this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)
NBA - Main
12 readers
1 users here now
Game analysis, highlights and everything else that is happening in the NBA.
founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The two seasons where ginobli started more than 60 games he was an all-star. Think it was pretty obvious by anyone with eyes that had the spurs started him he would have been a perennial all-star all-nba.
The vast vast majority of players his caliber or better throughout NBA history would not have accepted coming off the bench. He sacrificed his ego and pride bc he was the ultimate team player and all he cared about was winning.
Nah. Maybe Pop could have played him more minutes so he got his numbers but his career would have been shorter. Good thing American basketball isn’t ingrained in Manu or he would have been egotistical and selfish.
It DID bother him. Who wouldn't want to start in their field. He accepted the role and played harder than ever afterwards.
Him coming off the bench also allowed Pop to manage his minutes better. Manu went 110% every single second he was out there for better or worse. I fully believe that his career would have been significantly shorter if he was a full time starter.
problem is that most people with eyes weren't watching spurs games. the team got the boring tag -which was pretty fair during the years were Duncan had to hard carry- but after the 04 playoffs Popovich understood he had to change and allow Parker-Ginobili to form a real big three with TD. those two were one of the most entertaining backcourts in the league for years but they flew under the radar of the media, shout-out to Sir Charles tho.
but while Ginobili clearly had the talent to be an all-nba player for the duration of his peak (04-11) i don't think his body would've held. he had been playing professionaly since he was 18 and was playing regularly with his national team in the offseason.