“The Players’ Tribune” released a story Tuesday by Atlanta Hawks’ Marco Belinelli where the Italian listed his favorite European basketball players.

Among the five, Belinelli listed Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic and Manu Ginobili.

When Belinelli played with Ginobili with the San Antonio Spurs, Belinelli wrote he found out what it was like to play with his hero.

"Something I don’t think people know about Manu is that he is a very positive person,” Belinelli wrote. “He wants the best for his teammates, and throughout the two years I played with Manu, he was constantly coaching me. He taught me how to move with the ball on the court, which is something I hadn’t done much of at Virtus. I was already pretty good at moving without the ball, so I could find a good shot, but Manu taught me all these new tricks I had never even thought of.

“To put it quite simply, Manu is a champion.”

The other two European player Belinelli admires can be found in his piece on "The Players' Tribune" official website.

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