Araton/NYT: Where Ginóbili Goes, Foreign Legions Follow

[boutons]

The New York Times
June 13, 2005

Where Ginóbili Goes, Foreign Legions Follow
By HARVEY ARATON

San Antonio

UNLIKELY a development as it is, Manu Ginóbili needn't score another point or pilfer another pass in the N.B.A finals to remain a legend in the mind of Carlos Delfino.

From where Delfino sits, in street clothes at the end of the Detroit bench, Ginóbili is a whirling, bruising, levitating go-to god of the game. Like Mike is Manu.

"He is someone everyone who loves or plays basketball in Argentina is looking at," Delfino said before Ginóbili picked up in the first quarter last night where he left off in the fourth quarter of Game 1, launching the Spurs to a 97-76 victory and a 2-0 finals lead last night at the SBC Center. "Because he has been the main guy for the national team, the gold medal in the Olympics, people are following him in the newspapers, wherever he goes."

Exhibit A is the path Delfino, 22, took to his rookie season in Detroit: he left Argentina in 2000 to play in Italy for Reggio Calabria, the team Ginóbili had just departed. Two years later, Delfino moved on to Bologna, where Ginóbili was probably the best player in Europe.

"And just when I got there, Manu came here," said Delfino, who, like Ginóbili, is a 6-foot-6 guard.

As an N.B.A. rookie, in a supporting role to Tim Duncan, Ginóbili won a championship ring. Delfino, while on the injured list, was hoping to become the second Argentine player to flash the jewelry, but Ginóbili is crashing the dream by certifying himself as Duncan's co-star and an irresistible force of nature in the minds of the American audience, the way he is in Delfino's.

"The guys - even Coach Larry - ask me, 'How do you guard him?' " Delfino said. "It's not easy, because Manu is so creative, so unpredictable."

Already there are backroom suggestions - whispered, so as not to be construed as un-American - that Ginóbili is at least as desirable a commodity as the likes of Kobe Bryant. "Anybody that's watched the playoffs would look at Ginóbili and say, you know, they should be talking about Ginóbili like everybody who is talking about Dwyane Wade," Pistons Coach Larry Brown said.

Brown, a clever man, perhaps was calculating that the burden of heightened individual expectation might be of valuable defensive assistance. Ginóbili , a wily southpaw, countered, "I don't think I am so impossible to guard." Then he went out in the first quarter last night and spread himself across the box score like Mr. Fantastic.

A 3-point shot from the left wing to open the scoring. Penetration off the dribble against Tayshaun Prince for a kickout to Bruce Bowen for another 3. A steal and soft lead pass to Tony Parker for a fast-break basket. Boxing out Prince for an offensive rebound foul. A lefty flip to Nazr Mohammed on a pick-and-roll for a drive and conventional 3-point play.

By the end of the third quarter, Ginóbili had not missed a shot and had made all four of his 3's. When the Pistons rallied from 23 points down to within 8 in the fourth quarter, Ginóbili hit two free throws, made a lunging steal, penetrated and hit Bowen for a backbreaking 3-pointer. After Game 1, Ginóbili said, "I am not going to score 26 points every game." He was right.

He had 27 last night, 7 assists and a hand in too many hustle plays to count. Prince, the man he started out guarding, had more fouls, 4, than points, 3. The love affair with Ginóbili's adopted American city, steamy San Antonio, continued.

Here, his shaggy-haired image is everywhere. Black Spurs jerseys and shirts with his name on the back dangle from racks in even greater numbers than for the soft-spoken Duncan, who generally eschews attention. It makes sense that San Antonio, with its large Mexican influence, would take to a South American player whose first language is Spanish, but what about the rest of this huge country, which so often yawns when pitched a player with an unfamiliar passport?

By virtue of a hybrid game that mixes jaw-dropping athleticism with a journeyman's work ethic, speculation abounds that Ginóbili, the recent ESPN the Magazine cover boy, can be the first foreign-born player to get the hardcore sell. But can the N.B.A., with its television ratings sagging, rebuild its fan base, in part with imported goods?

While the league resorted yesterday to bragging about how Game 1 television ratings bettered the 2003 Spurs-Nets series (and apparently any 1950's series, including Rochester and Syracuse), we could be missing a bigger global picture: the N.B.A. also claimed roughly 10 times the Game 1 viewers worldwide as the 11 million it counted in the United States. There's no place like home, but appraising the business solely from the American vantage point may be shortsighted, given the likelihood of many more foreign players following their heroes here, as Delfino has Ginóbili.

According to Brown, Delfino could already start on several N.B.A. teams. His Olympic teammate Andres Nocioni is a valuable contributor in Chicago. Next year, the Spurs are hoping to have the Argentine forward Luis Scola, whose draft rights they hold, and also have their eye on another Argentine, Fabricio Oberto.

Asked if the growing Argentine presence is a validation of the Olympic gold, Ginóbili said: "I don't think that the national team bases its success on individuals. I think it's an example of how to play like a team, behave like a team, help each other out even if you have that kind of talent."

Two games from the le, he might as well have been talking about the Spurs.

E-mail: [email protected]

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[MaNuMaNiAc]

I changed my mind on Manu, I think he's going to be a legend of huge proportions, but the funny thing is, that in spite of all the talent that Manu has and all the praise he's recieved for it, the one thing that is going to catapult him to legendary status is the NBA's need to change its image from "bad-boys-with-street-cred" to "hard-working-unselfish-team-players". That and the increasing NBA desire to expand like crazy in the international scene is what is going to put Manu over the top. Forget that the guy has tons of talent, Manu is going to be a legend mainly because he was in the right place, at the right time.

[WalterBenitez]

I changed my mind on Manu, I think he's going to be a legend of huge proportions, but the funny thing is, that in spite of all the talent that Manu has and all the praise he's recieved for it, the one thing that is going to catapult him to legendary status is the NBA's need to change its image from "bad-boys-with-street-cred" to "hard-working-unselfish-team-players". That and the increasing NBA desire to expand like crazy in the international scene is what is going to put Manu over the top. Forget that the guy has tons of talent, Manu is going to be a legend mainly because he was in the right place, at the right time.

I agree with you, have you read what Victoriano said (Manu's team mate at ARG Nat Team)??

"If you are afraid ...the safest seat to be seated on a plane is next to Manu, no matter what happen you'll survive"

Some people has a tremendous sense of where to be and when to be there, I think Manu has it, you could even call it LUCK or whatever.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Its a mixture of luck and determination. There's a saying that goes "luck is what happens to those who are prepared" (looses something in translation)

[LilMissSPURfect]

a legend was born in the 2005 finals...

[Mark in Austin]

Already there are backroom suggestions - whispered, so as not to be construed as un-American - that Ginóbili is at least as desirable a commodity as the likes of Kobe Bryant. "Anybody that's watched the playoffs would look at Ginóbili and say, you know, they should be talking about Ginóbili like everybody who is talking about Dwyane Wade," Pistons Coach Larry Brown said.

Brown, a clever man, perhaps was calculating that the burden of heightened individual expectation might be of valuable defensive assistance. Ginóbili , a wily southpaw, countered, "I don't think I am so impossible to guard." Then he went out in the first quarter last night and spread himself across the box score like Mr. Fantastic.
A 3-point shot from the left wing to open the scoring. Penetration off the dribble against Tayshaun Prince for a kickout to Bruce Bowen for another 3. A steal and soft lead pass to Tony Parker for a fast-break basket. Boxing out Prince for an offensive rebound foul. A lefty flip to Nazr Mohammed on a pick-and-roll for a drive and conventional 3-point play.

By the end of the third quarter, Ginóbili had not missed a shot and had made all four of his 3's. When the Pistons rallied from 23 points down to within 8 in the fourth quarter, Ginóbili hit two free throws, made a lunging steal, penetrated and hit Bowen for a backbreaking 3-pointer. After Game 1, Ginóbili said, "I am not going to score 26 points every game." He was right.

He had 27 last night, 7 assists and a hand in too many hustle plays to count. Prince, the man he started out guarding, had more fouls, 4, than points, 3. The love affair with Ginóbili's adopted American city, steamy San Antonio, continued.

Here, his shaggy-haired image is everywhere. Black Spurs jerseys and shirts with his name on the back dangle from racks in even greater numbers than for the soft-spoken Duncan, who generally eschews attention.

Possibly some of the best writing I've read so far these playoffs, especially the paragraph in bold.

