Argentine Manu Ginobili, the four-time NBA champion, reflected fondly on his career as he spanned three continents and featured Olympic gold during his entry into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Applause from “Ma-guru, Ma-nu” greeted Ginobili as he spoke at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Ginobili was a creative and unpredictable guard whose famous “Euro move” frustrated the defenders.
He joins five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, NBA coaches Swin Cash, Lindsay Whalen, George Karl, and Del Harris, and WNBA coach Marianne Stanley in the 2022 Hall of Fame Class.
45-year-old Ginobili has won four league titles in 16 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.
Individual success counts as team results, he said
He’s not here because he’s very special; he’s here because he was part of two of the most significant teams of the 2000s: the 2004 Argentina Olympic team that won gold and the Spurs who won four NBA titles.
Those championship runs were the culmination of a journey that began with him and his brothers playing basketball in Bahia Blanca, a port city on the Argentine coast.
After turning pro in the National Basketball League, which was played in the shadow of wildly popular football, Ginobili continued his career in Europe, where he won the Euroleague Most Valuable Player award.
This experience helped him understand that playing in the NBA is not an unattainable dream, but rather an “achievable goal”.
Ginobili admitted he was confused when he said the Spurs selected him 57th overall in the 1999 draft.
Golden Generation
He had no idea where San Antonio was in the world, he admitted.
There, he discovered a “big, strong and supportive family” and together they helped him win the NBA championships in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014.
Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker teamed up to win 575 games during the regular season and Ginobili’s willingness to take on various responsibilities contributed to that success.
According to Ginobili, we were focused.
“We never let the ego get in the way.
Compared to his time with the Spurs, Ginobili’s international career has been “so nourishing, fulfilling, exciting and fun”.
The Argentine basketball player of the Golden Generation addressed his basketball teammates, saying, “I appreciate our running together.
He said it was worth it, despite the awkward encounters, uncomfortable travel, late dinners, early breakfasts, and jet lag.
