Tony Parker

William Anthony Parker, II (born May 17, 1982 in Bruges, Belgium) is an NBA basketball player, with the San Antonio Spurs, and captain of the French national basketball team.

Parker, although born in Belgium, was raised in France, and is a French citizen. His father, Tony Parker Sr., was an American professional basketball player and his mother, Pamela Firestone, a Dutch model. He also has two younger brothers, T.J and Pierre Parker who both play basketball. Other notable relations include famed injury attorney Larry H. Parker (second cousin), Irwin Emmitt Parker, founder of Parker, Texas, and George S. Parker, founder of Parker Brothers.

Before playing in NBA, Parker played 2 years in the French championship (1999-2001) for the Paris Basket Racing team.

When Parker played against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 30 of 2001, he became the second French player ever to play in an NBA game, the first being Tariq Abdul-Wahad. (Dominique Wilkins was also born in France, but he is a U.S. citizen by birth, and was raised in North Carolina.) Parker is also the youngest member of the Spurs to play in the NBA at 19 years, 6 months and 13 days of age.

Parker, a starting point guard on the team, then helped his team win the 2003 NBA championship, when the Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets four games to two in the NBA Finals. On January 20, 2006, he scored a career high of 38 points in a Spurs victory over the Miami Heat.

As of the end of the 2005 season, Parker has scored 4,404 career points in the NBA, for an average of 14.0 points per game, 1,668 assists for an average of 5.3 per game, and 792 rebounds, for 3.0 rebounds per game.

With the French national basketball team, Tony Parker was a member of the national under 20 team and won the European under 20 championship in 2000, he was elected MVP of the tournament.

With the senior team, Parker has since played the European Championships 2001 and 2003 and became Captain since the 2003 European Championship.

Off the court, Parker is dating actress Eva Longoria; she (a Texas native) has been spotted at several Spurs games, while Parker served as her red carpet companion at the 2005 SAG Awards. Longoria was with Parker when the latter was cited for impeding traffic and failing to produce a valid Texas driver's license during a traffic stop on December 24, 2005; the incident garnered press attention because of racist remarks the basketball star allegedly made about a police officer involved in the incident.1

Parker was involved in the Paris bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. His reaction to London's successful bid was:

:I don't know what else we could have done. If we don't have it now, I guess we will never get it. The IOC seems to be very pro-Anglo-Saxon. I feel extremely gutted.

Player profile

Parker is one of the quickest players in the NBA and obviously a superb fast break player. In addition, he drives to the basket well, often finishing with his smooth finger-roll layup. Parker has one of the best teardrop moves in the league, enabling him to score near the basket against taller defenders. Despite his small stature, astonishingly he is leading in points "in the paint" in the ongoing NBA 2005-2006 season. His defense is more than decent, although bigger and stronger players at his position often try to take advantage of his size. But when he won his first ring in 2003, Parker contained nobody else than Jason Kidd, the arguably best point guard in the game. Parker is also a playoff veteran, having played 67 playoff games already, more playoff matches before his 24th birthday than anyone else 2.

Critics point out that his lifetime free-throw average hovers around .700, which is considered low for a guard. In addition, he arguably tends to have weaker periods in his game, especially in the playoffs, where great performances mix with poor ones. Parker has also not played in an All-Star game yet (despite being chosen for the Rookie Game), and in terms of pure playmaking - a skill which requires experience - he still has room for improvement.

But in spite of his young age, Parker is already widely lauded as one of the premier point guards in the league.

Honours

National Team honours
* Bronze medal at the 2005 European Championship

Clubs Honours
* NBA Champion - 2005
* NBA Champion - 2003
* French championship rookie of the year - 2001

Junior Honours
* European under 20 Champion - 2000

Other Information

As of 2005, Tony Parker has also been working on a French hip-hop album with producer Polygrafic (Sound Scientists). At a Spurs victory rally, held at the Alamodome days after the team won the 2005 NBA title, teammate Brent Barry convinced Parker to perform a French rap song in front of the 65,000+ crowd. The point guard has also been dating Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria for several months. Also, contrary to popular belief, Tony Parker can and HAS dunked, though he rarely does so.

See also

*List of French NBA players
*Tariq Abdul-Wahad
*Boris Diaw
*Mickaël Gelabale
*Johan Petro
*Antoine Rigaudeau

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