By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-10-22 15:27:16
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。
德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)在休赛期接受足部手术后的恢复过程中又迈出了重要一步，这让马刺队对他能够在下月初回归充满信心。
“他今天实际上已经完成了所有战术演练之类的训练，并且进行了上下场跑动，”教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在周二的训练结束后说道。“目前还没有进行对抗训练，但我们仍然希望他在 11 月初的某个时候能够回归。”
马刺队在 9 月下旬训练营开始前宣布，瓦塞尔在 6 月份接受了右脚第三跖骨头部应力反应手术，预计将缺席常规赛的开始阶段。俱乐部当时表示，这位五年级后卫的状态将在 11 月 1 日更新。
如果瓦塞尔在那天获得回归的许可，他将缺席本赛季的前五场比赛。
瓦塞尔上赛季场均得到职业生涯最高的 19.5 分，得分仅次于维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)排名全队第二。在马刺队与热火队的季前赛之前，他在迈阿密进行了一次训练后，在社交媒体上发布了一条关于自己健康状况的令人鼓舞的消息。
“这是我很久以来感觉最好的一次！！！”瓦塞尔在 X 上写道。
前锋杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)表示，他相信瓦塞尔确实会在 11 月初重返赛场。
“他会准备好的，”索汉说。“他想打球。他已经有一段时间没有打五对五的比赛了，所以他真的很渴望上场。但是对他来说，保持健康比仓促复出更重要。”
波波维奇赞扬联盟的国际化发展
作为 NBA 中最早支持引入外国球员的倡导者之一，波波维奇称，本赛季将是联盟连续第 11 个赛季在揭幕战名单中拥有至少 100 名国际球员，这对篮球来说是“一件美好的事情”。
“曾经有一种抗拒，一种理论认为外国孩子不会防守，或者他们不会融入，不会享受这个国家的社会生活，他们会想回家，”波波维奇回忆起许多 NBA 人士曾经对国际球员抱有的偏见。
“人们一直在谈论这些，但这真的很愚蠢。”
来自六大洲创纪录的 43 个国家的 125 名国际球员将出现在揭幕战名单中，这也追平了历史纪录，其中包括来自澳大利亚（13 名）、德国（8 名）和喀麦隆（5 名）的创纪录球员数量，以及来自非洲的 17 名球员和来自法国的 14 名球员，这也追平了历史纪录。
马刺队有五名国际球员：查尔斯·巴斯(Charles Bassey)（尼日利亚）、西迪·西索科(Sidy Cissoko)（法国，与塞内加尔有联系）、桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)（格鲁吉亚）、索汉（英国，与波兰有联系）和文班亚马（法国，与刚果民主共和国有联系）。
马刺队悠久而丰富的外国球员历史始于 1989 年夏天，当时还是拉里·布朗(Larry Brown)的助理教练的波波维奇招募了扎尔科·帕斯帕利(Zarko Paspalj)。这位来自南斯拉夫（现为黑山）的前锋在俱乐部效力了一个赛季，但为名人堂成员马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili)和托尼·帕克(Tony Parker)等人铺平了道路。
“当球员们开始来到这里时，每个人都逐渐意识到，这个世界上有很多球员，海外也有很多优秀的教练在教授很棒的东西，”波波维奇说。“然后它就如雨后春笋般涌现。现在，甚至连我们最近的 MVP 都是外国人。”
对手控球大师重聚
周二，克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)与马刺队的一位传奇人物共度了一段时光，他在职业生涯的前 14 年里经常与这位传奇人物交手。
帕克在训练结束后抵达胜利资本训练中心，与保罗一起接受马刺队媒体的采访。
“托尼对我来说就像家人一样，很久以前，甚至在我进入 NBA 之前就是了，”保罗说道，他即将进入自己的第 20 个 NBA 赛季，在退役四年后，他将像帕克一样成为名人堂的第一轮候选人。
“我很荣幸能够在他入选名人堂时在场，长期以来，他一直是我很好的朋友和导师，”保罗说道，他第一次见到帕克是在他们共用同一个耐克代表的时候。
球队在总统选举中投票
马刺队于周二上午在德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校的一个投票站为 11 月 5 日的选举投了票。
“作为一个团队去投票意义重大，”索汉说。“这就是马刺队和圣安东尼奥的行事方式。很高兴能去德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校，给学生们带来一些活力。这真的很酷。”
马刺队本周在社交媒体上发布了消息，鼓励球迷们参与提前投票，提前投票从周一开始，一直持续到 11 月 1 日。
2024 年 10 月 7 日，德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥市，在 AT&T 中心举行的 NBA 季前赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的德文·瓦塞尔（中）坐在板凳席上观看队友们对阵俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的比赛。由于脚伤，他至少要到 11 月 1 日才能上场。
2024 年 10 月 7 日，德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥市，在 AT&T 中心举行的 NBA 季前赛开始前，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔（24 号）和圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉（10 号）握手致意。
点击查看原文：Spurs' Devin Vassell on target for early November return
Spurs’ Devin Vassell on target for early November return
Devin Vassell reached another milestone in his recovery from offseason foot surgery, leaving the Spurs optimistic that he remains on target to return to action early next month.
