By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-07-17 09:43:01
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。
桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)和查尔斯·巴斯(Charles Bassey)的回归将有助于保持上赛季球队的化学反应和友情。
马刺用两张熟悉的面孔填补了他们最后两个可用的阵容位置。桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利和查尔斯·巴斯将以一年期底薪合同重返圣安东尼奥，为大前锋和中锋位置提供深度。
看到两人回归并不奇怪，但这似乎也不是命中注定。马刺必须放弃对马穆的权利，他们在休赛期早些时候让他成为了一名受限制自由球员，并放弃了巴斯，他当时签署了一份无保障合同，以便获得薪资空间来签下克里斯·保罗和哈里森·巴恩斯。马穆克拉什维利以其个性、努力以及与维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)在球场上的默契而成为球迷的最爱，但随着哈里森·巴恩斯的到来，道格·麦克德莫特和塞迪·奥斯曼离开后空出的大前锋位置将被占据，马穆克拉什维利可能会被挤出阵容。巴斯上赛季遭遇了赛季报销的伤病，尽管展现出了宝贵的攻防两端潜力的闪光点，但他还没能真正证明自己的价值。由于管理层拥有空间特例，他们本可以把目光投向别处。
他们没有这样做，这可能与市场冷清有关，但也与他们相信延续性很重要，并且在这个阶段，留住那些已被证明适合马刺文化的球员，比寻找可能不会成功的边际人才改进更为明智。银黑军团在2023/24赛季表现糟糕，但球队的气氛从未变得糟糕。没有互相指责，虽然输球的沮丧显而易见，但更衣室似乎大体上是平静的。巴斯和马穆克拉什维利为这种和谐做出了贡献，尤其是马穆，他没有因为缺乏上场时间而闷闷不乐，而是在机会到来时充分利用，在这方面做得很好。
如果高估延续性意味着带回那些明显无法做出贡献的球员，这可能会适得其反，但是，尽管马穆和巴斯都有局限性，但他们在圣安东尼奥的进步足以让他们值得球队再看一看。当巴斯健康并且获得上场时间时，他是篮板上的苦力，内线终结能力出色，并且是一名不断进步的防守者，他正在学习更多关于站位和纪律的知识。如果他的爆发力还在，并且他一直在学习比赛，他可能会成为一名可靠的替补中锋。至于马穆，他在今年早些时候经历了一些艰难的时刻，但在赛季末马刺伤病缠身时，他恢复了活力。在最后八场比赛中，他场均得到11分、10个篮板和2次助攻，三分球命中率为37%，并且与文班亚马并肩作战表现出色。就充实阵容而言，这两人已经算是不错的选择了。
对于巴斯和马穆回归持乐观态度的主要反对理由并不难找到。这两名球员都无法在一些糟糕的球队中获得稳定的上场时间，而且，尽管他们还很年轻，但似乎都没有太多未开发的潜力。在上届选秀大会上，第八顺位肯定有一些新秀会带来更令人兴奋的补充，而且考虑到我们可能在谈论的是第三中锋和第五前锋，在其他自由球员身上冒险可能是有意义的。这是一种合理的立场，因为任何形式的“旧瓶装新酒”都是马刺最不应该做的事情，而且就球员名字而言，今年的球队和去年的球队之间并没有太大区别。然而，人们希望，通过引进合适的增援，这支看起来毫无意义的球队的所有拼图都能各就各位。
马刺对延续性的重视肯定超出了某些人在经历了一个糟糕赛季后的预期。他们将有12名球员是从一支只赢了22场比赛的球队回归的，这看起来太多了。人们可能会指责管理层过于谨慎，过于关注未来而忽略了现在。甚至对他们为阵容进行最后润色的举动也有一些批评的空间。
这些批评必须考虑到，有时候，大的改变不需要惊天动地的举动，只需要简单地坚持行之有效的东西，并愿意识别和修复那些不起作用的东西。通过进行战术上的补充来解决具体问题，同时又不损害已经存在的化学反应和熟悉程度，尽管有很多熟悉的面孔，但马刺看起来可能是一支完全不同的球队。
点击查看原文：The Spurs were smart to choose continuity to round out their roster
The Spurs were smart to choose continuity to round out their roster
Sandro Mamukelashvili’s and Charles Bassey’s return will help keep the chemistry and camaraderie of last year’s team intact.
The Spurs filled their last two available roster spots with two familiar faces. Sandro Mamukelashvili and Charles Bassey will return to San Antonio on one-year minimum deals to offer depth at the big forward and center spots.
It’s not surprising to see the two back, but it didn’t seem predestined, either. The Spurs had to renounce their rights to Mamu, who they had made a restricted free agent earlier in the offseason, and waive Bassey, who was on a non-guaranteed contract to get access to their cap space to ink Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes. Mamukelashvili was a fan favorite thanks to his personality, effort and on-court chemistry with Victor Wembanyama, but with the arrival of Harrison Barnes to take the forward minutes that were unclaimed after the exits of Doug McDermott and Cedi Osman, he could have been pushed out. Bassey suffered a season-ending injury last year and couldn’t really prove his worth despite showing flashes of valuable two-way potential. With the front office having the room exception at their disposal, they could have looked elsewhere.
They didn’t, which probably has to do with a bare market but also with the belief that continuity is important and retaining helpful players who have proved to be a fit with the Spurs’ culture is more sensible at this stage than looking for marginal improvements in talent that might not pan out. The Silver and Black had a rough 2023/24 season, but the mood of the team never got nasty. There was no finger-pointing and while there was obvious frustration with all the losing, the locker room seemed largely at peace. Bassey and Mamukelashvili contributed to that harmony, with Mamu in particular doing a great job of staying ready instead of sulking about a lack of playing time and making the most of his opportunity when it arrived.
Overvaluing continuity can backfire if it means bringing back players who clearly can’t contribute, but, for all their limitations, Mamu and Bassey showed enough progress in San Antonio to deserve a closer look. When he was healthy and given minutes, Bassey was a workhorse on the boards, a great finisher inside and an improving defender who was learning more about positioning and discipline. If his explosiveness is still there and he has continued to study the game, he could turn into a solid backup center. As for Mamu, he had some tough moments earlier in the year but came alive late in the season when the injuries piled up for the Spurs. He averaged 11 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in the last eight games while shooting 37 percent on three-pointers and fitting well next to Wembanyama. As far as rounding out a roster, a team could do worse than those two.
The main counterpoint to the optimism about the return of Bassey and Mamu is not hard to find. Neither player could get serious minutes on some awful teams and, while still young, neither seems to have a huge amount of untapped potential. There were certainly prospects available at eighth in the last draft that would have made for more exciting additions and maybe it would have made sense to take some chances on other free agents, considering we are likely talking about the third-string center and fifth forward. It’s a valid position to take since running it back in any way was the last thing the Spurs should have done and the difference between this year’s team and last year’s one is not huge in terms of names. The hope, however, is that by bringing in the right reinforcements, the pieces of a roster that made little sense will all fall into place.
The Spurs surely valued continuity more than some would have hoped for after a terrible season. They will have 12 returning players from a team that won just 22 games, which seems like too many. The front office could be accused of being too cautious and preoccupied with the future to focus on the now. There is room for criticism even about the moves they made to put the finishing touches on their roster.
Those criticisms will have to take into account that sometimes big change doesn’t require bombastic moves but a simple commitment to sticking with what works and a willingness to identify and fix what doesn’t. By making tactical additions to address specific issues while not compromising the chemistry and familiarity that was already in place, the Spurs could look like a completely different team despite having many familiar faces.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock