By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-07-07 12:56:30
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。
马刺队仍在重建之中，最终将需要做出一些重大举措，但就目前而言，做好这些小交易就足够了。
NBA七月休赛期结束当天，马刺队采取了行动。圣安东尼奥利用其薪资空间促成了一笔交易，将德玛尔·德罗赞送到国王队，换来了哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)和一个2031年不受保护的首轮互换权。
这笔交易并没有改变重建的方向，本身可能也不会带来更多的胜利，但它确实证明了马刺队经常饱受诟病的管理层不仅有长远计划，也有眼前规划。
我们稍后会讨论哈里森·巴恩斯能为马刺队做些什么，但首先让我们来看看他们是如何得到他的。有报道称圣安东尼奥是德罗赞的潜在下家，但更有可能的是，他们会利用手中的资源来促成签换交易，而不是自己安排。管理层通过交易八号签腾出了潜在的薪资空间，并谨慎地给了克里斯·保罗一份可以同时满足他们薪资空间和中产特例的合同，这样他们就可以在工资帽以下或以上运作。因此，他们有机会留下自由球员，或者抓住机会获得即战力或选秀资产。他们实现了后者，获得了一名可以立即提供帮助的轮换前锋，同时也获得了一个未来可能会有回报的选秀互换权。耐心和薪资灵活性是重建球队的最佳伙伴，布莱恩·赖特(Brian Wright)深谙此道。
到目前为止，大多数人都意识到马刺队知道他们在这次重建中在做什么，但他们的大多数（如果不是全部）举措都是着眼于长远的。避免垃圾合同和获得选秀互换权固然很好，但球场上的表现却一直不尽如人意，即使拥有几十年来最好的新秀也是如此。然而，今年休赛期的运作表明，圣安东尼奥已经为第二阶段做好了准备。得到克里斯·保罗，即使在他职业生涯的末期，来指导斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)并为一支经常缺乏秩序的进攻带来秩序，这是一步好棋。但银黑军团仍然需要另一名有身高有投射的球员来替代塞迪·奥斯曼和道格·麦克德莫特的组合，并希望能有所提升。通过得到巴恩斯，管理层优雅而高效地完成了这一目标。
巴恩斯不会成为决定乐透区和季后赛席位的关键人物，但他是2024/25赛季马刺队的绝配。他可以完美地与杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)搭档锋线，在上赛季国王队三分命中率达到39%之后，他将提供宝贵的外线火力。反过来，索汉可以帮助掩盖巴恩斯在防守端的一些下滑。两人可以在进攻和防守端互换角色，巴恩斯可以对位更大的前锋，同时也能拉开空间。这位前勇士队的乐透秀自从成为国王队球员后，已经转型为一名低使用率的球员，所以他不会抢走其他球员太多的球权，但他可以惩罚错位。他的加盟有很多值得期待的地方。
将老将带入年轻球队的最大担忧是时间线错位，就像马刺队在德罗赞时代所经历的那样，但现在圣安东尼奥处于一个独特的位置，他们能够在不损害球队阵容最终上限的情况下，兼顾现在和未来的提升。即使这支球队赢了，比如说37场比赛，并获得了乐透区末段的选秀权，但由于德章泰·穆雷交易到亚特兰大的交易，这支球队至少还应该有一个2025年的首轮签。其他额外的选秀权可能会兑现，他们有多个互换权可以利用，还有可以用来摆脱任何合同的次轮签。马刺队没有浪费过去两年的时间，指望球星从天而降，而是建立了保障措施，这样他们就可以在短期内努力变得出色，同时保留在未来变得伟大的能力。
保罗和现在的巴恩斯并不是最引人注目的赢在当下的操作，但他们代表了马刺队的一种转变，这支球队曾经为了得到维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)而乐于输球，并且愿意在上个赛季进行试验，看看他们有什么。在经历了2023/24赛季那些痛苦的时刻之后，圣安东尼奥在没有签下长期合同或送走首轮签的情况下，建立了一个稳固的轮换阵容。他们现在的上限可能是附加赛，但对于一支过去两个赛季一共只赢了44场比赛，并且仍然拥有选秀或交易来获得球星的资产的球队来说，这已经很不错了。
马刺队仍在重建之中。联盟不会因为休赛期运作出色而颁发奖杯。在圣安东尼奥成为冠军争夺者之前，这项工作就不会完成，而管理层能做的最糟糕的事情就是在做出明智但规模较小的操作后变得自满。
然而，在某些时候，良好的工作应该得到回报。在重建开始前已经失去信任的管理层，现在已经赢回了更多的信任。
点击查看原文：The Harrison Barnes trade shows the Spurs’ front office knows what it’s doing
The Harrison Barnes trade shows the Spurs’ front office knows what it’s doing
The Spurs are still in the middle of their rebuild and will eventually need to make some big moves, but for now, nailing the smaller ones is enough.
