By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, 2024-11-21 21:00:00
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。
在克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul) 季前赛对阵奥兰多魔术队的首秀中，第一节的最后一分钟，他将球高高抛向他的新搭档维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)，后者越过莫里茨·瓦格纳(Moritz Wagner)完成了一记空接扣篮。
自然而然地，霜冻银行中心16,952名观众沸腾了，希望这将是一个强有力的预兆。
“了解情况的人都知道，以他的天赋和受到的关注程度，有时他实际上会成为一个诱饵，”保罗说道。
保罗对此深有体会。随便说出一个内线球员的名字，保罗在近二十年的职业生涯中都让他们变得更好。本赛季开始前，这位控球后卫职业生涯已经送出715次空接扣篮助攻，现役球员中排名第一。与此同时，根据Second Spectrum的追踪数据，文班亚马上赛季在联盟的空接扣篮次数排名第三。他在没有保罗这样一位顶级控卫的情况下就完成了这一壮举。
2007-08赛季，与保罗合作的泰森·钱德勒(Tyson Chandler)场均得到职业生涯最高的11.8分。德安德鲁·乔丹(DeAndre Jordan)在与保罗并肩作战的五个赛季（2012-13赛季至2016-17赛季）中，连续五年领跑联盟的投篮命中率。克林特·卡佩拉(Clint Capela)在2017-18赛季作为保罗在休斯顿火箭队的队友赢得了NBA投篮命中率冠军，并在接下来的赛季场均得分创下职业生涯新高。
“他可能在篮球场上见过所有的情况，”马刺队临时教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)说道。由于格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)正在从11月2日球队所说的“轻微中风”中恢复，约翰逊目前执教球队。“作为一名教练，这很困难，因为你试图同时与每个人交流，而比赛还在进行。因此，拥有像克里斯这样的人，他可能比我拥有更好的解决方案，并且能够在场上实时地用球来帮助或影响比赛，这比黄金还要珍贵。”
保罗拥有20年让内线球员变得更好的经验，但他从未与像文班亚马这样的球员合作过，这位7尺3寸的天才球员曾被保罗的朋友勒布朗·詹姆斯(LeBron James)形容为“外星人”。保罗为文班亚马的比赛增加了明显的空接威胁，但这种配合并没有像联盟中许多人在夏天所预期的那样无缝衔接。文班亚马在外线得分的能力——以及对手防守他的方式——为这对组合增添了复杂性，他们仍在努力解决这个问题。
“传统的内线球员从一号位换防到五号位？”保罗说道。“你从未和像我这样的控球后卫一起打过球，你知道我的意思吗？所以，我们一直在尝试不同的东西。我以前从未和一个我为他挡拆的中锋一起打过球。这很不一样。”
在11月15日 对阵洛杉矶湖人队的比赛的第一节，保罗在一次挡拆配合中，当文班亚马切入篮下时，抛出了一记空接球。
砰！
奥斯汀·里夫斯(Austin Reaves)绝望地追赶着，文班亚马完成了一记双手暴扣。
这次助攻是保罗本场比赛的第三次助攻，也是他20年职业生涯的第12000次助攻，使他成为继约翰·斯托克顿(John Stockton)和贾森·基德(Jason Kidd)之后，第三位达到这一里程碑的球员。这次创造历史的助攻正是保罗和文班亚马在7月联手后，大多数人期望经常看到的比赛类型。
然而，这是保罗当晚11次助攻中唯一一次导致文班亚马扣篮的助攻。与此同时，保罗全队最高的11次助攻中有3次帮助文班亚马投进了三分球。
“我们的首要任务是赢得比赛，”保罗说道。“很多人认为这只是空接，空接，再空接。如果空接出现了，我们赢了，那就这样吧。这会发生的，因为他就是他。有些时候我们会得到空位投篮的机会，很多时候我们把球抛起来，他就能完成进攻。但我们会一直努力找到解决问题的办法。”
保罗认为文班亚马比赛的多样性是他们之间化学反应优化过程延迟的原因之一。
“有些晚上，会是中锋防守他，”保罗说道。“有些晚上，会是小前锋。在这个联盟里，你必须能够适应。这就是他正在弄清楚和学习的东西。”
还有其他一些障碍阻碍了这一进程。这位20岁的球员在经历了一个旋风般的夏天后，稍微休息了一下，俱乐部让他缺席了圣安东尼奥五场季前赛中的三场，而保罗也错过了两场季前赛。
文班亚马因右膝挫伤缺席了球队过去的两场比赛，并且已被排除参加周四对阵犹他爵士队的比赛。他花了常规赛的前几场比赛来恢复状态，同时学习与像保罗这样的精英控球后卫一起打球的复杂性。
“我们在对篮球的看法上有很多相似之处，”文班亚马说道。“最重要的是他对挡拆的理解。我只是试着运用他所看到的，并进行尝试，也告诉他我喜欢什么。他告诉我他喜欢什么，我们不喜欢什么。我认为这是一种非常健康的关系，因为我们对篮球的看法几乎是一样的。”
将一位未来的名人堂控球后卫与一位7尺高的具有划时代意义的天才球员配对，看着空接扣篮像雨点般落下。当保罗与圣安东尼奥签订一份为期一年的合同的消息传开时，这种想法似乎是理所当然的。
“从纸面上看，这似乎应该行得通，”约翰逊承认道。
NBA赛季只进行了13场比赛，保罗和文班亚马承认他们仍然处于合作关系的学习阶段，这种关系可能会随着2024-25赛季的进行而无限发展。但根据ESPN Research的数据，保罗已经为文班亚马在2024年的295分中贡献了98分，这是本赛季一名传球手为一名得分手助攻的最高得分。
“最重要的是他愿意告诉我们一些事情，”文班亚马说道。“每次训练，他都会给我们反馈他过去是怎么做的，防守通常是如何对付他们的，我们如何才能获得更多的空间。他正在以一种非常无私的方式对待这一切。”
