Tag: NBA

Back from vacation and ready to crank up the blog again

I’m back.

After 3,745 miles, nine states and 127 gallons of gasoline spread over the last two weeks our family vacation finally is over.

The Griswolds only thought they had all the fun.

But after introducing my 6-year-old to a little American culture with a trip to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, I’m ready for work again.

The NFL apparently has shown their NBA brethren that settling lockouts isn’t exactly impossible.

We can only hope their athletic camrades in sneakers learned something watching this play out.

The world of the Spurs and the NBA hasn’t been silent since I’ve  been gone. And there’s a lot to catch up with.

Thanks again to Jeff McDonald and Mike Monroe for picking up the slack while I was gone. I owe you guys one.

And thanks to the management at the Express-News, who unlike my bosses at jobs in the recent past realize that vacations are healthy and even productive for their workers.

Now where do I start?

Manu talks retirement

As if the NBA lockout hasn’t been hard enough on basketball fans, Thursday afternoon brought another bummer to Spurs faithful.

Manu Ginobili talking about his basketball mortality.

, Ginobili says he isn’t necessarily committed to calling it quits once his current contract expires after the 2012-13 season, but he does recognize the reality that time is not on his side.

He will be 36 years old then, a ripe old age for an NBA shooting guard. It isn’t a stretch to assume that could be Ginobili’s final season in silver and black.

Loosed from the rigors of an NBA job, Ginobili would finally be free to pursue full-time his true passion:

Elsewhere in the Argentine interview, Ginobili seems to frown upon the idea that he might return overseas, to play out his final years as a conquering hero, once his NBA contract is up.

“I always thought about retiring at the highest level,” Ginobili said (hat tip to for the translation).

One year older than Ginobili, Tim Duncan has always addressed the retirement issue by vowing to play, vaguely, “until the wheels fall off.” Ginobili would seem to be built in the same mold. He will likely keep playing NBA basketball for as long as someone will pay him to do it.

Still, if the ongoing NBA lockout eventually ends up cancelling games, it will be difficult not to consider the twilight years of Ginobili’s and Duncan’s careers as unfortunate collateral damage.

Is Manu Ginobili a Hall of Famer?

ESPN.com asks this question, among others, of a roundtable of its True Hoop bloggers. The answer is a unanimous, “You betcha.”

Not much to add from these parts, except to echo what ESPN.com’s straw pollsters have already said. If the case were based solely on his NBA contributions, Ginobili’s ticket to Springfield upon retirement would be up for debate. Three NBA championship rings, however, are a tough argument to beat.

Throw in Ginobili’s accomplishments on the international stage as the only player in the history of the world to win a Euroleague title, Olympic gold medal and NBA championship, and you’ve got yourself an unassailable Hall of Fame resume.

It could be argued Ginobili deserves inclusion simply for his work as Pied Piper of the upstart 2004 Argentine team that stunned the world and took home gold in Athens.

Incidentally, ESPN.com asks the same question about Tony Parker. The jury there is split with two yeses, two maybes and one nope.

These are the kind of questions we ponder during a lockout.