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Manu Ginobili

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Posts posted by Manu Ginobili

  2. Posted · Report reply

    No, but it's worth noting that had Davis not gone down we would be a lot closer to .500 than people realize. The bulk of these recent losses have been decided by five points or less.

     

    BBD was key, both in terms of production, hustle and chemistry.

     

    Anyway, since this is not a playoffs season, it gives JV the chance to see what AN, Hark and Vuc can produce with more minutes.

     

    Nik, BBD, Afflalo, JJ, Etwaun, Nicholson, O'Quinn and Harkless are keepers. Nelson is not my favourite because of his lack of D, but he is a good offensive guard. I wouldn't mind getting a more solid PG. Let's build through the draft next two offseasons, while keeping the core young guys.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    When the trade was about to happen, my wish was:

     

    Howard + Duhon + Turkoglu + Richardson

     

    for

     

    young players with potential (could be Vucevic, Morre) + rookies (Harkless) + future lottery picks + expirings

     

    When all was said and done, I liked:

     

    - Vucevic / Moore / Harkless

     

    - The amount of picks

     

    - Sending out Duhon and Richardson

     

    - Keeping BBD and Redick

     

    I was torn about:

     

    - Bringing Afflalo. Have always thought highly of him as a player, but just didn't see the point of basic rebuilding with quality guys. It was supposed to be all potential, raw, upside. Not ready guys like Arron

     

    - Keeping Nelson. Never a good defender, and has been continually declining since 10 playoffs. At the same time, always a positive leader and can be really good offensively from time to time.

     

    I disliked:

     

    - Bringing Harrington. Not an expiring contract, a perennial scorer for losing teams.

     

    - Keeping Turkoglu. I think he was a great player once, but nowadays he is almost useless and taking valuable minutes away from youngsters.

     

    - The quality of the draft picks received

     

    - Letting Anderson go. Price was really a lot for a guy his caliber, but was starting to blossom here, and still very young and overachieving (except in the postseason).

     

    As it turns out, hopefully the model for rebuilding is not just being atrocious and running into the #1 pick, but building a good core from scratch and adding a few pieces. Me, personally, I would like NOT TO MAKE ANY TRADES for a long time, and just build through the draft and getting a huge FA when the time comes.

     

    Meanwhile, seeing this team competing for a playoffs spot and with an explosive offense is not too shabby. Certainly not dreamlike, but not a bad scenario after Howard practically destroyed the franchise.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Has anyone else been watching/reading all the drama going on for the Lakers?

     

    I think it has been interesting to watch also but for the opposite reasons with the Dwightmare in full swing and all the drama after there losses, it's like a story that just keeps on giving.. Also there playing the Knicks Thursday so that will be interesting and if they lose to the Cav's or Wizards....

     

    They had possibly the worst coach of the league, and replaced him with a middle of the pack one.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    As a Giants fan I am extremely surprised the 49er game played out like this. I was expecting giving up a ton of rushing yards, not being able to run the ball at all, and the only chance at a win was a fantastic game by Eli and likely another big 4th quarter comeback.

     

    Your D vastly overplayed our O. They were all over the place and the new formation with Kaepernick didn't work at all. Eli simply doesn't do anything wrong against us, and Bradshaw was the best runner out there.

     

    It was that kind of day.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Turd, you're responding to someone who, apparently, thinks beating a team by 8 points is dominating them.

     

    Calling out hyperbole is likely going to be wasted breath.

     

    Only taking into accounts stats while not watching anything is your specialty.

     

    Because if you think 49ers didn't dominate the Packers last sunday, then you didn't watch the game. So you might as well shut up and let people who see things talk.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Lugano is good, but if he was great, wouldn't big teams like Madrid, Barca, Bayers, Milan, Chelsea, ManU be after him? Instead he went to Paris Saint Germain. He had an amazing world cup as well as his entire national team, but that's pretty much it.

     

    I'm gonna give you a name of an excellent defender who just learned to play Lugano's position and is excellent at it...I'm sure you know who I'm talking about.....that's right Javier Mascherano. I watch ever Barca game and the dude is an impressive, impressive defender. He's smart, in shape, not injury prone and while short, isn't a liability on high balls.

     

    That's why I mentioned Lugano's age. Is highly doubtful that the giants would sign a 30 year old guy. Still, it was also his decision. What's Ibra doing there then? He is still young...but PSG is the new Man City.

