By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-08-06 09:53:20
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。
为了适应新加入的球员，尚帕尼本来很有可能会成为球队阵容重组的牺牲品，但马刺坚持留下了他，而这个决定可能会带来回报。
曾几何时，马刺似乎不得不放弃侧翼球员朱利安·尚帕尼，以便为新球员腾出空间。为了得到哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)，马刺需要这位前国王队前锋放弃价值370万美元的交易保证金，否则这笔交易就无法完成。对圣安东尼奥来说幸运的是，他照做了。
通常情况下，一名球员不会为了一个预计只能成为轮换阵容中第四前锋的球员而放弃金钱，管理层也不会坚持这样做。而这件事的发生至少表明，马刺希望近距离观察尚帕尼，这似乎是一个明智的举动。
从表面上看，尚帕尼并不算特别出色。他是一位运动能力出色的球员，身高接近6英尺8英寸（约2.03米，含球鞋），臂展6英尺10英寸（约2.08米），对于小前锋来说，他拥有良好的体型和臂展，但他并非天赋异禀。他的职业生涯三分命中率为37%，略高于联盟平均水平，而上赛季他93%的出手都是受助攻的，因此他并不是一个能够自主创造进攻机会的球员。他是一名优秀的防守者，但不是一名防守尖兵，而且他在防守对方得分王方面花费的时间并不多，马刺队将这项任务交给了杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)。那么，为什么值得留住他呢？原因在于适配性、潜力和合同。
马刺队将拥有三名在前锋位置上需要持续触球才能发挥最佳水平的球员。凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)在赛季中期被安排替补出场的原因之一，就是为了确保索汉即使在他身边有一名控球手的情况下也能继续获得触球机会。凯尔登替补出场后触球次数减少了，但他仍然能够获得投篮机会。与此同时，巴恩斯可以说经历了他职业生涯中最糟糕的一个赛季，因为随着他从第三进攻选择转变为角色球员，他的触球次数和投篮次数都大幅减少。他不太可能回到过去那个进攻端被重点照顾的球员时代，但他可能会在马刺队看到自己的使用率有所回升。这就是为什么拥有一名像尚帕尼这样在进攻端不需要太多触球就能发挥作用的球员是一件好事。他可以在不影响其他任何人发挥的情况下做出贡献。
虽然尚帕尼的进攻端特长很有价值，但他的全面性才是让他能够与其他任何一名锋线球员并肩作战的关键。如果他和索汉一起出场，他可以专注于提供出色、有破坏性的协防。尚帕尼场均每36分钟能贡献1.2次抢断和1次盖帽，这并不是顶尖的数据，但对于一名锋线球员来说已经足够出色，而且他拥有在封堵投篮时干扰投手的体型。如果他和凯尔登·约翰逊一起出场，他可以防守对方最具威胁的外线球员，而凯尔登则可以防守对方另一名前锋。如果他和巴恩斯一起出场，圣安东尼奥将拥有两名技术全面、体型良好的球员，他们可能不是个人能力最强的，但可以各自为战，并在团队层面做出贡献。其他三名前锋可以很好地融合在一起，但拥有一名可以与任何人搭档的即插即用型球员也永远不会是坏事。
当然，在重建过程中，高估角色球员的风险始终存在，而且也很难对一名并不出众的角色球员感到过于兴奋，而尚帕尼就是这样一个球员。幸运的是，他有一条清晰的道路可以让自己变得更好。上赛季，尚帕尼在三分线外的命中率排名全队第二，仅次于道格·麦克德莫特(Doug McDermott)，但他底角的投篮表现不佳。随着克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)的加盟、特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)领导第二阵容以及维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)吸引防守注意力，尚帕尼应该会获得更多空位底角投篮的机会，而且没有理由相信他下赛季的命中率会低于本赛季的35%。他已经是一名优秀的防守者，随着比赛节奏对他来说变慢，他的防守应该会变得更好，所以如果他的投篮能从优秀提升到出色，他很有可能发展成为一名优秀的第五首发球员或多功能的第六人。
他会做到吗？这很难说。即使他做到了，马刺队也没有像卢卡·东契奇(Luka Doncic)和凯里·欧文(Kyrie Irving)那样使用率高的控球手，能让低使用率的3D型前锋变得更有价值。虽然尚帕尼基本但扎实的攻防两端技术让他在短期内能够融入球队，但从长远来看，还存在一些疑问。理想情况下，圣安东尼奥需要的是能够在文班身边传球、突破和投篮的球员，而尚帕尼只能做到其中之一。好消息是，如果他在波波维奇的轮换阵容中找不到自己的位置，他随时都可以被交易。本赛季和下赛季，他都签署了一份无保障合同，而且他还拥有一些NBA级别的技术，刚刚年满23岁，而且价格便宜。可以说，与球队中任何一名非核心年轻球员相比，他应该拥有更大的市场，因为他应该能同时吸引那些希望增加阵容深度的球队和那些试图削减薪资的球队。
尚帕尼不会成为球队从赢下30场到赢下40场比赛的关键因素，他也不会成为任何重大交易的核心。他可能会发展成为一名有价值的3D型侧翼球员，但这可能不会发生在圣安东尼奥，因为现在侧翼位置已经人满为患。在赛季初期，马刺队甚至可能都很难为他找到上场时间。
但无论最终结果如何，尚帕尼仍然值得巴恩斯在经济上的牺牲，马刺队努力留住他是正确的。他在任何方面都不是很特别，但他有限但扎实的技术让他成为一名实用型球员，这一点很重要，因为重建工作已经走过了试验阶段，进入了一个更加务实的阶段。
点击查看原文：The Spurs made the right call by not giving up on Julian Champagnie
The Spurs made the right call by not giving up on Julian Champagnie
Champagnie could have understandably been a casualty of the roster revamp but the Spurs insisted on keeping him around and that decision could pay off.
