"The draft-night trade that sent George Hill to the Indiana Pacers so the Spurs could select forward Kawhi Leonard at No. 15 shocked Spurs fans.

Not only was Hill a versatile, popular player, he was such a hard worker that he became one of coach Gregg Popovich's favorite Spurs.

He also was the only truly reliable backup for Tony Parker at point guard.

It took the Spurs little more than an hour to address the brief gap at backup point guard. Surprising many, the club used the 29th pick to select University of Texas guard Cory Joseph.

Joseph, a native of the Toronto area, was a dual guard for the Longhorns, playing both backcourt positions. But in the NBA, he will play strictly at the point, the position he is manning this week in the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

Though he had only 11 practices with the Canadian national team before it departed for Argentina, Joseph is the starter at point guard for the tourney's upstart team.

Canada entered Monday night's game against Argentina with a 2-2 record from Group A. The Canadians put a scare into bracket favorite Brazil, then upset a Dominican Republic team that featured an NBA All-Star, Al Horford, and two more NBA players. It followed with a convincing victory over Cuba.

Joseph has shown the baseline-to-baseline defensive intensity and skill that attracted the Spurs to him during his one season with the Longhorns. He also has done a solid job running Canada's offense, even while learning it on the fly."