By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-10-23 10:48:29
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。
告别推倒重建。现在，挑战在于打造新的基础。
过去几年，马刺不得不重新定义成功，这对一支近二十年来一直争夺冠军的球队来说是痛苦的。在重建将目标转向个人发展和人才积累之前，首轮出局和附加赛资格取代了总冠军。
2024-25 NBA 赛季对于目标远低于拉里·奥布莱恩杯的圣安东尼奥马刺队来说，并不是重回正轨的一年，但这标志着他们回到了曾经辉煌的第一步。自科怀·伦纳德(Kawhi Leonard)事件以来，马刺队第一次拥有了可以依靠的基石和赢球的渴望。
重建还远未结束，但银黑军团已经不再摆烂了。经历了一个实验性的赛季后，管理层签下了克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)，并交易得到了哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)，为这支在维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)的新秀赛季中展现出一定竞争力、但总体上仍受困于缺乏多名顶级新秀的年轻球队的典型问题的球队带来了一些稳定性和领导力。今年的阵容与上赛季相比变化不大，2024 年 NBA 选秀大会第四顺位新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)的加入，让这支预计轮换阵容中的很大一部分球员都缺乏经验，但总体思路似乎更加传统。马刺队当然重视发展，但现在他们有了一个促进发展的架构。
最大的问题是，球队的战绩能好多少？减少进攻端的无谓失误将会有所帮助，而减少失误应该可以防止对手轻松得分，但这种转变在排名上会足够显著吗？马刺上赛季的净胜率相当于一支 26 胜的球队，比他们实际取得的 22 场胜利要好，但在联盟中仍然是最差的球队之一。即使在 39 岁的高龄，克里斯·保罗将有助于球队梳理进攻，哈里森·巴恩斯也会在大多数情况下做出正确的选择，但这两个人在职业生涯的这个阶段都不是能够改变比赛的人。上赛季让比赛有时难以观看的很多问题——不会投篮的控球手、身体素质欠佳的防守球员、缺乏球场视野的角色球员——仍然存在。一个真正的赢球目标和额外的组织能力是朝着正确方向迈出的良好步伐，但不足以让一支存在缺陷的球队进入季后赛的争夺行列。
内部发展仍然是马刺队最重要的因素。球队要想更上一层楼，需要球员个人的进步。圣安东尼奥只有一名顶级球员，几名 B 级球员和许多 C 级拼图球员。如果一些专家型球员能够成为攻防兼备的球员，第二得分手提高他们的效率，以及一两名看似无关紧要的球员能够成为稳定的贡献者，那么即使在竞争激烈的西部，附加赛也是一个现实的目标。季前赛带来了一些乐观的理由，比如朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)火热的投篮，卡斯尔和布莱克·韦斯利(Blake Wesley)的防守，以及完全健康的扎克·科林斯(Zach Collins)的一些稳健表现，但球队需要更多。德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)赛季初的缺阵，尽管预计不会持续太久，给了其他人机会，但他们可能无法把握住。
如果配角阵容仍然不完美，那么马刺队重回正轨的另一条路就是维克多·文班亚马能够像他的天赋所暗示的那样，迅速成长为一个势不可挡的怪兽，让其他一切都不重要。上赛季当文班在场时，马刺队的防守效率可以排在联盟第五。他已经是一个能够改变比赛走向的防守者了。但在进攻端，当文班在场时，圣安东尼奥的进攻效率只能排在联盟第 28 位。释放维克多的得分和传球潜力是最重要的任务。克里斯·保罗将会提供帮助，但为文班提供操作空间，帮助他克服新秀赛季困扰他的决策问题，需要教练组和所有其他球员的共同努力。如果他真的能实现飞跃，那么其他所有人都会轻松很多。
在马刺目前所处的重建阶段，应该没有任何压力。文班亚马会在这里待上一段时间，球队中已经有一些优秀的年轻球员，而且有充足的薪资空间和交易资产来引援。如果情况糟糕透顶，甚至还有一届备受好评的新秀可以期待。管理层用过去选秀大会的第八顺位换取未来的资产，证明了耐心是他们的美德之一，尽管签下克里斯·保罗和巴恩斯是稳健的操作，但用薪资空间来得到他们并不是一支志在必得的球队会做的大动作。对一支显然尚未完工的球队抱有不切实际的期望只会导致失望。
然而，我们不可能不去期待球队在执行力和战绩方面都能取得切实和显著的进步。马刺不需要打进季后赛，但在赛季结束时，他们需要更清楚地知道哪些东西是行之有效的，不是理论上的，而是实践上的。除此之外都是失败。
在经历了五年的炼狱和两年的推倒重建之后，马刺现在有机会为打造他们的下一支争冠球队奠定正确的基础。他们今年所做的工作将在未来产生共鸣。一个至关重要且引人入胜的赛季正在等待着他们。
点击查看原文：Spurs Season Preview: It’s finally time for San Antonio to start building
Spurs Season Preview: It’s finally time for San Antonio to start building
The teardown is over. Now the challenge to build a new foundation begins.