For a moment, it seemed like the Spurs would have to waive wing Julian Champagnie to fit their new additions. The math to acquire Harrison Barnes didn’t work without the former Kings forward waiving his trade kicker, worth $3.7 million. Luckily for San Antonio, he did.
Normally a player wouldn’t give up money for a guy who projects to be the fourth forward on the rotation, and a front office wouldn’t insist on it. The fact that it happened shows that the Spurs at the very least want a closer look at Champagnie, which seems like a smart move.
On the surface, Champagnie is not particularly impressive. He’s a solid athlete and, standing at almost 6’8 with shoes and a 6’10 wingspan, he has good size and length for the small forward position, but he’s not a freak of nature. He’s a career 37 percent shooter, which is just above the league average, and 93 percent of his shots were assisted last season, so he’s not a creator. He’s a good defender but not a stopper and he hasn’t spent much time on the opponent’s best scorer, with the Spurs relying on Jeremy Sochan for that job. So why was it worth it to keep him around? Fit, upside and contract.
The Spurs will have three forwards who are at their best when they get touches consistently. One of the reasons why Keldon Johnson was sent to the bench mid-season was to make sure Sochan would continue to get touches despite playing with a ball handler next to him. Keldon got fewer touches off the bench but he still got his shots. Barnes, meanwhile, arguably had the worst offensive season of his career because he saw a significant reduction in both touches and shots as he transitioned from third option to role player. He won’t likely go back to his days of being a featured offensive player but he might see a bump in his usage with the Spurs. And that’s why having a player like Champagnie who doesn’t need many touches on offense to be helpful is a great thing. He’ll contribute without getting in anyone else’s way.
While Champagnie’s specialization is valuable on offense, his versatility is what makes him a fit next to any of the other three forwards. If he’s out there with Sochan, he can focus on providing good, disruptive help defense. Julian averaged 1.2 steals and a block every 36 minutes, which are not elite numbers but are good enough for a forward, and he has the size to bother shooters on closeouts. If he’s sharing the floor with Keldon Johnson, he can cover the most dangerous perimeter threat while Keldon hides on the other forward. And if he’s playing next to Barnes, San Antonio will have two well-rounded guys with good size who might not be the best individually but can hold their own and contribute at the team level. The other three forwards could fit well together, but it never hurts to have a plug-and-play option that can be slated next to anyone.
Now, there’s always a danger of overvaluing role players during rebuilds and it’s hard to get too excited about an unremarkable role player, which is what Champagnie has been. Fortunately, there is a clear path for him to become a better version of himself. Champagnie had the second-best three-point shooting percentage on the team from above the break last season, behind only Doug McDermott, but he struggled from the corners. With Chris Paul in tow, Tre Jones running the second unit and Victor Wembanyama drawing extra defenders, Champagnie should get more of those open corner looks and there’s no reason to believe he can’t make more than the 35 percent he hit last season. He’s already a good defender who should get better as the game slows down for him, so if the shot goes from good to great he could realistically develop into a good fifth starter or utility sixth man.
Will that happen? It’s impossible to tell. Even if it did, the Spurs don’t have the type of high-usage ball handlers like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving that make low-usage 3-and-D forwards as valuable. While Champagnie’s basic but sound two-way game makes him a fit in the short term, zooming out there are question marks. San Antonio ideally would have players who can pass, dribble and shoot around Wemby and Champagnie can only do one of those things. The good news is if he doesn’t find a place in Pop’s rotation he can always be traded. He’s on a non-guaranteed deal for this season and the next, and also has some NBA skills, just turned 23 and is cheap. He arguably should have more of a market than any non-core young player on the roster, as he should appeal to both teams looking for some depth and those trying to cut salary.
Champagnie won’t be the difference between winning 40 games instead of 30 and he’s not going to be the centerpiece of any major deal. He could develop into a valuable 3-and-D wing but it might not happen in San Antonio now that the wing spots are crowded. It might be hard to even find minutes for him early in the season.
Regardless of what ends up happening, Champagnie was still worth Barnes’ financial sacrifice and the Spurs were right to fight to keep him. He’s not special in any obvious ways, but his limited but solid skill set makes him a functional piece, which matters now that the rebuild has moved past the experimentation point and into a more pragmatic stage.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock