I know he is an unpopular player here, because of his flopping style. What frustrates me even more is that extra third step he always seems to get away with on his drives. But, let's face it. This guy is ridiculously good. He's a hard-nosed defender. Draws charges, gets tons of steals, excellent rebounder, great passer, great penetrator and finisher, great at the free throw line, great with the jumper, excellent shot selection. He plays with energy and fire, but rarely seems out of control. He can play and defend three positions. He's an exceptional teammate as well. What an unbelievable player.
He is like Kobe... we hate him but we have respect for his game unlilke Malone who was flat out dirty...
If players will just start forcing him to go right, instead of left. He is very weak at finishing with his right hand. I can't figure out why he still gets away so blatantly with the deception of being left-handed.
Everytime Ginobody tries to drive into the lane with the intent of barreling into a player and flopping to draw a foul, the defender should karate chop Ginobody at the base of his skull - Sheed style. If people are committed to doing that several games in a row, Ginobody will give up his weak euro/latin effeminate basketball soon enuff - either that or he'll be sent to the hospital. Either way, that'll be the end of flopping from him, w/ a strong message sent to the rest of the league.
if he just did not flop i could respect his game. infact, that goes for the entire league. he just needs to stop flopping.
Ginobili is the type of player you hate him like hell if he was on your opponent teams but love him to death if he was on your team! For those who hate him because of his flopping, i believe you would have a long list of hated players in this league starting from Wade to our very own Scola. In fact yao is starting to learn the art of flopping!
I love his game, he has his own rythmn and it is different than most every other NBA player and it allows him to be special. Lew Lloyd was the same way...just playing at a different rythmn..... I will give Manu the best compliment I can think of....I wish he were a Rocket. DD
i like his game too and i sure wouldnt mind him on the rockets, but to start a ginobili appreciation thread after losing to his team is poor taste and is deserving of a good waterboarding. would you have started a john stockton appreciation thread after the 97 conference finals too? no spurs no! and death to the jazz!
I can't believe more people don't feel the way I do about this. I don't 'get' people who hate on Kobe as a player. He is the. best. player. in the world. I just can't get behind not loving him as a player. As a person, Ok whatever, think what you want (I still don't have a much of problem with him as a person). Manu as a player is the opposite. He is awful. If he was the type of person as he is a player, he would be a child molester or something. "Ohhh he's so fearless going to the basket!!" Yeah I would be too if the star power of the franchise I play for spilled onto me and I could travel and flop and get BS foul calls the majority of the time. He is pretty clutch and can catch fire... other than that I don't see much 'real' talent going on there. And no I wouldn't want him on my team. All of Houston became a Scola fan tonight including me, but if he starts flopping and using cheap tactics like Manu or Oberto, forget it.
You must not have been paying attention. Scola is a flopper. He flopped a couple of times in just tonight's game alone. That one flop he got Matt Bonner with was really blatant. I wasn't complaining though, because it helped our team.
I've seen him do it a few times but I must have been looking away when he did it tonight. What I meant instead of "if he starts flopping" was "if his entire game plan relies on flopping". If your go-to move is f*cking flopping... shoot yourself.
Ginobili is undoubtedly talented, with a lighting quick first step, hardnosed defensive tenacity, high off ball IQ, and a decent ability to create and finish a drive-the-lane, push-into-defender type shot. Even though he maybe talented... I HATE HIM. It's not just the flopping, because yes it is annoying when a foul that never should have been is called because somebody put up a Broadway performance, of which Manu is the NBA's poster child. People tend to forget that this is a good thing for your team (drawing charges), and that while it might make you unpopular among the opponent's constituents, even the most calculated acting is a good TEAM move when the foul is drawn. We Rockets fans should know this better than anybody, having 3 of the best charge recipients around. It's the perception of him leading the Spurs that I hate. He is no more than a role player, a great role player. Media tend to over-credit ALL spurs players because of their team success, which is not undeserved because they have been the best team over the past 10 years. It is not because of Manu though that they have been the most dominant franchise this past decade, it is for two very talented other reasons: Timmy D and Tony P. Manu is not even the third most important piece in SA, I say Bowen clearly is (b/t his defense and 3 ball shooting). People like Bill Walton saying tonight "he could be the best player in the league on any given night" is what really really irks me about MANU. Media loves champions, and he happens to play with some so by the transitive property of champion, Manu must be a champion. It's great that he's willing to come off the bench and make his team so deep. Personally I think Finley might be a better punch off the bench, but whatever. Who cares what I think? The guy can ball no doubt, I wish he were a rocket too. But he is very fortunate to have a team like the Spurs and a role that suits his skillset so perfectly. I just think he is overrated in the media that's all.
I posted in another thread a while back in semi-great detail that flopping is NOT the same as "taking a charge", I really hate that people still get that confused. Manu gets knocked on his ass, taking a legit charge in 1 season as Shane Battier or Chuck Hayes do in one game. And there is no way in the world Bower is better than Ginobli.
Some of you guys are going off the deep end with the Manu hate. Don't get me wrong -- I hate him too, I just respect him. He's a true superstar. There's really no way around that. I don't want to hear any of this hogwash about him being an overrated role player or anything of the sort. It's not like he was just "along for the ride" on 3/4 of SA's championship teams. He could average 25-30 PPG if he was on another team. He's probably the best slasher in the game. He has a skill set that can match any of the best perimeter players in the game. He's smart. He plays defense. He gets in people's heads with all the flops, intangibles and mind-boggling things he can do both with and without the ball. Basically, there aren't many elite swingmen in the league with that kind of ability. Hate him all you want. Just respect the fact that he's an incredible player that deserves every ounce of praise that he receives. (This all coming from a bitter Rockets fan) P.S. Attempting to seriously argue that Bowen is better or more valuable than Ginobili is just....wow, quite possibly one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of.
I didn't say Bowen was a better player than Manu, I said he was "more important" to his team. His front line defense and ability to hit the 3 extremely consistently mean more to the Spurs than Manu does coming off the bench, even if he is the 6th man bench punch, athletic scorer we'd all love to have as our 6th man. He may be the perfect 6th man, but he is NOT the reason the Spurs are so great. He tends to be credited with that, which is why I hate him. Although I do understand that you must respect his game, without doubt. I admit, not so willingly, that Manu Ginobili is a great basketball player. That wasn't so bad now.
