The San Antonio Spurs have 17 players on their current roster. Only Kyle Anderson, Bryce Cotton, Josh Davis and JaMychal Green are new.
In fact, San Antonio has just lost Aron Baynes (still a free agent and could be re-signed) of New Zealand from their 13-man 2014 championship roster. Eight of those players were born outside the United States.
The four Spurs newcomers are all from the United States. Anderson, out of UCLA and from New Jersey, was San Antonio’s first-round draft pick this year. Cotton, from Arizona, and Green, from Alabama, were signed by the Spurs during the summer as well as Davis, from North Carolina, Aug. 25 according to RealGM.com.
Three of the four were on San Antonio’s summer league team and with the Spurs constantly resting players, all four newcomers will likely get a chance to play with the silver and black this season.
Nine Of 17 Players On San Antonio’s Roster Were Born In The United States
Along with Bryce, JaMychal, Josh and Kyle, five other Spurs were born here in the U.S. Jeff Ayres of Arizona State, Matt Bonner of Florida, Austin Daye of Gonzaga, Danny Green of North Carolina and Kawhi Leonard of San Diego State were all born here too.
Bonner was born in New Hampshire and Green in New York. Ayres, Daye and Leonard were all born in California.
Kawhi was by far the biggest contributor last year with 12.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. Danny was no slouch either with 9.1 PPG and 3.4 RPG. Jeff, Matt and Austin also averaged 3.3 PPG, 3.2 PPG and 3.0 PPG during 73, 61 and 22 regular-season games, respectively.
Last year, Shannon Brown, Damion James and Othyus Jeffers played a few games with San Antonio. Just James, though, has not been signed by an NBA team for this season.
More Than Half Of The 2013-14 Spurs Were Foreigners
Ten of 19 players on San Antonio’s roster a year ago were born internationally.
Frenchman Nando de Colo was the lone foreign Spur to not finish the season in the Alamo City. De Colo was traded to the Toronto Raptors in a deal involving Daye after the NBA All-Star Break.
Meanwhile, Baynes is the only international San Antonio player from 2013-14 to have not yet re-signed with the club. Aron averaged 3.0 PPG during 9.3 minutes per game last year and is still available for any NBA team to sign.
Elsewhere, Tim Duncan opted in for the final season of his contract shortly after the 2014 NBA Finals. Manu Ginobili re-signed with the Spurs last summer through 2014-15 and Tony Parker re-signed with San Antonio for the next three years. Boris Diaw of France and Patrick Mills of Australia both re-signed with the Spurs this summer as well.
The Big Three Epitomize The Silver And Black’s Winning Ways
Likely, with so many of their players staying put, San Antonio will once again lead the NBA in internationally born players. Marco Belinelli of Italy, Cory Joseph of Canada and Tiago Splitter of Brazil will also be on the 2014-15 Spurs roster.
As of now, eight of San Antonio’s 17 players for this upcoming season were born outside the U.S., including their Big Three — Duncan from the Virgin Islands, Ginobili from Argentina and Parker from France. Those three Spurs have played their entire careers in San Antonio and have made the Spurs the gold standard of the NBA.
San Antonio has won five titles since Timmy entered the NBA in the late 1990s. As well as being constant championship contenders, the Big Three have helped the Spurs lead the league in internationally born players every year since 2004. The two seem to go hand in hand.
San Antonio’s foundation of the Big Three has been replicated by others, but what sets the Spurs apart is their supporting cast. Having Belinelli, Diaw, Joseph, Mills and Splitter makes a world of difference, hence why San Antonio brought them all back for another title run.