Manu Ginobili for the most part, performed horridly in the NBA Finals. And in the immediate aftermath of the San Antonio Spurs succumbing to the Miami Heat in Game 7, a lot of folks suggested that the Argentinian guard should hang up his kicks and call it a career now that his contract expired.
In the postgame news conference following Game 7, Ginobili was noncommittal either way about possible retirement and said that he wasn’t ready to make a decision. Well, according to a story by Pro Basketball talk via the San Antionio Express-News, Ginobili put any debate about retirement to rest when he wrote this in an Argentinian newspaper.
“After much thinking, going over and over the bad plays, I feel better and content in spite of the bad outcome, and I find it difficult to believe that I won’t play anymore,” he wrote in La Nación.
“I don’t feel exhausted or frustrated playing basketball, I mean not enough to say I’m done. I don’t know about everything; I haven’t made a decision, but I see it is unlikely that I will not play anymore.
“I try not to let the tree in front of me block the forest. This is practically an unbeatable situation in sports. A moment of anger and frustration should not cloud the day-to-day and how well I am doing over here.
“… I think they want me here again; but I’m not certain because I still can’t talk to the franchise” under NBA rules.
I think Ginobili still has something to offer a team, but his role needs to be diminished.
His bad play in the Finals had more to do with bad decision making than any sort of extreme drop off physically. Will the Spurs bring him back at a reduced price? I think that’s definitely a plausible outcome.