The Spurs blew out the Heat tonight, behind 51 combined points from Danny Green and Gary Neal. Though Green and Neal are American-born success stories, many of the Spurs' accomplishments have been built around players from overseas, as Seth Wickersham of ESPN The Magazine examines. Foreign players are "fundamentally harder working than most American kids," Gregg Popovich says. GM R.C. Buford is similarly high on imports, as no team in the league has more players from outside the U.S. than the Spurs do. We'll see if San Antonio's global approach sparks copycats in the years to come, but in the meantime, here's the night's news from the Association:
- The Nets, reportedly deciding between Brian Shaw and Jason Kidd for their next coach, want to make their choice by the end of the week, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. The Nets can give Shaw, also in the hunt for the Clippers job, the more lucrative offer, Bondy adds, speculating that Shaw's interview may be little more than a courtesy, given how high Brooklyn is on Kidd.
- Timberwolves president Flip Saunders had to cut short his meeting with Nikola Pekovic in Italy this past weekend, but the team still "badly" wants to re-sign their restricted free agent center, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
- Shabazz Muhammad will work out for the Blazers, The Oregonian's Mike Tokito notes via Twitter.
- Peyton Siva highlights a group of second-round hopefuls set to work out Thursday for the Grizzlies, reports Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis (Twitter link). Julian Gamble, Jason Jones, Murphy Holloway, Jordan Aboudou and Romero Osby will also participate.