# Year End Player Assessment: Manu Ginobili



## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

The numbers:

*Regular Season*
74 games, 29.6 MPG
16.0 PPG - 4.4 RPG - 3.9 AST - 1.6 STL - 47.1 FG% - 80 FT% - 37.6 3PT%


*Playoffs*
23 games, 33.6 MPG
20.8 PPG - 5.8 RPG - 4.2 AST - 1.2 STL - 50.7 FG% - 80 FT% - 43.8 3PT%



The Awards
All Star



The Low-Down:


Finally became a full time starter, and had a great season. Statistically the only thing you can complain about is the TO's, but everything else was fantastic considering he played 30 MPG. He started the season off inconsistent with his scoring during the first three months of the season (15.5 PPG, 13.5 PPG, 18.5 PPG) but got some consistency over the last three months although his shooting percentages were down (16.6 PPG, 16.0 PPG, 16.2 PPG). He was an All-Star whether people like it or not, and his combination of being a very efficient scorer along with his tough and energetic defense made him well deserving of that. During the playoffs, he was a beast, plain and simple. He was easily one of the best overall performers in the playoffs, and he was absolutely huge in the Spurs' championship quest. He might have played over his head during the playoffs a little bit, but he gave everyone a glimpse at just how good he is. He's more than proven himself as one of the best guards in the league, and it looks like he's going to earn every penny of that fat extension he was given. 


Koko's Assessment:

Dude was awesome in the playoffs, and nobody can deny that. I'm not going to hear anyone dismiss the notion that he was one of the best performers in the playoffs. His set shot really improved, and once he got settled in over the course of the season, teams couldn't keep him out of the paint and off the free throw line. The guy is a great talent, and I'm damn proud he plays on my favorite team. I give him a 9/10, yes, the same rating I gave Duncan. Don't read too much into that, because my rating is based on personal expectations I have for each player, and of course Duncan's expectations are higher. 


Your thoughts?


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Damn....Manu...I just can't say enough about him. Throughout most of the year he was an above average guard, but whenever we really needed him to he really stepped his game up, especially in the playoffs. You could even argue that he was the playoffs MVP. I just hope he can keep it up going into next season, because if he has one weakness it's his consistency. I really wanna see him shut those haters and doubters up once and for all!


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

ezealen said:


> Damn....Manu...I just can't say enough about him. Throughout most of the year he was an above average guard, but whenever we really needed him to he really stepped his game up, especially in the playoffs. You could even argue that he was the playoffs MVP. I just hope he can keep it up going into next season, because if he has one weakness it's his consistency. I really wanna see him shut those haters and doubters up once and for all!



Playoffs MVP wouldn't be out of the question, because he was toe-to-toe with Duncan in overall playoff performance. 


I could probably go back and make a list about a page long of how many big plays Manu made during the clutch moments of the game.


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## Long John Silver (Jun 14, 2005)

His playoffs were amazing. Simply amazing. I believe he just found his game, he understood that he needs to get to the line, and just went ahead and did it. Hopefully he'll do it again next season, to shut everyone up.


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## supermati (Mar 28, 2005)

Two Words:
Awe-some


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Maybe I need to add on something on to this to make things more interesting: What do you expect out of Manu next year statistically and non-statistically? Do you see his minutes being limited to 30, or do you see him getting more? Do think he'll top 16 PPG? Do you think he'll be an All-Star again?


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

I see Manu, statistically, being about the same as he was last year. Through maturity I expect his TO's to lower, but I still expect around 16-5-5 with high efficiency from him. He won't get more than 25-30 mpg b/c of the Spurs system, so he won't have star stats, but he'll make a stars impact.


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## maradro (Aug 2, 2003)

nobody remembers the first two, three weeks of the season?
Manu had a stretch where he was even better than the playoffs. scoring 18-20 pts a game, shooting around 55% from 2 and 49 from 3, just insane. 
I think he has the potential to produce like that, but lacks the stamina to keep it up. 

manu is getting more time to rest this offseason than in 4 years, and he said in a interview he plans on conditioning, apparently he lost a lot of weight as the season progressed. 
so who knows, if he plays 35 min a game as the second option and getting to the line (the other big part in manu's increased production, IMO, is that refs are giving him calls he didn't get in his first two seasons. but i say that as a compliment, because it is obvious that he has won that credibility by driving non-stop) I think he can easily average 18-19 pts. but the question is whether he holds up enough over the course of the season


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## Cloud786 (Mar 18, 2005)

18-6-5-2 with about 33 minutes per game.


