manuginobili.com | Emanuel Ginobili Official Website | 2009-2010
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I stayed in San Antonio for my wellbeing: I'm at home
2010-04-12 / by Manu
It's incredible the game the Lakers just lost to Portland, the team that's above us in the West. Kobe Bryant missed two free throws, and after that Fisher missed another one. On top of that, Kobe made a decisive foul when they were down by one and there were 7 seconds left.
I took advantage of the day off on Sunday to sit down and write after watching a movie, but I got distracted with that incredible game. I can't believe Kobe missed two free throws! Portland won, so it gets complicated to finish sixth, because they have the tiebreaker against us.
Well, I think the first thing we need to talk about is the extension, right? Let me tell you that I'm happy. My idea was always to stay in San Antonio, but the problem was that negotiations took too long. This dates back to almost two years ago, from the Pekin Olympics. And, to be honest, I thought I was on my way to be a free agent and I wasn't even nervous about it. But all of a sudden, in less than two weeks everything came together, and they ended up giving me the maximum they could give me according to the NBA rules for a 32 years old player. They couldn't offer me more. I could have looked for a better contract, but for that I would have had to become a free agent and risk getting injured. If we win it all, and I'm selected MVP, then I might have gotten a huge contract, but if we don't go past the 1st round and I don't play well, it might have costed me to get a good deal.
The most important part is that the Spurs demonstrated that they wanted me, and that I'm part of a great team, always with chances to win a championship. Now I'm at ease, satisfied, without that anxiety of waiting until July to know what would happen. I also have to say that I stayed in San Antonio for my wellbeing, I'm like at home. People here love me and I love them. I'm not a nomad, I don't like to be switching teams. I wouldn't have dealt well with being part of another franchise's rebuilding process, starting from zero and with a different system.
Of course I might wonder what would have happened if I would have been a free agent. It just didn't make sense to me to wait until July to see if I could get extra money. I identify myself with the Spurs and the city. Besides, I spent eight years here, celebrating three titles. And even though I don't discard the possibility that I could continue my career in this franchise as a manager or something similar (because I think I have the capacity to do something like that, I speak three languages and I know European basketball), I don't know if, when I retire, I'm going to feel like going every morning to the office at 8am and traveling here and there. I don't see it, but I don't discard it.
Now we're focused on the playoffs and hoping to win the remaining games to finish sixth, although facing the second or third in the West, being how competitive it is, it's more or less the same thing. To face Dallas, Denver or Phoenix is not that different. We don't want to be in 8th place so we can avoid number 1, which are the Lakers, but if we end up having to play against them, we know they're not unbeatable either. We beat them and the top teams in the East recently, and we could make a good playoff run. The team grew a lot in the last few games. We have more intensity, more focus, and some individual players are playing better. We beat Denver in our last game and we really played good defense. Looks like when we entered the danger zone, when there was a possibility to miss the playoffs and we felt the blow of losing Parker, there was a big reaction. The problem is that we lost some unbelievable games. We didn't play up to par at the beginning of the season, but we're on the right track. The team is alive and showing signs of turning things around. We're still competitive.
As far as my game, nothing really has changed in the last few games and after Tony (Parker) came back. I just shot less and the percentages also went down a bit because I was really worn out. We played five games in seven days, all of them incredibly difficult and it really wore me out. So I take the drop as something normal.
Do you want me to talk about the Worlds Championship? Ja, ja! I bet that what you're all waiting for. Well, let me tell you, next week I'll make an announcement in this very same column. Honestly, I haven't decided yet. Even though the most important variable (be a free agent or not) is not there anymore, there are a few things to decide.
What I can tell you is that I want to go to the London Olympic Games in 2012 and I would love to play the qualifying tournament. But let's wait a little more about Turkey.
And I wanted to make clear that the visit by Sergio Hernández and Germán Vaccaro the other day was just to put me up to date with the schedule for the team previous to the Worlds. They didn't pressure or hurried me to make a decision. It was a pleasant visit.
The twins? Very well. Luckily, very well. They are 4 pounds already and the mom has a huge belly. if they don't surprise us early (something that seems to be common with twins), they should be here in the middle of May. So, I'm tranquil and waiting for the playoffs.
MANU
