By Jacob Douglas | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-10-18 21:57:29
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。
喜忧参半，但可能毫无意义。
每个夜晚，我都会做同一个梦。一场20次失误的比赛。维克多·文班亚马（Victor Wembanyama）在篮下错失良机。进攻不畅。防守沟通不畅。我醒来后，不断安慰自己：“这只是季前赛，这只是季前赛，这只是季前赛。”
白天，我看到斯蒂芬·卡斯尔（Stephon Castle）在篮下欺负 NBA 老将，朱利安·尚帕尼（Julian Champagnie）顶着防守投进三分球，球的运转让人想起（马刺队名称已省略），克里斯·保罗（Chris Paul）组织挡拆的娴熟程度是我们过去两个赛季从未见过的。
“不要对季前赛反应过度，”他们告诉我。
好吧。我不会。但我必须写这篇文章，所以我要试着从过去五场比赛中找出一些东西。
如果要用一个词来形容圣安东尼奥马刺队的季前赛，那就是“不稳定”。事情从来没有像许多人希望的那样顺利。首发五人组（除了正在恢复的德文·瓦塞尔（Devin Vassell））——保罗、文班亚马、尚帕尼、杰里米·索汉（Jeremy Sochan）和哈里森·巴恩斯（Harrison Barnes）——看起来从来没有很自然，但他们也很少一起打球。默契不是一朝一夕就能建立起来的。如果他们在 15 场比赛后仍然看起来如此笨拙，那么也许是时候开始担心了。在那之前，请将此问题归类为“监控中”。
另一方面，马刺队的天赋比上赛季要多得多。这一点很明显。卡斯尔看起来比我（他最忠实的信徒之一）预期的还要 آماده。他冲击篮筐并用力量完成进攻的能力已经从大学比赛中直接转化过来。我对他未来的成就抱有很高的期望，但他第一年的起点可能比我预期的要高。有了他和特雷·琼斯（Tre Jones）、凯尔登·约翰逊（Keldon Johnson）以及扎克·科林斯（Zach Collins）从替补席上站出来，圣安东尼奥拥有一些可靠的 NBA 轮换阵容深度。
现在就对球队的防守妄下定论还为时过早。季前赛是解决防守端问题并在重要比赛到来之前加强防守的时候。我们没有看到太多文班亚马的表现，但可以肯定的是，他将继续在防守端改变比赛。总体而言，更大的问题是一些沟通不畅和糟糕的攻防转换，这在对阵迈阿密和休斯顿的比赛中尤其困扰着他们。这是一支年轻的球队，所以出现这样的错误是可以预料的。但如果这支球队真的有季后赛的 aspirations，他们就必须解决这个问题。
从个人球员的角度来看，给我留下最深刻印象的是索汉。他的防守一如既往地出色。他已经完全进入了无球空切和冲击篮筐的角色，这正是他一直以来应该扮演的角色。最重要的是，他拥有成为进攻端有趣串联点的传球能力。他的投篮……从基本功上来说仍然不是很好，但如果他至少是防守方需要注意的人，那就足够了。他仍然需要弄清楚如何与文班配合，但他的季前赛无疑是充满希望的。
DraftKings 将马刺队的常规赛胜场总数设定为 36.5 场。即使接近这个数字，也将比去年增加 10 多场胜利。这是一个很大的差距。在一个竞争激烈的西部联盟，他们需要大约 40 场胜利才能进入附加赛。
季前赛是否表明他们能做到这一点？也许吧？我不知道。这可能并没有那么重要（至少互联网是这么告诉我的！）我只是很高兴每天晚上都能在电视上看到篮球比赛。
（更多）观察结果：
- 桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利（Sandro Mamukelashvili）是一位令人困惑的球员。他的空间感、创造力和传球让进攻流畅起来。但他不是一个可以依靠的防守中锋。这种巨大的取舍是他难以获得出场时间的原因。但由于球队在季前赛中进攻不力，而马穆的表现又如此出色，因此很容易得出这样的结论：他应该在常规赛中获得一些上场时间。
- 选择你心仪的三年级球员：布雷克·韦斯利（Blake Wesley）还是马拉基·布拉纳姆（Malaki Branham）。韦斯利在这个季前赛中占据了上风，他的决策能力有所提高，并且在进攻端的防守非常出色。我仍然不确定他在进攻端的角色。马刺队已经拥有足够多的不擅投篮且无法为自己创造进攻机会的球员。但如果他在防守端不失误并且能够锁死对手，我不知道你怎么能不考虑给他上场时间。另一方面，布拉纳姆看起来可能会掉出轮换阵容。他在季前赛中的投篮命中率为 37.8%，而且他出手了很多次。如果布拉纳姆在防守端和投篮端都没有贡献，你怎么能证明他的角色是合理的呢？
- 马刺队由保罗、琼斯、韦斯利和卡斯尔组成的“三后卫”阵容很有趣……而且有点厉害？所有这些组织和防守在季前赛中都很有趣。我希望在重要比赛中看到更多这样的阵容。
点击查看原文：What we learned from the Spurs preseason
What we learned from the Spurs preseason
A mixed bag that likely means nothing.