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## texan (Jul 10, 2003)

He'll play between 29-34 MPG, b/c of the Spurs system. We have good enough back-ups that we don't have to overuse them during the regular season. That is good, b/c then he'll be fresh for the playoffs. I see him having between 16-18 ppg, 4-6 apg, 5-7 rpg, and about 2 spg. Good statline, but small enough for people to argue that he isn't an All-Star. He'll never put up superstar stats, but he will make a very big impact.


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## Sir Patchwork (Jan 12, 2005)

Manu had a great season. Before the season, he was just a part of the core, but I think this season he really made himself into the sidekick. He just had an unreal season. One of the top impact players in the league this year no doubt. Statistically, per minute, right up there with Ray Allen and such. In terms of impact, top 5 in the whole league in plus/minus. He made the all star team, voted in by the coaches no less. I think having this type of season, coming off of his olympic performance, earned him a ton of respect from a lot of people in the NBA. Superstars, coaches, management, etc. They all know how good this guy is now.


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

Sir Patchwork said:


> Manu had a great season. Before the season, he was just a part of the core, but I think this season he really made himself into the sidekick. He just had an unreal season. One of the top impact players in the league this year no doubt. Statistically, per minute, right up there with Ray Allen and such. In terms of impact, top 5 in the whole league in plus/minus. He made the all star team, voted in by the coaches no less. I think having this type of season, coming off of his olympic performance, earned him a ton of respect from a lot of people in the NBA. Superstars, coaches, management, etc. They all know how good this guy is now.


couldnt of said it any better manu is now the second best on the team wich was questionable before the season started. he just played so well and is great in the clutch. manu had a fantastic season and got so much respect from the media players and coaches. this season changed his life and the spurs for ever. :clap: :cheers:


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## Nikos (Jun 5, 2002)

Manu had a great season. Before it began I said for Manu to become an All-Star or a legit championship sidekick he would have to improve his scoring efficiency. And he did just that. Hitting his three pointers with more regularity and getting to the line more really helped him improve his game. 

His turnovers are still a little too high, and he still seems to make some passes that are even strange for him. For example I remember him throwing in some strange entry passes to a player underneath that really had no chance, and weren't really worth doing even if your feeling risky. I know some are thinking, yeah that is Manu. But some of those entry passes seemed forced even for Manu. He needs to cut down on the turnovers to maintain his spectacular play and offensive efficiency.

I remember at the beggining of the 2003-04 season, while his scoring efficiency was pretty low he was able to maintain a healthy 4.5/1.8 AST to TO ratio. If he could get his Assist to Turnover Ratio near and above 2:1, that would be awesome and would make him a complete offensive player in terms of making good decisions.

I am getting a little picky here, but you get the idea. Manu was great this season and I hope he can keep it up for the next few seasons. His impact in 30mpg is about as big as they come. A deserving All-Star he was even BETTER in the playoffs. His productivity across the board pretty much increased vastly, and not many players can say that in the playoffs. Especially when they are given more resposibility on more possesions as Manu was in comparison with the regular season, not to mention more minutes against better competetion.

He was probably just as valuable as Duncan throughout the playoffs, and that says a lot. Without him stepping up, they don't win the title. Duncan didn't look 100% for most of the time, and he got his help from Manu when he needed it (ala Denver Game 3, Seattle Game 5, and several other games). 

Now onto next season. Let's hope Manu can keep it up and fine tune his decision making in terms of passing efficiently. If so, the Spurs are going to be even better next season.


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Great analysis Nikos. 


Turnovers and just being a little too aggressive overall are the two negative things you can say about him. He can mess up the rythm offensively with careless TO's and his over aggressiveness has forced us to play our bench more. It is nit-picking, but that's good.


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## DaBobZ (Sep 22, 2003)

Nikos said:


> Manu had a great season. Before it began I said for Manu to become an All-Star or a legit championship sidekick he would have to improve his scoring efficiency. And he did just that. Hitting his three pointers with more regularity and getting to the line more really helped him improve his game.
> 
> His turnovers are still a little too high, and he still seems to make some passes that are even strange for him. For example I remember him throwing in some strange entry passes to a player underneath that really had no chance, and weren't really worth doing even if your feeling risky. I know some are thinking, yeah that is Manu. But some of those entry passes seemed forced even for Manu. He needs to cut down on the turnovers to maintain his spectacular play and offensive efficiency.
> 
> ...



