A Retrospective of Manu Ginobili's career

Yesterday I came home from the corner store, checked twitter for the first time that day, and saw that NBA legend Manu Ginobili had retired.

Oh Jesus. Not Manu.

Why did I care so much? As a Celtics fan, this season I had seen Manu rip our hearts out in a regular season game with a game-winning dagger from way downtown. But despite that, Manu is one of my favorite players of all time.

As an NBA fan for the last decade, Manu is one of the last of a dying breed of players that were in their prime during my childhood. Kobe, Duncan, KG, Pierce, Allen, Bosh, Shaq, Nash, and now Manu are all out the door. Dirk, Tony Parker, Pau, Melo, and Wade seem to be the last ones left.

Even when you’re a diehard basketball fan like me, it’s easy to take such great players for granted while you’re watching them in their prime. I didn’t appreciate Manu to the fullest extent until late in his career, when I looked back on the totality of his accomplishments and realized the dude was so much more than just a great 6th man.

Let's check out his NBA resume

2x NBA All-Star

2x Third Team All-NBA

1x 6MOTY

Either the second or third best player on four title teams

His resume is, compared to some of the other greats, nothing to sniff at. He was never one of the five best guys in the league. He's not one of the 50 best players ever. The majority of NBA fans probably don't think he's a Hall of Famer. But if I was starting a team, I'd pick Manu for my team over a lot of guys who statistically stack up better than him, including people like Dominique Wilkins, Carmelo Anthony, Rick Barry, and Allen Iverson.

It's not just because Manu was better all around than those guys. All of them were far superior to him as scorers and all-around offensive players. But Manu was still the better teammate and leader, the smartest player of the four by a long shot, he performed better when it mattered, and he always gave it his all.

Take Carmelo for example: His gaudy scoring numbers, all star appearances, and All-NBA teams don't cover up the fact that he prioritized his salary above all else, rarely tried on defense, sulked and pouted when he didn't get his way, and never adjusted for his teammates. Meanwhile, Manu never earned more than $15m a year, gave maximum effort on defense, sucked it up when he didn't get his way, and took a bench role so players like Roger Mason and Danny Green could earn starters minutes. Yet the majority of NBA fans would still take Carmelo when starting a team. It's mind-boggling.

If I had to compare prime Manu to a current player, it wouldn't be the popular choice of James Harden. While Harden resembles him most in playstyle, the current player who I would compare him to is Golden State's Klay Thompson. People pick apart Klays game for his lack of ability to score off the dribble, and call him a glorified spot-up shooter. However, most NBA teams would trade for him in a heartbeat if given the chance. Why?

He's a fantastic teammate beloved by everyone he plays with, adjusts to everyone, comes through when he's needed, tries hard on both ends, and never complains about his touches. Everyone loves Klay and wants him on their team, even though he's not a better all around player than guys like DeMarcus Cousins or John Wall. That was Manu in his prime. And just like Klay, both guys were an integral part to multiple championship teams despite not being the best or even second best player on their team.

Even beyond that, he's one of the smartest players ever to play the game. Offensively his speed, crafty ballhandling, passing IQ, ability to make a game-changing decision in a split second, reflexes, and exclusive use of his left hand made him nearly impossible for defenders to figure out. On defense, his chasing down of loose balls, poaching passing lanes, drawing charges, and help IQ all contributed to the Spurs ability to consistently stay one of the best defensive teams in the NBA

If we look back at some of Manu's finals appearances, he was better than we remembered. Check out his sneaky underrated '05 playoff run

First round (4-1 vs Denver)

Manu 22.8 ppg / 6.0 rpg / 4.0 apg / 47.7% FG

Duncan 22.0 ppg / 11.2 rpg / 3.4 apg / 46.8% FG

Carmelo 19.2 ppg / 5.4 rpg / 2.0 apg / 42.2% FG

Second round (4-2 vs Seattle)

Manu 20.5 ppg / 5.2 rpg / 4.2 apg / 57.6% FG

Duncan 25.2 ppg / 10.2 rpg / 2.5 apg / 45.9% FG

Allen 21.5 ppg / 4.0 rpg / 2.8 apg / 43.5% FG

Western Conference Finals (4-1 vs Phoenix)

Manu 22.2 ppg / 6.2 rpg / 4.8 apg / 49.4% FG

Duncan 27.4 ppg / 13.8 rpg / 3.2 apg / 52.7% FG

Joe Johnson 18.3 ppg / 3.7 rpg / 3.7 apg / 47.8% FG

Translation: Through the first 3 rounds Manu outplayed or matched both Tim Duncan (then the best player in the world) in two of three playoffs series and outplayed their opponents best wing in all three. And let's look at the finals

Finals (4-3 vs Detroit)

Manu 18.7 ppg / 5.9 rpg / 4.0 apg / 49.4% FG

Duncan 20.6 ppg / 14.1 rpg / 2.1 apg / 41.9% FG

Rip Hamilton 16.7 ppg / 5.3 rpg / 2.6 apg / 38.6% FG

Are we SURE Manu didn't deserve the '05 Finals MVP? He played a pivotal role in all their victories, putting up a 26-9 on 10-of-16 shooting in game 1, a 27-3-7-3 on 6-for-8 shooting and 11-of-13 from the line in game 2, 15-6-9 on 5-of-16 shooting in game 5, and 23-5-4 on 5-of-13 shooting in game 7, all while outplaying Richard Hamilton.

Statistically he was better than Duncan and outplayed him in crunch time. I would've voted Manu Finals MVP, and the MVP of the entire playoffs, if there was such an award.

Manu only played in two finals in his prime and averaged an 18-4-6 on 45% over 11 games. (Also relevant, Manu sat out most of the '09 regular season and playoffs with an ankle fracture after averaging a 21-6-5 per 36 through his first 44 games. The Spurs proceeded to lose in the first round for the first time since 2000. If Manu is healthy do the Spurs beat Kobe and the Lakers to make the finals? In my opinion, yes. If that season had no injuries, we potentially would've seen a Celtics-Spurs finals instead of the one-sided Lakers victory, but that's another story.)

So is Manu a Hall of Famer? Absolutely, yes. The notion that he was just a glorified role player is an insult to his legacy. He took a backseat for other players but he was easily a star caliber player. From 2007 to 2012 Manu averaged a 21-5-6 per 36 minutes.

My favorite Manu moment isn't the '05 finals. It isn't his 46-point game against LeBron and the Cavs. It isn't even the time he smacked the bat out of the air. It was in 2010 in a preseason game against the Clippers. The Spurs are down by two with 8.3 second left. The camera cuts to the huddle and who is drawing up the inbounds play? That's right: Manu Ginobili.

And guess what? Gary Neal hit the shot and the Spurs won. That's the kind of teammate and player you want on your team. He stood in for his coach and drew up the game winning play. I'd always want Manu to be my teammate, no matter what. That moment will always stand out in my mind.

(Although the time he smacked the bat out of the air was pretty goddamn awesome)