The San Antonio Spurs championship illusions, which made sense for nearly two decades in a row, they fell apart in the last two years after not stepping on playoff ground.
Constant rebuilding, the pieces that didn’t fit, but mostly longing for the Big Three made up of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, they pushed Gregg Popovich to accept first and to get to work later.
It is time to go back to the roots. That’s why Pop, wise old man of the NBA world, was happy for finally convincing Ginobili to become the franchise’s sports consultant. Keep him close, give him new responsibilities, allow him to give his opinion. That he has a voice and also a vote.
It will be a new responsibility for the former Argentine guard, the first of his country with a similar position. Accustomed to transforming situations with the ball in his hands making use of his intelligence and mischief, now he will have to demonstrate those characteristics that exalted him off the field. Guide, help, observe and promote. A right hand for Popovich that will serve as a prophet of the culture of the Spurs, a team that lives and breathes according to the phrase of Jacob Riis that rests on one of the walls of the local dressing room:
“When nothing seems to help, I go to the stonemason and watch him hammer his rock, maybe a hundred times without even noticing a crack in it. However, on the 100th hammer it will break in two; and I know that It will not be due to the last blow, but to all those who came before “
Ginobili, who turned 44, played sixteen seasons for the Spurs, was a two-time All-Star and won the Best Sixth Man of the Year award in the 2007-08 season.
“He’ll do it all,” Popovich said on Spurs’ Media Day. “He’ll help general manager Brian Wright, help me coach, help develop players … he’s also scouting. I think maybe he’ll take a two-week trip to Italy to watch players. I’ll go with him … talking. seriously, I think he will do all the things that make him feel comfortable. It’s great to have him on our show for various reasons, but mainly because we love that boy. Besides, he’s Manu Ginobili, who wouldn’t want to have him around? “
Winner of four championship rings with the Texas franchise, he played 1,057 games in the monochrome uniform and is the top 3-pointer (1,495) and the greatest stealer of balls (1,392) in San Antonio history. As if that were not enough, the Spurs won 72% of the games in which Manu participated, a number that puts him as the best winning percentage in history compared to players with 1,000 or more games played in the NBA.
“His wife needed him to leave home. And since we love Marianela so much, much more than him, we listened to her,” Pop joked.
Ginobili’s advice and his shrewd eyes will undoubtedly be important for a franchise that seeks to regain the winning focus. Guards Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, and forward Keldon Johnson, look like the gems to develop in the group structure. They are joined by unknowns like Lonnie Walker IV, Devin Vassell and Joshua Primo, and the ever-performing veteran Thaddeus Young from the Chicago Bulls.
Ginobili will also have an old friend close to discussing basketball: his compatriot Fabricio Oberto, champion with Manu at Spurs in 2007 and with Argentina at the 2004 Athens Olympics, who will be a TV analyst for the franchise.
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