Spurs’ Joseph blossoms after summer success with Team Canada

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After a morning practice ahead of a Friday evening game, San Antonio Spurs backup point guard Cory Joseph was in the bowels of Target Center in Minneapolis, walking to the team bus and getting dressed at the same time. He pulled a Roots black sweatshirt over his head. Across the chest, emblazoned in red: Canada.

At night, early in the second quarter, the Spurs had not yet exerted their dominance against the home team, briefly behind 30-29 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a squad depleted by injuries and fielding a lineup of inexperienced players, rookie Andrew Wiggins and second-year man Anthony Bennett among them.

It was Joseph who helped wrest momentum back. He burst up the court in a fast break and a perfect bounce pass to Danny Green for a layup that put the Spurs ahead 35-30. Joseph soon after rolled his left ankle, fell to the floor, and headed to the bench. He briefly returned late in the second, enough time to send a laser of a bounce pass, one-handed, to Tim Duncan for another easy two as the Spurs galloped to a 121-92 win.

Afterward, Joseph was in good spirits. "Mild left ankle sprain" was the official diagnosis. He walked with a slight limp but was all smiles, figuring he wouldn't miss much time in what has been his best NBA season yet.

Before there were Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, back-to-back No. 1 picks, there were Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson. The two are the demarcation point of Canadian basketball, the beginning of a surge of talent from the nexus of Toronto.

Joseph and Thompson grew up near Toronto, grew up playing together, and in 2011 Thompson was drafted No. 4 in the NBA by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the highest a Canadian to that point had been chosen, and Joseph went No. 29 to the Spurs.

Thompson was an NBA regular from the start, and has improved each season. Joseph, 23, has made a leap in his fourth season. He's scoring eight points a game, up from five last season, and plays an average of 18 minutes, up from 14.

The gains come after this past summer, when Joseph led Team Canada through a difficult 11-game schedule of exhibition games in Europe, winning five and losing six. Joseph topped the team in minutes per game (24), points (12), and assists (4).

"It was huge for him," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich of Joseph's summertime play. "He's always been a grinder, a tough-mined fibre kind of guy, you know, blue collar, however you want to call it. He's always been great in that respect – the defensive end – but he's starting to blossom offensively."

International basketball has buoyed players before Joseph. Steve Nash, at 26 at the 2000 Summer Olympics, led Canada to a surprise seventh place. Nash had played four so-so NBA seasons and thereafter his trajectory tilted toward the Hall of Fame.

"We always say players are made in the summertime," said Milt Newton, general manager of the Timberwolves and, in the late 1990s, worked for USA Basketball.

"You can't necessarily improve your game in the season. You incorporate into a team concept. You work on stuff in the off-season, ball handling, shooting. If a player can play in the summer, it's to his benefit, which eventually is to our benefit."

Joseph's focus, right now, is resolutely on the Spurs. But he does think about next summer, when Canada aims to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics – which would be the first time for the men's team since 2000. The key FIBA Americas tournament is in Mexico in August, and two teams qualify. The United States and Brazil won't play – because they are already qualified, which gives Canada, even with a young and inexperienced team, a reasonable shot.

"We have a lot of talent," said Joseph on Friday morning. "We expect to make it. We feel like we can. This is going to be the first time, hopefully if everything goes right, we could have everybody together. So that's going to be something special, and something fun."

Thompson and Joseph, along with Kelly Olynyk, will be the veterans – even though they'll all be only 24 – and a considerable amount of fire could come from Wiggins, Bennett, Nik Stauskas and Tyler Ennis, none of whom will be older than 22 next August.

Asked by a local reporter whether Canada might be the next Spain or Argentina in international basketball, the man with a roster laden with international talent did not provide the gruff or terse answer for which he is known.

"It sure looks like it, doesn't it?" said Popovich on Friday morning. "It's not like there's one or two of them – they're everywhere. It's a great thing. The more international the game gets, the more interesting it gets."

The team will be young, like the Timberwolves, where Wiggins and Bennett show flashes of potential but often there is disarray. Joseph, instead, has learned the game on one of the greatest teams in sports. On the Spurs, he has come up slowly. He has learned his craft. And won a ring – which he savours, even if he only saw a little bit of playing time in last June's finals in which the Spurs trounced the Miami Heat.

"Aw," Joseph said Friday morning, a big smile bursting his face, "the ring's great. It's an amazing feeling, my man. I can't believe it. First one from Toronto." He laughed, and he headed for the team bus.