Though still a few weeks away from returning to the court, Manu Ginobili is out of his post-surgery splint and has been cleared to do some basketball work with his repaired hand.

“He's shooting mid-range shots, lefty,” coach Gregg Popovich said Monday. “He'll be cleared to go one-on-one in a week or so.”

Ginobili remains on a timetable that should put him back on the court at some point during the Spurs' nine-game rodeo road trip next month. Including Monday's 83-73 victory in Memphis, the Spurs are 10-7 with Ginobili sidelined.

The San Antonio Spurs today assigned rookie forward Malcolm Thomas to the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ NBA D-League affiliate. He was originally assigned from the Los Angeles Lakers to the L.A. D-Fenders on Dec. 17, before being waived by the Lakers on Dec. 22.

Thomas, who earned a Call-Up to the Spurs from the D-Fenders on Jan. 11, has appeared in three games for San Antonio this season, pulling down three rebounds and scoring one point in 15 minutes.

The corner three, which measures 22 feet from the center of the rim, is a more efficient shot than a three from the wings or the top of the key (23 feet, nine inches).

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has preached the corner three-pointer for the floor space it creates for players to drive to the basket and for the increased reward (1.18 Pts/Attempt) it produces on the scoreboard.

Over the last five seasons, the league as a whole has attempted 27.6 percent of its threes from the corner. The Spurs, meanwhile, have attempted 39.3 percent of their threes from the corner, easily the highest rate over that time.

Richard Jefferson is leading the league in both makes (29) and attempts (55) from the corners this year.

The Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks are pursuing free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, according to league sources.

Martin has spoken with executives from each of the clubs and is hoping to make his decision next week.

Martin signed a $2.6 million deal with Xinjiang during the lockout, but left the team in late December in hopes of returning to the NBA.

Tiago Splitter has been much more aggressive looking for his shot in the post in recent games and credits a more confident approach to improved foul shooting. After making only 54.3 percent of his free throws in his rookie season, he is making them at a 72.7 percent clip this season. He made 6 of 7 foul shots against the Hawks.

“When you know that you will make free throws, you can play more aggressive,” he said. “(You can) go to the rim and you’re not thinking, ‘What if I get fouled and miss free throws?’

“That’s a big thing and of course it’s helped my confidence. At the end of the day when you start playing good, you have confidence and attack the rim. If you are going to get fouled you are going to make it.

“It’s like a snowball.”

Gregg Popovich has talked often this season about wanting to limit the number of games Tim Duncan plays in any given time period.

For the first time, Popovich has enumerated a specific plan to accomplish that. Duncan’s days of playing four games in five nights are over.

“That’s a rule,” Popovich said. “I’m not going to let him play four games in five nights. It’s not going to happen.”

Duncan is averaging career lows in minutes (27:18) as well as points (13.1) and rebounds (7.3).

“I never like it, I never think it’s going to work out,” Duncan said, chuckling. “Pop is a lot smarter in that respect.”

The Spurs have decided to retire the jersey of Bruce Bowen.

Bowen, who was a key part of three titles with San Antonio, wore No. 12.

Bowen will join David Robinson, George Gervin, Sean Elliott, James Silas, Avery Johnson and Johnny Moore as members of the Spurs who have had their number retired.

“He understood his role above and beyond all,” Tim Duncan, who played next to Bowen for eight seasons, said after shootaround Monday in New Orleans. “He knew what he needed to do to stay on the floor, and he stuck to that. Those people are rare. Everybody wants to be something they’re not. His focus was to be the best he could at what he was.”

“Bruce was more of those steady factors, where he did the same thing night in and night out, whether it was a preseason game or a championship game,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s just who he was. We gave him that role, and he lived it and breathed it.”

LeBron James said Tuesday that Gregg Popovich, who has coached San Antonio to four NBA titles, would be a great choice for U.S. Olympic coach in 2016 if Mike Krzyzewski doesn't return.

"Absolutely," James said when asked about that possibility. "He knows the game. He knows the players. And he's coached enough stars at San Antonio. I think he'd be great (as Olympic coach). If Coach K decides he doesn't want to do it any more, I think Coach Popovich would be a great candidate. His resume speaks for itself."

Popovich was noncommittal when asked Tuesday.

"I don't even think about stuff like that," Popovich said. "I just worry about tonight."

The Spurs turned a 14-point halftime lead into an 88-75 deficit entering the fourth quarter against the Heat on Tuesday night.

“I thought in the second half they got real physical, and I thought we folded,” Popovich said. “The physicality killed us. We had nobody that stepped up. We let the physicality beat us in a lot of different ways — whether it was cuts, or passing or boards. It didn’t matter what it was. Their physicality put us in a ditch."

The Heat outscored the Spurs 71-35 after intermission.

“They beat our ass in the second half," Popovich said. "We should be embarrassed by that, playing that soft.”

Several NBA teams, including representatives from the Spurs and Thunder, were on hand to witness Iona point guard Scott Machado’s 16-assist, 1-turnover performance against Manhattan on Tuesday. Other NBA teams in the mix include the Warriors and Hornets.

“My first goal is to win a MAAC championship and to win tonight’s game,” Machado said after recording 16 assists against just a single turnover against Manhattan. "If they’re here to watch, they’re here to watch me play. So I’m here to play how I play.”

Machado averages a Division I-best 10.1 assists per game.

“The NBA seemed, not a little far-fetched (at this time last year), but I knew I was going to have to work to get there,” Machado said. “I know I’m going to play professional basketball somewhere. I have that passion for the game and I want this to be my life and I think I’ve begun to take things more seriously.”