点击查看原文：Can Wemby shake off the rust in time for San Antonio's opener?
Can Wemby shake off the rust in time for San Antonio’s opener?
Columnist Mike Finger and beat writers Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss whether limited action in the preseason will affect Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the lineup when the Spurs take the floor at Dallas.
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Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Mike Finger: From a highly secured network of top secret locations across South Texas. This is the Spurs Insider, being brought to your digital players, podcast outlets. The week of the season opener at Dallas, I am your host Mike Finger, joined by Express-News beat writers Tom Orsborn and Jeff McDonald. And the guy everybody came to see the guy everybody came to perform. He’s been taking it easy this preseason. Everybody expecting he’s just going to turn it on, flip a switch, opening night and be what he once was. And so, I have to ask Jeff McDonald, can you do it?
Jeff McDonald: Uh, no. No, I cannot. You cannot just flip that switch. I’m I’m I’m not young anymore, like like Victor Wembanyama. So, it’s harder for me to flip that switch. I think.
Mike Finger: Well, can Victor Wembanyama do it, if we would just want to talk about the second guy?
Jeff McDonald: Um That’s pretty difficult to do. You know like Seriously, what they’re asking him a lot. What what you’re referring to is he’s played in uh two preseason games. I think he’s uh totaled about 39 minutes in those two preseason games. Hasn’t looked great, which we don’t care about because of the preseason and he’s working out kinks, but he hasn’t had a lot of time to work out those kinks. And And Here we are opening night like hit the ground running. It’s it’s it’s crazy. When I talk about working out kinks, um of of all the players that uh played in at least in more than one preseason game, so Victor played in two. Uh, can you guess who has the very worst shooting percentage on the entire roster of uh Spurs preseason?
Mike Finger: It’s a leading question. It’s Victor Wembanyama. Wow. Who uh who’ve made uh 1/3rd of his shots in those two games. So hasn’t really looked in sync. And that’s fine, but He’s like we’re alluding to It’s going to get uh you know, harder quicker. And I mean And even just playing like a like 35 minutes or 30 minutes like is that going to be a test for him since he hasn’t like That’s what he totaled basically in the entire uh preseason. So that’s basically the competitive basketball he’s played since since France. Since the Olympics, so How’s all that going to look? I’ll be interested to find out. Pop Pop says he won’t be in rhythm to start opening night like he just flat says that. So, I think they’re expecting a little bit of uh rust. And it’s It’s fair enough, I guess. And Tom, just to go back through the the recent history that I think everybody is familiar with but but just as a reminder of why he had a light preseason Victor did, going back to before his last year in France. It’s been a lot of basketball uh played in in a short period of time. From his last season as a pro there to the playoffs in France to the Summer League when he was drafted, to a long rookie season, and then the Olympics. Uh There’s been a method to this madness, at least right?
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, and and you know, they they’ve got they’ve got a pretty pretty uh cracker jack outfit medical staff, his people Spurs people you know, uh um the the Spurs practice facility was touted as having the best medical facilities in the NBA, maybe in all of sports. So, I mean, there there’s a lot of brain work that’s going into this, um this scheme or plan for how to use him and how to how to make sure you you maintain his health being uh with the frame that he has. So, you know, it’s not like it’s it’s just It’s well thought out. And uh I I think they’re doing the right thing.
Mike Finger: It It doesn’t It doesn’t to me Did Did we just get a visit from uh 1920s radio? I was going to let that slide. I’m not going to make Tom explain. What was uh what was the tip-off there? Tell me, guys, I don’t Crack Jack Medical Outfit. Crack Jack. Yeah. Cracker Jack, yeah, Cracker Jack. You got a Cracker Jack Medical Outfit, see? He could have said top shelf, right? No top shelves, probably uh dated too, I don’t know. Explain to the kids at home what Cracker Jack is, Tom.
