If you were to track and compare Manu Ginobili’s career numbers, you would have thought that the 32-year old Argentine star was on a downward trajectory.

(Discuss Manu in our Argentinian Basketball Forum)

However, Ginobili is having a career year; through 18 games, Manu is averaging career highs in points (21.5), assists (5), steals (1.9), and shooting career-best from the field (47.3%) and free throws (89.5%).

Ginobili’s has buoyed the San Antonio Spurs to the league’s best record at 15-2. In a recent New York Times article, Rob Mahoney goes deeper into Manu’s impact:

…Ginobili’s tremendous season that has elevated San Antonio to the league’s elite. He’s thrived in every offensive capacity; half-court, transition, secondary break –- Ginobili is a man for all paces. He’s best described not as a happy medium between Duncan and Parker, but as the understated piece that cam somehow complement both.

Don’t mistake that stylistic accommodation as some reflection of Ginobili’s worth or performance, though. His skill set may be more flexible than either of the Spurs’ other two stars, but Ginobili has been far and away the most effective of the trio. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Ginobili ranks 10th in the league with 1.13 points per possession (PPP) on offense, a fantastic mark emblematic of his production and efficiency. In fact, it’s hard to find an element of the offense in which Ginobili isn’t elite; he leads the league in PPP in isolation (1.25), ranks second in PPP in plays off screens (1.46), and is the N.B.A.’s fifth best scorer as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll (1.03).

It’s no coincidence that that San Antonio is posting its highest offensive efficiency mark in franchise history while Ginobili is having a career year. Parker’s approach and performance may lend him a transitional importance, but Ginobili’s play grants the Spurs real, transformational power.

In a recent game against the Golden State Warriors, I watched as Ginobili score nine straight points for the Spurs simply using his on-court smarts and craftiness against the Warriors, in particular Monta Ellis.

By the end of the night, Ginobili had 27 points, 5 steals, 6 rebounds, and plus/minus of +31 in 20 point Spurs blowout.

It’s early we know, but we should know better. We should expect the unexpected from Manu.