The day the NBA’s July moratorium ended, the Spurs made a move. San Antonio used its cap space to facilitate a trade that sent DeMar DeRozan to the Kings and got Harrison Barnes and a 2031 unprotected pick swap for their troubles.
The trade doesn’t alter the direction of the rebuild and might not result in many more wins in itself, but it does prove that the Spurs’ often-beleaguered front office not only has a plan for the long term but also the present.
We’ll get to what Harrison Barnes can do for the Spurs, but first let’s look at how they got him. There were reports about San Antonio being a potential destination for DeRozan, but it always felt more likely that they would use their tools to facilitate sign-and-trades instead of arranging them themselves. The front office carved out potential cap room by trading the eighth pick and was careful to offer Chris Paul a contract that could fit into their cap space and the mid-level exception to operate as either an under-the-cap team or an over-the-cap team. As a result, they had the opportunity to retain free agents or pounce on an opportunity to get immediate help or a draft asset. They pulled off the latter, securing a rotation forward who should help in the now while also getting a future swap that could pay off in the future. Patience and cap flexibility are the best friends of rebuilding teams and Brian Wright knows it.
By now most people realize that the Spurs know what they are doing with this rebuild, but most if not all their moves were geared toward the long view. Avoiding albatross contracts and getting pick swaps is great, but the product on the floor had not been good, even when featuring the best prospect in decades. This offseason’s moves, however, show that San Antonio is ready for phase two. Getting Chris Paul, even this late in his career, to mentor Stephon Castle and bring order to an offense that often lacked it was a good move. But the Silver and Black still needed another shooter with size to replace and hopefully improve upon the duo of Cedi Osman and Doug McDermott. By getting Barnes, the front office accomplished that elegantly and efficiently.
Barnes is not going to be the difference between the lottery and the playoffs, but he’s a great fit for the 2024/25 Spurs. He could slot perfectly next to Jeremy Sochan at the forward spots, providing valuable outside shooting after connecting 39 percent of his outside shots in Sacramento last season. Sochan, in turn, could help cover up some of the decline Barnes has experienced on the defensive end. The duo can swap between who’s the perimeter-oriented one on offense and defense, with Barnes taking on bigger forwards while also spacing the floor. The former Warriors’ lottery pick transitioned into becoming a low-usage player since becoming a King, so he won’t take away many touches from others, but he can punish a mismatch. There’s a lot to like about his addition.
The main concern with bringing in veterans to a young team would be splitting the timeline, as the Spurs found out during the DeRozan era, but right now San Antonio is in a unique place to be able to juggle improving now while not compromising the ultimate upside of its roster. Even if this group wins, say, 37 games and lands a late lottery pick, the franchise should have at least one more 2025 selection thanks to the Dejounte Murray to Atlanta trade. Other extra picks might convey and they have multiple swaps that could pay off, along with second-rounders that could be used to get out of any contract. The Spurs didn’t waste the last two years hoping for stars to fall in their lap but instead built safeguards so that they could try to be good in the short term while retaining the ability to be great in the future.
Paul and now Barnes are not the flashiest of win-now moves, but they represent a shift for a Spurs team that was happy to lose to get Victor Wembanyama and willing to experiment to see what they had last year. After what was at times a painful performance in the 2023/24 season, San Antonio has built a solid rotation without taking on long-term contracts or sending out first-rounders. Their ceiling right now is probably the play-in, but that’s not a bad place to be for a team that won a combined 44 games in the last two seasons and still has the assets to draft or acquire a star.
The Spurs are still in the middle of their rebuild. The league doesn’t give out banners for good offseasons. Until San Antonio is a contender, the job won’t be done and the worst thing the front office could do is get complacent after making clever but small moves.
At some point, however, good work should be rewarded. A front office that had lost the benefit of the doubt before the beginning of the rebuild has now more than earned it back.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock