The story of the “little finger” and the giant Gondo: the two silent facts that pushed Manu Ginóbili to the NBA

September 10, 2022 will not be another date for Argentine sports. It will be the end of a stage. At least one of the many endings. Emanuel Ginobili You will receive one of the most transcendental distinctions for a basketball player: will be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame thanks to what he has done throughout his career, mainly with the clothing of the San Antonio Spurs and the Argentine national team. But to understand the end it is always interesting to know a little about the beginning. The path that pushed him to what – at that time – was impossible: to reach the most important league.

When “NBA” was almost a forbidden term in the dreams of Argentine players, there was an athlete who had a keen eye to detect the full potential of Manu: Grant Gondrezickthe American giant Eagle. “Grant had been a former NBA player, a 1.96-meter forward, very strong, very handsome, very tough to play. This boy, who was not stupid at all and had great experience in international basketball and in the NBA, also began to realize that the kids that team had were serious, important things. Especially Manuel. He began to insist that Manu go to an American College. He said that if Manu had the opportunity to enter there, he was going to open the doors for something very important.. And she began to insist a lot with that; And on top of that Grant was heavy! ”, He recounted before Infobae a few years ago the Zeta Rodríguez, coach of Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca at the time that Ginóbili and Gondrezick lived together.

He never forgot that message. “Gondo for being a great mentor and the first to see me in the future in the NBA”Ginóbili himself highlighted in his account of Instagram A few hours ago in a series of posts where he thanked all those who allowed him to climb to the top before receiving the Hall of Fame distinction.

Eagle He came to the country to face his last sporting steps after being chosen by the Phoenix Suns in the 1986 draft and facing a stay in the Los Angeles Clippers to later see his career diluted between lesser value teams in the United States, some European leagues and some scandals. He racked up 16 appearances on Estudiantes con los Ginobilis – he was also Connect on that campus–, but they were enough to set fire to Manu. It became the first impulse towards the United States.

“There were vestiges or things that indicated that I could become a very good National League player, but nothing more. The following year I return to Bahía Blanca. There is a key moment in that year, which is a talk with a foreigner who played with me and had been in the NBA for two or three years. He sat me down and he told me: ‘You have to go to the United States, to study at a University in the United States, if you go and spend four years there you end up in the NBA’. I looked at him as if to say ‘impossible’, he wants to be my friend or something, and he tells me to motivate me or make me feel good, “he acknowledged. Manu in an exhibition TED about that talk with Gondrezick that marked him with fire.

It activated an internal fiber in the Argentine’s head. It was the first line in the golden book of national basketball. The events intertwined. During that same time, without Ginobili himself being aware, the NBA wrote down his name for the first time. In August 1997, Julio Lamas summoned him to compete in the Under 22 World Cup in Australia, although his figure was under the shadow of other surnames with greater potential such as Lucas Victoriano, Fabricio Oberto, Juan Ignacio Sánchez and Leandro Palladino. But RC Buford He had the nose to detect the potential of that little boy who played for Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca in the Argentine National League.

“He came to speak to me in Melbourne at the door of the locker room and we arranged to meet to talk at the hotel. I thought it was one more person who came to ask about Victoriano, Oberto, Pepe Sanchez and Palladino… Who do you want to ask me about?”Lamas questioned him, who was the driver of that team that finished fourth after losing to Yugoslavia. The important manager of the Spurs stared at him, showed his little finger and only said: “For the skinny”. It was Manu.

“He was the first to ask me about Manu. He asked me if he could follow him. I directed the team and followed Victoriano, Ginóbili and Oberto for them. This was between 1997 and 1999, until he was drafted. I understand that when Manu went to Kinder Bologna, the follow-up was done directly by Buford through Ettore Messina (Italian team coach) ”, Lamas highlighted years ago to Infobae.

The following of the Texan franchise was wide: “In the first stage they focused on their physical and technical abilities. When they knew that they had a high standard, they began to ask for details: their mentality. They were interested in his intelligence, they asked about his IQ (intellectual quotient), about his English, about his education. All very high points from Manu Ginóbili, who was already a player who had a lot of knowledge of the NBA. He was looking at her permanently. He was interested but also in love with the game, so he was always looking to learn to play it better and better”, recalled Lamas about the magnifying glass that was placed on the head of that then unknown boy but who had excelled in the World Cup semifinals against Australia with 20 points in 29 minutes on the court.

The story that followed was well known. Spurs debated between Croatian Gordan Giricek or Manu Ginóbili until he was finally chosen 57th in the 1999 draft. “I think they had a work system in which they consulted different people in the world. In that draft it was a player named Gordan Giricek or Manu Ginóbili. Already after that moment they did not ask more between him and another. After the draft they consulted on what was the moment for Manu to make the leap. And it seems to me that what Manu did in Kinder Bologna clearly decided them”, analyzed Lamas some time ago. Giricek ended up being captured by the Dallas Mavericks in the 40th pick and the Spurs, in that lottery of players, signed Leon Smith in the 29th place and the Argentine in the 57th place. The little boy who was a fan of the Golden Warriors State in his childhood he ended up becoming a legend of the Spurs and part of the Hall of Fame. But that’s how it all started…

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