In recent Philadelphia 76ers rumors, the team offered Manu Ginobili a fairly large deal. How would he have been on the Sixers?
The Philadelphia 76ers exited free agency (at least so far, there are still some names available) without a blockbuster signing. But that doesn’t mean that the team didn’t try.
In fact, there’s reports out now that indicate that the Sixers did try pretty hard to get Manu Ginobili, the longtime guard of the San Antonio Spurs. Ginobili, a native of Argentina, has 14 years of experience, all with the Spurs.
Ultimately, Ginobili agreed to re-sign with his original team, the San Antonio Spurs, but the Sixers forced the Spurs to up their offer to Manu to $14 million for one season. The Sixers reportedly offered Ginobili $30 million for 2 seasons.
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It is now impossible for Manu to join the Sixers this season, and likely at all since it seems logical for Ginobili to retire after this season. Still, it’s interesting to think about what Ginobili could have offered the Sixers if they did miraculously land Manu in free agency.
Ginobili obviously would have added to the veteran presence that the team has already established with players like Gerald Henderson and Jerryd Bayless, but he would have offered a lot more than just an age on a team. Ginobili, although he does have several years under his belt, is a solid player with a lot of skills. How much gas is in the tank? Who knows, at this point, but Manu did see a down season last year.
Manu put up 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game last season in 19.6 minutes per game. All of those stats were near-career lows for Ginobili, with the lowest season prior to that coming in his rookie season.
Still, for the minutes he was given, Ginobili produced. He was mostly on par with his past few seasons per 36 minutes, proving that he can still be a solid player off of the bench. On the Sixers, however, he may have started, since the team has little arsenal in the backcourt, which could have been troublesome for him. Ginobili, since he is nearly 40 years old, could not have played starter minutes every night due to just how long of a season the NBA year is.
Ginobili played in less than 60 games last year, and started none.
From a fit perspective, Ginobili could have been good alongside Simmons. He shoots well from beyond the arc (over his career, he has averaged 36.9 percent from beyond the arc) and could have spaced the floor well for Simmons and the rest of the front court. He would have been solid in the fast break, often weaving in between defenders and somehow getting to the hoop and scoring in 3-on-1 situations because of his nifty ball handling and impressive speed.
Although Ginobili wasn’t ever a great player as far as getting assists at a high volume, (his career average is 4.0 per game) he was still good for a few fancy, creative passes every night. For the Sixers, that’s really all they need from the shooting guard slot right now, since a bulk of their passing will come from the forwards Ben Simmons and Dario Saric.
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Ginobili’s ability to score from beyond the arc, and get a few assists a night would have helped the Sixers immensely. His vast knowledge of the game and leadership that he offers is something the Sixers hopefully found in their other free agent signings, but there’s no denying that getting Ginobili for a two-year, $30 million deal would have been sweet, although costly for a few short seasons.
Overall, this would have been an awesome signing, but from the get-go (even though the Sixers did actually try to get him) it wasn’t realistic.