Oddly, I never did this when Duncan retired, or when Parker took his talents to Charlotte, or when Kawhi escaped his personal hell. I may or may not do this when Popovich finally retires. But the retirement of Manu Ginobili is just more meaningful, and if anything, more sad and more final to what it is the last link to American sports best dynasty in the 2000s.
Manu Ginobili was not the Spurs best player, though at his best (2005 - 2007) he wasn't that far off Duncan who was struggling with injuries for the first time. It is easy to overstate his importance, but it is tough to overstate his impact. Ginobili has provided some of the greatest moments in these Spurs runs. He had 11 crucial points, including a dagger three, in Game 7 of the 2005 Finals, a little stretch so important some will argue he should have won Finals MVP.
He had the big three to win Game 1 of the 2008 1st Round against Phoenix. He had a brilliant first half in the 2014 Finals clincher, including a dunk that will live in r/nba infamy, punctuated with a classic Breen-gasm. Manu Ginobili, whether it be long hair flowing in 2003 and 2005, or shaved with bald spot for so many other years, is an iconic figure in the history of the NBA.
Putting Duncan aside, who is a monumental Top-10 player of all time figure, Ginobili is every Spurs fans' favorite player during this dynasty. He had the scampering gymnastics of Tony Parker, but with a three-point shot to boot. He was a wizard passer and driver, and incredibly gifted player who kept staggering athleticism late into his career. He was a gloriously fun player, who made everyone around him better. Ginobili was also smart enough to realize his impact would be better off the bench, being the key cog to a consistently great bench unit. Ginobili was everything.
Ginobili was one of the most unique players in the way he played, his jerky, rhapsodic style, something like a more graceful, kinetic James Harden. His ability to make that step-back three look effortless was stunning. His ability to contort his body to hit reverse layup after reverse layup was amazing. The way he popularized the Eurostep was fundamental to the modern NBA. Manu Ginobili's impact cannot be missed. His imprint is all over today's game.
I do want to pause a bit and talk about what Ginobili's retirement means for the Spurs as a whole. It is crazy jsut four years after their dominant Finals win, the only real rotation player from 2014 still here is Patty Mills. Obviously, Duncan, Parker and Kawhi are gone, but so too are Danny Green, Boris Diaw, Thiago Splitter, Matt Bonner, Corey Joseph and so many others. The Spurs are an intriguing team that could finish anywhere between 2nd-8th, but a team of Aldridge-Gasol-Derozan-Gay-Murray is just something so foreign.
The fact the Spurs may still win 50 games (remember, they won 47 last year basically without anything from Kawhi), and that is a testament to the organizational brilliance that starts with Popovich, but that organizational brilliance would never have been a thing if not for Duncan, but almost as much Parker and Ginobili.
This Spurs era is fully over, an era that spanned 20 seasons in earnest (1997-98 through 2016-17), that gave us nineteen 50+ win seasons (the only exception was a lockout season with just 50 total games - the Spurs had the best record and won the title), five Titles, being microscopically close to a 6th. That era is over, and the most magical player from it is the one who turned the light off for a final time.