Tom Orsborn: And Well, it’s funny. You know, I just saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s the other day. Um we rewatched that They had Cracker Jacks at that break- Yes. It’s It’s quite a scene, that’s um Interesting. Yeah, he gets a It’s a It’s a long story, but Cracker Jack a Cracker Jack box and a prize figures into the movie. Did Did they name that Did they name that movie after that Deep Blue Something song? That’s going to go over Tom’s head, but it makes me laugh. Oh, I know I know that I know that song. Uh going back to Victor. I mean Well, it’s not like he’s been just inert this whole time. Like maybe it’s not the same, but they’ve been practicing a lot and practicing hard and scrimmaging a lot. So there has been a lot of this stuff going on behind closed doors. Or maybe the conditioning might be okay. You know, maybe maybe the rhythm will be a little better than we thought. We just haven’t seen him like us us in the public have not seen him on the floor very much since since the Olympics, and it hasn’t it hasn’t looked great. But, they’ve been practicing their rear ends off. So if if that counts for anything, um you know, they’ve done something. One of the things that’s fun about um talking to Victor Wembanyama sometimes when like you get into semantics with him. And and his availability yesterday talking to us, uh someone mentioned the the term uh minutes restriction. And it was it was funny when he said I I don’t like that term or I would I would argue with the term minutes restriction. It’s more about um pushing my body to its limit. Isn’t that what he said, Tom? Yeah. Yeah. Which I found kind of interesting, and uh this basically his point was it’s it’s not about the minutes, it’s about trying to to do as much to allow him to do as much as he can without over-extending himself. And I think uh there’s not going to be a minutes restriction on him to start this season. There’s not Pop’s not going to go and do a game saying he can’t play more than 24 or 30 or 34 or whatever it is. Um But, I think there’s like like Pop like Tom said that that Cracker Jack medical staff has put a lot of thought and energy into this. And they probably have a plan for how these first few games are going to go. I I did ask Pop that um just point-blank after that Houston game like there’s not going to be uh You don’t You don’t foresee there being like a literal minutes restriction on Victor starting the season given, you know, he hadn’t done much in the preseason. And Pop said, “No, there there won’t be any medical reason for him to be restricted, but he’s probably going to be tired a lot.” Is basically what Pop said. So That’s That’ll give you something to watch on Thursday. So tired Victor Wembanyama. Victor’s out of rhythm. Devin’s out of uniform. They got They got two new guys, Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes, trying to get to know, build some chemistry. Well, what’s this first week going to look like?
Tom Orsborn: They might surprise you. You never know. They might surprise you. It’s It’s a weird situation because to me And this goes back to an age-old joke with Greg Popovich about the importance of getting off to a good start. Which uh that’s the kind of question that he loves, but uh it’s sort of important to get off to a good start to the season, don’t you think? I mean like if this season really is about winning and and they’re putting these two uh 60 loss years behind them, and uh you you know you want to you want to keep everybody’s interest beyond opening night. Like you don’t want to start O and five. Um Yeah. I I was uh There’s a danger of doing that. Yeah. Or there’s the first four, there’s no gimme in those first four. You get Houston back to back at home, and Houston’s not like a a a title contender, but that’s a solid team. Then Dallas Dallas on the road, at Oklahoma City Like they’re It’s It’s It’s There’s a potential for a not great start there, especially with everything that Tom mentioned. And you’re going to Utah on the second night of a back to back Yeah. Yeah. You know, Yeah. You can’t go like five and 24 again. That would be bad. That’s the start. I guess we can get into that. I wanted to use this week’s show, um to kind of make not necessarily specific uh number of you know, record predictions or whatever, but just in general predictions about the season, what what we expect and uh what might be considered to be less than a success. And I think Jeff hit on a key point there where like one thing you do not want to happen with this team is a 5 and 15 start where everyone’s just kind of out of it from the first couple of months. Um I I don’t think you need to be 500 at Christmas. I don’t think you need to be, you know, in a playoff spot heading into the new year. But, you don’t want to be just completely out of it a month or two into the season. I And I Yeah. I think you want to stick around like within like shouting distance of 500. Yeah. You know, like where it’s just not abysmal. Right. Like, don’t have a don’t have an 18 game losing streak again. That would be a good goal. Well, that I I I think we’ve hit on a big big uh Just just this is this is going to gain all kinds of attention in this podcast when we say that that that cannot happen, another 18 game losing streak. That’s That’s That’s an attention getter. It It cannot happen. You’re right. Well, or what? Or else people will be mad. Oh well, that’s true. Uh-huh. Um the Looking Looking at the first three weeks of the season, we uh people at home don’t have the schedule in front of them, but Well, I don’t have it yet, but let me look at it. But, at Dallas, two at home against Houston, at OKC, the at Utah should be a a win in this year, considering where those two teams are headed. Spurs heading up Utah maybe not stressing the winning so much. But, as Tom mentioned, it’s the second night of a back to back. Okay. Does it matter to you that Houston’s game in the Spurs home opener at San Antonio is a back to back for the Rockets? That’s going to be good. That could Like, if you were going to play one, don’t you have to play the other? I mean, you know. That could I expect Spurs to win the home opener. All the all the excitement that’ll be around that. Um Their first All right, you got some gimmies The last year was at was Houston at home. You get some gimmies, but You get some breaks in November, though. Well, well you do, but November starts with Minnesota at home. But, then look at the rest of it. At the Clippers. The Clippers with who? The Clippers are going to be one of the worst teams in the West probably. It’s still an at the Clippers. That’s true. Like it’s an at. That’s true. Uh West Coast time zone, the new Intuit Dome excited to be making a a trip to that. Orleans are abysmal. You get Utah you get Utah again. You get Washington Like, they’re right Did You You got Man, you play Utah three times in the first month of the season. Now is that a good thing or a bad thing? Four times. You get them all I’m just realizing this. You get them all basically before Thanksgiving. That’s a good question. That’s a good thing or a bad thing, because you’re getting them while you’re you don’t have Devin Vassell, and you’re Or maybe they should have You could have You could have Devin. But, you’re you’re still working out the kinks of bringing in new guys, of Victor shaking off the rust, of if Devin comes back, he’s probably not going to be 100%. Would you rather get those gimme wins later in the year? I think all that aside, I would just rather have them spread out. I wouldn’t want to play the same team four times in a month. I think you’re right. Just all even just even if none of what you just said was true, I still wouldn’t want a like the same team four times in a month. Let me ask you this. If uh the the first week of the season those two Houston games where you you feel like you need to win at least one of those um uh uh basically the games in in October before before Devin Vassell gets back. If the Spurs have a uh a hero in those games that’s not Victor Wembanyama, the guy who steps up and and makes sure you get you grab that home opener against the Rockets or you steal one at Oklahoma City or you win the back to back against Utah, who’s the guy that steps up alongside Victor in that in that situation then and really makes a difference? Chris Paul. Yeah. As a scorer, as a distributor, as just a leader? As a late as bringing calmness late in crunch time. There you go. Maybe Maybe making a play in crunch time will be the difference. Jeff, do you concur? That was going to be what I was going to say, yeah. But, you could also see maybe just a a weird like four three-pointer four five three-pointer game from like Julian Champagnie. Mhm. Where you just get one of those sort of like random explosions. Um Maybe Keldon has a huge game off the bench. Something like that. Speaking of Julian Champagnie, uh uh Tom and and Jeff and the whole media crew were were peppering some of the guys who talked yesterday with uh with questions trying to trying to to get people to commit on a uh on a starting lineup. And although no one has done that, it seems pretty evident what we’re going to see at Dallas on on Thursday. You’re going to have Chris Paul at point guard. You’re going to have Victor Wembanyama at center. You’re going to have starting forward tandem of Jeremy Sochan and Harrison Barnes. I think it’s up to the It’s It’s in the eye of the beholder whether whether one is the three and one’s the four. You can