Manu Ginobili announces his retirement
August 27th, 2018
After a couple of months of deliberation, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili today announced his retirement. In a tweet sent out this evening, Ginobili said; “Today, with a wide range of feelings, I’m announcing my retirement from basketball.” Ginobili had been working out with the Spurs in the offseason, testing his body to see if he would want and be able to play to play one final season with the team. Now, it is clear that he won’t. Ginobili is calling time on a professional playing career that goes back 23 years, the last 16 of which have been spent in the NBA with the Spurs. Drafted with the penultimate pick of the 1999 NBA Draft, Ginobili’s success as a player predated his time in the NBA; he won a Euroleague title in 2001 with Kinder Bologna, leading the Finals in scoring along the way and being named Finals MVP, and also won consecutive Italian League MVP titles in 2001 and 2002, before leaving to join the NBA. Manu also had plenty of success on the international level, too. He was the leader of the Argentina team that won the silver medal in the World Championships back in 2002, and was the leading scorer on the subsequent 2004 Olympic team that beat the United States in the semi-finals, went on to win the gold medal, and ended the American dominance of the international game. It was in San Antonio, though, where he had his greatest success. The trio of Manu, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were the foundations of a dynastic run for the Spurs that featured a 14 consecutive playoff-season run that continues to this day, that featured four NBA Championship wins in that time. During this reign, the Spurs were venerated for their consistent success, and about how they […]
New Jersey……Toronto…….London.
March 10th, 2011
Antiphon With apologies to their combined 34-87 record, the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets had not played an interesting game all season heading into last weekend. It was known in advance that the two teams would struggle this season, and any optimism to the contrary has been roundly denounced. Both teams are building for the future, and rightly so. But it comes at the expense of the present. Right now, they suck. At this point in any season, there are many meaningless doldrums games. With the trade deadline passed, almost all player movement cemented, and the title contenders obvious, most teams now know who they are. Many of the games in March and April are frankly rather boring – if the teams concerned are not putting forth their best effort to win, you’re invariably going to reciprocate with a half arsed level of interest. In light of everything that has transpired this season, the Raptors and Nets can both equate to this. However, these particular doldrums games had a resonance and magnitude not afforded to their counterparts. These games were played in London, England, at the O2 Arena. And that single caveat brought a hitherto unprecedented level of excitement to what would otherwise be two of the most arbitrary games of the season. (The ambitious accompanying television ad campaign pitched this games as “crucial games leading up to the NBA playoffs,” bringing “all the fun and excitement of the NBA.” It was a slightly generous pitch, but as we’ll see later, not entirely fictional. Apart from the bit about “crucial”.) If nothing else, half of it was faintly true. Entertaining if not especially high standard of game could have happened; after all, the half-game difference between their respective records showed the two teams to be evenly matched. Furthermore, […]
2010 Summer League Rosters: Toronto Raptors
July 11th, 2010
Solomon Alabi If you read my draft recap, you’ll know how I feel about the Alabi pick. I’m pretty much all for it, and believe he has a chance to be a good contributor in the NBA. At #50, I think he was a steal. Even with hepatitis. If you haven’t read my draft recap, go do so. But you might want to book a day off work in advance. It’s a bit long. Bobby Brown Brown just completed a two year guaranteed minimum salary contract, initially given to him by the Sacramento Kings. He won that contract because of his play in summer league 2008, where he scored a lot of points in a variety of different ways. The Kings didn’t play Brown much in any regular season games, and later included him in the trade that brought over Shelden Williams from Minnesota, as was their perogative. Minnesota forwarded him on last summer to New Orleans as a throw-in to the Darius Songaila trade, as was their perogative. Once in New Orleans, Bobby started to get regular minutes. Byron Scott played him as the primary backup guard, often ahead of Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton, but it really did not go well. Brown shot the ball every time he touched it, taking 152 field goals in only 328 minutes, and attempting only 8 foul shots. To put it bluntly, he chucked. (Byron Scott was later fired, Collison and Thornton started to play more, and the Hornets’ season was salvaged. These things are alll related.) Brown was traded to the Clippers in a salary dump later in the season, where he did more of the same; 191 minutes, 85 field goals, 7 foul shots. Brown took a three pointer every 5 minutes last year, and didn’t seem to mind that […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Toronto Raptors
July 25th, 2009
– Paul Davis: Davis was waived by the Clippers to save some money, after being brought back for no obvious reason. Strangely, he didn’t sign anywhere after that, but he did appear on Millionaire Matchmaker, where it was determined that he showed an “immature” attitude towards sex. But he did win the heart of one spectacularly energetic pseudo-blonde: (video removed by uploader; try this instead) These. These are the things we must know. – DeMar Derozan: The Raptors wings last season had all the athleticism of a grilled perch, so at least they addressed that. But I can’t say I’m overwhelmed with the pick. No word on what DeRozan’s attitudes towards sex are, or what he deems to be an “upscale” bowling alley. – David Doblas: Doblas is a soon-to-be 28-year -old Spaniard with the usual Spanish problems with hair. (This is one thing I noticed when I holidayed there earlier this year; everyone has black hair, and they all bald at 30. Without exceptions. Good luck, David.) Last year for Bruesa-Gipuzcoa BC – the ACB team that you’ve totally heard of – Doblas averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds. – Quincy Douby: I don’t know Quincy Douby’s amount of guaranteed salary, so stop asking. (Although I’m fairly sure it’s $0, that’s only an educated guess.) There’s not much reason for him to make the team, or even for him to be in the NBA; Douby may well be a versatile scorer with the ball in his hands, but he’s undersized, does not rebound or create for others, is not efficient, and is not a good-enough shooter to be ideal as a catch-and-shoot specialist. Go to Europe and start starring, Quincy. It’ll be easy for you. – Carl English: Despite the name, English is Canadian, which […]
Sham’s unnecessarily long 2009 draft diary, part 1
June 26th, 2009
Last year’s draft night was arguably the best day of my life. The 2007 draft night before that is its only competitor. I mean that, too. Sort of. It never makes for especially brilliant television, but to know that dozens of executives all over the country are making more news in a 12-hour period than in the previous 12 months combined is kind of pulsating. In the course of a day and a night, rosters, directions and allegiances will change. We spend weeks and months in advance predicting what’s going to happen on this one night, only to find that, sure as hell, we’re all more wrong than a Myra Hindley Christmas album. It’s great fun. I’m a bit apprehensive of this draft, though. This draft will be unlike any other for me, for this is the first draft I’ll have watched in which I know anything about the players involved. Before this season, I had not watched the NCAA before outside of a handful of games, for the simple reason that it wasn’t on the telly. However, this year, for whatever reason, it was. And so in keeping with my usual approach (take note ladies), I went at it hardcore, gave it my all, didn’t want to miss a single inch of skin/minute of action, and strove to be better at it than everyone else in the world (particularly that inferior man you’re currently with). Because of that, I’m going to miss out on what I’ve always considered to be the highlight of draft night; the ability to judge people for life based off of a few short clips, what kind of suit they’re wearing, their post-selection interview, a short speech by Jay Bilas and the timeless “Must Improve” captions that so effortlessly make the work of drafting websites […]