The Spurs had to redefine success over the past few years, a process that was painful for a franchise that contended for nearly two decades. First-round exits and play-in spots replaced championships before a rebuild shifted the goals toward individual development and talent acquisition.
The 2024-25 NBA season is not a return to form for a San Antonio team that has more modest goals than the Larry O’Brien, but it signifies the first step on the path back to where the franchise once was. The Spurs, for the first time since the Kawhi Leonard debacle, have the cornerstones to build on and the desire to win.
The rebuild is far from over, but the Silver and Black are not in tanking mode anymore. After an experimental season, the front office signed Chris Paul and traded for Harrison Barnes to bring some consistency and leadership to a team that showed flashes of competence at times during Victor Wembanyama’s rookie year but generally suffered from the typical issues that plague young groups that lack multiple blue-chip prospects. The roster doesn’t look much different this year, with fourth overall in the 2024 NBA draft selection Stephon Castle adding to the inexperience of a good portion of the projected rotation, but the general approach appears to be more conventional. The Spurs are surely valuing development, but there’s a structure in place to facilitate it now.
The big question is how much better the team will be in terms of wins. Not having as many empty possessions on offense will help, and those fewer turnovers should prevent easy buckets from opponents, but will the turnaround be significant enough in the standings? The Spurs had the point differential of a 26-win team last season, better than the 22 wins they got but still among the worst in the league. Even at age 39, Chris Paul will help bring order, and Harrison Barnes will make the right play more often than not, but neither of those guys are difference-makers at this point in their careers. A lot of the issues that made last season hard to watch at times — ball handlers who can’t shoot, defenders with subpar physical tools, role players who lack court vision — are still there. An actual mandate to win and added playmaking are good steps in the right direction but not enough to vault a flawed team into playoff contention.
Internal development is still the biggest factor for the Spurs. It will take individual improvement for the team to take the next step. San Antonio has only one top-tier player, a few B-level guys and a lot of C-tier complementary parts. If some specialists can become two-way guys, the secondary scorers up their efficiency and one or two of the seemingly inconsequential names turn into consistent contributors, the play-in is a realistic possibility even in the gauntlet that is the West. Preseason brought some reasons for optimism in the form of Julian Champagnie’s scorching shooting, Castle’s and Blake Wesley’s defense and some solid play from a fully healthy Zach Collins, but the team needs more. The absence of Devin Vassell to start the season, although not expected to be long-lasting, gives others the opportunity to step up, but they might not be able to.
The other path back to relevance, if the supporting cast remains imperfect, is for Victor Wembanyama to turn into the fire-breathing monster his talent suggests he could be soon and make everything else not matter. When Wemby was on the court last season, the Spurs’ defense boasted a defensive rating that would have them ranked fifth in the league. He’s already a game-changer on that end. Offensively, San Antonio would have ranked 28th with the big man on the floor. Unlocking Victor’s scoring and passing potential is the most important task. Chris Paul will help, but providing Wemby with space to operate and helping him overcome some of the decision-making issues that plagued him during his rookie season will take a concerted effort from the coaching staff and every other player. If he does make the leap, life will be easier for everyone else.
At the stage of the rebuild the Spurs are in, there should be no pressure. Wembanyama is going to be around for a while, there are some good young pieces already in place, and there’s plenty of cap space and trade assets to bring in reinforcements. There’s even a highly-touted draft class to get excited about if things go terribly wrong. The front office proved that patience is one of their virtues by trading the eighth pick of the past draft for future assets, and as solid as adding Chris Paul and Barnes was, using cap space to acquire them was not the type of big-time move a win-now team makes. Setting unrealistic expectations for a roster that is clearly a work in progress will only lead to disappointment.
And yet it’s impossible to avoid hoping for tangible and significant improvement, both in execution and in the standings. The Spurs don’t need to make the playoffs, but at the end of the ride they need to have a clearer idea of what works going forward, not in a theoretical but in a practical way. Anything else would be a failure.
After five years in purgatory and two tearing things down, the Spurs now have the opportunity to set the right foundation to build their next contender. The work they do this year will resonate in the future. A crucial and fascinating season awaits.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock