Tag: Tony Parker

Sacre bleu! TP spends summer having fun with a rocket pack

There’s supposed to be no formal communication between players and their teams during this lockout. Team officials aren’t even supposed to be reading the web pages or twitter accounts of their wayward employees. 

But if they could, I can only imagine some of the comments that might be coming from Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford as they  look at .

Spurs point guard Tony Parker spent part of a day earlier this week trying out a jet pack as he soared over a French beach.

It looked like fun. But I’ve always been fascinated by Rocket Packs since those that were shown for Keds Shoes when I was kid back in the 1960s.

Hopefully, Parker was having enjoying himself as much as it appeared in the picture, which was posted on his web site.

But I bet these aren’t the kind of activities that Popovich and Buford have in mind for their starting point guard — particularly after the trade of top backup George Hill last month.

Parker says he saw Hill as his ‘little brother’

By Jeff McDonald and Tim Griffin
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Speaking to a French website Monday, point guard Tony Parker said he would miss backup George Hill, who was traded to Indiana on draft night for a package that included Kawhi Leonard.

“I have confidence in (the front office’s) ability to make good choices,” Parker told 20minutes.fr. “It was still very difficult to separate from George Hill, because everyone loved him. Personally, I considered him my little brother. But the NBA is a business.”

In the same interview, Parker reiterated his desire to join the French national team for the ?EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania in August, but says he will not play if a lockout prevents him from obtaining insurances against injury.

“If there’s no insurance, I won’t play, because the Spurs are No. 1 on my list,” Parker said. “But if I’m insured, I’ll definitely play.”

Earlier this month, Parker said in San Antonio that he was looking forward to playing for the French national team for the first time in his professional career.

“Playing with the national team is always something I wanted to do,” Parker said. “I’ve never been to an Olympics. In talking to Manu (Ginobili), I know it’s a great experience.”

Pop’s many digits on his telephone call tricked Hill about the trade

It was a tough decision for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to trade his self-proclaimed “favorite player,” George Hill.

Popovich has frequently mentioned over the years that he loved Hill’s outlook on the game and life and his unselfish nature. The fact that Hill grew up in Indiana also gave him a link with Popovich, who shared his home state.

But when Popovich called Hill Thursday night to tell him he had been traded to Indiana, it came as a surprise to Hill — particularly when he didn’t recognize the incoming number with one he would have associated with his coach.

“I think if he called from his actual real number, I probably wouldn’t have picked up,” Hill said, chuckling. “Because I know, they normally call with bad news.”

It was a strange call that had multiple numbers when Hill picked up.

“He called from another line. I didn’t know who it was,” Hill said. “It was like 20 digits, so I thought it was TP  (Tony Parker) calling from France or something.”

Hill said he’s leaving the Spurs franchise with no grudges to management and no regrets after the surprising trade.

“For what? The Spurs gave me the chance to play in the NBA and I’m thankful for that,” Hill said. “They gave me a chance to move on to another organization to better myself and my family. I’m grateful for that.”