Full disclosure: Tony Parker and I are cousins. Distant, but not so distant. His grandmother was my uncle's wife's sister. I grew up idolizing Tony's father, my older cousin Big Tony. "TP" for short. He was the one in our family who had superstar written all over him, the one who was going to the NBA, the one we all wanted to play ball like because he was that good when we were coming up. Instead "Big Tony" became a basketball star in Europe and for years, whenever he'd come home, all he'd talk about was how good "Lil' Tony" was. We all thought he was just braggin', as fathers do about their sons. Until one day ...
Scoop: How much smarter do you feel you are now as a basketball player than you were say ...
Parker: Five years ago? A lot more! Of course. The more you play the more experience you gain, and I feel right now I'm at the top of my game.
Scoop: Yeah, but do you feel that you are a better player though?
Parker: Definitely.
Scoop: So if you had to choose between Tony Parker now and the Tony Parker from five years ago, you'd choose ... ?
Parker: I'd choose my wisdom now and my youth of five years ago. [Laughs]
Scoop: Last year when you all finally won, I want to take you out of that moment for a second. Only because at that time it was easy to say that's the greatest moment of your career when you are in that moment, but now that you are removed from it, does that moment still mean what it did then? Like, does that championship still mean more than all of the other ones you have?
Parker: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, the first one was unbelievable because it's the first one. And then the third one was great because for me it was MVP of the Finals, so personally it was great. The second one, to go to a Game 7 and win it, that one was unbelievable too.
The fact that they happened so fast you have a tendency to not realize how hard it is because you want to stay tough. I mean, everyone knows it's easy to have one great year but it's hard to play well for so many years and to be able to do it for 13-14 years, seven years after the last one, we win it again. Because the way we reacted to 2013 shows a lot of character of our team. So that's what makes it even more special is the fact that you lose in 2013 and everyone thinks that you're done and to come back the following year, playing the same team, and to beat them the way that we did it, by 15 every game, the largest margin of any NBA Finals, is great.
Scoop: Was it personal with you all last year?
Parker: I would not say personal, but definitely motivated obviously. Nobody likes to lose with 28 seconds and we're up five [points] and it's right there, you know. And it just slips away. Of course we were motivated but not personal. That's too much, I think.
Scoop: Does it go through your mind like it does a lot of people, especially Spurs fans, that feeling you all should have doubled up? Do you all think about it like that, that you all should have had two [championships, back-to-back]?
Parker: Naw. No. Naw. Because that would be taking away from what Miami did. You have to give credit to them too. It was unbelievable what they did and their comeback. I don't think like that and I don't think anyone around here thinks like that. Everything happens for a reason. Look, I'm happy because I didn't want to finish my career and all you remember is 2013 and how it almost overshadows the first three championships we won. Now I can at least go to bed and say, you know, "We got it back."
Scoop: Good point. Let me ask you a direct point guard question: Is it getting tough out here for you? I mean, night in, night out there's a beast you have to go up against.
Parker: No, I love it! I love the challenge. It's a great challenge for me. There are a lot of great point guards in this league. You know, I've been saying that for the last three or four years now that we've been in the golden era of point guards. It's unbelievable all of the great point guards that we have today in our game.
Scoop: Where do you stick yourself in that conversation? Not that I want you to rank yourself, but where do you place yourself?
Parker: It's always tough to say who is the best, you know. I think if you do a top five, anyone you pick can do almost anything on the court and is great for their team. So it's hard to say who is the one best.
Scoop: But do you feel that you are in the conversation?
Parker: Oh, definitely.
Scoop: Do you get mad when you are left out or not in the conversation?
Parker: No, I don't get mad because at the end of the day I have the rings and that's the most important to me. At the end of the day when everything is going to be said and done and you'll look at numbers and stuff like that, I went to the Finals five times, the conference finals seven times, so it's like, I've been blessed and very lucky to be on a great team. So like I said, at the end of the day ... as long as I have the rings I don't care where they put me.
Scoop: Would you be the same player you are today without Pop [Gregg Popovich] being your coach?
Parker: I think I'd be a great player regardless, because I'm so passionate and I work hard and I wanted to be one of the best, but Pop really helped me too. I have to give him credit too. So I think we both helped each other. I think it goes both ways.
Scoop: Your Pop, your real one, not Coach. My big cousin. He was, is a legend. Especially in our family. And he'd be the first to tell you how much of a legend he was. Is. I remember calling him when you got the Finals MVP and telling him that it was officially official that you were better than him. He didn't want to admit it, but right then he finally did. When did you realize that you were better than him?
Parker: It's funny, when I go to Chicago how many people know him and talk about him, that he was a legend in high school and college. I never saw tapes, but I saw him play in Europe so I knew he was good. I knew he could play. But when I made it to the NBA, when I was 19, and made it into the NBA, that's when I passed my Dad. So that's when.
Scoop: Seriously?! You're gonna say that? You know I'm recording this?
Parker: I'm saying that. I'll say that. At 19. [Laughs]
Scoop: Was that something that drove you, something that you wanted to do, be better than him? Because I know he always wanted you to be.
Parker: Not really. He obviously was a role model for me. He helped me a lot mental-wise and teaching me about the game so it was never a motivation to beat him or be better than him.
Scoop: What's the biggest misunderstanding about you for anyone that doesn't know you?
Parker: That doesn't know me?
Scoop: That doesn't know you. Because people always come up to me and are like, "Tony seems like he's just this cool a-- dude."
[Boris Diaw steps in and says, "Him cool? Don't let him lie to you. Tony ain't cool."]
Parker: That's a good one. I'm going to have to think about that one, cuz. I don't have one, I don't think. I can't even think of one.
Scoop: You are who you are.
Parker: Yeah. I guess I am.
