Ginobili Wins Sixth Man Award

Manu Ginobili better make some room on his mantle. In addition to the accolades already earned by the gifted Argentine -- two Lega A Most Valuable Player awards, the Euroleague 2000-01 Final Four MVP award, the 2001 Euroleague Championship, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and three NBA Championships -- Ginobili has now been recognized as the NBA's best sixth man.

We here at SpursDynasty congratulate Manu Ginobili, but we know better. Just because he came off the bench, doesn't make Manu a sixth man.

Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring, averaging a career-high 19.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Ginobili came off the bench in 51 of the 74 games he played this season.

“I really don’t care about coming from the bench if that helps the team to win a championship,” Ginobili said.

“He’s one of the better players in the NBA, who just happens to come off the bench,” said Spurs starting guard Michael Finley. “Any other team in the league, he’d probably be starting, but for him to come off the bench and put his ego aside it just shows what kind of team we have, and more importantly what kind of player and All-Star he is.”

“That is what I’m going to remember when I retire, the rings I have,” Ginobili said. “Not the fact I played 28 minutes or 33 or my name being called in the starting lineup. That’s not going to make the difference in 10 to 15 years.”

“I just consider myself a player, a team player,” Ginobili said. “So this year he (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) thought it was more important for me to come from the bench, so I just try to do it the best way I can.”

Popovich gave all the credit to Ginobili, who is the first Spurs player to win the award.

“Manu is a person who’s much more concerned with the group than he is about himself,” Popovich said. “He got over himself a long time ago. … I don’t think there are too many All-Stars that coaches in this league can go to and say, ‘You’ve been great. Now you’re going to come off the bench.’ So I’m very fortunate.”

Ginobili shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in his sixth regular NBA season and when he drives the lane—routinely picking up bumps and bruises along the way—he’s known for putting the ball in from seemingly impossible angles.

“Before I got here I used to think those shots that he made were luck, and what we called, when I was growing up, fluke shots,” Finley said. “Now that I’m his teammate and I see him on a daily basis, that’s his game.”