pick your pick your order there. And then at the two, I think you’re going to see Mr. Julian Champagnie, aren’t you? Yeah, I think that’s pretty evident. I think that’s a good guess. And Champagnie’s had a good preseason? Yeah, he’s been great. He’s been great. And and it’s a good guess, because the the two times the only two times in the preseason they had all five of those guys available, that was their starting lineup. So, that’s that’s why that’s why it’s a pretty good guess, those of us who’ve been paying attention to the preseason. That’s why I asked you too. Because I know you have. Yes. Yes. Um Well yeah Champagnie shot shot the lights out in the preseason and, you know, That That can come and go for any shooter, but if he can continue that, it would be very very nice. And it would give them some three-point shooting to a team that, you know, coming in on paper looked like it was going to lack it somewhat. And might still lack it, but like if they’re If it’s not going to lack it They need guys like Champagnie to knock down shots. And he has during the preseason. He was I mean Again, doesn’t matter, but he was really good in that Silver and Black scrimmage as well, just in terms of like just knocking down shots. That’s exactly the job description for being that fourth guy in that starting lineup. Right. I mean, they You You could pick any skill. The one skill is just knock down an open three-pointer. And he did it wearing a full warm-up. He did. And I don’t know if this matters in the preseason, but like his body language is really good. He looks confident. And he’s taking confident shots and he’s not I’m not I don’t mean to suggest he’s forcing shots, but he’s taking shots that are aren’t just you know, wide open. Like maybe you know there’s there’s there’s a guy closing in and he takes it anyway. He’s And I I think that’s that’s all a good sign for him. He’s very relaxed. And he’s he’s got that I belong I I I know I belong type of feeling right now, I think. And he might start He might start the regular season O of 49. He is going to. All this is for not, but He looks good so far. Coming off the bench in that first game at Dallas against the defending Western Conference Champions at American Airlines Center. Um, you have point guard Tre Jones. You have wing player, longest tenured Spur, Keldon Johnson. You have post player back for another year, Zach Collins, perhaps healthy for an extended period this time. You have the rookie, Stefan Castle, probably playing a little bit of off guard, maybe a little bit of uh guarding the other guy other teams wing players like threes. He can do that, maybe maybe initiating the offense every now and then as a point guard. But those those those are four guys who were really confident we’re going to see off the bench um in the first half of the first game of the season. And then there’s that uh smorgasbord that we’ve talked about in previous preseason podcasts of guys who might uh fit into that 10th role before Devin Vassell comes back and and are fighting to stay in the rotation even beyond that. Of of that smorgasbord, who do you want to pick first to discuss, Jeff? Uh Well, I guess Blake Wesley. And here’s why. Those of us who’ve been paying attention to the preseason realize the Spurs have had one game of the five where they had their entire opening night roster available. So, that’s every everybody you can name except for Devin Vassell who was going to be hurt opening night. Mhm. And so, they uh That was in Miami, the game Tom covered. Um Pop, basically in the first half played it like he would play a normal game and it was it was the nine guys you mentioned. And then Blake Wesley played like 3 minutes of the first half. And then the second half is when you got into your Blake played some more, and you got into your Mamu, and your Malachi Branham, your Charles Bassey. Charles Bassey, sort of thing. So, that that tells me where they’re leaning. I would also say like when you’re talking about a rotation, it can change night to night, week to week. Even with within the flow of the game depending on how the game’s going, how matchups look, but I think the nine guys you mentioned are pretty pretty solid. And then that 10th guy will kind of um oscillate, vacillate, whatever you want to call it, but they uh one thing I’ll say they love that look they they would use in the preseason every now and then with Blake Wesley and Stefan Stefan C- Stefan Castle. Um defending for you to say. Exactly. Trailing and throwing in Tre Jones. Like they they they just love that defensive Yeah. Look, that just disrupted everything. And And so, I think we’ll see some looks at that pretty early. Maybe when when a when a game looks like it’s not going great or the offense is stalled