In the first year in which he could be selected, Emanuel Ginobili, winner of four NBA rings, will become the first Argentine to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ginobili, an Olympic champion with Argentina and one of the best NBA players born outside the United States, heads the class of 2022 announced Saturday by the Hall of Fame.
🚨 OFICIAL 🚨
Manu Ginobili nuevo integrante del Salón de la Fama en la clase 2022 😍#NBA75 | #22HoopClass | @manuginobili pic.twitter.com/XEJbYnF6Ox
— NBA Latam (@NBALatam) April 2, 2022
The induction ceremony will take place the weekend of September 9-10 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Argentine, who played his entire NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, will be only the fifth Latin American, male or female, to be immortalized in this institution after Brazilians Oscar Schmidt, Maciel Periera and Hortencia Marcari and Panamanian John Isaacs.
“Although one never trains or competes in search of individual awards, and the most beautiful and significant ones are always in groups, to be recognized in this way four years after retirement is an incredible compliment,” Ginóbili acknowledged at a press conference in San Antonio, Texas.
“I started playing basketball in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and I didn’t even consider this to be a goal,” he recalled.
The shooting guard, leader of the amazing Argentine team that won gold in Athens 2004, played between 2002 and 2018 in the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he was proclaimed champion four times (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) forming a memorable trio with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker under coach Gregg Popovich.
“If I am going to be in the Hall of Fame in September, it is for having been part of that team, of that generation (Argentina) that achieved so many things and in parallel with an organization as successful as the Spurs,” 44 year-old Emanuel Ginobili thanked.
“I have been very fortunate to be a part of those two iconic teams,” he stressed.
‘Manu‘, whose number 20 was retired in 2019 by the Spurs, was selected for two All-Star Games (2005 and 2011), won the Best Sixth Man award in 2008 and left the NBA with a total of 14,043 points, 4,001 assists, 3,697 rebounds and 1,392 steals.
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The Emanuel Ginobili mentality
Ginobili made his mark on the NBA thanks to his exceptional talent, creative passing and fierce competitive spirit on the court.
Despite his exceptional individual merits, Ginobili had the humility to assume the role of sixth man when he was required.
Before the media, wearing a shirt with the Spurs logo, the Argentine insisted on Saturday that the fundamental virtue of a player is his ability to improve the team.
“Do things properly, for the common good, not just for individual recognition. That’s the mentality I always had in my career and that I would recommend to a guy who is just starting out,” he said.
“I was not predestined. I had to work a lot on and off the court,” stressed the Argentine, who was chosen a distant 57th in the 1999 Draft.
“I think it ended up being a very nice story of the one who comes here to row it with a lot of dreams but also uncertainties,” he congratulated himself.
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‘Unparalelled’ gold
In addition to his successful career in the NBA, Ginobili was also the greatest figure of the Golden Generation that reached the first Olympic gold in basketball for the country, in Athens 2004.
With 29 points from Ginobili, Argentina amazed the world at those Games by eliminating the United States in the semifinals, where stars like LeBron James or his then-teammate Tim Duncan competed, and later defeating Italy in the final.
“It’s very hard to compare that accomplishment to anything else because we weren’t supposed to be there,” he recalled.
“Achieving that kind of recognition with a group of friends who have played together for many years and who have basically grown up together is something incomprehensible. There are no words that can do justice to that feeling,” said the shooting guard, who also won a bronze Olympian at the 2008 Beijing Games.
After his retirement in 2018, Emanuel Ginobili practically took a three-year sabbatical and last September he rejoined the Spurs in an advisory role in which he said he does “a little bit of everything.”
“I’m trying to be close to the players, because they are a young team with little experience, but also to learn from the other side,” he said, referring to the coaching staff and management.
“I don’t have a very clear objective like being a coach or GM (general manager). Not at all. I’m living day to day, happy. Luckily I don’t need to go out and look for something immediately,” he assured.
To be selected to the basketball pantheon, “Manu” needed to receive at least 18 of the 24 votes of the Honors Committee, made up of Hall of Fame members, executives, journalists and other experts.
Other figures chosen for the Hall of Fame Class of 2022 are former players Tim Hardaway, a figure of the NBA Warriors and Heat, and Swin Cash, a three-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
By: AFP
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