 When you think of Manu Ginobili, you think of the big three, Tim Duncan, Manu and Tony Parker. You think of Greg Popovich. You think of the whole San Antonio Spurs. But when you realize he was a second-round pick after all, he was a huge part of the Spurs' legendary dominance from the 2000s and continued on to today. He still dominates games, not the way he used to, but the way that the San Antonio Spurs need him to. He's 39 years old. He's a free agent and he is considering retiring and I thought, well I don't have too much time and Manu has always been a guy that I've respected and loved to watch. With that being said, here's the story of Manu Ginobili, the James Harden before James Harden. James, is there a player right now in the league that people can say, yeah, I can see James Harden being this type of a player? Maybe like a Manu Ginobili, left-hander, kind of crafty, can get to the basket from sneaky athleticism. But before I get started, I want to give a huge shout out to our sponsor of the day. Take a look on the top. We have Tony Parker and the bottom, Kawhi Leonard. So right now, I want you to make your pick. Who was going to hit the game winner? If you chose Kawhi Leonard, you could be on your way to one million dollars if you had the Moneyline app. Right now, click the link in the description box down below and start winning cash daily on Moneyline. And also, huge shout out to Benjamin. He made some of the graphics in this video, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys could go and support him as well. Channel is in the description box down below. Go follow his social medias. Before he retired, I wanted to have something on Manu on this channel. So here it is. I hope you guys enjoy. Go follow Benjamin, subscribe to his channel, and I hope you guys enjoy this video here. The amazing passes. The clutch plays. He's always been that Argentinian beast that I've never really got enough of. He's shown that he's a team player, not just by playing under Greg Popovich in the Spurs system, but I mean, he's a six man of the year. He's a four-time NBA champion, and he's made an all-star team. Obviously, Manu Ginobili is a legend. But how did he go from being a second-round pick to an NBA legend? He was arguably the James Harden before James Harden. Obviously, he wasn't as good as James Harden, but he had that euro step that we all know Harden definitely replicated off Ginobili. He was, in a way, the sixth man that Harden was in OKC. There are some similarities. That left-handed shooting touch. Harden ultimately became the best player. But how would have Ginobili been if he was the star of a team that didn't have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, that ended up getting Kawhi Leonard? You never know. Ginobili could have been not a star like James Harden or an MVP candidate, but an all-star for many, many years if he was on a team that didn't really have too much around him. I mean, you could also argue, had he not been drafted to the Spurs, maybe he would have just been, well, a one-and-done type of player, as in a couple of years in the NBA, but never really done too much, and left the NBA and ended up playing overseas again. You never really know with this kind of stuff, but he was definitely the James Harden before James Harden, in my opinion, because the Euro step was deadly. He was a sixth man of the year candidate for many, many years, four-time NBA champion, and definitely hit some clutch shots that led to the championships for the Spurs. One of my favorite players, let's get into Manu Ginobili. In 1999, he was actually drafted by the Spurs, 57th overall. So when I talk about the second round, I mean, he was three picks away from not being drafted at all. He was almost undrafted to an NBA champion, four-time NBA champion. Well, it's pretty crazy. He won the MVP of the Italian League in 2001-2002, and to hear that the Spurs GM at the time found Ginobili as a mistake is even crazier. According to Zac Lohu, if you don't know, is a reporter, claims that Spurs GM buffered was scouting the under-22 World Championships in Australia in 1997 and had never heard of the name Manu Ginobili. He told Lohu, he was like a wild cult out there, just doing crazy shit. Some of it made sense, some of it didn't. And to be honest with you, looking back, it was probably his Euro step that really showed him what he could do. When Ginobili came to the NBA for the 2002-03 season, few actually had heard of him. Popovich told Lohu, I told Tim Duncan, this guy is coming and nobody in the US knows how good he is. I heard the name before from Pop about other guys, Duncan said. I was like, whatever, we'll see. As we all know, Tim Duncan ended up loving Ginobili and he impressed him so much that, well, he ended up staying in the Spurs when he could have easily joined the Orlando Magic, which he was almost signed to. But as we all know, completely different story. Doc Rivers said he couldn't take his family on the plane and that was the end of Duncan going to Orlando. But Ginobili was one of the reasons Duncan actually stayed because he could have easily joined any other team besides Orlando. But Ginobili was, yeah, one of the reasons why he did stay in the San Antonio Spurs. Ginobili told Lohu, he was actually an experiment and what an experiment it was because not only was Ginobili one of those guys that impressed Tim Duncan, impressed Greg Popovich, impressed the whole of San Antonio and their fan base, word of Ginobili actually managed to hit Kobe Bryant. According to Zach Lohu once again, during a game, Bryant asked Spurs for with Bruce Bowen at the time and he said, tell me about that white guy. Bowen reportedly told Kobe, oh, you're going to see. He's not just a white boy. He's got some stuff. And from that day on, Kobe definitely realized that Ginobili wasn't just some white guy. He was, well, one of his biggest rivals. But one of the things I love about Manu was the fact that he was, well, an all-star caliber player. In fact, despite becoming an all-star, he accepted the role to come off the bench, knowing that the Spurs needed to balance their rotations in order to win championships, which played a big part in Tim Duncan actually wanting to say in San Antonio. And he never whined, complained, or anything about coming off the bench. He took that role and ran with it. He became one of the best six man any team could ask for. He became the sixth man in the year of 2007 and 2008, averaging 19 points, five rebounds, four and a half assists, shooting 40% from three in 74 games that year. And, well, as you can imagine, he earned not only the Spurs respect, but respect throughout the entire league. When Manu entered the league, it wasn't like the league today. There was a lot of European guys and a lot of international guys that didn't get the credit they deserved. There was a common stereotype that overseas guys were weak and couldn't handle what it took to be in the NBA. Manu revolutionized what that meant. He played with toughness. He played with grit. He played with hardship. And he showed the Spurs and the entire league what he was about. And that players overseas could make it to the NBA. They could score. They could facilitate. And they could do whatever it took to help lead their teams to victories. Even from the 57th overall pick, to coming off the bench, to starting, to being an all-star, to dropping back down to a six-man position, to being a veteran leader, Manu revolutionized the NBA as we know it today. And thanks to Manu, we have a lot of players that come into the NBA with shifty play styles and euro steps and behind-the-back flashy passes. A lot of that actually came down to what Manu Genobley was able to do on the court, something he deserves a little bit more credit for. Because Manu, like I said, revolutionized the way that we know the NBA as it is today. With everyone critiquing international players and even his teammates ripping into him, Manu didn't care. He was going to prove everybody wrong. And prove everybody wrong, he did. Nobody thought the 57th overall pick would become a four-time champion and pave the way for many NBA players today. James Harden and John Wall with the euro steps and behind-the-back passes. That was Manu before anybody else did it. So with that being said, once again, huge thank you to Benjamin for providing some graphics for this video. He also gave me the idea of trying to do a Manu Genobley video. And I already had something planned, but he really gave me that push to actually make the video. So with that being said, links to all his work and channel in the description box down below, go definitely go subscribe to him. It would mean the world to me. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my channel. We make NBA videos just like this, preparing some what-ifs that I think you guys will really enjoy. So if you did enjoy this video, please leave a like. Follow me on social media. Links are in the description and on the screen right now. Subscribe to this channel, and I'll be sure to see you guys in my next video. It's been your buddy, Smith. I'm out, peace. And shout out to Manu Genobley. Hope he doesn't retire, but if he does, it's been good, Manu. And I'm out, peace.