A 1970 graduate of the Air Force Academy with a degree in Soviet studies, Popovich, 64, toured Eastern Europe with teams representing the Armed Forces and the Amateur Athletic Union during the cold war and later served as an intelligence officer. Known as Pop, he also toured South America playing exhibitions after the 1972 Munich Olympics. Although he can sometimes be wary of reporters’ questions, Popovich is widely popular in the N.B.A. and is known as a coach with an ecumenical interest in food, wine, politics and current events.

“It’s a mecca for international players,” Vlade Divac, a former N.B.A. center who is president of the Serbian Olympic Committee, said of San Antonio. “Pop was the guy who opened the doors. You know that if you go there, you will get a chance to show what you can do.”

San Antonio’s reliance on international players also reflects a pragmatism necessitated by seldom having an early pick in the draft. Duncan was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in 1997 out of Wake Forest; since then, the Spurs have drafted no higher than 20th place in the first round, long after the top-rated American-born collegiate players have been selected.

International basketball players, like soccer players, tend to develop in club systems rather than in school-based systems. Thus, there are few limits on practice time compared with American high schools and colleges — or in some cases none. Coaching tends to be centrally structured through national federations, with an emphasis on fundamentals and teamwork. Exposure to international play is high, beginning at the youth level.

And global players often turn professional at an age when American players are just qualifying for their driver’s license. Splitter, San Antonio’s Brazilian center, signed his first pro contract at 15.

Baynes, the Australian center, attended Washington State and then played professionally in Lithuania, Germany, Greece and Slovenia before joining the Spurs last January. He said: “In Europe we had 15-year-olds training with us every day. When I first started, no way I would have had the confidence to step out there and play with some of these guys. But in Europe, I saw guys competing with grown men every day. It makes them better.”