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I've sprained my ankle the day before I played in a regional billiards tournament (semi-pro player) after I turned 35. It hurt but I just gutted it out. I guess I'm just tougher than Manu.
They added Roger Mason to their wing rotation. I'm not sure who you wanted, but they didn't have much money to spend.
I've sprained my ankle the day before I played in a regional billiards tournament (semi-pro player) after I turned 35. It hurt but I just gutted it out. I guess I'm just tougher than Manu.
In my opinion I think that Manu goofed up. He is the face of Argentina right now. If he wishes to be a sort of "ambassador" for Argentina for a while, he better start taking care of himself. I think it would be in the best interests of both the Spurs and Argentina to let Manu get some much needed rest. If he doesn't, Manu will continue to burn himself out and his career will end all too early.
i cannot believe the idiocy in this thread. rest him through february if necessary, who cares. dude has a right to play for his country...the Spurs don't own him. damn.
there is nothing wrong with Manu that can't heal...he comes back too early each time. let him sit for 6 months...so what.
thats part of the craziness...
Well since you put it that way, since when does the military send in hobbled soldiers to battle? The only way I see is out of desperation. My brother was wounded in Iraq and he was never sent back into battle. If they sent him back in while not fully recovered I would be short one brother, and the army would be short one damn fine soldier. Represent your country by all means, just make sure you are at peak condition so everyone will know what country you come from, and how truly great your country is.
Hey, blame American ego for that one, bud. NBA players play in the Olympics because the USA and their egotistical fans can't stand to lose at basketball. If they made a rule that no NBA player could participate in the Olympics, regardless of what country he plays for, some foreign team like Lithuania or Greece would win the gold easily over a U.S. college team. Especially now with all the good college players jumping into the NBA right away after one or two years.
Americans started this mess in 1992, so don't go crying about it now because it hurts the Spurs. That's the thing about international basketball that drives me insane. Only Americans think they have pride and something to prove. Every country that plays has heart and pride and want to do well.
Remind me again who played more last year, Manu or Tony? Who got the Spurs into the playoffs, Manu or Tony?
A lot of people here seem to confuse "employee" with "indentured servant." The Spurs control Manu nine months a year, not twelve. And at the end of the day playing Olympic basketball is safer than a whole lot of most guys do in their off time, whether it's surfing, riding a motorcycle, hanging out in questionable nightclubs, etc.
I'm going to say this one last time and hopefully TPark will get it.
MANU IS NOT ON THIS PLANET FOR YOUR PERSONAL AMUSEMENT. HE IS A HUMAN BEING WITH HIS OWN MIND AND FREE WILL. HE WILL DO WHATEVER THE HE WANTS AND HE WILL NOT ASK YOUR PERMISSION OR CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
Like Pop says, GET OVER YOURSELF.
I think it's a bit selfish of Spurs fans to expect Manu to not try to defend his country's gold medal. Obviously it has now turned out to be the wrong choice, but Manu's never been one to go the conservative route. Manu's willingness to say to with the consequences in the name of winning is a double-edged sword that's cutting the team a bit right now, but is overall one of the Spurs most powerful weapons. If Manu wants to go do something for himself and for his country in his offtime, I'm not going to fault him for it.
The people here who say stuff like Manu should be traded or he shouldn't be signed to an extension (the same people who complain about mercenary athletes wanted Manu to act like a mercenary ) are hilarious. Do you all honestly think Manu cares? Do you think if he's a Toronto Raptor or playing ball in Spain or Italy in 2010 he'll think to himself for one second, "I wish I didn't play in the '08 Olympics?"
He's not wired that way, folks. If he was programmed to regret things or worry about risks, then no one here would've ever heard of Manu Ginobili.
If the Spurs don't want him, too bad, but somebody will. If he doesn't get 10 million, oh well he'll get 7 million. Big deal, he already has made enough to live comfortably several lifetimes over. And if his injury is so severe that he never plays again, then guess what, his last game was in an Argentine uniform, and I don't think he'd mind that one bit.
No guts, no glory.
I'm not Argentine and have never even visited South America, but I am foreign, so maybe I have some perspective on it. I've understood from the beginning that as a Spurs fan he was never "our" Manu Ginobili. We were just borrowing him for a while. Ultimately, he belongs to Argentina.
Damn
Manu played on a jammed ankle in last months of a season.
He was risking his health, for what?
Not so sure about that. The Spurs may have cleared him but they did also think rest would have benifited him the most. It had to be serious for him to be wearing a ankle boot before he started training. The difference in the level of exertion playing compe ively as opposed to practicing or running across the street is huge especially in a high impact sport such as basketball.
I can vouch for this. I did my achilles 4 days ago playing one on one at the gym. For a variety of reasons i hadn't played ball for weeks. For the first few days last week all I did was shoot around. Then came the one on one . I was doing what i'd done for 20 years with no problem, back-peddling and then lunged forward. Pop, all of a sudden i was on the ground. It felt like some-one kikced me in the back of my foot. I paid the price for not getting into shape first and easing myself into it.
