Manu retires

After winning their first ever NBA title, a left handed shooting guard was picked 57th overall by the San Antonio Spurs in a loaded 1999 NBA Draft that included Elton Brand, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest, Richard Hamilton, Jason Terry and Andre Kirilenko. 

But after being drafted, Emanuel David Ginobili, who is a dual citizen of Argentina and Italy, continued to play in the Euro League where he led Italian team Kinder Bologna to the European Championship in 2001 and was declared MVP in that series.  He also was the Italian Cup MVP in 2001 and was twice the Italian League MVP (2001 and 2002).

With his skills fully sharpened, he finally suited up with the Spurs in 2002 and became part of a potent trio with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.  Together, they won for the San Antonio franchise 4 of their 5 NBA titles.  Ginobili brought and defined to the league the famous Euro step where players do a side step to slip past defenders in their drive to the basket. It was not his invention but made it his signature move which endeared him to fans.

The vaunted triumvirate brought San Antonio to 18 consecutive post-season appearances and Ginobili never missed a playoff in all of his 16 seasons with the Spurs where they won no fewer than 47 games.

Fluent in Spanish, Italian and English, Manu was part of Argentina’s gold-winning national basketball team that defeated Italy in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Team USA, bannered by Duncan, Odom, Marion, Allen Iverson and then upcoming stars Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, finished third in the tournament.

Last Monday, the Spurs legend announced his retirement from active basketball after 16 seasons.  This effectively ended the legacy and the era of the Tim-Tony-Manu combo of fluidity and consistency.  Duncan retired two seasons ago, Parker is now with Charlotte.  The mystique of the ageless Spurs has ended.

Ginobili is not your typical NBA superstar filling stat sheets with insane numbers.  He’s your average sometimes starter, mostly back-up player that gives consistent contributions every playing night. His numbers might never get him a HOF nod but Manu is that one player, in my opinion, that any team cannot do without.  He was sometimes flashy but effective and his circus shots were an every game occurrence.  He accepted his role as a bench player well.

The Spurs still have coach Gregg Popovich but he now doesn’t have the core that he had for almost two decades.  Kawhi Leonard was supposed to be the new face of the franchise but whether he likes it or not, he’s out of Texas and is now in Canada.

San Antonio has six players 30-years old and above, the most senior among them is Pau Gasol at 38.  LaMarcus Aldridge is a non-flashy yet dependable PF but he’s 33.  Rudy Gay and the returning Marco Belinelli are both 32.  New addition DeMar DeRozan is 29 and under observation until he jells and gets familiar with Pop’s system.

It will be a completely different Spurs team without Ginobili, Parker and Duncan.  In his 16 years with San Antonio, Manu recorded career averages of 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists.  He averaged better in the 218 postseason games he played with 14 points, 3.8 assists and 4 rebounds.