Manu Ginobili will miss the San Antonio Spurs' regular season opener on Wednesday against the Hornets with back spasms.

“He’s not going to travel to New Orleans and we’re going to assess him again on Thursday,” Gregg Popovich said. “He still feels his back. He tried to get on the court today and he couldn’t do it.”

Brett Brown has stepped down as head coach of the Australian national basketball team.

Brown is also the assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

The San Antonio Spurs have waived Josh Powell, who averaged 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in six preseason games.

The Spurs also announced they have exercised the third-year options on Cory Joseph and Kawhi Leonard. Both player are signed through the 2013-14 season.

“I know I’ve got to keep working and learning, but for sure this move makes all that hard work I put in this summer worth it,” Joseph said.

“I feel like I’m just going to keep on getting better and I feel like they think I’m going to keep on getting better, too.”

The San Antonio Spurs have waived Derrick Brown and Eddy Curry.

Only Josh Powell and Wesley Witherspoon remain as candidates for the Spurs' 15th roster slot.

Klay Thompson was voted by NBA general managers as the player most likely to have a breakout season in 12-13 with 13.3% of the vote.

James Harden was selected last season with 21.4% of the vote.

Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard each received 10.0% of the vote this season, followed by Paul George and Harden again with 6.7% of the vote.

The San Antonio Spurs announced several front office changes on Tuesday.

Sean Marks has been promoted to director of basketball operations/Toros general manager, Brian Pauga has been elevated to director of scouting and Gabe Farkas will assume the position of director of basketball analytics. Additionally, Matt Meiners has been hired as the manager of statistical development, Brandon James joins the Spurs as the manager of basketball administration and Trajan Langdon joins the team as a pro scout.

In addition to his duties with the Spurs, Marks, who spent last season as a basketball operations assistant for the team, will serve as the general manager for the Austin Toros. 

Pauga assumes the role of director of scouting after spending the past two seasons as the team’s scouting coordinator. The Michigan State graduate began his career with the Spurs as a basketball operations intern during the 2007-08 season before being elevated to an assistant.

Farkas has served as the Spurs coordinator of basketball analytics for the past two years. Originally from New York, he began his career with the team as an external statistical consultant in 2007.

Meiners most recently served as senior manager of basketball analytics for the NBA. Prior to his work in the league office, Meiners spent five seasons from 2004-09 as the basketball operations manager and scout for the Los Angeles Clippers.

James joins the Spurs front office after spending the previous four years serving several positions for IMG Sports, Entertainment and Media. A 2007 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, James spent a year as a judicial clerk in Georgia prior to joining IMG.

After being named to the 1999 All-ACC First Team while playing for Duke University, Langdon played three seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Following his stint in the NBA, Langdon played eight seasons overseas in Russia, Turkey and Italy.

Marcus Denmon is currently playing with French team Chalon-Elan, but is being monitored by the San Antonio Spurs.

"The Spurs also called last week," said Chalon coach Beugnot Gregor in Le Journal. "They are very sensitive to what is done with him. He is a real project for them. Marcus has already progressed in aggression, especially on pick and rolls. As a leader, it's starting to come. He begins to see the game, to focus on the weaknesses of the opponent. Over time, it will become natural. He still lacks that confidence."

Gregg Popovich gave each member of the San Antonio Spurs a DVD copy of Wednesday's presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

“Of course, we have so many foreign guys on our team, they were quick to point out they can’t vote, so they shouldn’t be obligated to watch the debate,” Matt Bonner said. “Regardless, they live here, so it’s good for them to be aware.”

Bonner plans to vote for Obama.

Gary Neal is naturally a scoring guard, but his minutes this season will come as a second-unit point guard backing up Tony Parker.

“That’s pretty much how it went for me last year,” Neal said. “Unless an injury or something occurs, or I get beat out for the spot, I’ll probably be the backup point guard again.”

Neal admits he heard the criticism last season that he is not a natural point guard.

“You hear lots of things about the backup point guard and me playing it,” Neal said. “Last year we went on a 20-game winning streak and won 10 games in a row in the playoffs with me as the backup point guard.”

Stephen Jackson is looking for a new deal as he enters the final year of his contract with the Spurs.

“I want it, but I can’t control it,” Jackson said, toweling sweat off his face after Tuesday’s practice. “Every day when I walk in here I’m hoping they’ll call me in and say, ‘Jack, here’s your extension.’

“I think I deserve it, but at the end of the day I’m still happy to be here and all I can worry about is what I can control, and that’s my play.”

Jackson is content with coming off the bench.

“At the end of the day we know Pop will do the best job of getting the guys on the court to win the game,” he said. “As far as roles, the guys who have been here know our roles and we kind of expect the same type of situation next year. I don’t expect to start and I really don’t want to. I enjoyed my role last year. We love our roles and just want to be a better team than last year.”