A dilemma with Tony Parker’s stellar Hornets debut? Using him wisely, not overdoing it

For anyone who doubted whether new Charlotte Hornets guard Tony Parker, now in his 18th NBA season, could still play, consider his debut Wednesday night your answer:

He definitely still has game.

Parker’s statline — eight points, seven assists and three rebounds in 20 minutes — may not stand out quite like the 41 points Kemba Walker scored, or even the 18 that Malik Monk chipped in off the bench, but numbers on a box sheet don’t tell the whole story.

Because if not for Tony Parker, Charlotte’s eventual 113-112 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks wouldn’t have been anywhere near that close.

“We didn’t start the game pretty well,” forward Nic Batum said, “and he’s a guy that came in and woke us up, really.”

Parker first entered the game with about three and a half minutes to play in the first quarter, and the Hornets already trailed by 15. Not ideal. But then, Parker did exactly what he had for the past 17 years as an All-Star for the San Antonio Spurs.

He was a spark. He was a stabilizer. And frankly, he was just a really good basketball player. Parker made his first two shots in a Hornets uniform, a pair of pull-up jumpers.

“It’s weird to have him on this team, not seeing him in a Spurs jersey,” Walker laughed after the game — and established a sense of calm from the get-go. He fed Monk on the wing, Willy Hernangomez and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the paint, and when none of those options presented themselves, he made something happen for himself.

Classic Tony Parker.

But his real value — the reason the Hornets used their little available cap room this summer to sign him — became evident during the fourth quarter. New Hornets coach James Borrego threw Parker into the game as part of an unorthodox and ultra-small lineup, alongside Walker and Monk in the backcourt.

And somehow, it worked. Perfectly.

Really, ‘somehow’ isn’t a fair assessment. Of course it worked. With Parker handling the point, it freed up Walker and Monk to move in space and get to their spots. No wasted energy dribbling, or keeping the ball in-bounds. Just the team’s two best shooters getting open, and in Parker, finally a backup capable of finding them.

“I love it, and Kemba loves it because it gives him some rest,” Parker said. “He can just come off picks. He’s our best shooter on the team, so I can just run the point guard, call the right plays for him, and get him in positions where he’s comfortable.

“It saves his legs for his shots.”

And so with Walker off the ball and Parker in control of the offense, the Hornets went on a 14-2 run and tied the game at 101. Ignore for a second that they eventually lost — Walker missed a layup with 10 seconds left and Batum missed a wide-open 3 at the buzzer — and instead appreciate that having Parker allowed the team to come back at all.

But — and of course there’s a ‘but’ — if there was a problem with Parker’s debut, it was this:

At 36 years old, coming off a late-career leg injury, Parker still played 20 minutes.

That, no matter how good he was, probably isn’t sustainable.

“I got to a point where I was a little uncomfortable (with his minutes),” Borrego said. “I thought he needed (a break), but the group just wanted to keep going and as a coach you’ve gotta let that play out a little bit.

“I wanted to get him a quick blow, but I don’t have enough timeouts. But I thought Tony was fabulous tonight.”

And herein lies the only issue with Parker. He was brought to this organization, after 17 years of stability in San Antonio, to provide leadership, a championship pedigree, a winning culture, and a decade and a half of NBA experience. Parker said this preseason that he didn’t join the Hornets to serve as a player-coach. The man wants to play.

After the way he looked Wednesday night, you can see why.

But if the Hornets are going to get the most usefulness out of Parker that they can, it won’t be by playing him 20 minutes a night. Having him average 15-20 minutes is an optimistic, albeit somewhat ambitious goal — and the team cannot be tempted to overexert him even though he’s one of its best players.

Parker said after the game that Borrego, a formernearly Spurs assistant coach, knows as well as anyone how to manage his minutes.

“He’s used to it,” Parker said of Borrego. “(Spurs coach Greg Popovich) has been doing an unbelievable job with me and my body and rest and controlling if I play back-to-backs or not. So JB has been with me 11 years (actually 10) with the Spurs, so we’ll play it by feel. Right now, I feel great.

“I don’t plan on resting on back-to-backs right now, but we’ll see when it’s January, February if I change my mind.”

If the Hornets are going to snap a two-year playoff drought this season, Parker must be a big part of it. He’ll have to provide the same energy, calmness and skills he did in his debut Wednesday.

He knows that, and so do his teammates.

“That’s why he’s here,” Batum said. “That’s why he’s been a champion all of his career. That’s why he’s Tony Parker. That’s why he has four rings. That’s why he’s a six-time All-Star. That’s why he’s the Finals MVP. That’s why he’s going to a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. That’s why we signed him.”

But for all of Parker’s accolades, and for as essential as he was in his Hornets debut, he’s also going to present a challenge for Borrego .

Stick to the plan with his minutes, or if need arises, play him anyway.

It’s a delicate tightrope to walk, and one Borrego will have to adjust to going forward. Still, after his debut with the Hornets, there’s two things we can say about Tony Parker:

That the Hornets desperately need him to get back to the playoffs...

... but overplay him, and you’ve wasted his usefulness altogether.

This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 12:24 AM with the headline "A dilemma with Tony Parker’s stellar Hornets debut? Using him wisely, not overdoing it."