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Brett Brown was convinced Ginobili was coming to the Sixers

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Philadelphia 76ers tacitly announced their intentions to hit fast forward on their half-decade-long rebuild this past offseason, shelling out big money to bring in veterans like J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson. But, they actually tried to jump-start that paradigm shift a year earlier when they pursued San Antonio Spurs lifer Manu Ginobili in free agency, and apparently came close to landing him.

Sixers head coach Brett Brown, who cut his teeth as a Spurs assistant for nine years before coming to Philadelphia, told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on "The Woj Pod" that there was a night during the 2016 offseason in which he went to bed thinking he was getting Ginobili.

"No doubt," Brown said. "Things change ... but you get excited and you trick yourself to think, 'I'll be damned, he's actually coming to Philadelphia.'"

Instead, the Spurs upped their offer, and Ginobili re-signed in San Antonio on a one-year, $14-million contract. He signed another deal with the Spurs this past offseason that will carry him through his age-42 season, should he choose to keep playing.

"I think it's played out just as it should've," Brown said. "He can end his career probably where he should be. Life moves on."

Brown said he still has a bad taste in his mouth from the whole recruitment process given his standing relationship with Ginobili and the rest of the Spurs organization, particularly coach Gregg Popovich and president R.C. Buford.

"It was awful," he said. "It was truly awful, because I had been with Manu from day dot in the NBA, and I had seen Manu play as a teenager in Melbourne, Australia, and the level of respect that I have for that man - forget the basketball player - is immense. So, now you're the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and Manu Ginobili's a free agent. He and I have a strong relationship, and I know he can still play, and I know what he would mean to help produce the culture that I would want. ...

"There was definitely a little bit of friction (with Buford), no doubt. ... You felt like you had lipstick on your collar and (were) doing something terrible. To this day, I don't feel entirely 100 percent comfortable about what happened."

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