Fansided

Spurs G Manu Ginobili Addresses Preseason Struggles

By Trisity Miller

Oct 22, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili (20) shoots the ball against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 22, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili (20) shoots the ball against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili speaks on his preseason struggles leading up to the regular season.

Coming off a NBA championship, four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili has struggled dearly in the 2014 NBA preseason. Addressing the situation, Ginobili credits the struggle to rust because of injury and finds himself quite upset with his play up until this point.

From the San Antonio Express-News:

"Ginobili estimates the three-month hiatus was the longest he has gone without even playing informally since the summer of 2008, when he blew out an ankle at the Beijing Olympics and had to have surgery.“It was three full months of not really handling the ball, or playing the pick and roll or guarding anybody one on one,” said Ginobili, who did not return to on-court drills until about a month ago. “The rust is hard.”That doesn’t make his preseason struggles any easier for the ultra-competitive Ginobili to accept.“Even though we are in preseason and nobody really cares if I shoot 1 for 10 or not — I don’t like it,” Ginobili said. “I go in at halftime and I’m upset and I hit things and I challenge myself.”"

The struggles aren’t small for Ginobili. Through five preseason games, Ginobili is averaging 6.0 points on 20 percent shooting, along with 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. In comparison to Ginobili’s play in previous preseasons, Manu is having is worst output since the 2010-11 season per RealGM.com.

Considering Ginobili’s age, it’s not unusual for the shooting guard to get going a bit slower than those around him. Without playing in international basketball because of injury — as mentioned above — Manu has a lack of rust combined with being out of shape. Luckily for San Antonio, what matters most is Manu being ready in the postseason as opposed to the regular season and he’ll have 82 games to get ready for that point.

The Spurs kick off their season on opening night against the Dallas Mavericks.

More from FanSided

Home/NBA