'Disrespectful': CJ McCollum Reveals Manu Ginobili Among Welcome to NBA Moments
Former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili made it a habit to fool defenders with his craftiness. For young players new to the NBA, it didn't take long to fall victim to the future Hall of Famer.
In a recent episode of Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum named Ginobili as one of the main players that gave him his initial "welcome to the NBA" moments.
"Ginobili -- first of all, he'd be speaking in a different language. Probably talking, 'he can't mess with me' type of stuff. They call an angle and flat at the end of quarters, so he dribbles to halfcourt. He turns his back to me -- first of all, that's mad disrespectful to turn your back to me," McCollum said.
Ginobili's signature method to attack defenders on drives was his Eurostep. McCollum shared that Ginobili used the move on him multiple possessions in a row in part of a near personal 10-point run for Ginobili.
"He comes at me full speed. Euro, layup. Next play, Euro, layup, and-one. Then he hit me with a step-back. He scored damn near 10 in a row on me," continued CJ. "Coach was like, 'yo,' I'm like, he do this to everybody. What do you expect?"
It's safe to say Ginobili was one of the more crafty guards the NBA has ever seen. He deserves a lot of credit for popularizing the Eurostep, a move that became popular for scorers on all levels of basketball, including Dwyane Wade and James Harden.
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