Others in NBA make point of trying to be like Parker

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Before his team got taken apart by the Spurs on Wednesday, Charlotte coach Mike Dunlap revealed that he uses tape of two players to help mold budding Bobcats point guard Kemba Walker.

One of them is the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, a perennial candidate for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award who is widely regarded as the top lead guard on the planet.

The other is Tony Parker.

“We really feel, mentally and physically, the way those two lead their teams is very special,” Dunlap said. “Different, but they get the same results.”

Dunlap isn't the only NBA coach to use the Spurs' five-time All-Star as a blueprint for what it means to be a professional point guard.

The 76ers' Doug Collins has spoken of trying to shape 22-year-old Jrue Holiday in Parker's image. It seems to have worked — later this month in Houston, Holiday will make his first All-Star appearance.

Those who have followed Parker's career closely — from teenage rookie and Gregg Popovich whipping boy in 2001 to talented-but-flawed Finals MVP in 2007 to what he is now at age 30, a model for other young point guards to emulate — can't help but stand amazed at the progression.

“I was there from the beginning, so I know how his game has evolved,” said forward Tim Duncan, the only player to pre-date Parker on the Spurs' roster. “I know he's worked hard on it, and how the load has kind of switched over to him in what he's asked to do now on a nightly basis. It's a big thing and he's handled it great.”

Tonight, the Washington Wizards visit the AT&T Center hoping to stop the league-leading Spurs' nine-game winning streak. They bring with them yet another 22-year-old point guard — John Wall — who would be wise to take heed of his counterpart in silver and black.

In a turn of events that began last season, when Parker averaged 18.3 points and a career-best 7.7 assists to finish fifth in the league MVP voting, the French point guard has emerged as the most consistent thing about the NBA's most consistent team.

Parker's team-leading scoring average is up to 20.1 points this season, while his assists have remained basically static (7.5). He is shooting 53.2 percent from the field and career-best 39.6 percent from 3-point range.

If Parker, the Western Conference Player of the Month for January, can raise that last number just 0.4 percentage points, it would put him on pace to become the second player in history to average at least 19 points and seven assists and shoot 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from distance.

The only player to reach those thresholds in a season: Boston's Larry Bird in 1986-87.

“As a basketball player, I always try to improve every year,” Parker said. “The last two or three years, it's become my team. Pop is challenging me to become the franchise player.”

Knocked for his inconsistency as a younger player, Parker has scored in double figures in 40 straight games, the longest streak of his career.

Only three times during that stretch did he fail to also contribute at least five assists.

“He's a point guard who can do it all,” said French forward Boris Diaw, who has known Parker since high school. “He can be an organizer and make the team play. Other times, he's going to be a scoring point guard. It's pretty rare to have both.”

When Dunlap cues up film of Parker, the numbers mean less than the attention to detail. These are characteristics the Charlotte coach hopes Walker, his 22-year-old point guard, can one day learn to mimic.

“First, change of speed: This is how he does it, where and when,” Dunlap said. “Then, two is just how when he doesn't have the ball, he is one of the hardest cutters in the league. He just rips his cuts. Third is if you overplay his cuts — snap — he goes back door.”

Considering the body of work, it's difficult to argue with Popovich's assertion that Parker has become the elite of the elite at his position.

“I think he's probably played better than any point guard in the league, if you want to be totally frank,” Popovich said. “It's hard to pick somebody whose had a better year than he's had.”

Translation: Any young point guard aiming for a career as a Parker impersonator has his work cut out for him.