Every night, it’s the same dream. A 20 turnover game. Missing Victor Wembanyama on the block. Clunky offense. Defensive miscommunications. I awaken and recite the comforting words, “It’s only the preseason. It’s only the preseason. It’s only the preseason.”
During the day, I see Stephon Castle bully NBA veterans at the rim, Julian Champagnie knock down contested threes, ball movement akin to the (REDACTED SPURS TEAM), and Chris Paul orchestrating the pick-and-roll like nothing we’ve seen in the last two seasons.
“Don’t overreact to the preseason,” they tell me.
Fine. I won’t. But I have to write this article, so I am going to try to pull SOMETHING from the last five games.
If I had one word to describe the San Antonio Spurs preseason, it would be uneven. Things just never really clicked like many had hoped. The starting five (sans the recovering Devin Vassell) of Paul, Wembanyama, Champagnie, Jeremy Sochan, and Harrison Barnes never looked natural, but they hardly played together. Chemistry isn’t built overnight. If they still look this clunky 15 games in, then it might be time to be concerned. Until then, file this issue under “monitoring.”
On the flip side, the Spurs have way more talent than last season. That much is clear. Castle looks more ready than even I (one of his biggest believers) would have expected. His ability to get to the rim and finish with strength is something that’s translated from the college game right away. I had high hopes for his ceiling, but his floor in year one may be higher than I expected. With him, Tre Jones, Keldon Johnson, and Zach Collins coming off the bench, San Antonio has some legitimate NBA depth.
It’s hard to be too judgemental about the team’s defense. Preseason is the time to work out the kinks on that end and tighten things up for when the games count. We didn’t see much of Wembanyama, but it’s pretty safe to assume he will continue to be a game-changer on that end. The bigger issue overall was some miscommunication and poor transition defense that particularly haunted them in the Miami and Houston games. This is a young team, so mistakes like this should be expected. But if this team truly has playoff aspirations, they have to clean that up.
On an individual-player basis, I came away most impressed with Sochan. His defense is as good as ever. He’s fully moved into the off-ball cutting and slashing role that he was always meant to play. On top of that, he has the passing chops to be a fun connector for the offense. His shot is… still not totally sound fundamentally, but if he’s at least someone the defense needs to pay attention to, that’s what matters. He still needs to work out how to fit in with Wemby, but his preseason was certainly promising.
Draft Kings set the Spurs win total for the regular season at 36.5. Getting even close to that would be a 10+ win increase from last year. That’s a big gap. They’ll have to get to about 40 wins to compete for the play-in tournament in a loaded Western Conference.
Does this preseason indicate they can get there? Maybe? I don’t know. It probably doesn’t mean all that much anyway (at least that’s what the internet tells me!) I’m just glad to have basketball back on our televisions every night.
(more) Observations:
- Sandro Mamukelashvili is a confounding player. He makes the offense sing with his floor spacing, creativity, and passing. He is not a player you can count on to anchor your defense at the center position. This huge tradeoff is why he’s struggled to see playing time. But with the team struggling offensively in the preseason, and Mamu playing so well, it’s going to be easy to make the argument he should see some minutes come the regular season.
- Choose your third-year fighter: Blake Wesley or Malaki Branham. Wesley had the upper hand this preseason with his improved decision-making and stellar point-of-attack defense. I’m still uncertain of his offensive role. The Spurs have enough non-shooting players who don’t create offense for themselves. But if he doesn’t hurt you with turnovers and locks down on D, I don’t see how you can look past him for PT. Branham on the other hand looks like he may be on his way out of the rotation. He shot 37.8% from the field in the preseason, and he took a LOT of shots. If Branham’s not defending or knocking down shots, how can you justify a role for him?
- The Spurs “three-guard” lineups with a combination of Paul, Jones, Wesley, and Castle are interesting and… kind of awesome? All of that playmaking and defense is fun to experiment with in the preseason. I’d like to see more of it when the games really matter.
By Jacob Douglas, via Pounding The Rock