[hendrix]

I changed my mind on Manu, I think he's going to be a legend of huge proportions, but the funny thing is, that in spite of all the talent that Manu has and all the praise he's recieved for it, the one thing that is going to catapult him to legendary status is the NBA's need to change its image from "bad-boys-with-street-cred" to "hard-working-unselfish-team-players". That and the increasing NBA desire to expand like crazy in the international scene is what is going to put Manu over the top. Forget that the guy has tons of talent, Manu is going to be a legend mainly because he was in the right place, at the right time.

I kind of agree.
I first saw Manu play when he was still in Argentina (Andino) and after a couple of games i told my friends "he is going to be the first Argentine in the NBA" (remember back then, Argentine National Team wasnt even playing this good).
I was right... but then again, I couldn't imagine he'd be this succesful, NBA All-Star and so on. Lets give him credit, too. He's become a monster and nobody saw it coming like an NBA star, nobody.
He's making all the haters eat their and only let them reposting articles about his "flopping", etc..
I mean, people think of me as a TP hater, but he's not making much of improvement. I'd like to see TP making me eat my words as Manu did with... you know all of them.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

I kind of agree.
I first saw Manu play when he was still in Argentina (Andino) and after a couple of games i told my friends "he is going to be the first Argentine in the NBA" (remember back then, Argentine National Team wasnt even playing this good).
I was right... but then again, I couldn't imagine he'd be this succesful, NBA All-Star and so on. Lets give him credit, too. He's become a monster and nobody saw it coming like an NBA star, nobody.
He's making all the haters eat their and only let them reposting articles about his "flopping", etc..
I mean, people think of me as a TP hater, but he's not making much of improvement. I'd like to see TP making me eat my words as Manu did with... you know all of them.

You were wrong, the first Argentinian to play in the NBA was Pepe Sanchez :p . But I do agree that no one, not even Manu's biggest fan expected this. When I first saw him in the national league, I thought he would end up being an amazing talent in Europe, or getting a chance in the NBA as a backup role player. Now this seems ridiculous, but remember that back in 1996 we were celebrating a four point loss at halftime against USA Basketball, and the idea of one of our players playing an important role in an NBA team on its way to the finals was the result of drug abuse.

[SPARKY]

Oberto has been mentioned in connection with the Spurs quite often recently. That makes me suspect he will not be Spur...

[hendrix]

You were wrong, the first Argentinian to play in the NBA was Pepe Sanchez :p .

Damn!
You are right. Well, he was the soul of Temple University and Chaney just loved him. I never saw a coach kiss one of his players like he did with Pepe at the end of one of the games on the NCAA championship. It was easy to say that Pepe could make an NBA team.
By the way, Wolkowinsky was the second.

But I do agree that no one, not even Manu's biggest fan expected this. When I first saw him in the national league, I thought he would end up being an amazing talent in Europe, or getting a chance in the NBA as a backup role player. Now this seems ridiculous, but remember that back in 1996 we were celebrating a four point loss at halftime against USA Basketball, and the idea of one of our players playing an important role in an NBA team on its way to the finals was the result of drug abuse.

I remember that game... and i do remember that Argentina was up at one moment and the lights went out... Then the US basket kept kind of in shadows, and later on the second half... guess what... all came back to normal.
Not saying we could actually beat USA that time, but I remember sports commentators speaking about how su ious that was

[boutons]

"Possibly some of the best writing I've read so far these playoffs,"

quality newspapers of national record don't hire monkeys (and they don't pay them peanuts. I think Maureen Dowd makes $300K @NYT, IIRC).

[exstatic]

According to Brown, Delfino could already start on several N.B.A. teams.
...
"The guys - even Coach Larry - ask me, 'How do you guard him?' " Delfino said. "It's not easy, because Manu is so creative, so unpredictable."

Gee, Larry, you probably could have used Delfino to guard him if you hadn't called him an asshole, and kept the superstarinthemaking Darvin Ham on your ing post season roster. Putz.

[xcoriate]

^^ No , Darvin Ham was a waste of a Roster spot. They could have used Delfino against Wade as well he could have been quite effective.

[exstatic]

Why Cleveland thinks a chippy coach will make a good personnel man is beyond me...and a lot of other people. My favorite quote was from Donny Walsh, GM of the Pacers, and it was something to the effect that if given the power, Brown would trade all of his players, and then go get them back again.