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When the San Antonio Spurs asked Ernie Grunfeld what it would take to get the 5th pick in June 25th’s draft, Grunfeld simply responded, “Manu Ginobili,” or so goes the purported story relayed by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee.
Despite Ginobili’s old age and injury issues, sounds like a pretty absurd counter request (assuming only expiring contracts/low value players would accompany the pick) for one of the top gamers in the NBA. Spurs brass certainly would not expect to give up one of their top three stars for a pick in what most are saying is a down draft.
Grunfeld is not ridiculous, nor is he stupid. He’s just playing hardball knowing the pick will only increase in value heading up to the draft. Case in point would be the hype surrounding Stephen Curry and interest from the Knicks to possibly trade up to get him (amongst Wizards’ threats to draft Curry themselves). Whether Grunfeld’s old team would deal with him might be another story.
Tags: Andray Blatche, Antawn Jamison, basketball, bill simmons, bob johnson, brandon jennings, bruce bowen, Charlotte Bobcats, Ernie Grunfeld, etan thomas, fabricio oberto, gerald wallace, gregg popovich, james harden, jonny flynn, jordan hill, manu ginobili, Michael Jordan, mike brown, nazr mohemmed, NBA Draft, NBA General, New York Knicks, Nick Young, raja bell, San Antonio Spurs, stephen curry, tim duncan, tony parker, ty lawson, tyreke evans, washington wizards
