San Antonio Spurs star guard Tony Parker wanted to put his disappointing performance last season behind him as quickly as possible—Parker says he took less than a month off after the Spurs were eliminated from the Playoffs.
Parker, 33, is working hard to rebuild his body as his career enters its twilight.
TP is set to help the French national hoops team defend its title at the EuroBasket tourney in September.
Per the Express-News:
“I only took three weeks off,” Parker said. “Very different from last year. Because I played so much, everybody was telling me I needed to rest after we won last year. I felt like I took maybe too much off. My mentality is a lot different. I feel like I have to rebuild my body and make sure I don’t get all the little inflammations, all the little injuries I had. I’m very excited about it. I’ve been working out since June 1 so hopefully it will pay off with Le Bleus and I will be in shape when I come in camp.”
“Just being on the track, lifting with our strength coach. I do some boxing; it’s fun. I never did a fitness program like that before. I talked a lot with Pop (Gregg Popovich) and RC (Buford) about what I can do to make sure I finish my career on a high. And so they know I’m committed, and I’ll do everything I can to be in shape, like Timmy (Tim Duncan). Timmy has been great at the end of his career, changing his preparation. […] I’ll do the same thing.”
Parker skipped last year’s FIBA World Cup, a welcome respite from a grueling schedule in which he played pretty much year-round, with the Spurs and his native France, for four straight years. It mattered little as he missed 14 games, and was frequently limited physically even when available. […] The biggest issue, Parker said, was a nagging hamstring issue that led to a variety of other lower-leg issues. As a result, Parker — who entered the NBA in 2001-02 at 19 — averaged just 14.4 points and 4.9 assists last season, his lowest output since the earliest years of his career. His Player Efficiency Rating also fell for a second straight campaign, from a near career-high 23.0 in 2012-13 to last year’s 15.9, barely above the league average of 15.0. Those struggles carried into the postseason, where Parker averaged 13.0 points and shot 36.3 percent while being soundly outplayed by rival Chris Paul.
