{"id":143205,"date":"2025-08-13T19:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/143205\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:55:12","slug":"bruce-used-to-beat-the-absolute-crap-out-of-you-tim-duncan-on-when-he-started-believing-manu-ginobili-was-as-good-as-he-was-advertised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/143205\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bruce used to beat the absolute crap out of you” – Tim Duncan on when he started believing Manu Ginobili was as good as he was advertised"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Bruce used to beat the absolute crap out of you” – Tim Duncan on when he started believing Manu Ginobili was as good as he was advertised<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The adjustment for European players transitioning to the NBA after competing in their domestic leagues can be significant due to the difference in rules, playing style and overall game dynamics. So, naturally, when Manu Ginobili<\/a> joined the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> during the 2002-03 season, team leader Tim Duncan<\/a> did not initially hold particularly high expectations for him, as Manu\u2019s early numbers did not stand out.<\/p>\n

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However, Timmy\u2019s perception shifted dramatically when he saw the rookie\u2019s refusal to be physically overpowered during practice sessions.<\/p>\n

Tim Duncan on when he started seeing Manu\u2019s potential<\/p>\n

Standing at 6\u20196\u201d and weighing 205 lbs, Ginobili used his speed to gather steals and relied on his natural shooting ability to be a consistent scoring threat from around the rim and from the perimeter. As a result, he never hesitated to have the ball in his hands in clutch situations. However, Duncan didn\u2019t start respecting Ginobili due to his production, but from his unwillingness to back down in the face of unnecessary intimidation.<\/p>\n

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Once, when the Spurs organization\u2019s all-time greats sat for an interview, Duncan recounted an early impression wherein Bruce Bowen would willingly want to beat Ginobili during the team\u2019s practice sessions. With Bowen having eight All-Defensive Team selections under his name, his hard-nosed, in-the-face type antics were already a hit. Even then, Ginobili wasn\u2019t intimidated and allowed Bowen to charge at him without taking a break.<\/p>\n

Duncan admitted that moment was when he first realized that Manu had the potential to be a great player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember first year when we had to practice, you had to play against Bruce Bowen and Bruce used to beat the absolute crap out of you,\u201d Duncan recalled<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s when I kinda started believing or started seeing he had something; that he was as good as he was advertised.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Diligence and hard work were Ginobili\u2019s strongest suits<\/p>\n

Ginobili\u2019s career with the Spurs went on to validate that assessment. Whether it was recording a series-high 2.2 steals per game in the 2003 NBA Finals, or scoring 23 points on 61.5 percent shooting in Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals when Tony Parker was struggling offensively, or averaging 17.8 points per game in the 2007 NBA Finals, the Argentinian shooting guard consistently proved his value and refusal to be put under pressure by the high-stakes of contests.<\/p>\n

Put simply, he never allowed limited minutes to diminish his impact, as he was continuously adapting his game seamlessly to complement teammates, contributing equally on both ends of the floor and willingly shifting between leading the offense or playing a supporting role.<\/p>\n

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So, it does seem safe to state that if Duncan\u2019s reflections are to be taken at face value, Ginobili was never one to be intimidated – surely a trait that played a vital role in helping the Spurs capture four championships over a twelve-year window.<\/p>\n

Long before the rest of the NBA world started paying respect to Manu, \u201cThe Big Fundamental\u201d began doing so by observing his teammate’s small traits during daily practice sessions.<\/p>\n

Related: “You have no choice but to enjoy playing with someone like that” – Tim Duncan revealed what made Manu Ginobili the perfect teammate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Aug 13, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Bruce used to beat the absolute crap out of you” – Tim Duncan on when he started believing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":143206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[14056,14062,1260,85022,3138,62,14065,32610,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-143205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-bruce-bowen","9":"tag-manu-ginobili","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-practice-sessions","12":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tim-duncan","15":"tag-tony-parker","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115023218174978928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}