The Costs of Moving Up (or Into) the First Round

[scott]

I remember those threads in the forum we were at before ST was born about this kid we drafted and how he was doing in Europe. I also remember the big fuss about not giving him #6

Good times. Did we get lucky? Yes. Who cares tho.

[spurs10]

Manu wasn't drafted out of a game where he hit a bunch of 3s in Argentina, you're right about that. But Argentina didn't win that U22 championship either, we came in 4th, but that was the foundation for the wildly successful NT that won gold in the Olympics and got silver in the WC. RC was scouting that tournament, and the players drawing most attention were Lucas Victoriano and Fabricio Oberto. But RC contacted the coaching staff asking for references about Manu. Then they started following him, and ended up drafting him in '99 with an almost worthless 57th pick, so clearly it wasn't like they knew what he'd become. But they took a chance on him, and Manu blew up in Italy after he was drafted and stayed there until '02 winning pretty much everything.

Cool post.

[EricB]

I remember those threads in the forum we were at before ST was born about this kid we drafted and how he was doing in Europe. I also remember the big fuss about not giving him #6

Good times. Did we get lucky? Yes. Who cares tho.

I still remember Don Harris saying “who does this guy think he is taking number 6”

[JPB]

Manu wasn't drafted out of a game where he hit a bunch of 3s in Argentina, you're right about that. But Argentina didn't win that U22 championship either, we came in 4th, but that was the foundation for the wildly successful NT that won gold in the Olympics and got silver in the WC. RC was scouting that tournament, and the players drawing most attention were Lucas Victoriano and Fabricio Oberto. But RC contacted the coaching staff asking for references about Manu. Then they started following him, and ended up drafting him in '99 with an almost worthless 57th pick, so clearly it wasn't like they knew what he'd become. But they took a chance on him, and Manu blew up in Italy after he was drafted and stayed there until '02 winning pretty much everything.

I remember R.C saying that he saw him again in the 1998 FIBA World Cup and while he was still pretty skinny, he was impressed by Manu's fearlessness and energy but no way he knew what player Manu would become. when they drafted him

But then in the 2022 POs, while spurs were struggling vs. the Lakers in the WCF, R.C tried to concvince Pop to add Manu to the roster for that series after he had a great season in Bologna. So he knew Manu could be something before he even started in the NBA. Pop denied R.C ofc...