manuginobili.com | Emanuel Ginobili Official Website | 2009-2010
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I'm every time more open to the possibility of change
2010-01-29 / by Manu
Here I am eating an “alfajor” (a south American traditional candy) and ready to tell you some things. A lot of people from Argentina came over recently and I have my drawers full of these! I accept all kind of alfajores so feel free to send more! Lol After the win over Atlanta last Wednesday we are happier since it was historical already to lose 5 out of the last 6 and the last 3 at home.
It was a very weird situation and difficult to find a solution because this is not about group chemistry or game style. The relationship in between us and the locker-room keep being spectacular. What is happening is that for moments we play very well and all the balls go in, like against Atlanta that we scored 66 points at halftime and after that, we slow down and we lose confidence, we block ourselves mentally and maybe some times we fall into individualist kind of play. It’s been very difficult to find an answer to those melt downs. The strange thing is that it happens after coming back from the lockerroom in halftime. Well in the 2008 playoffs we lost the 3rd quarter on 6 straight games. That was unheard of.
It is not a matter of waiting for the stars to align and favor us, we have to defend harder, attack the rim more and double our efforts. You can tell I have been more on these matches and that’s because I am feeling very well physically and I am assuming a great responsibility to try to revert this. Although I did miss a lot against Atlanta, I don’t think I played bad at all and it is not something that is currently worrying me, it’s just a matter of confidence, they will fall eventually; the most important thing is that I feel strong, agile and with a lot of energy.
If we look at the standings in our conference (currently 6th with a 26-18 record), our situation doesn’t seem very concerning because we’re just 4 losses away from the west’s 2nd team (Denver 31-14); the complicated thing is that we have 24 games as visitors and just 14 at home to finish the regular season. In February and March we will barely be in San Antonio.
Next Wednesday our traditional road rodeo trip will start with 8 straight matches played away. Even considering that historically this moment have always helped us to mesh as a team and get out of some crisis, we cannot trust that just that will happen because the first 5 games will be against very tough teams like Portland the Lakers and Denver.
My sensation is that we let a huge chance slip away at the beginning of the season and that we should have 5 less losses.
Someone told me yesterday that it seems like I’m playing with anger, very focused, and he was referring to my contractual situation or to the possibility that I am not renewed by the Spurs. It has nothing to do with that! I do not play with any kind of resentment neither with revenge. I am not even feeling that I am playing any differently. I am fine physically and what’s for sure is that I want to win and repeat the title after that. Even more the further we get with the Spurs this year the biggest my salary is going to be next.
To be understood appropriately I would like to clarify that until a couple of months ago I was worried and waiting for a contract extension offer but not anymore. I am more relaxed about that now. I don’t think that I will be renewed until June 30th when the actual deal finalizes. We’ll see what happens in July.
For years I have supposed that my career would finish in San Antonio, but now I am more open than before to the possibility of change. If you look at NBA’s history very few players played their whole career with the same franchise. Those are the rules of the game. This year the Spurs got prepared to win it all and if the objective is not met anything could happen. Those are the rules of the game. Changes could be made and try again next season.
There are lots of rumors and they will grow as the year keeps rolling because like never in the history of the NBA, there is a group of superstars that will be free agents in July 1st like Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire and there are several teams that reserved some cash to go out shopping very aggressively. I was just recently involved in a rumor saying that a straight swap with Phoenix was happening for Stoudamire, but I don’t see good business in having a player just for 6 months that will then end up leaving in July.
I repeat, I don’t know what can happen, I am open to all possibilities. If I have to leave San Antonio I will not be mad to chance scenery, I will evaluate it with my wife (luckily the twins will not have a say… for now) and we will evaluate the possibilities; it would truly hurt to leave a history of eight years in this city where I have always been very happy.
For now, no one can speak officially about negotiations until July, it’s forbidden so you have to wait, I'll try to play to the best of my abilities and especially try to recover ground with my team. Hopefully we’ll get it done in these tough matches ahead.
MANU