Great post pretty much agree with it all.

Now haters all hail OBI ONE GINOBILI !!!


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## nextghitman (Jul 17, 2005)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> Maybe I need to add on something on to this to make things more interesting: What do you expect out of Manu next year statistically and non-statistically? Do you see his minutes being limited to 30, or do you see him getting more? Do think he'll top 16 PPG? Do you think he'll be an All-Star again?


I expect Manu to be even better than he was last season. He will be getting more minutes and he should be averaging close to 20 ppg. and yes he will be an all-star next year!!!


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## GalacticZack (Jul 21, 2005)

ezealen said:


> Damn....Manu...I just can't say enough about him. Throughout most of the year he was an above average guard, but whenever we really needed him to he really stepped his game up, especially in the playoffs. You could even argue that he was the playoffs MVP. I just hope he can keep it up going into next season, because if he has one weakness it's his consistency. I really wanna see him shut those haters and doubters up once and for all!


The only question one should ask about Manu next year is how great will he be? He is certain to become one of the elite players in the league. That much is certain. His offensive game will only improve if you can imagine that and if you can fathom this, he may supercede Tim himself as the focal point for everything on the Spurs. I'm talking offense, leadership everything. This guy is sensational. And as Tim said himself in one playoff postgame interview, he thought that the team had barely scratched the surface with him. 

During the Finals I had a chance to watch a replay of game 6 of the 1998 Finals in SLC between the Jazz and Bulls. And in that game Michael took an amazing 35 shots and about 15 free throws and ended up with something like 45 points as a result. Can you imagine if Manu got that many touches on a consistent basis? Maybe not 35 a night but I'm saying if he got like say 25+ shots a night consistently. He could easily average 25 to 28 a game. Add that to Tim's dominance and what if we could get Shareef A-R too now that the LS deal is falling apart. The sky's the limit Spurs Nation... :clap:


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

GalacticZack said:


> The only question one should ask about Manu next year is how great will he be? He is certain to become one of the elite players in the league. That much is certain. His offensive game will only improve if you can imagine that and if you can fathom this, he may supercede Tim himself as the focal point for everything on the Spurs. I'm talking offense, leadership everything. This guy is sensational. And as Tim said himself in one playoff postgame interview, he thought that the team had barely scratched the surface with him.
> 
> During the Finals I had a chance to watch a replay of game 6 of the 1998 Finals in SLC between the Jazz and Bulls. And in that game Michael took an amazing 35 shots and about 15 free throws and ended up with something like 45 points as a result. Can you imagine if Manu got that many touches on a consistent basis? Maybe not 35 a night but I'm saying if he got like say 25+ shots a night consistently. He could easily average 25 to 28 a game. Add that to Tim's dominance and what if we could get Shareef A-R too now that the LS deal is falling apart. The sky's the limit Spurs Nation... :clap:



Good post, and welcome aboard! 


If Manu continues to play at the level he did in last year's playoffs, I don't see how anyone can beat us. Manu was at the top of his game, but Parker and Duncan weren't, which has to scare the rest of the league.


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## GalacticZack (Jul 21, 2005)

KokoTheMonkey said:


> Good post, and welcome aboard!
> 
> 
> If Manu continues to play at the level he did in last year's playoffs, I don't see how anyone can beat us. Manu was at the top of his game, but Parker and Duncan weren't, which has to scare the rest of the league.


Thanks. I am glad I stumbled across this board because it's the best NBA one I've seen by far. Tony has so much room to grow it's incredible. At 23 he's still a kid and can still learn much about what it means to be a dominant PG ala Steve or J. Kidd. But man, he's already got two rings and what has Steve and Kidd got after umpteen years in the league? Amazing. Tony's truly charmed.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

GalacticZack said:


> Thanks. I am glad I stumbled across this board because it's the best NBA one I've seen by far. Tony has so much room to grow it's incredible. At 23 he's still a kid and can still learn much about what it means to be a dominant PG ala Steve or J. Kidd. But man, he's already got two rings and what has Steve and Kidd got after umpteen years in the league? Amazing. Tony's truly charmed.


Yes, this site is the best, and we're happy to have you aboard. But you and that other new guy are getting me confused with your avatars. I'm ganna have to change mine again. Damn, I wish I was a supporting member and could have a custom one, but I don't got no credit card  

BTW, all that stuff about Tony, you should take it to the Tony Parker player assessment thread.


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