By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-07-01 22:55:40
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
保罗表达了他想为马刺队首发、与文班亚马并肩作战的渴望，并且被波波维奇的球队文化所吸引。
虽然自由球员市场开放后的最初17多个小时里异常安静（也许各支球队终于开始认真对待反篡改规则，不再在谈判窗口开启前进行幕后交易），但第一天最令人震惊的消息之一是39岁的保罗似乎放弃了对总冠军戒指的追求，加盟了年轻的圣安东尼奥马刺队。
在昨晚接受NBATV采访时，最初爆出签约消息（技术上要到7月6日才能正式签约）的克里斯·海恩斯(Chris Haynes)透露，他已经和保罗谈过，保罗“非常渴望并且充满动力”地想为马刺队首发，并与维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)并肩作战。海恩斯说，格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)向他灌输了球队的文化和他们正在努力构建的东西，而保罗渴望证明自己作为一名球员仍然很有实力。
“我和保罗谈过了……他很兴奋能有机会和文班亚马搭档……波波维奇只是向他灌输了球队文化以及他们正在努力的方向。”@ChrisBHaynes谈论保罗加盟马刺队pic.twitter.com/bMLeGbftJy
— NBA TV (@NBATV) 2024年7月1日
在提到了保罗效力俄克拉荷马雷霆队时的经历——当时雷霆队正处于与马刺队现在相同的重建阶段，而保罗帮助他们在关键时刻的表现得到了极大提升——格雷格·安东尼(Greg Anthony)接着解释了保罗将成为年轻马刺队球员的良师益友，以及他们如何能够在文班的第二个赛季自然而然地成为附加赛的有力争夺者。
这一切都很好，但也许最大的收获是，保罗预计将首发，至少在初期是这样。这可能会让人惊讶，也可能不会，这取决于你问的是谁，但这确实引出了一个问题：这会让特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)在轮换阵容中处于什么位置？这显然会让琼斯成为替补控球后卫，说实话，这很可能是他职业生涯的最终归宿（更不用说，我们希望马刺队已经不再使用“矮个子”阵容了），但也许更大的问题在于卡斯尔。
卡斯尔在进入大学时是一名控球后卫，为了康涅狄格大学赢得全国冠军，他同意打一个不属于自己的位置，人们认为马刺队至少会尝试让他回到他熟悉的控卫位置。这就让他们陷入了一个两难的境地：他是以侧翼的身份开始他的NBA生涯，是和保罗一起首发还是和琼斯一起替补出场，还是说琼斯会沦为第三控卫，尽管他了解体系、了解文班，并且拥有教练组的充分信任？（我们在这里假设卡斯尔不会在奥斯汀毒蛇队花费太多时间，甚至根本不会。）
最终，现在下定论还为时过早，但看看控卫位置上的情况会如何发展将会很有趣。就我个人而言，我会对一个由保罗、卡斯尔、德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)、杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)和文班组成的潜在首发阵容很感兴趣。这套阵容在防守端肯定非常稳固，而卡斯尔可以充当第二组织者，同时向保罗学习，而不是被立即扔进NBA的“火坑”。与此同时，我们可以期待瓦塞尔、索汉和文班在外线投篮方面继续进步，以帮助球队的进攻跟上节奏，同时，除非有重磅交易，否则他们将拥有比上赛季更可靠的替补阵容，由琼斯和凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)领衔。
更多的好消息是，如果这对搭档最终没有成功，保罗的合同很容易被交易，据报道只有一年，价值1100多万美元。谁知道呢？也许球队的目标是在将他送到一支需要“最后一块拼图”的争冠球队之前，先让他指导文班半个赛季。即使情况并非如此，以下也是需要记住的一点。
马刺队现在正按照一年的时间表运作。他们的目标是尽可能多地为2025年保留薪资空间和球员名单名额，届时选秀和自由球员市场都将更加强大。此举带来了球迷（和文班）想要的经验丰富的领导者，同时又不影响球队的未来。保罗可能并不总是马刺球迷最喜欢的对手，但假设他全身心投入——听起来他已经做到了——这对球队的未来将非常有利。
点击查看原文：Report: Chris Paul is expected to start for the Spurs
Report: Chris Paul is expected to start for the Spurs
CP3 expressed his eagerness to start for the Spurs, play with Wemby, and was sold on the culture by Pop.
While the first 17+ hours of free agency has been unusually quiet (maybe teams are finally taking anti-tampering rules seriously and not making behind-the-scene deals before the negotiating window even opens), one of the bigger initial shocks of day 1 was 39-year-old Chris Paul seemingly giving up his quest for a championship ring and joining the young San Antonio Spurs.
In speaking with NBATV last night, Chris Haynes, who initially broke the news of the signing (which technically won’t happen until July 6), revealed he had spoken with Paul, and he is “very eager and motivated” to start for the Spurs and play alongside Victor Wembanyama. Haynes said Gregg Popovich sold him on the culture and what they’re trying to build, and Paul is eager to show he still has it as a player.
“I spoke to Chris Paul… He’s excited about the chance to pair up with Wembanyama… Pop just sold him on the culture and what they’re trying to do.” @ChrisBHaynes on CP3 landing with the Spurs pic.twitter.com/bMLeGbftJy
— NBA TV (@NBATV) July 1, 2024
After noting the comparison to his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, when they were at the same stage of their rebuild as the Spurs are now and how he helped them drastically improve in closing games, Greg Anthony went on to explain what a good mentor Paul will be for the young Spurs and how they should see a natural jump to play-in contenders in year two of Wemby.
That’s all well and good, but probably the biggest takeaway is that Paul is expected to start for the Spurs, at least initially. That may or may not be surprising, depending on who you ask, but it does beg the question: where does that place Tre Jones and Stephon Castle in the rotation? It clearly moves Jones to backup point guard, which if we’re being honest is most likely where his career will lead (not to mention, we’re hoping the Spurs are done with Munchkin lineups), but perhaps the bigger question is for Castle.
A point guard going into college who agreed to play out of position for the sake of UConn winning a national championship, the assumption has been the Spurs will at least try to return him to his natural position. This puts them in the conundrum of will he begin his NBA career as a wing, be it starting next to Paul or coming off the bench next to Jones, or does Jones fall to third string point guard despite knowing the system, Wemby, and having the full trust of the coaching staff? (We are operating under the assumption that Castle will not be spending much, if any, time in Austin.)
Ultimately it’s a bit early to know for sure, but it will be interesting to see how things pan out at point guard. Personally, I would be intrigued by a potential starting lineup featuring Paul, Castle, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan and Wemby. It would certainly be stout defensively, and Castle could act as a secondary playmaker while learning from Paul and not being immediately thrown into the proverbial NBA fire. At the same time, we can hope that Vassell, Sochan and Wemby keep improving as outside shooters to help the offense keep up while, barring any big trades, they’d have a much more reliable bench unit behind them than last season, led by Jones and Keldon Johnson.
More good news is if this pairing doesn’t work, Paul is on a very tradable contract at reportedly just 1 year, $11-plus million. And who knows? Maybe the goal is to get his mentorship for half a season before sending him to a contender that needs “one more piece”. Even if that’s not the case, here’s something to keep in mind.
The Spurs are operating on a one-year timeline right now. The goal is to keep as much cap space and roster spots open for 2025 as possible, when both the draft and free agency class will be much stronger. This moves brings the veteran leadership that fans (and Wemby) wanted without impacting the future. Paul may not have always been a favorite opponent of Spurs fans, but assuming he buys in — which it sounds like he has — it will be very beneficial down the road.
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock