This year has been a positive for Parker
There's been highlights and struggles for San Antonio Spurs fans this year between two NBA seasons.
The highlights include an older Tim Duncan playing like a younger version of himself and the Spurs playing entertaining ball and heartbreaks like dropping the series in the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For Spurs point guard Tony Parker, it's been a positive year overall (via French site RMCSport.fr).
"It was a very good year. A great year with the Spurs, the team of France. We lived unforgettable moments at the Olympics. The Olympics is a unique and the largest sporting event. So I hope to do as well at Euro 2013."
While some fans may disagree with Parker suggesting the Spurs have had a great year, the team has surpassed any expectations they had.
This team was supposed to have a championship window closed and their aging core withering away slowly while the game passed them by. Instead, the Spurs are still contending for an NBA championship while changing their style of play to a smarter version of the Phoenix Suns "Run and Gun" method with defense.
Fans for the team tend to not think it's been a successful year if there's no trophy hoisted up at the end of a postseason, but that's where Parker's statement becomes true.
With the Spurs still contending at this stage of the team's core's careers, it's hard to argue with Parker's statement when a team that's not supposed to be where they're at because of age is defying "basketball logic."
We are where we are at because of the people in this organization. R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich have continued to build around what has worked vs. falling into the "This team is old" speech and it's time for the Spurs to make drastic changes. Most people don't realize the Spurs organization have made changes and are doing what they can to help what is already there while also preparing for the future at the same time. While I liked and still miss George Hill on the team he is a great example for this. George Hill was traded for Kawhi Leonard as the Spurs wanted to keep the nucleus of the Big 3 together as the Spurs still believed it could continue to be successful. If they didn't Hill would still be here and Parker would be gone as Hill would have been the future of the franchise. Kawhi Leonard was brought here to fill that Small Forward position because that spot needed a lot of help and also to make the team younger. When the Spurs won Championships who was in the mix of the Big 3? Bruce Bowen "Small Forward" who brought a real defensive presence while also hitting clutch shots when needed. Kawhi Leonard is a "Star" in the making and the "Future" in the eyes of the Spurs organization. And George Hill is that for the Indiana Pacers. Let's not forget Corey Joseph either he's a work in progress but could be something down the line. It's no reason to rush him because it's so many things they are seeing from guards Patty Mills and rookie Nando De Colo. If they want to move forward with Corey they will if not they are investing in some youthful guards already who can play productively behind Parker and Possibly be the future after Parker. How many teams can you say have this going for them? Some fans only pay attention to what they see vs. looking at the big picture. I agree, last year was a great year we did a lot of great things even made it to the Western Conference Finals. Much better than losing in the first round don't you think? A few tweaks here and there and we may very well find ourselves in the NBA Finals, that's what fans should have taken from the disappointing ending last year. Spurs fans need to be grateful that they have an organization like they do. The organization is trying to not have the team at the bottom, but rather on top, or still in the mix of contention.
