Manu Ginobili will soon be officially removed from the Spurs‘ roster after announcing his retirement as a player on Monday. However, he’s not opposed to the idea of sticking with the franchise in some capacity. As Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News relays, Ginobili wrote a Spanish-language column in the Argentine newspaper La Nacion in which he touched on his possible next steps.
“What I made clear to (Gregg Popovich) is that it’s not ‘Ciao, I’m leaving,'” Ginobili wrote. “My children have already started classes and while I’m in town I’ll be close to the team and the franchise. Maybe I can’t help (anymore) by taking a (charge) or (with a steal) or something, but I’ll try to add in what I can. I have a great appreciation for my teammates, for the staff and all the people on the team and I want it to go as well as possible. If I can help from the outside, I will do it with pleasure.”
If Ginobili wants to take on some sort of role with the Spurs, there’s little doubt that the team would welcome him aboard. When Tim Duncan retired in 2016, Popovich indicated that Duncan would stick around the club in an unofficial capacity and would be “coach of whatever he wants to be.” Ginobili could do something similar even if he’s not ready for – or interested in – a formal title within the organization.
Ginobili, who made his retirement announcement official on Monday, technically remains under contract with the Spurs on a $2.5MM contract for 2018/19. Like they did with Duncan in 2016, the Spurs figure to waive Ginobili at some point in the near future, ensuring that he’ll still receive his salary for the coming season.
I’ve got a great call and a poor call in my history bag.
I was totally right about Manu Ginobili…. when I first saw him I thought he was going to be great. The way he went to the hole, aggressive, nice shooter, crafty, Etc I thought he would be a great player.
My egregious error is Tim Duncan. I thought he would be a bust Big Time. Winds up being one of the best power forwards of all time. Missing on him is so bad it’s almost not even worth mentioning the Ginobili prediction. That’s how bad I missed on Duncan.
I thought the same thing. I knew Ginobili would be great. I also thought Duncan would be a bust because of his low key attitude. I also thought that Rodney Rodgers (Wake Forest 90-93) would be a great NBA talent.
Rodney Rogers had it all together physically and he could shoot from outside at his size.
I don’t think he had the Killer Instinct necessary. I remember is Craig Sager interview on draft night. Looked like he was a little bit out of it maybe.
Gary I always thought Duncan would be great, I was really gutted San Antonio got him instead of Boston on that draft… but my big mistake was to think that Marcus Camby was gonna be better than Duncan, what about that, awful prediction, right? So I learned of my mistake & always sided with KAT over Okafor, though I thought Okafor would be great too. Funny how some careers turn up, right? Very different in College than pros.
You’re exactly right.
I just thought Duncan was slow, couldn’t score at the next level, not creative, couldn’t adjust to the quickness of the NBA, that kind of thing… didn’t think he was athletic enough.
Maybe we can credit Popovich? Obviously the Spurs were right because they picked him # 1 and I think that was the consensus.
Duncan always had escorts… there was always another big who did the unglamorous work. Pops made sure he got entry passes. It was a charmed life, and a different era for centers.