“He actually scripted today all the plays and that kind of thing and went up and down,” coach Gregg Popovich said after practice Tuesday. “No contact yet, but we are still hopeful that the beginning of November some time he will be with us.”
The Spurs announced just before the start of training camp in late September that Vassell was expected to miss the start of the regular season after undergoing surgery in June for a stress reaction of the third metatarsal head in his right foot. The club said at that time that the fifth-year guard’s status would be updated Nov. 1.
If Vassell gets the green light to return on that date, he will have missed the season’s first five games.
Vassell, who averaged a career-best 19.5 points per game last season to finish second on the team in scoring behind Victor Wembanayama, took to social media to post an encouraging message about his health after a workout in Miami before the Spurs faced the Heat in a preseason game.
“This is the best I felt in a long timeeee!!” Vassell wrote on X.
Forward Jeremy Sochan said he believes Vassell will indeed be back on the court in early November.
“He’s going to be ready,” Sochan said. “He wants to play. It’s been a minute since he played five-on five, so he is really eager to play. But it’s important for him to be healthy instead of rushing things.”
Popovich hails league’s international growth
As one of the pioneering advocates for the inclusion of foreign-born players in the NBA, Popovich called news that this season will mark the 11th-straight campaign the league has had at least 100 international players on opening-night rosters “beautiful for basketball.”
“There was a kind of a reluctance, kind of a theory that foreign kids wouldn’t play defense, or they wouldn’t matriculate, wouldn’t enjoy the social aspects of the country, they would want to go home,” Popovich said, recalling prejudices many in the NBA once harbored against international players.
“People talked about that all the time, but it was foolishness, really.”
A record-tying 125 international players from a record-tying 43 countries across six continents will be on opening-night rosters, including a record number of players from Australia (13), Germany (eight) and Cameroon (five) and a record-tying 17 from Africa and 14 from France.
The Spurs have five international players: Charles Bassey (Nigeria), Sidy Cissoko (France, with ties to Senegal), Sandro Mamukelashvili (Georgia), Sochan (United Kingdom, with ties to Poland) and Victor Wembanyama (France, with ties to Democratic Republic of Congo).
The Spurs’ long, rich history of foreign players began when Popovich, then an assistant coach under Larry Brown, recruited Zarko Paspalj in summer 1989. The forward from Yugoslavia (now Montenegro) lasted one season with the club but helped pave the way for the likes of Hall of Famers Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
“When players started to come over, everybody realized that bit by bit, some sooner than others, that there were a lot of players in this world and a lot of great coaches overseas that were teaching great stuff,” Popovich said. “And it just mushroomed. And now even, hell, our recent MVPs have been foreigners.”
Rival point guard greats reunite
Chris Paul got to spend time Tuesday with a Spurs legend he battled frequently during the first 14 years of his career.
Parker arrived at the Victory Capital Performance Center after practice to do an interview along with Paul for a Spurs media production.
“Tony has been like family for me for a long time, even before I came into the NBA,” said Paul, who is entering his 20th NBA season and will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer like Parker after he waits the required four years after retirement.
“I got to be there when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and he’s been a great friend and mentor to me for a long time,” said Paul, who first met Parker when they shared the same Nike representative.
Teams casts ballots in presidential election
The Spurs cast their votes in the Nov. 5 election on Tuesday morning at a polling site at UTSA.
“It’s powerful to go as a team,” Sochan said. "That’s how things work with the Spurs and around San Antonio. It was good to go to the UTSA campus, to give some energy and life to the students. It was really cool.”
The Spurs have posted messages on social media this week encouraging fans to participate in early voting, which began Monday and runs through Nov. 1.
San Antonio Spurs’ Devin Vassell, center, sits on the bench as he watches his teammates take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first half of the preseason NBA match-up at Frost Bank Center on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. He is out due to a foot injury until at least Nov. 1.
San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) and San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan (10) shake hands before the start of the pre-season NBA match-up against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Frost Bank Center on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas.
By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News