Woj: Manu Returning to Spurs as Special Advisor to Basketball Operations

[John B]

I’ll suit Manu up and play better defense han any of these guys

[Ozballer]

He is not coming to play...just saying. I've been following his twitter account and reading some interviews in Argentinian publications and he seems a little tentative on life after Spurs. His public business speaking angle has not taken off (let's face it, as a speaker he is every bit a...fantastic basketball player).
As much as I rate him enormously as a player, I can't see in him the coach and the mentor.
Feels like a foil role to prolong Popovich's career in trying to hide the five time champion 's coach obvious past "used by date" antics with the playing group.
Different story would be bringing Ginobili to fit in with a futuristic agenda and a clear forward plan. Spurs don't seem to be about that any longer.

[XDT76]

Hope that he can impart our young guys his euro step, hesitation and behind the back penetration. If DjM, White, Walker, Vassell and KJ can pick up on these, they will be much better players.

[Buddy Holly]

Where is Manu’s primary residence?

San Antonio.

[Ice009]

He is not coming to play...just saying. I've been following his twitter account and reading some interviews in Argentinian publications and he seems a little tentative on life after Spurs. His public business speaking angle has not taken off (let's face it, as a speaker he is every bit a...fantastic basketball player).
As much as I rate him enormously as a player, I can't see in him the coach and the mentor.
Feels like a foil role to prolong Popovich's career in trying to hide the five time champion 's coach obvious past "used by date" antics with the playing group.
Different story would be bringing Ginobili to fit in with a futuristic agenda and a clear forward plan. Spurs don't seem to be about that any longer.

I wish he was actually going to try and play . I still think he had plenty of game left when he retired.

What do you mean by tentative on life after the Spurs? He doesn't know what he wants to do? What has he been trying to do since retiring?

As for a coach or mentor, do you not see him as one for the same reason as Tim? I think Tim said it was too frustrating not being able to go out there on the court and do it himself. Do you think Manu would be frustrated seeing the player's limitations and not being able to do anything about it, especially when he knows he was much better than most of the players out there.

[dbestpro]

Can you teach passion?

[BillMc]

Excellent news!

[Biggems]

Jonathan Simmons is coming back? I thought he was out of the nba?

hahahaha, I see what you did there.....sarcastic bastid......

[SAGirl]

Really glad about this. He said multiple times he didn't want to coach so he might just be trying this out like Timmy did to see how it fits him, but it's still great news. I am sure Manu will bring new feedback and a different perspective to both players and coaches. It can only help.

[Ozballer]

I wish he was actually going to try and play . I still think he had plenty of game left when he retired.

What do you mean by tentative on life after the Spurs? He doesn't know what he wants to do? What has he been trying to do since retiring?


As for a coach or mentor, do you not see him as one for the same reason as Tim? I think Tim said it was too frustrating not being able to go out there on the court and do it himself. Do you think Manu would be frustrated seeing the player's limitations and not being able to do anything about it, especially when he knows he was much better than most of the players out there.

Tentative post playing.
I figured that he wanted to do the public speaking rounds after retirement. His guernsey retirement speech was a good example of it and some leadership business conferences he was a guest in BA. But he came across a little dull / boring. Clearly he has heaps of experience, however playing basketball and "convincing on the mike / storytelling" are two very different skill sets. He seems lacking in the latter department. After that he did not kick on with any project that I know of. Anyhow, I was reading his good mate Luis Scola just retired and became the CEO of an Italian Basketball Club (Varese). I feel he probably got into MANU's ear to get some exposure to the managerial side of things in basketball clubs.
Coaching
Probably, there are many examples of sporting GREATS that end up being poor coaches. For some reason MANU does not strike me as the coach type fella. Just not real interest, probably the same as TD. I maybe totally wrong of course (I bloody hope so).

[ElNono]

Damn, he ran out of money already?

Pop and his loyalty contracts, smh

[Budkin]

MANUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[KingKev]

I recall Corey Joseph saying Manu took him aside as a rookie and told him he didn’t need to be buying a Louis V duffle as a gym bag and Joseph saying that really stuck with him. He is on board to teach some of these young fellas about life as a basketball player and a person. With some
of these young guys it will resonate, with some it won’t. What I hope we as Spurs fans get out of this is him telling players what it’s like to be in Pop’s dog house and how you need to earn your right to throw an errant pass, play the passing lanes when you should be on your man or take a heat check sometimes.

[lefty20]

Damn, he ran out of money already?

Pop and his loyalty contracts, smh

Putting all of SA strippers through college is an expensive endeavor, tbh.

[Dejounte]

I recall Corey Joseph saying Manu took him aside as a rookie and told him he didn’t need to be buying a Louis V duffle as a gym bag and Joseph saying that really stuck with him. He is on board to teach some of these young fellas about life as a basketball player and a person. With some
of these young guys it will resonate, with some it won’t. What I hope we as Spurs fans get out of this is him telling players what it’s like to be in Pop’s dog house and how you need to earn your right to throw an errant pass, play the passing lanes when you should be on your man or take a heat check sometimes.

message never resonated with this guy

[KingKev]

message never resonated with this guy

DJ has earned the right to stunt and will easily make 150mm in his career. Him and Keldon are the only dogs we have on this team so they can do whatever they want on social media. Couple 50k watches and some Gucci is NOT wilding out. DJ doesn’t even drink. My point was more about Manu teaching these guys you need to earn the right to get the green light and play through the ups and downs. Too many guys don’t make it out of Pop’s doghouse for dumbass .

[ismael-robert]

How many orphans could he have helped with that

[ElNono]

message never resonated with this guy

Looks like DeJuan Blair before the jewelry place sued his ass... he's one broken ACL away from being there, tbh

[Brazil]

tbh

God, you’re a bitter .

Put your edge back in its sheath, dude.

Better than Porker ….

OK, you are an ass

Ex, no offense, but you sound like a ing idiot right now.

blabla no you are an ass

All in all, a classical Spurstalk thread...

[Brazil]

oh and welcome back to Manu..

[Brazil]

message never resonated with this guy

dear ing god.. those watches are ugly

[widowmaker]

How many orphans could he have helped with that

Its not everybody else’s responsibility to pay your child support.

[Dex]

DJ has earned the right to stunt and will easily make 150mm in his career. Him and Keldon are the only dogs we have on this team so they can do whatever they want on social media. Couple 50k watches and some Gucci is NOT wilding out. DJ doesn’t even drink. My point was more about Manu teaching these guys you need to earn the right to get the green light and play through the ups and downs. Too many guys don’t make it out of Pop’s doghouse for dumbass .

I never understood the point of dropping the cost of a car on a watch or pair of sunglasses, but I'm also not one to tell anybody how to spend their own money. I guess I just don't really care for that being a way to show status, but it's been part of NBA culture (and celebrity/hip-hop culture in general) forever.

It's also different if you are a multimillionaire, and not some guy struggling to pay your mortgage but also trying to roll around in brand new Jordans and Gucci sunglasses.

DJ has been good to the community so I'm not gonna dog him there...but yeah, those chains and watches probably could've bought school supplies for every school in San Antonio.

[HankChinaski]

Manu working with the Spurs staff in a player development capacity is nice to hear about. I don't see Manu as a asst coach or head coach. But aiding the players in various player development is something I think would be something he could enjoy doing.

[XDT76]

I remember he previously do not want to take up coaching as he did not want to be constantly be away from his family. I guess the Spurs found a role which suits both parties.