Game-changers Gasol, Ginobili aren’t done yet
They are singular talents in their own ways, standard-bearers for their countries and the intelligence and creativity needed to succeed in the NBA.
They are close to the end of illustrious careers and should be celebrated for what they have given the game.
Pau Gasol, who helped define the ever-evolving role of the big man in the NBA, and Manu Ginobili, the ultra-creative and frenetic epitome of making it up as you go along, are long-standing examples of players knowing their strengths and playing to them.
Gasol is the steady, thinking man — in his 17th NBA season at 37 — who gets by on guile more than anything. The San Antonio Spurs veteran isn’t going to jump all that high or run all that quickly, but he will make a play to beat you and has for years.
“He’s one of those career guys that’s done the same thing over and over again. He’s been consistent,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Gasol, who paid his lone regular-season visit to Toronto on Friday night. “He’s one of the best passing big men, the most cerebral big men in our league. It’s amazing the things he’s accomplished in his career as far as being one of the innovators.
“People talk about Dirk (Nowitzki) being one of the first shooting bigs in the league, foreign bigs, but I put . . . Pau in the same category because those two guys, and especially Pau, have really set the tone for big guys.
“The way that he passes the ball, the way he defends with his length and just his cerebral play, is out of sight.”
A bruised right thigh kept Ginobili out of Friday’s game, perhaps robbing fans of their last opportunity to see one of the most creative players to come along in years.
At 40 years old and in his 16th season in the NBA after a stellar European career, Ginobili will again seriously consider retirement in the offseason. But having watched him through his entire career, Casey has been impressed with not only how he’s remained a unique offensive force but with how Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has melded Ginobili’s flair into a team structure.
“He was a wild buck coming into the league from Europe,” Casey said. “Without taking his innovation and his creativity away, Pop let him have a little bit of it, sprinkle and let him get away with some of it, but still he fit into the system. So that was genius on his part by doing it that way also.”
Ginobili and Gasol are undoubtedly headed for the hall of fame when their careers end. Each was part of golden eras in their homelands that have at least equalled the enormous success they’ve had in the NBA.
Gasol was on two Olympic silver- medal teams as well as a world championship gold medallist in 2006; Ginobili won a gold medal with Argentina at the 2004 Athens Olympics and silver at the 2002 world championship.
They are now teammates with their international careers behind them and are getting the chance to meld their skills under Popovich, one of the NBA’s most adaptable coaches.
“He’d be the first to tell you he’s had the luck and the blessing to have hall-of-fame guys on his team, but he treats the hall-of-famers (the same as) the other guys,” Casey said of Popovich. “You’re talking about Tony Parker, Pau Gasol. All those guys are great players that he coaches the same way. He’s the same. He’s consistent. He’s boring so to speak with his coaching.
“But boring wins, consistency wins in this league, and Pop is all about consistency. He’s one of the best in sports. Whether it’s baseball, football, basketball, we all strive to be like him.”