The urgent message Tony Parker delivered to an inconsistent Charlotte Hornets roster
Tony Parker is so deep into his NBA career that he thought it was pointless to set individual goals this season.
And yet, with 25 games left in the regular season, backup point guard Parker is as important as any Hornets player not named Kemba Walker
That’s obvious from this team’s record when Parker doesn’t play - 1-10 - and also in how teammates speak of Parker in his 18th season, first as a Hornet. Shooting guard Malik Monk says Parker is the singular reason the Hornets’ bench has gone from a clear weakness last season to a strength this season. Power forward Marvin Williams said there is no one more credible to spread the need for urgency in this team’s playoff chase.
Parker practiced Thursday and Friday after missing the past four games before the NBA’s All-Star break with a back strain. He is expected to play Friday against the Washington Wizards as the Hornets resume their schedule with about a third of the season remaining.
Keeping Parker healthy seems vital to the Hornets’ playoff chances, just like the challenge he made Thursday to his teammates.
“It’s money time now. We can’t wait anymore,” Parker said of the Hornets’ situation: 27-30 and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with eight playoff spots at stake.
“No more excuses. We have to get it done, we have to learn from all the past games. Everybody needs to go faster, learn faster, and we need to start winning games. “
Wise, yet not over the hill
When the Hornets sold Parker on signing in Charlotte, after he won four NBA championships in San Antonio, the expectations for a 36-year-old point guard were intentionally low. He was still recovering from a quadriceps tendon rupture in May 2017, the sort of injury that ends careers.
The hope was Parker would average 15 minutes per game, provide some stability behind All-Star Walker at point guard, and mentor the young players. He’s exceeded all that: Frequently playing 20 or more minutes in a game, closing out fourth quarters alongside Walker and organizing the second unit into something the Hornets sorely missed the prior two seasons.
“Tony Parker has been much more valuable than we ever anticipated,” Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak said recently.
Parker’s impact was less surprising to coach James Borrego, but only because as a former Spurs assistant, Borrego saw how much Parker had left if he could get really healthy. That Parker could so quickly integrate the talents of a second unit full of youth (particularly Monk, center Willy Hernangomez and rookie forward Miles Bridges) didn’t surprise Borrego at all.
“There is just a confidence when Tony is out there - a confidence by the young guys, a confidence from Kemba, that guy next to him closing out games,” Borrego said. “I’d say 90 percent of the games we’ve (successfully) closed out late in the fourth quarter, Tony has been a part of those.”
To say Parker is a bargain at a $5 million salary this season is a gross understatement, but money wasn’t the primary motivation. He left the Spurs in July for the first time in his NBA career to help Borrego make over a team in need of leadership and guidance. And looking to keep a perfect record of playoff appearances intact.
The streak
Parker joked repeatedly when he first signed with the Hornets that he didn’t want this team messing with his perfect streak of 17 seasons ending in playoff appearances. Maintaining that streak is dicey right now: The distance in the standings between the seventh-place Hornets and the 10th-place Orlando Magic is only one game.
Much is at stake in the immediate future: Seven of the next eight games are at home, where the Hornets have played far better this season, and seven of the next 12 are against teams the Hornets are competing with for one of those last three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
I asked Parker Thursday if the Hornets look to him like a team that should break a two-season absence from the playoffs.
“I think we have some great moments, but at the same time we lack in consistency,” Parker said. “I think that is something we can get better at with time.”
Time is running out. Borrego is glad Parker is there to reinforce the sense of urgency this team needs the rest of the way.
“If anybody can speak to that, it’s Tony Parker; he has lived it,” Borrego said. “He understands the feeling; it’s go-time right now. Every game is going to feel like a playoff game, and it should feel like a playoff game. That type of focus and mentality.”
Parker has played in 226 playoff games. He sure didn’t uproot to North Carolina to go on vacation in mid-April.
“Hopefully, I can finish the season strong to make the playoffs,” Parker concluded. ‘That’s what I came here for: to make the playoffs.”
Rick Bonnell: 704-358-5129, @rick_bonnell
This story was originally published February 21, 2019 at 4:12 PM with the headline "The urgent message Tony Parker delivered to an inconsistent Charlotte Hornets roster."