Ginobili's the man! The spurs go only as far as he goes! that's it! The spurs trade ginobili for what? A half ass compe or who could care less if the team wins or losses, there's alot of those scrubs around. No thanks!
The USA wasn't the first team to use professionals in international compe ion.
That's the difference between being the top dog and being the underdog. The USA has to look at is as something to prove because nothing short of a gold is adequate for the best basketball playing nation in the world. On the other hand, every other country can be ecstatic just getting a medal. The difference in expectations is the biggest reason for the changes in perspective.
it's a joke
I've said it all summer..people are idiots to say the spurs would of won against the lakers if manu was heathly. guess what, HE NEVER IS.
Both of them got them in the playoffs you stupid idiot. That's why they call it a team.
Freewill is the reason he was in China. His health was compromised and common sense was ignored here.
The three months of this 2008 offseason will negatively impact the coming 9 months. When Manu is back in SA, sitting on the bench at the AT&T center, possibly in a cast or a soft boot watching his teammates playing regular season games in October or even November, he will probably feel a twinge of regret for ignoring Popovich.
It was obvious in the NBA playoffs as well as the Olympics that Manu was compensating for his ankle.
I am beginning to think that resting the ankle for even an extended period will not be the answer. A tenative Ginobili is not an effective Ginobili and the laker series showed just how limited he was. He was pushing the envelope in the WCFs just like he did in the Olympics. His body is telling him no when is heart and mind are saying yes. He's got to get well before he takes the court again.
I don't know if a surgical option is the thing to do at this point, but if something can be done now that will allow Manu to play basketball for 3-4 more years without the pain and discomfort he is in now, I am all for it.
Last edited by Harry Callahan; 08-23-2008 at 08:12 AM.
i think Manu will play the world cup in Turkey though...
I have said this before and I will say it again...there is a fine line between patriotism and selfishness. The tone of your post really gives the impression that Manu shouldn't give a damn about us at all.
I know that its important for him, but that does not give him the right to give the Spurs the finger when they have invested 9-10 mil a year in him. But he did, and he reinjured his ankle...and now its looking like it might be a recurring theme for him for the rest of his career. I am not going to call for a trade at this point, but I wouldn't be surprised or pissed off if they did trade him. The NBA is a business and Manu is empolyed by a frachise that has its own interests to look after. Regardless of how he feels about his country he took a risk that affects his job here. Now his employer has some hard decisions to make.
That being said, this is hardest kick to the balls we have received this offseason...and we have taken some pretty good shots already. We have no idea when we will see him on the court again. With everything that has come out there is a good chance he will have surgery on it, which could mean not getting him back until after the all star break.
I am not joining the cliff jumpers, as I know we can still contend and hang in there until he gets back, but man...getting screwed by Splitter, multiple free agents and now one of our own hurts man. It really hurts.
Two words: Grant Hill
Recall how Grant Hill pushed himself to the brink during the first round series against Philly in the spring of 2000. Despite having severely injured his ankle before the start of that series, Hill gave into the compe ive pressure and decided to play in the series anyway. Remember his ankle got progessively worse and he ended up missing Game 2 entirely. Despite this, the Pistons went on to sweep the Sixers. Meanwhile, Grant's ankle worsened to the extent that he didn't play again at all in the next round. We all know the story that followed. He was hobbled by the recurring injury, pain and inflammation that followed for the next 7 years!
I don't want to prematurely paint Manu's situation as this dire, but the fact remains that there is something chronically wrong with his ankle. He really needs to treat this injury very carefully and very seriously. Take the necessary time to rehab and for once "listen to his body" instead of his compe ive urges. He's a 31 year-old player with a lot of miles on those wheels. In no way should he try and accelerate the process by coming back too soon - especially if he wants to extend his career. I know that's not how he's wired, which is the quality that has made him as great a player as he is.
As Spurs fans, we all want him to do what is in the best interest of him getting back onto the court as healthy and as soon as possible. At the same time and depending on the extent of the injury, there could be larger issues at stake. If the condition with his ankle is chronic, then he needs to be cognizant, not only the extensive rehab that lies ahead, but also his quality of life after basketball.
As far as the decision he made to play in the Olympics, it's no use second-guessing him on that now. I'm sure if he had to do it all over again, he would make the EXACT same decison. However just out of curiosity, if one were to ask Grant Hill if he regrets playing on that bum ankle 8 years ago, I wonder what his answer would be?
If Manu thinks patriotism is more important than money, then give the money back to the spurs.
What's that? He isn't going to give it back?
Then shut the f up.
As Ginobili declines, Messi rises. Argentina's new hero.
Fast forward ahead to 2012 or 2016. Messi carries the flag of Argentina into the stadium as FC Barcelona or some other club agonizes.
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