Tag: basketball

Long story short: A buzz cut for Manu

There’s a video up on YouTube – tip of the hat to our friends at Pounding the Rock for pointing us to the video that was posted by one of their contributors – that features some from Argentina’s friendly game against Venezuela as both teams prepare for the FIBA Americas pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.

Two things struck me about the video: First, Manu’s to-the-basket game looks to be in mid-season form; second, he’s getting closer and closer to what some of us call a great haircut.

In short, Manu is rocking a buzz cut. The effect of the cut minimizes that bald spot that has continued to creep in all directions from the crown of the Spurs guard’s head for the last few years.

Having long ago given in to the misfortune of disappearing hairlines and adopted the totally bald look, I heartily endorse Manu’s new cut.

From a basketball standpoint, the video shows that Manu has lost none of his touch off the glass with his left hand and none of the fire that makes him the Spurs’ emotional leader. After one hard foul by a Venezuelan player, he goes nose to nose with him, then has a long discussion with a referee.

Miss ‘Coach B?’ Check out Bonner’s latest video wackiness

Lockout be damned, “Coach B” is at it again.

That’s Matt Bonner, of course, aka Coach B, wacky purveyor of basketball tips and life lessons.

Bonner’s latest video efforts center around promos for a benefit basketball game in Toronto, scheduled for Sept. 10. Bonner is recruiting teams to play in the event. The idea is to raise money for Athletes for Africa and the St. Albans Boys and Girls Clubs.

Cost to enter a team is $500, but teams are being encouraged to raise additional money. The payoff: The top money-raising teams get the right to draft some celebrity players. These include Bonner and Nick Collison, of the Thunder. The real draw, though, is Arcade Fire front man Win Butler, who is both very tall and a bona fide indie rock star. He also happens to count Bonner a good friend.

Here’s a link to a video promoting the event that features Bonner on the art of trash talking.

Manu to Argentine reporter: ‘Two more years and then … I don’t know’

This was inevitable: As soon as Argentina began playing “friendly” warmup games to prepare for the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament that begins on Aug. 30 in Mar del Plata, Argentine sports journalists were going to take every opportunity to ask Manu Ginobili and some of his longtime teammates from the “golden generation” about their long-term basketball plans.

Thus, a story about Ginobili that ran Sunday in “El Tribuno,” following Argentina’s friendly triumph over Paraguay, 82056, in Salta, Argentina. The story is headlined “There is a high possibility of leaving basketball in two years.”

Of course, Ginobili will be 36 when his contract with the Spurs expires in two years, so it is hardly a surprise that he said he didn’t know how he might feel about continuing his career once that contract expires.

With translation help from my friend, Joe Alvarez, here is Ginobili’s response to the question, posed by the El Tribuno reporter, “How much longer until Manu leaves basketball?”

Ginobili: “I’m going to play for two more years for sure. When that day comes and I’m a free agent with open possibilities, I’m going to decide if I  want to continue to pay, or not; if I do it in SA, or if I go somewhere else.

“There is a high probability that I’ll ‘leave’ in two or three years, but I don’t want to say yes or no because I don’t know.”