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Mike Monroe - Mike Monroe
When the Hornets made a fourth-quarter run at the Spurs in Friday's game at the AT&T Center, slicing a double-digit lead to five points, Manu Ginobili decided it was time to put away a team whose collective resolve has been membrane-thin for weeks.
When he came free off a screen on the Spurs' next possession, Ginobili fired in a long 3-point shot that made the Hornets' shoulders sag.
It was the sort of play that wins games, and it's what Ginobili, more than any Spurs player, has done in eight seasons in silver and black.
When any game is on the line, it is Ginobili who most often is asked to produce victory. On a team with a two-time NBA MVP and certain first-ballot Hall of Fame big man, it seems lunacy to say it, but Ginobili is the Spurs' MVP.
Can anyone in South Texas see him in another uniform?
Two summers ago, the Spurs couldn't. There were talks aimed at extending the contract he signed in the summer of 2004, when he was a restricted free agent and Denver made a hard sell the Spurs trumped.
Then Ginobili returned to Argentina to practice for the national team's defense of its 2004 Olympic gold medal. The Spurs held their collective breath all summer, and when Ginobili went down with an ankle injury in a semifinal game in Beijing, the extension talks were put on ice, right alongside his ankle.
The Spurs wanted to see how Ginobili recovered, and when his season ended last April because of a stress fracture in his right ankle, the waiting game went overtime.
The Spurs began this season needing to see what a 32-year-old had left. What they've witnessed over the last three weeks should be evidence enough. Ginobili is himself again, finishing at the rim and running down the league's best athletes to block dunks and change games.
“The last 21/2 weeks, Manu's had his lift and quickness,” says coach Gregg Popovich, whose opinion as president of basketball operations is vital to the process. “He's making better decisions because his rhythm is back. He feels more confident in his shot.”
Ginobili plays only to win but is not naive to the effect his renewal has.
“Maybe I do (have more leverage),” he said. “I think I've showed everybody I'm still healthy and can still play.”
General manager R.C. Buford talks regularly with Ginobili's agent, but the Spurs have not told Herb Rudoy they want to pre-empt free agency.
“I don't think they've felt any rush to do this because they have exclusive rights until July 1, so they've felt no pressure,” Rudoy said.
But the window is closing fast. Ginobili will listen if the Spurs want to talk extension, but only before season's end.
“Of course, it will depend on the amount and the years,” he said.
If the Spurs' final game ends without agreement, Ginobili will test the market in July. What should frighten the Spurs about that prospect is the number of teams that have created room under the NBA's salary cap to make runs at big-name free agents this summer.
“You've got all these teams with all this money, and only one can sign LeBron (James),” Rudoy said. “His heart is really in San Antonio, but the onus is not on me, it's on the other side of the table to want to discuss this. I'd be surprised if they let him go to free agency, but it's their decision.”
There is a name for that sort of decision: No-brainer.
mikemonroe@express-news.net
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Ginobili_will_be_in_demand.html
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