By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-07-06 15:49:59
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2024 年 3 月 7 日，在加州萨克拉门托举行的一场 NBA 篮球比赛中，萨克拉门托国王队前锋哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes)（40 号）在上半场对阵圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉 (Jeremy Sochan)（右）的比赛中扣篮。（美联社照片/杰德·雅各布森）
即使是 NBA 最年轻的球队也需要一位了解自己角色的老将，而德文特·格雷厄姆 (Devonte’ Graham) 欣然接受了这一点。去年冬天，在马刺队客场征战期间的球队晚宴上，他总是第一个点饮料的人。
如果服务员二话不说就把饮料端给他？他那几个未成年的队友就知道自己也可以点了。
但如果格雷厄姆被要求出示身份证呢？
“那就只能点很多雪莉·坦普尔了，”他在 2 月份笑着对周围的孩子们说。
格雷厄姆一直是这些孩子们在胜利不是唯一目标时所需要的酷叔叔，他在周六向他们告别了。他离开的细节表明马刺队的优先事项正在发生变化。
他们仍然年轻。
他们仍然不急于求成。
但现在，这群喝雪莉·坦普尔的年轻人需要一些能在球场上做出贡献的成年人，最好是在赢球的同时。
至少在周六，其中一个人变得更容易加入了。
在像马刺队这样的一个夏天，任何一笔交易都不应该单独评判。当他们用格雷厄姆和 2025 年来自新奥尔良的二轮选秀权从夏洛特换来现金时，重要的不是“现金”的部分。
重要的是，随着格雷厄姆的合同从账面上消失，马刺队现在可以创造足够的薪金空间，以 1100 万美元的价格签下克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul)，并吸收另一名年薪 1600-1800 万美元的老将球员的合同。
也许并非巧合的是，萨克拉门托有两名老将球员符合这一条件，凯文·许尔特 (Kevin Huerter) 和哈里森·巴恩斯。也许并非巧合的是，国王队需要在这两名球员中送走一名，才能与芝加哥公牛队进行关于德玛尔·德罗赞 (DeMar DeRozan) 的先签后换交易。也许并非巧合的是，受人尊敬的 NBA 记者马克·斯坦 (Mark Stein) 周六第一个报道称，马刺队已成为促成国王队-公牛队交易德罗赞的潜在第三方球队。
具体操作如下：芝加哥公牛队原本将失去德罗赞，因为后者将成为自由球员，而公牛队不想承担额外的薪水，他们将与德罗赞签署一份新合同，并将他交易到萨克拉门托，估计会从国王队得到一个选秀权作为回报。为了给德罗赞腾出薪金空间，萨克拉门托将把许尔特或巴恩斯送到圣安东尼奥。作为对马刺队麻烦的回报，他们还希望得到一个选秀权，或者可能取消或降低芝加哥公牛队欠他们的 2025 年首轮选秀权的前 10 顺位保护。
如果这一切听起来过于复杂，那么简而言之就是：马刺队正试图比去年赢得更多比赛。他们可能已经找到了一种方法，既可以做到这一点，又不会牺牲他们为未来几年更大的动作而保留的未来灵活性和资产，即使有牺牲，也是微不足道的。
以一份合理的 1 年合同签下保罗是实现这一目标的第一步。这位 39 岁的控球大师在更衣室里是一位模范球员，并且有着悠久的光辉历史，他加入的每一支球队都取得了进步。仅仅是他的挡拆能力，就足以让维克多·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 已经精彩纷呈的集锦中，每晚再增加三到四个进球。
许尔特或巴恩斯也可能是一个有吸引力的补充。文班亚马、杰里米·索汉 (Jeremy Sochan)、德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和一名控球后卫（保罗、特雷·琼斯 (Tre Jones) 或斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)）组成的阵容最大的问题是，它需要第五名球员能够用三分球来拉开对方的防守。许尔特（上赛季三分球命中率 36.1%，职业生涯 38.2%）和巴恩斯（上赛季 38.7%，职业生涯 37.9%）都能满足这一需求。
25 岁的许尔特比巴恩斯年轻 7 岁，在组织进攻方面提供了更多选择。巴恩斯身高 6 英尺 8 英寸，体型更大，并且拥有更多总冠军经验。两人的合同都将在 2026 年到期，在此之前交易起来应该不难，所以两人都不必为了发挥作用而融入马刺队的长期计划。
如果公牛队-国王队-马刺队的谈判破裂怎么办？如果圣安东尼奥找到另一种方法，利用格雷厄姆交易创造的空间，再寻找一个像巴恩斯或许尔特这样的球员，这并不奇怪。
总经理布莱恩·赖特 (Brian Wright)、首席执行官 R.C. 巴福德 (R.C. Buford) 和主教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 在本休赛期已经明确表示，他们无意再次输掉 60 场比赛。争夺总冠军仍然是几年后的事情，但进步很重要。加快这一进程的最佳途径是至少增加一些有能力的经验丰富的球员。
格雷厄姆是一位很棒的队友。他的年轻队友们都很喜欢他。他的教练们都很喜欢他。在一个经常感觉像日托中心的更衣室里，他的存在有助于保持理智和冷静。但是，尽管他在球队晚宴上很有帮助，但他无法提供孩子们在比赛中、球场上需要的帮助。
“作为一支年轻的球队，有时很难在没有老将的指导下做到这一点，”文班亚马说。
所以在周六？
格雷厄姆以自己的方式，帮助孩子们完成了最后一单。
点击查看原文：For Spurs, more veterans might be on the way
For Spurs, more veterans might be on the way
Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes (40) dunks against San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif, Thursday, March 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
Even the youngest team in the NBA needed one old vet who understood his role, and Devonte’ Graham embraced his. At Spurs team dinners on the road last winter, he always was the first to order a drink.
