That pass to Bonner got me on a kick to find his "best" pass ever, using youtube. In so doing, I came to the conclusion that there isn't really a "best" one, because there are countless passes just like that one that are out there on youtube. Other than Magic, I can't think of any other player that I have ever watched that can make those kinds of plays. Sure, Nash and Stockton and all those typical "facilitator" PG types have been more prolific, but if you need a ball to be delivered behind-the-back, then sail millimeters away from two defenders fingertips, bounce between a third defender's legs and lightly graze his left nut to slightly change the trajectory on the way to rolling up perfectly into an open teammate's palms, there isn't a guy in the league that can do it the way Ginobili can. He is a magician with the ball.

Pretty sure Chris Paul is a better passer than Manu Ginobli.

And White Chocolate Williams can make all of those passes with his eyes closed.

That said, check out these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYkFlrW_cqs&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QVI8TOjGSs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg91DnSUGwk
This one is kind of ho-hum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdvGlZrYyhk

I thought about Williams, and he is close. But I give the nod to Ginobili because of his longevity.

Hyperbole much?

Can Manu get Chubby to score in a game like Scott Howard was able to do?

Don't think so.

Jason Kidd would like a word.

http://www.nba-online.com/player/video/923/jason-kidd-top-10-assists/

Welcome to TexAgs, Mrs. Ginobili

Yep, I could see this coming. Get ready for an onslaught of passes from other players.

Maravich.

Congrats to you. Personally I would insert Jason Kidd for Ginobili in that OP and it would make sense

Manu takes more risks with his passes than kid ever did. He will regularly pass between defenders legs and not think twice about it.

Maybe that's what I'm getting at that he is so good at. His degree of difficulty AND creativity is off the charts. Maybe not best passer, but definitely most creative, IMO.

quote:

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Manu takes more risks with his passes than kid ever did. He will regularly pass between defenders legs and not think twice about it.

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This sounds like a better way of saying "more turnover prone" to me.

How about a really nice mix of Kidd's consistency & White Chocolate's ingenuity?

He's been my favorite player for years...defensive tenacity, shoots, slashes, passes. Makes a great teamate, just wish he could have been healthy throughout his career. So fun to watch!

He is definitely turnover prone. But you always take the bad with the good when it comes to Manu.

Just a few that are better....

Maravich I can agree with.

Not sold on Saboner.

Even being a Spurs fan, I completely disagree with the original post. Ginobili, while he does connect on some really spectacular passes, makes so many bad and dumb passes over the course of important parts of the game that he doesn't even deserve mention in a conversation about the better current or former passers in basketball history.

I could maybe give him the degree of difficulty on the attempt, but for every goofy pass he hits on, he misses on two more.

There's a reason he was called Magic and it had as much to do with his passing as anything else. If you watched him in his prime, you never knew where the ball was going to end up -- his teammates included. There were times he'd hit them in the face with the ball. You had to have your head on a swivel at all times. He was so good passing the ball even his fast breaks got a nickname - Showtime. While everyone is still waiting for the next scoring machine a la Jordan, it's been even longer since there was a passer like Magic. No one ever did like him before he came along and no one has been in that kind of a league since, at least from an entertainment and showmanship standpoint.

Maybe we've hit on a major difference between Ginobili and guys like Kidd, Stockton, Nash, etc. Those guys never played reckless like Ginobili does. And their assist/turnover ratios were/are always very high.

However I would disagree that he throws 2-3 bad ones for every good one. His assist/turnover ratio is ~2.4, which is better than a whole host of guards in the league and really pretty good for a guy who has the ball in his hands a majority of the time he is on the floor.

Genobili's anticipation and understanding of angles and touch is the best I've seen. I don't care what the numbers say. If he was a full time point guard he'd have double digit assists every night, there's no doubt. The closest comparison I have is Bird. Most fans remember Bird as only a shooter. But people that watched him night in and night out say he was the best all around player they ever saw. Some rare players just see the game differently and Manu is one of those guys.

Steve Nash? Jason Kidd? Come on bro.

[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 4/23/2012 9:49p).]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPGEMOo_Rgc
this guy is pretty good

Right, it's not just flashy passes, but being clutch.

In OT, down by 1, 15 seconds left...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WteQojZF9Vs

He almost turned the ball over for jumping in the air and not having anywhere to go with the ball. I wouldn't call that clutch. More like getting bailed out by his teammates

Ginobili isn't one of the best passers in history in that he generates a zillion assists every night with almost 0 TOs, but if you made a video of his top 10 WOW!! assists, it would stack up against anybody's.

I think that's what the OP is getting at. Ginoili regularly makes you say "holy ****, did that really just happen!?" Possibly more than anybody.

I definitely understand where you guys are coming from, some of those passes are quite impressive. I am going to work really hard to keep my anti_Spurs bias in check and give Manu his due, he makes some excellent passes.

But to call him the best passer you've ever seen does a discredit to real Hall of Fame Point Guards I think. Ginobili has some awesome highlight real passes, that sure could stack up against Kidd and Nash and Magic. But whereas Ginobili's assist highlight reel would last about a minute you could assemble one for each of those guys that would go for hours.

I don't think he's the best passer ever. Nowhere near it. But he does make some of the best passes ever.

In football terms, Manu would be called a "gunslinger".

Larry Joe Bird

I'm a HUGE Manu fan, but Manu hasn't done anything that Pistol Pete didn't do 40 years (at least!) prior.