     

    Lugano is great, make no mistake about it. You will see it in his farewell tournament, Brazil 2014. I wish we had a central defender like him.

     

    I respect your opinion, but I could not agree less in Mascherano's assesment. First of all, his height is a liability against tall striker. Second, he is just learning the position. Sabella doesn't even plays him as central back, even though he perfectly could, since Gago is now earning the def mid spot, and deservedly so.

     

    I think that being covered by that great Barca defense minimize his flaws. But make no mistake, Mascherano is far from anything special, as we have learned here in the last 8 years since he left River.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    10. David Silva or Bale

    9. Mario Gomes

    8. Robin Van Persie

    7. Roonie

    6. Falcao

    5. Casillas

    4. Xavi Hernandez

    3. Iniesta

    2. Ronaldo

    1. Messi

     

    Lugano wouldn't even make the top 25. I'd put Pepe who by the way I hate ahead of him.

     

    The fact that you and Mauro disregard Lugano makes me think you have not been watching a lot of South American / International football lately. In South America, whenever a team's defense is bad/mediocre, first thing that comes up in regular cafe discussions is "we need a Lugano".

     

    Lugano has become the most dominant defensive presence that this sport has seen in a long time . IMO, he is twice as good as Pepe. Opposing strikers fear him. He is not the best talent-wise, but he is marking-wise, jumping-wise and phisicality-wise. But you have to take into account that Pepe is 29 and Lugano is 31. Not only that, he is a much better scorer than Pepe (Pepe scored 3 local goals in last 6 seasons...Lugano 21 in 5 in Turkey) and his offensive header is probably unmatched for a central def.

     

    I agree that the Falcao/Rooney/Ibra positions are debatable. But Lugano cannot be discounted.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Will see when they take on a team with actual experience, depth and talent in the Giants next week. Worse is the Giants are going to be scary pissed after the Cowboys this last week, and also have an extra 3 days to prepare, and it will be their opening home game of the season.

     

    The pass rush will be much more important, because unlike Cam, Eli will not be able to escape the pressure (if it wasn't for Cam's speed McCoy could have had 3 sacks yesterday). However the Giants are a hell of a lot more efficient then the Panthers and have a much better ground game.

     

    16 points won't do it next week, and the Bucs will need to punch it into the end zone and not settle for Field Goals against the Giants. I want to see a bit more of Blount and a lot more of Freeman working in the air.

     

    As for Steve Smith, well hes been embarrassing Buc DB's for nearly a decade now.

     

    I didn't watch Bucs game yesterday (as everyone knows, I am a Niners die hard). But according to highlights and your comments, it looks like you guys might as well be following the 2011 Harbaugh blueprint.

     

    How is that? We were coming of 2 miserable seasons under Singletary, a fiery motivator with absolutely no idea on X's and O's whatsoever. You know who looked JUST like him? Your own Raheem Morris, a short tempered guy in his first experience thinking everything was done with just personality, kicking and screaming and no strategy at all.

     

    That team already had Willis, V. Davis, Gore, a then-horrible Alex, Crabtree, Justin Smith and Goldson.He left, Harbaugh came. Solid picks, added veteran help from FA (Rogers) and were one ever lasting heart breaking fumble away from SB.

     

    Your team already had a very talented Freeman and a decent RB/WR tandem. Schiano comes, add Nicks and V Jax, solid picks, and plays conservative. Avoids TO's and is stunning against the run.

     

    I watched a couple of TB's games last season, and it looked like the potential was certainly there. Same thing happened with us. The material was there. What was missing was richt coaching and adapt it through a conservative playbook, trying to minimize the mistakes and pound the ball.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Don't get me wrong. If it's about money I totally agree.

     

    You just can't have Etoo, Ibra, Rooney, Toure, Aguero, Drogba, Torres, Conca (who ever that is) making more than Messi and CR7.

     

    Eto'o makes twice what Ronaldo makes and he's not half as good as he is.

     

    Ronaldo should simply takes care of business in the office and not try to get this much attention

     

    Conca, FYI, is an Argentinean leftie playmaker, who had 1 good season in Brazil, then everyone there thought he was god, then he was sold to a Chinese team for a fortune. He didn't even play in our National Team.

     

    It is really outrageous that this kid makes more than Messi, or even 100 other much better players than him.

