Was a 6th man the MVP of a dynasty? | Offensive Legends Ep. 6

How good was Manu Ginobili? Would he have been seen as a superstar if he played on another team? Why did he come off the bench and play fewer minutes? And was he actually the most valuable Spurs during his prime?

This episode is part of the the second season of the "Greatest Peaks" series. Season 2 focuses on the legends of NBA offense, examining unique archetypes, controversial players and stylistic spearheads who have influenced the game over the years.

Twitter: @elgee35

Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.

Stats courtesy:
-----
Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.

Music:
Epiphany (Cody Martin)
Didekbeats (Nemesis)
Detour in Velour (Fairlight)
Hair (Fairlight)

#ThinkingBasketball #OffensiveLegends

[ThinkingBasketball]

On the issue of playing vs starters or bench units:

In the sample in the video ('04-08), Duncan played 73% of his minutes w/out Manu vs 4 or 5 starters, Manu just 28% w/out Duncan. So Manu played against more bench units. BUT, Ginobili was +8 per 100 vs "starters" and Duncan was -5 per 100 vs "starters."

Manu also played more WITH bench players (3, 4 or 5 bench players), logging 48% of his Duncan minutes like that, compared to just 7% of Duncan's Manu-less minutes. Again, Manu was +2 per 100 in those minutes "with reserves", Duncan -14 per 100 in his "with reserves" minutes.

So I don't think bottom-feeding explains the numbers. I think shooting luck is a bigger factor in those small samples (600 minutes for Manu), and Ginobili's lineups had some, but I don't think that explains the phenomenon in the video.

[Geekzmo]

There is an old story/article (Sports Illustrated i belive, can't rememeber), that former Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey (the father of the 3pt game we suffer today), requested 2 analytic companies to research player tendencies for him to prepare the team before the games. The studies showed that every player had at least 1 or 2 strong tendencies, for example Lebron when receives the ball in the 3pt line on the upper left of the court will fake a penetration and shoot a 3pt in 68% of those situations. Curry will catch and shoot coming out from a screen in 55% of those situations and so... all players had a tendency...all but 1, Manu. The guy never did the same thing 2 times in a game. It was described as "pure versatility, and unpredictable" . AMZING VIDEO.

[JRiddyCuz]

I lived in Dallas when Manu was in his prime. It was hard being a Mavs fan with the Spurs always being right there and so good. And Manu was the worst. Parker and Duncan, you knew what they were gonna bring. But Manu was the wild card. Whenever it seemed like the Mavs were winning, Manu would pull something crazy out of his ass and beat us back down. There was no one that scared me more than Manu Ginobili.

[OmnipotentSpud]

Manu was the primary reason why the Spurs offense never seemed to stall. He was most creative when stuff hits the fan.

[PeteKay]

I met Manu at Best Buy many years ago. He was looking for a laptop and I was just a customer. At the time, I was stationed there at Fort Sam Houston working (burn nurse) at Brooke Army Medical Center. Anyway, Manu let me call a friend who was a BIG MG fan. Manu talked with him for a minute and life was great. He's a very nice, genuine man. That's what I remember about the man. On the basketball court, absolute LEGEND.

[Zoofari]

Thank you for this. Nobody has ever done Manu justice. He’s my second favorite player all time just because when he’s in the game I cannot take my eyes off him

[mcoymedina]

One of the best basketball analyses I've ever seen. Few people understand why Ginobili is one of the most underrated basketball greats ever.

[aquatazer]

I was not expecting a Ginobili video, but he absolutely deserves it. What a great player.

[niqowyd]

Manu could of easily been a 25ppg/8apg superstar in the league. The most impressive part of his creativity is that it wasn’t planned out, he wasn’t out there thinking he was out there flowing. Beautiful player to watch

[NotBae]

Words cannot express how happy I am to see an episode on Manu. Well done!

[justinadviento]

Manu could've gone the James Harden route and been THE man on another team. But he chose to continue the culture of the Spurs way and never, ever thought of leaving San Antonio. The ultimate "team before me" player

[nkrumansantos]

High impact is more valuable than high stats.
Manu is the poster child of impact.
It feels special for us Spurs fans to see Manu's recognized.
Thank you.

[mondrometal]

No doubt Top 75 all time. A winner on every place he played (even gold medal). He popularized the eurostep in the nba and made miracles in Argentina's team.

[wingman]

I watched my 2004 Pistons lock down Kobe in the Finals with 2 of the best on ball defenders in NBA history--Tayshaun Prince and Lindsey Hunter--then watched Manu put them on skates for 7 games the next year, taking over 4th quarters as they looked helpless. That includes when he put on a cape in the 4th quarter of a game 7 when it was tied, scoring 11 with 3 assists and 2 steals, while dunking on Rasheed Wallace, I believe, after he dunked on Ben Wallace near the end of 3rd quarter.

He scored or assisted on 16 of the last 20 Spurs points.

His shimmy shake when dribbling froze Prince, Hunter and Rip like Barry Sanders froze DBs.

[threeseeo]

I wanna cry. Being from SA and a lefty, Manu is my favorite player of all time. The way he played just enthralled me when he was on the court. Thank you for highlighting what a great player he was.

[randomperson]

Honestly, I do feel like Manu should've won the finals mvp in 05 his ability to score so effectively with the lack of shots against such a great defense should've been rewarded.

[BlurryCMen]

Manu is the definition of a great player whose stats don't tell the whole story. Everyone that watched him play during those 2000s Spurs years, knew he was often the best and most impactful player on the floor. His skillset rivals many all stars and even some superstars, no weak point offensively. An absolute joy to watch

[CharleRv]

my favorite player of all time, i remember pretending to be sick and not going to school just to watch him play on our small tv. Manu is one of the hilights of my childhood. im a big Spurs fan because of him.

[kirkmartinson]

Your analysis about how his hip and knee mobility allowed him to glide past defenders was super interesting, and probably one of the big reasons he was so unique to watch. Those are the details that keep me coming back. Most excellent analysis as always!

[taylernrock]

That last Manu vs Duncan on/off stat was wild. Great video as always, Ben.