Tim Duncan’s NBA career may have ended when he announced his retirement last month, but that hasn’t stopped some all-time great stories from coming in involving the future Hall of Famer. The most recent one is told by Duncan himself.
Speaking about his now former Spurs teammate, Manu Ginobili—who’s currently playing for his native Argentine national hoops team in the Olympics—listen to what Duncan told Zach Lowe during a feature on Manu in regards to the abuse he got during his rookie campaign.
Per ESPN:
“Bruce [Bowen] beat the ever-loving [expletive] out of him all season,” Duncan said. “And it’s not like they were calling fouls. Manu just kept going. That’s when I finally said, ‘He’s gonna be alright.'”
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Gregg Popovich was an assistant for Team USA in 2002, and he was excited to finally get Ginobili in San Antonio. “I told Timmy [Duncan], ‘This guy is coming, and nobody in the U.S. knows how good he is,'” Popovich remembered. “And Timmy gave me that whole raised eyebrow thing he does.”
“I had heard that before from Pop about other guys,” Duncan said. “I was like, ‘Whatever. We’ll see.'”
The story talks about how Bowen may have given Ginobili tough love, but he warmed up to the crafty lefty because of his physical, blue-collar play:
Ginobili won Bowen over, too. In one of Ginobili’s first matchups with the Lakers, Kobe Bryant sidled over to Bowen and asked about Ginobili, Bowen recalled: “Tell me about the white boy.” Bowen warned Bryant, “Oh, you’re gonna see. He’s not a white boy, and he’s got some stuff.”
Those Spurs’ teams of Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker will forever be remembered as an unlikely legacy, but it’s stories like these that remind you how they were able to build trust and chemistry through years of working together—unlike a few of these new “super teams” who seem to cut corners to chase titles.