My father and I had studied all of that. So, I decided it was better to be drafted at the end of the first round.
Being drafted at the top really wasn’t one of my goals. Not at all. Look at
Frank Ntilikina. He was drafted eighth. He was a top French player and look what team he plays for. I didn’t want that. Being drafted by a good team at the end of the first round gives you a couple of years to make your way, like I did in Paris after
Sciarra. I know the NBA history really well. I know how it works if you’re chosen at the top. It can take four years before being traded to a good team. That wasn’t for me. I play basketball to win titles and didn’t want to lose four or five years of my career.
Before the draft itself, I had to complete a whole series of workouts for clubs that were potentially interested in picking me. First in Seattle with the SuperSonics, who were looking for a replacement for
Gary Payton. Then in Boston with the Celtics, who really wanted me and made me do a workout the night before the draft. There was Orlando, where the coach,
Doc Rivers, took a liking to me, and also in the Bay Area with Golden State. These training sessions lasted at least two hours. You did all sorts of shots, in motion or still, and then you followed that up with one-on-one or two-on-two games. The franchise staff was there, often in their entirety. They analyzed everything, even your defense. Finally, they had you do a lot of strength exercises.
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Excerpted from Tony Parker: Beyond All of My Dreams, published on November 17, 2020 by Triumph Books. You can buy this book on Amazon here. In the end, during that second Parisian year, we had a go…
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