One overlooked part of the Nets hiring Pablo Prigioni as an assistant coach and Tiago Splitter as a scout (and a sometimes big man coach) is that both are among the best players to come out of South America, Prigioni from Argentina and Splitter from Brazil.
Does this mean that the Nets have a new interest in the continent? The Spurs, when Sean Marks played in San Antonio, then was in the front office, valued South America, starting, of course, with Manu Ginobili. But the Spurs also had several other South Americans on their roster during their championship years, Fabricio Oberto, Tim Duncan’s back-up, is also from Argentina’s “Golden Generation.