maybe throw those sick those those two onto a onto opposing backcourt, create some turnovers, create some easy offense that way. Um So, that’s kind of where the bench the bench is right now. We we don’t talk about him much on this podcast um for for obvious reasons. Um Because he’s He’s been hurt, but I I’m curious Tom, what do you expect from Charles Bassey this year? Is he just going to be a use when needed type of guy, you know, that that bottom five on the bench that gets a gets a like few minutes here and there, or or could you see him becoming a regular, you know, backup big guy? I think he’ll be the ladder. Um you know unless proven otherwise, unless he you know, progresses to to earning more minutes, but um The former, you mean? The the the the little used thing? The first thing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh you anyway, five you know, f- he’s He’s He’s five five points, five rebounds, no matter what you you do with him. He’s He’s like he’s always there. He seems like that’s his ceiling, you know. I I don’t know. Maybe it’s a little bit more, but I think Do you think Mamu is ahead of him? Sandro Mamukelashvili? Yes. I think so. I really think they’re looking for ways to get Mamu on the floor and can’t quite figure it out yet. But, I think that’s coming. What I think Charles Bassey is going to be very useful uh where he’s going to be useful is like that inevitable stretch where Zach Collins has hurt himself again. Yeah. And And you need you need someone to uh fill that fill in for that fill in that backup role. Since we are moving to other guys in this smorgasbord, um since we last spoke to the podcast listeners, who we appreciate greatly, who sometimes visit us at expressnews.com, which is awesome, full of full of coverage of the local cages in a pivotal second season under with Victor Wembanyama. Um, since we last spoke to them, we had some contract decisions that were made that I think we all expected, but that we’ve been talking about for some time. Um, the two notable ones were that a uh another year option was picked up on both Blake Wesley and the aforementioned Malachi Branham. What do we think about that? I I I think it was inevitable. I guess um we sort of said that it wasn’t in recent podcasts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they Maybe That’s just for ratings. Or we just wanted That was for ratings. That was for ratings. It was fake news. Um I mean you I think you brought it up before though. And I I I I guess I need to correct myself for something I said in in the pre I think it was in the uh the in vivo um Lonnie Walker thing? Yeah. You said that that teams normally just pick up that fourth-year option. And that’s true. That’s true. Teams normally do. It’s It’s cheap cheap money, cheap labor. Um And, I kind of said, “Well yeah, that’s true, but the Spurs don’t always” and I mentioned Lonnie Walker, but that actually wasn’t wasn’t true. They did pick up Lonnie Walker’s fourth-year option. They just didn’t uh uh extend him past that fourth year. It’s what I recalled in my old and addled brain. So, Lonnie Walker is available again. I apologize to everyone. Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. Poor guy. But, did Did not catch on with the Celtics. I think he’s going to end up in the G-League. Which is nice. In the G-League, which is nice. Yes. Talented guy, likable guy. Hope it works out for him. Um It’s just that just shows it’s it’s how hard it is to to get a roster spot in the NBA. Like that’s that’s a talented dude, not a bad team. It’s you know sometimes you hear about talented dudes flaming out because they’re they’re bad teammates or whatever. People like him Yeah. He does He does things well. He can make a shot, he could run like crazy. Um It’s just hard hard to get a job in the NBA. He has those flashes where he could he could just go get 18 points really fast, but they were few and far between. And Yeah. Defensively, never really really caught on. But, it it is interesting cuz you’d hear Spurs fans talk about how misused Lonnie Walker was, and the Spurs were blowing it, but he hasn’t caught on anywhere else either, you know. Yeah. So, I don’t know. It seems like I mean, not to be harsh, but it seems like more of a Lonnie Walker issue at this point then a coaching/usage issue. And that seems really harsh. Sorry. Just Just Just kicking a guy while he’s down. You didn’t mention the other the other transactions. So, they also picked up Jeremy Sochan’s uh option. And the and the move the move that is going to get Brian Wright the Executive of the Year award is they uh picked up Victor Wembanyama’s third year option. Yeah. He’s got to work to get that. I’m I’m told like the I’m told like the I’m told yeah. I’m told that on