The 2002 world basketball championships in Indianapolis were truly memorable for a whole lot of reasons.
The United States was in shambles, George Karl coached and spent most of the off hours at some wings-and-beer joint right by the downtown circle mall, Paul Pierce used to hang with the regular folk at the Champions in the Marriott, the Westin lobby bar was Commiseration Central where team officials would try to figure out what was wrong (talent, chemistry, players not caring, if they want to know) and Gregg Popovich one night dropped off the remnants of a very expensive bottle of red wine for Liz Robbins, Chris Sheridan and I because, as he said, “I gotta go and you can’t afford this.”
The United States was in shambles, George Karl coached and spent most of the off hours at some wings-and-beer joint right by the downtown circle mall, Paul Pierce used to hang with the regular folk at the Champions in the Marriott, the Westin lobby bar was Commiseration Central where team officials would try to figure out what was wrong (talent, chemistry, players not caring, if they want to know) and Gregg Popovich one night dropped off the remnants of a very expensive bottle of red wine for Liz Robbins, Chris Sheridan and I because, as he said, “I gotta go and you can’t afford this.”
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Manu Ginobili, a four-time champion with Spurs, retires at 41
I got to know Chuck The Bartender at St. Elmo while scarfing down more shrimp cocktail than I care to remember, Canada was brutal and it’s where I first met Rick Carlisle and got to know him a bit and that was cool.
Manu Ginobili, a four-time champion with Spurs, retires at 41
I got to know Chuck The Bartender at St. Elmo while scarfing down more shrimp cocktail than I care to remember, Canada was brutal and it’s where I first met Rick Carlisle and got to know him a bit and that was cool.
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Oh, and there was the player from Yugoslavia — and for the life of me I cannot remember which one — who spent half of the gold medal game IN THE STANDS IN HIS FULL UNIFORM after a falling out with his coach.
But of all that craziness, and it was a wild couple of weeks, the thing I remember best, the one that resonates the most to this day, is watching Manu Ginobili for the first time.
Manu, who announced his retirement yesterday, was a tour de force. His enthusiasm was unbridled, his skill unmatched, he seemed to think the game at a different level, his trickery with and without the ball was amazing and even though his Argentina team finished second to Yugoslavia —Manu blew an ankle out late in the semifinal, played the final with his usual verve and only some horrific FIBA officiating kept Argentina from winning gold — it was a revelatory tournament. And moment.
That career, electric and improvisational and successful and, above all else, as intensely competitive as any before or since, ended yesterday and the game is worse off.
The accolades are pouring in, take a spin through the magic of google if you don’t believe me, and this adds to them because I don’t know if I can think of a player who combined all the attributes that Ginobili showed, both for Argentina and the San Antonio Spurs.
But of all that craziness, and it was a wild couple of weeks, the thing I remember best, the one that resonates the most to this day, is watching Manu Ginobili for the first time.
Manu, who announced his retirement yesterday, was a tour de force. His enthusiasm was unbridled, his skill unmatched, he seemed to think the game at a different level, his trickery with and without the ball was amazing and even though his Argentina team finished second to Yugoslavia —Manu blew an ankle out late in the semifinal, played the final with his usual verve and only some horrific FIBA officiating kept Argentina from winning gold — it was a revelatory tournament. And moment.
That career, electric and improvisational and successful and, above all else, as intensely competitive as any before or since, ended yesterday and the game is worse off.
The accolades are pouring in, take a spin through the magic of google if you don’t believe me, and this adds to them because I don’t know if I can think of a player who combined all the attributes that Ginobili showed, both for Argentina and the San Antonio Spurs.
You never knew if he knew precisely what he was doing but it always seemed to work out. Everyone in every gym knew he wanted to go left with the ball and despite their best efforts to stop him, he always did. The Euro Step – which really should be the Manu Step – seemed to be made up on the fly. He was frenetic but at the same time in control. Magical.
Hell, one night he knocked a freaking bat out of the air and calmly went on play.
Hell, one night he knocked a freaking bat out of the air and calmly went on play.
I was fortunate enough to have seen him in 2002 in Indy, in 2004 when Argentina won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics, I saw him dominate NBA Finals and recover from an absolute brutal series against Miami one summer to win. And I was damn sure to be in the gym in Rio in 2016 when his run with the Argentina team came to an end.
I remember talking to Luis Scola on Scola’s 2015 media day in Toronto and wondering if Manu could be convinced to take one more run with the national team the next summer in Brazil.
“He’ll be there,” Scola said with a smile. “Don’t write that but he’ll be there. We are a family.”
I remember talking to Luis Scola on Scola’s 2015 media day in Toronto and wondering if Manu could be convinced to take one more run with the national team the next summer in Brazil.
“He’ll be there,” Scola said with a smile. “Don’t write that but he’ll be there. We are a family.”
(An aside: Zach Lowe has written literally thousands of brilliant basketball words over years; none have been strung together as well as this on Manu and Argentina.)
For all he accomplished in San Antonio, the thing that’s going to resonate with me will be memories of Ginobili with his national team, that special group that did so much and had so much fun doing it.
Argentina and Spain were delightful over the years to watch and be around; the skill was undeniable but the passion for the game and the love and respect for their teammates was what made them stand out.
You’d see those light blue and white striped jerseys with VISA on the front and you’d see Manu and Scola and Andres Nocioni and Fabricio Oberto and our old buddy Carlos Delfino and it was hard not to smile.
None of them had to be there for so long, they had established Argentine basketball in the early 2000s but they were still a team, a true team in 2016.
And always, as the heart, were Manu and Scola, leaders on the court and ring leaders off it.
In many ways, the international game, with its drive-and-kick creativity and make-it-up-as-you-go style was an even better fit for Manu’s skills; he ran amok and maybe the only guy in the arena who knew what he was doing was him and I’m not sure that was even the case sometimes.
He was a treat to watch and we don’t get to watch him any more.
That sucks. It always does when eras end.
Yeah, this is a special edition but when the Manu news broke yesterday I kinda felt compelled to weigh in. It also gives me another chance to ask for mail and all you’ve got to do is click on askdoug@thestar.ca and ask to your heart’s content.
For all he accomplished in San Antonio, the thing that’s going to resonate with me will be memories of Ginobili with his national team, that special group that did so much and had so much fun doing it.
Argentina and Spain were delightful over the years to watch and be around; the skill was undeniable but the passion for the game and the love and respect for their teammates was what made them stand out.
You’d see those light blue and white striped jerseys with VISA on the front and you’d see Manu and Scola and Andres Nocioni and Fabricio Oberto and our old buddy Carlos Delfino and it was hard not to smile.
None of them had to be there for so long, they had established Argentine basketball in the early 2000s but they were still a team, a true team in 2016.
And always, as the heart, were Manu and Scola, leaders on the court and ring leaders off it.
In many ways, the international game, with its drive-and-kick creativity and make-it-up-as-you-go style was an even better fit for Manu’s skills; he ran amok and maybe the only guy in the arena who knew what he was doing was him and I’m not sure that was even the case sometimes.
He was a treat to watch and we don’t get to watch him any more.
That sucks. It always does when eras end.
Yeah, this is a special edition but when the Manu news broke yesterday I kinda felt compelled to weigh in. It also gives me another chance to ask for mail and all you’ve got to do is click on askdoug@thestar.ca and ask to your heart’s content.
By Doug SmithSports Reporter
Tues., Aug. 28, 2018
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