list of FGA in franchise history, attempted less than 10 shots per game.

During the 4-2 series defeat to the Thunder, Parker attempted fewer threes (10) than Mills (13), averaged less than 30 minutes a game and finished 10th among all Spurs in Defensive Rating.

Parker got run over by Russell Westbrook, who dropped 112 points per 100 possessions while being guarded by the veteran Spurs guard.

There’s a growing fear that the likes of Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard and Chris Paul will continue to dominate the Parker matchup next year.

Parker, an unrestricted free agent in 2018, will likely finish his career in San Antonio and have his jersey retired soon after. The 2007 finals MVP is a surefire Hall-of-Famer.

But the time is right for the Frenchman to step aside from the starting unit and assume the role of mentor and second unit leader. This past regular season, Parker averaged a career-low 27.5 minutes per game.

With rookie Dejounte Murray to get a look, Parker’s minutes are likely to reduce to less than 25.

So, who should succeed Tony Parker as the next Spurs point guard? Would it be the player that forms the new Big 3 with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge?

Here, we short list five candidates entering the 2017-18 free agency period.

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