Victor like that was like they had to call a big meeting like everybody in the staff, like had to meet in the big room, RC, Pop people we never even heard of. And it went down to the wire. They were just shouting I know. People really against it. But, uh eventually, cooler heads prevailed, and they will pay Victor Wembanyama a pittance. It took It took some Cracker Jack brainpower to make that call. Heard the whole ownership group got flu in. Yeah. F- gotten in. Got gotten in from all over the country. I even Michael Dell is in there making making pitches. Michael Dell Crazy. Well, they they they had Michael Dell used like a a a an AI model like to project uh future Victor Wembanyama stats to make sure that it would be worth it to pick up that 3rd year option. It just said uh he’s good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um But, anyways, it’s a good move. It’s a good move. We got to give credit where credit’s due. We’ve covered darn near the whole roster in these 20 minutes so far. I think we’ve mentioned almost every name. I I I I’s There’s There’s a Spur who who who is on the roster that we have not even mentioned? We’ve been exhausted today. Let’s see. We have not mentioned the two-way guys. We did not mention Riley Minus. He’s getting a big two-way deal. There we go. That’s a good one. Riley Minus is the reason they won two of their preseason games. I will I will contend that. Like, garbage time is how you win the preseason games, and Riley Minus in those two games really picked them up in garbage time. He’s proven to be a closer already. So, do you think he’s in the closing lineup with Chris Paul? No. But But he’s here he’s here in that spot. I mean, he came in, Pop claims he didn’t know who he was, and he he got on Pop’s radar pretty quickly with his shooting. And lo and behold, he’s got a contract. Two-way. I think that you insinuated there that Pop wasn’t telling the truth there. I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to go get the grain there and think and say that Pop genuinely didn’t know. Genuinely didn’t know. Yeah. Probably Probably He showed up. Probably. Like I don’t think the the two-way race was a a a top uh uh Pop’s uh focus there back then. But He’s probably wondering if they found a right turn into something. He might turn into something. Who Who were two-way guys? The two-way thing is doesn’t have a long long history in the league. Uh that that was just started. Maybe within the past decade. Is that right? But but what have there been two-way guys who who sticks out among those? Maybe just on this roster like Mamu started as a two-way guy in Milwaukee. Mhm. Um Charles Bassey was a two-way guy. Charles Bassey. Both in Philadelphia and here. So, it can happen. Yeah. Yeah. Guys Guys come up and stick. There’s probably even better better examples across the league, but I’m Spurs-centric, so Yeah. All right, here’s I’m And I I Googled it, so I’m I’m cheating here, but Duncan Robinson Alex Caruso. Yeah. Alex Caruso. Yeah. Alex Caruso like an elite player now all of a sudden. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a two-way that two-way’s been around a long a long time. You’re an old man, sir. Are we Or is Alex Caruso a two-way player, and that he plays offense and defense? No. It’s This uh Let’s see. Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves. Cash in, got rich off of two-way deal. Um They It It can happen. We We shouldn’t discount Riley Minus yet. Now, that’s We We could need Lu Dort. Lu Dort. Tom’s just loading this podcast with names. Riley Minus should feel inspired. Another uh player who we mentioned just real quickly in terms of the starting lineup, who uh who spoke a little bit yesterday was uh Harrison Barnes. Um want to get back to him because you know he’s played as Jeff has mentioned on the podcast and somebody brought up with Harrison yesterday, he’s played 82 games two years in a row. And Not only that. He first started 82 games. Started 82 games, two years in a row. Two years in a row. That doesn’t happen with San Antonio Spurs very often. Um Part Partly because they’re they they they know how to give guys rest every now and then. Um Then you also have the dynamic that Harrison Barnes is an older on this team, definitely older. Uh he’s only in his early 30s, but um like is he going to be part of the nucleus for years to come? And if he’s not, like, does he hold on to that starting role all season? He He He’s very um I don’t know if magnanim- magnanimous is the right word, but he When asked about things like this, he says the right things. That he wants whenever the the trade discussions started over the summer. The trade that brought Harrison here um to allow the the DeMar DeRozan deal to go down in Sacramento. You