     

    Eto'o, I think the guy has had a truly amazing career. It's more of a "Lifetime Achievement Award", similar to Roberto Carlos' last season or Drogba now.

     

    In terms of current skill and quality, list should be:

     

    1- Messi

    2- C. Ronaldo

    3- Iniesta

    4- Xavi

    5- Casillas

    6- Lugano

    7- Rooney

    8- Ibra

    9- Falcao

    10- Dani Alves

  21. Posted · Report reply

    You're right, I've never made any bold statements.

     

    My goodness, how did these get here.

     

     

    I also certainly never try to back my predictions, like offering a 5,000 dollar bet on 5 to 1 odds in this very thread over one such prediction. Clearly, that didn't happen.

     

    What I saw there was:

     

    Crap, crap, I think I'm clever, crap, crap, Stats tell everything, crap, crap, The most cruel thing you could do to a person is telling they are good at something when they are not (which is probably the most absurd sentence I heard, by the way)

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I can't speak for DOM but I could use a further explanation. Hakeem is still a Nigerian citizen. He's a citizen of both countries therefore he's an international player. Even if you want to pretend that he is no longer an international player when he became an American citizen, you can't ignore his contributions prior to 1993, otherwise known as the first half of his career, when he was strictly a Nigerian citizen. Duncan may be a bit of a stretch as an international player but Hakeem is not...and the only reason you don't see it is because you are so determined to try to prove DOM wrong.

     

    Since I'm coming into this conversation late, how does Rudy Fernandez factor into this topic?

     

    Nobody is arguing he is still a Nigerian citizen. I have repeteadly stated that he is a Nigerian and an American. Therefore, since you cannot consider an "American" player to be "Not American", I didn't consider him. If they both (he and Duncan) were not American, there is no doubt in my mind, they would be leaps and bounds ahead of any foreign player that has ever played in the NBA.

     

    Regarding Rudy, DOM quoted me as saying once "Rudy is the 2nd best international player of all time", behind Manu. I believe this was around '08 Olympics, when he was in the Spanish team that played the famous Gold medal game. Obviously a very poor judgement from my part and shortsighted, since he probably wouldn't crack a Top 100 in history. I just saw in him every condition to be a stud in the NBA, which obviously didn't pan out as I expected (maybe because of mental issues, adaptation, not being as good as in FIBA, not being physical enough). He did have many things to be a star. Stupid statement from me.

     

    Then again, DOM says sample size sample size when I posted Ryno was going to have a breakout season, he does have it, and afterwards he says every young player who is given lot more minutes and a bigger role is going to improve. Of course, if you NEVER make any bold statement, you are probably not going to miss. And you can poke fun at the idiots who said stupid things. But YOU NEVER LOSE.

     

    I guess its more fun that way.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    So he doesn't stop being Nigerian. He just stops being International.

     

    And he was international because he was Nigerian.

     

    I wish you could understand how idiotic you sound right now. I legitimately feel bad for you. You're embarrassing yourself right now, and you don't realize it.

     

    He starts being American. A Nigerian/American is no longer an international.

     

    Got it? Or do you need further explanation? It was the best I could do without having to explain everything to you again.

  25. Posted · Report reply

    Tim Duncan is from the Virgin Islands.

     

    Kyrie Irving is a dual-citizen, though I'd have to look up what the other country is. I have no real idea how he self-identifies.

     

    The point I was making was that Manu's post about Olajuwon, for example, not being International because he gained US citizenship is asinine. For one thing, his native country didn't have a basketball team in the Olympics. For two, even if you decided that Olajuwon stopped being from Nigeria when he became a US citizen, what he'd done before then('93) easily eclipses anything Manu Ginobili ever did.

     

    Shorter version: Hakeem didn't stop being Nigerian when he became American.

     

    He didn't stop being Nigerian. He became BOTH.

     

    Therefore, he is a Nigerian. Aaaaaannnnndddd........ yes, he is an American, too !!!

     

    He didn't lose his first nationality, he gained one and kept other one. 1 + 1 = 2

     

    Do I have to repeat every sentence in my posts?

     

    Thing is...if Manu had gained US nationality during his basketball career and actually PLAYED FOR ITS NATIONAL TEAM (I believe he is already an Italian national too), then I would stop considering him international as far as US/NBA players.

     

    Fact is, Duncan is an American Citizen. Ditto for Hakeem. Manu? NOT

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