If the server brought it to him, no questions asked? A couple of his underage teammates figured they had the green light.
But if Graham was asked to show his ID?
“It’s a lot of Shirley Temples,” he said back in February, grinning at the kids around him.
Having served as precisely the kind of cool uncle those kids needed when victories weren’t the point, Graham bid them farewell Saturday. The details of his departure showed how the Spurs’ priorities are changing.
They’re still young.
They’re still in no hurry.
But now the Shirley Temple bunch needs some grown-ups who can contribute on the court, preferably while winning every now and then.
And Saturday, at least one of those guys became a little easier to add.
During a summer like the one the Spurs find themselves in, no single transaction should be judged on its own. When they traded Graham and a 2025 second-round pick from New Orleans to Charlotte for cash considerations, what mattered was not the “cash considerations” part.
What mattered was that, with Graham off their books, the Spurs now can create just enough salary-cap space to sign Chris Paul for $11 million AND absorb the contract of another veteran player making $16-$18 million per year.
Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Sacramento has two veteran players fitting that bill in Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, the Kings would need to offload one of those two players in any sign-and-trade deal with Chicago for DeMar DeRozan. And perhaps not-so-coincidentally, respected NBA reporter Mark Stein was the first to report Saturday that the Spurs had emerged as a potential third team to facilitate a Kings-Bulls trade for DeRozan.
Here’s how it would work: Chicago, which was set to lose DeRozan to free agency and does not want to take on extra salary, would sign him to a new deal and trade him to Sacramento, presumably getting a draft pick from the Kings in return. To make salary-cap space for DeRozan, Sacramento would send either Huerter or Barnes to San Antonio. For the Spurs’ trouble, they’d also expect to get a pick thrown in or possibly have the top-10 protection removed or reduced from the 2025 first-round pick Chicago already owes them.
If all that sounds overly complicated, here’s the short version: The Spurs are trying to win more than they did last year. And they might have found a way to do it without sacrificing much, if any, of the future flexibility and assets they’re saving for a bigger move in the coming years.
The addition of Paul on a sensible one-year deal was the first step in accomplishing this. At 39, the point-guard maestro has sterling reputation as a locker-room role model and a long track record of improving every team he’s joined. His pick-and-roll prowess alone could lead to three or four more nightly entries on the already jam-packed Victor Wembanyama highlight reel.
Either Huerter or Barnes might provide an appealing fit, too. The biggest issue with a lineup featuring Wembanyama next to Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell and a point guard (Paul, Tre Jones or Stephon Castle) is that it needs a fifth player who can stretch the defense with 3-point shooting. Huerter (36.1% from behind the arc last year, 38.2% in his career) and Barnes (38.7% last year, 37.9% in his career), both fill that need.
At age 25, Huerter is seven years younger than Barnes and offers more in terms of playmaking. Barnes is a bigger body at 6-foot-8 and gives you more sagely championship experience. Both have contracts that are set to expire in 2026 and should not be difficult to trade before then, so neither necessarily has to fit into the Spurs’ long-term future to be of use.
And if the Bulls-Kings-Spurs discussions fall through? It would not be a surprise if San Antonio finds another way to use the space created by the Graham trade on another Barnes-like or Huerter-like option.
What general manager Brian Wright, CEO R.C. Buford and coach Gregg Popovich have made clear already this offseason is that they have no intention of losing 60 games again. Championship contention remains years away, but progress is important. And the best way to expedite that progress is to add at least a sprinkling of capable experience.
Graham was a wonderful teammate. His younger teammates loved him. His coaches loved him. In a locker room that often felt like a day-care center, his presence helped preserve a sense of sanity and calm. But as helpful as he was at team dinners, he couldn’t offer the in-game, on-court assistance the kids needed.
“As a young team, sometimes it’s hard to do without this type of guidance from veterans,” Wembanyama said.
So on Saturday?
In his own way, Graham helped the kids with one last order.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News