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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.
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.
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.
Duncan is a defensive all-timer but people give him way too much credit for the Spurs offensive success. Their offense took off when their offense starting featuring more Ginobili and Parker, when Duncan was the lead guy their offenses were actually pretty average.
Players like David Robinson, and Garnett get so much criticism for their offensive limitations but Duncan never seems to be viewed the same way. I think his outside shooting percentages, lack of rim pressure, and limited playmaking makes him a much more flawed offensive player than people would think.
The graph at the end of this video does a good job illustrating this point, the spurs outscored teams by around 9 points per 100 with Ginobili and no Duncan, with no Ginobili, and Duncan on the court they were outscored by around 3 points per 100 from 2004-2008. Ginobili deserves way more credit for the Spurs success.
Manu played with the bench unit and closed out games. Those were Spurs strong areas. The team was designed to be like that. They were always a system-team that relied on depth and balance. Their bench unit was among the strongest which inflated this stat in manus favor.
idk why people feel the need to diminish any of the other spurs 4 of the Duncan era to make sense of their success. Pop is the GOAT, TD is the PF GOAT, Manu is the 6th man GOAT, and TP is one of the generation's premier PGs, and probably the most underrated of the 4. They all contributed to the dynasty, all deserve tons of credit, and no one needs to say, well so and so's success means that so and so was kinda carried
Have always said this, Tim Duncan the Offensive Player is overrated.
His Offensive limitations is also why the author of Thinking Basketball doesn't quite think that Duncan has a case as a GOAT Candidate
The plus minus on/off in the playoffs fakeout at the end was pretty hilarious
I had to rewind it because it broke my brain and I couldn't process it. I think that's the first time Ben's done that and holy crap, it certainly helped to highlight the point he was making.
I always tell people Manu was our second most important player post-Robinson. Dude led our bench unit and absolutely dismantled opposing second units. Then closed games with the starters.
God damn I thought kyrie’s sham god was nice but manu’s had some flair and power too it. One of my favorite players ever
Never doubted him. He outplayed Tim Duncan in the 2004 Olympics. Dude is truly a superstar in plain sight. If someone said Manu Ginobili is a Top 5 shooting guard of all time, he can have it.
#NeverForget
Manu wasn't the MVP of the dynasty but they absolutely don't win the titles they do without him and he was their best overall offensive talent as the video highlights. Salute to Manu. One of the most entertaining games around at his Peak.
we love you Manu, no one truly knows how much you gave up individually when you accepted coming off the bench, true team player through n through
He was the MVP of our hearts