know, Harrison was on board with coming to San Antonio. It was either him or Kevin Huerter. And Harrison Barnes wanted it to be him. He wanted to come to San Antonio. I think he waved um a uh a a trade kicker in his deal to make sure that it could happen under the salary cap. And uh uh when I asked him yesterday about what Pop had told him or what the Spurs had told him about his role here He said it was very simple. He He was just going to do what they were going The Spurs were going to use him however they wanted to use him to win, and he was willing to do that. Now, I think just because I think we’re all aware of human nature, a guy who still thinks he’s uh uh uh a solid NBA player who has started 82 games in two consecutive seasons in two consecutive seasons. I assume that he thinks he’s coming here to start, and to start a lot and to be part of that lineup all season long. My question for the group is: do you think that he is, first of all, going to start, let’s say, 80 games? Second of all, is he still a starting player in March and April? So, first of all, I think it was interesting. I think friend of the podcast, Don Harris, is the one that asked Harrison Barnes yesterday. He mentioned that Pop is the uh godfather of rest resting load management. Yeah. And you know, uh so really how important is this 82 games thing to you. And Harrison he There’s sometimes a danger in reading between the lines in some quotes. But, what Harrison Barnes said was like, “Yeah, you you know Pop asked me about it. I I just told him, I just I plan to be available, you know, as uh you know, every game I can be available, I’m available.” Um But then, Harrison said like, “I hope I hope Pop and I are on the still you know on the same page with that.” Kind of insinuating to me like, “Yeah, of course, I want to play all 82 and start all 82.” Um, will he I I I I don’t know that I have a number. I would like to see how it looks for a while before I put a number on it. I think they clearly are going to start him to start the season to to begin the season. And then, kind of see how it goes. And I mean is he a starting calibre, I mean Did did he fall off a cliff after last year? I don’t know. He started for Sacr- a very good Sacramento team 82 games last year. So, I I think until we see otherwise he’s you got to say he he has a chance to be a starting calibre player in the NBA. I mean, I I don’t know that we’re going to hold his preseason against him too much just yet. I think that’s one of the one of the things that I’m most interested in watching this this first few weeks of the season is how does the Harrison Barnes next to Jeremy Sochan front court work? Um That’ll That’ll be what you’re most interested in. I think well, because because I think I I I have no idea on that. The other thing like Victor is Victor, and Chris Paul, you know what you’re going to get from Chris Paul. Um But, what What is the reason you think it wouldn’t work? Um, because I think if you asked either one of them what position they play and you ask them to be specific, I think they would both say the four. So, you have two fours playing alongside each other. What’s the difference between a four and a three in today’s NBA? You’re You’re You You You That’s where I was headed. It’s It’s a uh uh It’s an increasingly positionless league, but um you know, that’s I I maybe I I’m doing this for the ratings. Jeff, like here’s what I here’s what I think. I think Harrison Barnes, I I’m interested to see how that that works, because Jeremy Sochan remains an enigma. I I think it’s more of a Jeremy Sochan thing than a Jeremy Barnes thing. Than a Harrison Barnes thing. We don’t know what what the 2024 2025 edition of Jeremy Sochan looks like. Maybe that’s more interesting than how he plays alongside Harrison Barnes. But, I think there’s an unknown with that front court and how it all fits together. I think Harrison Barnes has been close to a 40% three-point shooter here the last 5 or 6 years. I think he made like 38 last year. If he can shoot at that sort of clip, then I think it works, cuz then you don’t have two guys that can’t shoot at that position. Then you can call them whatever you want, but then Sochan’s the four and Barnes is the three, you know, in in the uh old old NBA nomenclature. But, I think a lot a lot of the fit has to do with can can can Harrison Barnes hold up from three-point range. I think you’re right. The uh the last Spurs player to play in all 82 games. Can you guess this bit of trivia? Yes. Tom Orsborn knows. Mills and Forbes? It was Bryn Forbes in 2019. 2019. And And I think Marcus played close to it. uh 80 80-something. Bryn Forb- Bryn Forbes played 80 all 82 games in 2018-19, starting 81 of them. Yeah, Patty Patty Mills. Bryn Forbes. And then