I found the below article interesting in that it essentially states Pop avoids American players. I had always thought of Pop being better at scouting international guys but hadn't thought about him purposefully avoiding Americans because of selfish play.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9364989/san-antonio-spurs-doing-right-drafting-international-athletes-espn-magazine

Or what if he is building an international spy syndicate? We know he had ties to the CIA, and once considered a career in espionage. What's to say he never actually accomplished that?...I'm just asking the questions that are on everyone's minds.

International players have fewer groupies and fewer yes-men that will tell the player that they are great, but the coach is screwing them.

I bet Bonner is secretly Canadian, but saw that guys like Bill Wennington and Marlon Pompey didn't get the respect they deserve because of their love for Labatt beer.

I'm going to go endorse Tiago Splitter on LinkedIn.

quote:

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I bet Bonner is secretly Canadian, but saw that guys like Bill Wennington and Marlon Pompey didn't get the respect they deserve because of their love for Labatt beer.

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Counterpoint: Cory Joseph.

Green, Neal, Leonard....american players. I think it is more the system and the eye for under-rated talent than anything else.

Pop just likes to have a free place to stay as he travels the world in search of fine wine.

International players tend to play the team game more than American players and they tend to have less attitude. Pop has no tolerance for guys that think they deserve special treatment. He wants guys that always put the team first and understand that winning is all that matters.

There have been plenty of Americans that fit with Pop's system but they needed to have the right attitude. That's part of why he has had a lot of American role players and especially vets. Players that have been around long enough to know they aren't going to be an All Star but want to win fit in well. The interesting test will be a guy like Leonard. Will he have the patience to grow up in Pop's system and not feel the need to try and be "the man"? Hopefully he realizes he can be part of the building blocks of the post "Big 3" era and take to heart the attitude that Duncan, Manu, and Parker all have had as he matures. We shall see.

interesting concept about how internat'l players have more practices & game time as teens growing up compared to US playaz.

I think that if your highest first-round pick has been in the 20s for 15 straight years, you really have to be looking at international players.