Who would have known that Gregg Popovich, from East Chicago -- that's Indiana, not Illinois -- could parlez a little Francais like his point guard protege?
"Laissez faire," the Spurs coach gruffly says of Tony Parker's first workout before the NBA draft for San Antonio seven years ago. Translated, it amounts to let whatever is going to happen, happen.
It's a French phrase that described a then-19-year-old French player.
Parker was dismal in that workout; he wasn't ready to play for the Spurs. Not Popovich's Spurs, a squad drilled in discipline and details. Au revoir, Popovich was willing to say.
"Luckily, we had a second one," Popovich said of inviting Parker back for another workout.
Luckily for the Spurs. Since then, there have been three NBA championships, two All-Star appearances and one NBA Finals most-valuable-player award.
And that was also before his marriage to actress Eva Longoria, in the perfect blend of stardom between Hollywood and, er, San Antonio.
Parker, a slight-framed, lickety-split quick point guard with an innate ability to cut into the heart of an interior defense and launch a teardrop shot from the lane, declared he wanted to help the Spurs beat the Lakers come playoff time when he was drafted in 2001.
He has already done it. And he's aiming to do it again.
And, to think, Parker just turned 26 this month. "It never gets old to win championships," he said. "I just want to keep winning."
Still, for all he has done at his age, Parker exists somewhere in purgatory among the elite Western Conference point guards. Through his seven regular seasons in the NBA, he has averaged 16 points and 5.5 assists.
He has yet to cement himself in MVP regular-season status like Steve Nash, though he's in the discussion when the subject turns to the top young point guards such as Deron Williams and Chris Paul.
But if the end goal of an NBA season is an NBA championship, then Parker is by far the best finisher. Half of his six completed seasons have ended in champagne splashing and ring fittings.
"In the last couple of years, you added Chris Paul to the Western Conference, you've added Deron Williams, you've added Jason Kidd. Steve Nash was already there. Baron Davis was already there. And [Allen] Iverson," said Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford. "But I think Tony gathers a great deal of pride and challenge in facing those players."
