You know what supports him being a stiff? Watching him play at that time. He could do certain things. He could take up space, he could block and alter shots, he could catch the ball and he could dunk. He was not mobile, he had no conditioning, and he often looked lost on offense and defense. He had no discernible ability to make any kind of move with the ball or shoot outside of 3 feet. He looked really good every once in a while - I assume because of certain match-ups. But any attempt now to paint him as some great player who was only held down because of Manning not playing him is revisionist history, pure and simple.
I'm just as down on Manning as a coach as anyone but, if anything, Manning deserves some credit for getting Doral from where he was to where he is today. Or maybe Doral did it all on his own, I can't say for sure. In any event he was much better when he left than he was when he came in.
Manning really doesn't deserve any credit for anything. The nuance of how much Doral did or did not improve is really meaningless when it comes to the big picture of Manning's suckage.