Coming off the bench was a role Manu Ginobili grew to love
SAN ANTONIO — Retired San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has plenty of accolades to his name including winning the NBA's 2008 Sixth Man of the Year Award
But that role as the team's first option off the bench initially wasn't well received by Manu.
Arguably one of the NBA's best 6th-man to ever play, Ginobili admitted serving a role off the bench was something he could not understand to begin his NBA career adding having to deal with his ego and balancing what was beneficial for the team.
"At the beginning it was kind of hard. It took me a while to understand it," said Ginobili. "To get my ego out of the middle between Pop (Popovich) and me or the game and me and just do what has to be done for a team to be better."
Manu started his NBA career already a pro coming off playing in top European leagues as a 25-year old rookie in 2002.
There he was a constant on a team's opening lineup and becoming a starter in the world's top basketball stage was a goal he had set for himself as a young player coming into the NBA.
A goal that went wholly unfulfilled.
"I never did," Manu said when asked about never becoming a consistent starter. "I actually achieved it in my game two or three and I said 'yes' and boom, back to the depth of the bench."
In his 16 seasons with the Spurs, Manu got the starting nod 349 times in his 1057 games played. The most starts he had was in the 2010-11 season when he was inserted into the starting unit 79 times. It also marked an All-Star berth for him that year where he averaged 17.4 points per game.
But after the 2010-11 season, he was inserted into the starting lineup 10 times in his final seven seasons.
"At the beginning it was a tough one but once you get that ego thing out of the middle, I understood that was my role. That it was going to be better for the team," Ginobili added.
Ginobili ends a 16-year career in which he won four NBA championships with the Spurs. Ginobili finished his Spurs tenure ranking first in 3-pointers (1,495), first in steals (1,392), third in wins (897), fourth in assists (4,001), fifth in points (14,043) and fifth in rebounds (3,697).
Not bad for a bench player who is certainly bound for the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Said Manu, "I always loved it. Except the first year but I loved it."