Some people argue that championships are won by experience. Others argue that fresh legs bring energy and motivation to a team during playoffs. Some things are also a fairly safe bet in the postseason. We know Lebron shuts down all social media after his #ZeroDark23 tweet and then no one is safe. We know home court advantage and louder fans in certain arenas can change a series (i.e. Oklahoma City, Portland, Boston). We also know that it is never late enough in any game or any series to bet against the San Antonio Spurs. This article is about one of the most stable parts of their unit, during playoffs, but also throughout the season.
Born Emmanuel David Ginobili, the man in the #20 black and white jersey goes by many nicknames such as Manu, Gino, Batman, old faithful, and Argentina’s Flying Man. Standing at 6’6, and 205 pounds, Manu has been in the league for 16 years. He has played with the San Antonio Spurs his entire NBA career. Being apart of the 1999 NBA draft, chosen 28th in the second round, Ginobili was the second to last person drafted, which is funny looking back now, because of what a great impact he has had on the league as a whole.
“Everything he’s done is aimed at winning.” -Steve Nash
Yes- he’s 40 years old. Yes- he’s been a Spur his whole life, sprinkled with tons of overseas play. And yes- he’s a 4- time NBA champion. The man has a trillion accomplishments within his basketball career, but here’s some of the bigger ones to remind the doubters that numbers don’t lie:
- Italian Cup MVP (’02)/ Italian League MVP twice
- FIBA AmeriCup MVP (’01)
- All Rookie 2nd team (’02-’03)
- Sixth Man (’07-’08)
- All NBA 3rd team (twice)
- 2 time All-Star (’05 & ’11)
- 4 championships
“It’s hilarious because Manu and Pop are complete opposites. As a coach Pop is all about order and strategy, but Manu is this unpredictable and risky player sometimes. He would take crazy shots and run his own plays just to get under Pop’s skin, and we would all laugh. No one on that floor wants to win more than him , though.” -Former Teammate Tim Duncan
Manu Ginobili has truly proven to be one of a kind. Playoffs include 16 teams and each of those teams have a number of guys to watch. Ginobili makes sure he’s hard to forget. In 2015, the Ringer’s resident best selling author and captain of the Spurs Fan Club Corner of Twitter, Shea Serrano wrote a piece for Grantland about the most Iconic Spurs Moments. The first one wasn’t about crazy stats, or cool plays- it was about one night when Manu Ginobili went from playing basketball like normal basketball players do, to swatting a bat mid-air and showing his quick reflexes. Things like this make him special:
- Drafted 57th overall (Metta World Peace, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, Andrei Kirilenko were all picked before him in the same draft, but he has outlasted them all in the league)
- Apart from Rashard Lewis, Ginobili is the only other 2nd round draft pick to reach 13,000 career pts and at least 1.300 3s.
- only 4 players born in 1979 or earlier are still active today; Ginobili is one of them at 40 (Vince Carter, 41; Jason Terry, 40; Dirk Nowitzki, 40)
- Ginobili is one of only two players to have won an NBA title, EuroLeague title, & Olympic gold medal; he’s one of four players (Jordan, Pippen, LBJ) to win an NBA championship and Olympic gold within the same year
- This year, Ginobili became the Spurs career leader in steals and the only player in NBA history to record multiple 20 point games off the bench at 40 years or older.
Every player has his/her peak and although Manu is beyond his prime, you can never count him out. Just ask James Harden and Rockets fans about how quick he can be. Just this week, he led the Kawhi-less Spurs to a win, clinching a playoff berth. Manu has clocked 5,968 playoff minutes (213 games), in which hes averaging 80% on free throws, 48% on 2 pts., and 36% from outside the arc.
“You can hit him in the 1st quarter or the 4th quarter. It wont matter. Not with him. That kid ain’t stopping no matter what.” -Former Nuggets All-Star Kenyon Martin
Manu Ginobili is sneaky fast, has quick hands, and plenty of experience. He is versatile, determined, and reliable. The Flying Argentinian is a gamechanger, not to be underestimated. Expect Manu to show up from minute 1 of Game 1, right up until the final buzzer. Yes the Spurs seem less threatening than they have in previous years, and yes they’re missing an important part of their team. The pieces they do have however, have worked before. Win or lose, they’ll come to play. Game 1 for SA is on Saturday afternoon vs. the Warriors.
