“I will try not to cry”. Tony Parker tried… but the emotion was too strong, when paying tribute to his friends and especially his family. It was when thanking his father and mother that TP burst into tears during his Hall Of Fame introductory speech.
” I have a big family. My dad is from Chicago. My mother is from the Netherlands, Amsterdam. I was born in Belgium, but I am French. I was born into both cultures. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. And it helped me a lot in my journey. To my dad…I love you” he throws. “To my mother, who was a caregiver, and helped me a lot for the duration of my career. I love you so much. Thank you for everything. To my two brothers, TJ and Pierre. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. »
Under the eyes of his “mafia”, from Thierry Henry to Boris Diaw, via Gaëtan Muller, his children or even his campaign, Parker retraced his career in the NBA with doubts from Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan’s contempt for his beginnings.
“I started writing my speech last week and wondered why Tim was so special. I couldn’t sleep a wink, why was Tim so unique? At the same time, it’s easy and at the same time, it’s hard. I’ll start with the most obvious. For me, he is the best strong winger in history. It’s the most obvious. But me, what I know is that he has a special power, a super power with his eyes. I will explain it to you. He never speaks to receive the ball. Never. He looks at me. And when you’re 19, coming from France, it’s very scary when Tim Duncan looks at you. »
“With Manu, you have two assists. You got the legend pass, which everyone is going to talk about, and it was amazing. And the pass that goes in the stands to the fans”
Parker also had a word for Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade (“my little brother’s favorite player”), Pau Gasol, Becky Hammon (“his big sister”) and of course Gregg Popovich (“his second father”). Without forgetting his “brother”, Manu Ginobili.
“Manu is unique. He’s the most unique player I’ve played with. He was so unique that Pop didn’t even know what he had to do in his first two years,” says Parker. “It was priceless to see Pop’s faces after some of his passes. With Manu, you have two assists. You got the legend pass, which everyone is going to talk about, and it was amazing. And the pass that goes in the stands to the fans. There were a lot of them the first two years. We had a difficult start with Manu. The Argentinian media thought that I didn’t like Manu, that I didn’t give him passes… But I didn’t understand why. Because Pop is the coach, and Pop was only doing systems for Tim. I was the playmaker, and I needed an ally. Manu was that ally. »
“There is the little Frenchman, there is the little guy from Argentina and a swimmer who lands from the islands. Who could imagine that? We won four titles together”
And Tony Parker to repeat again that Tim Duncan did not speak to him about his rookie year.
“Everybody knows it, but I’ll say it again, during my rookie season, Timmy didn’t talk to me. And people think I’m crazy when I say that, but it’s true. Timmy doesn’t like the French. He doesn’t like my French accent. He waited until I played against Gary Payton to talk to me. At the end of my rookie year, I played well against Gary, and he finally said one word to me, then two and three… I thought it was going to be okay. We all get along well today. There is the little Frenchman, there is the little guy from Argentina and a swimmer who comes from the islands. Who could imagine that? We won four titles together and it was an honor to play with you. »
And then he repeated that you have to dream big in life.
“My adventure began with a big dream. I wanted to dream big: go to the NBA and become the first European point guard to succeed there. I always say dream big and when you tell someone your dream but they don’t laugh at you, then you’re not dreaming big enough. When I was in France, people told me all the time that I was too small, too thin and that I wasn’t going to succeed… Today? It’s me who’s laughing. »
