What follows is a translation of a column written by Manu Ginobili for La Nación, which first appeared online on May 17
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I haven't talked or met with anyone yet. It just ended. What I'm concerned about right now is clearing my mind, digesting everything that happened and after a couple of weeks, move on to the next thing. My main goal right now are the Olympic Games, anyway. It's time to relax. There's nothing coming before that and I'll focus on the national team when it's time. I think in two weeks I'll start thinking about my future more. I'll surely sit down with Pop, Tim and some other teammates and talk things out. We'll see then what the goals are and whether things will change or not. It's still too early to see how things will go.
My decision won't depend on what my teammates do, or anything like that, But I do want to know what the team wants to do, what Pop wants to do. That won't determine what I do but I need to know, just to have a good understanding of the situation. I don't know what I'm going to do but I do know that if I retire it won't be because of a lack of options but because I feel it's the right thing to do. I'm very lucky in that I get to choose whether I return or not, which is not always the case for players. There's a possibility of playing one more year but I still don't know what I'm going to do. The player option won't be the reason I make a decision, anyway. I'm going to take as much time as I think I need.
This is the time in which I think about what happened this year. We had an amazing season for the most part but had a bad series against Oklahoma City and were eliminated. That's what happens when you don't play well in the right moments. It was still a close series, with three games that went down to the wire and could have gone either way. Anything could have happened in Games 2 and 5. A couple of questionable calls, a missed shot, a turnover -- in a tight series, that's the difference between winning and losing. It's a shame, because we thought we were good enough to get to the conference finals and see what would happen against the Warriors.
Alas, it didn't happen. They did well in key possessions, closed better and won the series. Again, it's a little disappointing, because we thought we were good enough to advance. Something similar happened last year. The series against the Clippers was great and it reached Game 7. They had an inspired Chris Paul and, well, that's how it goes in the playoffs. There's a thin line between who advances and who doesn't. A good example is the series Toronto played against Indiana. They were on the edge of elimination, won the key game almost miraculously and now are in the conference finals.
I've told you guys this before, but the truth is I don't usually keep up with the NBA when I'm out of the running for the title. I have to admit I did watch Warriors - Thunder. I did it because my sons Nico and Dante are slowly becoming fans and wanted to watch Durant and Curry. I explained to them who they were, how Stephen was the season's MVP, so they wanted to watch the game and we did, together.
After a while it was just in the background but since I was in a basketball mood already, I tuned in to watch Bahia Basket next, which almost broke my heart. So I've watched more NBA than I typically do when I'm not playing. I didn't pay much attention to it and was just another spectator, so I was relaxed. I liked what I saw.
But I still have other goals this year. While I'm aware that I need to clear my head, it's impossible to not think about the Olympics, since that's what's next. I want to relax for now, think about what happened and get a sense of how I feel after so many ailments. So the next few days I won't hit the gym, run or shoot. But when I reach the deadline I set with the trainers and physical therapists, I'll go back to training with one goal: Rio De Janeiro 2016.