As Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sat in his Manhattan hotel room late Thursday, realizing his chances of signing Jason Kidd likely were dwindling by the minute, he didn't wait to start wondering about the future.

"Most of the work we've done, has been preparing for what happens if we don't get Jason," Popovich said.

The Spurs now hope they've prepared enough. Informed late Friday morning Kidd had decided to re-sign with New Jersey, Spurs officials scratched the All-NBA point guard's name off their free-agent list and examined their alternatives.

Minnesota center Rasho Nesterovic and New Orleans forward P.J. Brown, both of whom already have had face-to-face meetings with Spurs officials, likely will attract more interest from the team in the coming days.

"We put a lot of time in a lot of free agents," Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. "We're going to continue to move forward in building a team we hope can compete for a championship."

By striking out with Kidd, the Spurs also may have unwillingly appeased many of their fans. Since the Spurs' championship, local media outlets were swamped with complaints about the team's courtship of Kidd.