根据ESPN Research的数据，圣安东尼奥马刺队控球后卫克里斯·保罗已经为维克托·文班亚马在2024年的295分中贡献了98分，这是本赛季一名传球手为一名得分手助攻的最高得分。 Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images 当文班亚马在11月13日 对阵华盛顿奇才队的比赛中拿下职业生涯第一个50分，并以139-130获胜时，其中14分来自保罗的助攻。
但这位法国天才球员没有一次扣篮。他在比赛中投进了职业生涯最高的8个三分球中的4个，其中12分来自保罗的助攻。
“我们希望他投这些球，”前锋朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)说道。“[他]显然是一位非常非常特别的球员。对他来说，并不总是要在内线得分。球队会用不同的方式来对付他。今晚，[是]三分球。他不会整场比赛都背打[尤纳斯]瓦兰丘纳斯(Jonas Valanciunas)。那是个大块头。我们希望他继续投[三分]。他会投进的。他有7尺5寸高。所以，真的没有哪个封盖能够碰到他。”
很明显，对手们相信在内线或靠近内线的地方对文班亚马进行身体对抗，这种策略反映在他圣安东尼奥前13场比赛的投篮分布上。对手们经常在篮筐附近对文班亚马进行撞击和骚扰，约翰逊将这归因于NBA对内线球员的常规判罚方式。
因此，本赛季文班亚马已经将他的技能运用到了最有效的地方：外线。考虑到他的运动能力、高大的身材和臂展，这种做法似乎违反直觉。然而，在圣安东尼奥的前13场比赛中，文班亚马62.5%的出手来自接球就投和干拔跳投，而33.2%的出手来自距离篮筐不到10英尺的地方。
大量的空接扣篮——就目前而言，还没有出现。
“空接是一个扣篮，一个简单的得分，”文班亚马说道。“这是球队首先要防守的事情之一。所以，抛空接球并不像看起来那么容易。但如果联盟中有一个人能抛出这样的球，那很可能是[保罗]。”
对文班亚马和马刺队来说幸运的是，历史表明保罗可以传出他选择的任何类型的传球。这导致了两人之间有趣的组合连接，这在赛后更衣室里经常可以看到，他们会聊几分钟前在场上看到的情况。
本赛季保罗已经为文班亚马送出了31次助攻，其中15次来自三分球，8次来自扣篮，4次来自空接扣篮。保罗和文班亚马的组合是NBA中唯一的组合，其中一名球员为另一名球员至少送出了7次三分球助攻和7次扣篮助攻。
保罗的影响力并不止于这位年轻的法国人。在波波维奇不在球队的情况下，保罗一直是一位老将。周二晚上，在文班亚马坐在替补席上的情况下，保罗带领马刺队战胜了俄克拉荷马城雷霆队，后者是NBA的顶级球队之一。7胜8负的马刺队要想进入季后赛还有很多工作要做，但他们比去年同期要好得多，去年他们在1月12日才取得第七场胜利。
“我希望你们能看到我们日复一日的努力，”保罗说道。“你知道他有多么有天赋。但他想要变得更好的意愿，他想要改进的意愿……我们打的比赛越多，我认为我们就会越熟悉彼此。”
点击查看原文：How Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama are evolving together
How Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama are evolving together
IT WAS THE final minute in the first quarter of Chris Paul’s preseason debut against the Orlando Magic, when he lofted a lob to his new partner, Victor Wembanyama, who jammed it home for an alley-oop dunk over Moritz Wagner.
Naturally, the crowd of 16,952 at Frost Bank Center lost it, hoping it would be the strongest of precursors.
“Those who know, know that with the talent he has and the amount of attention he garners, there is going to be sometimes where he’s actually a decoy,” Paul said.
Paul would know. Name your big. Paul has made them better for nearly two decades. The point guard entered this season having assisted on 715 alley-oop dunks over his career, the most among active players. Wembanyama, meanwhile, ranked third in the league last season in alley-oop dunks, according to Second Spectrum tracking data. He accomplished that feat without a floor general of Paul’s stature.
Working with Paul, Tyson Chandler in 2007-08 averaged a career-high 11.8 points. DeAndre Jordan led the league in field goal percentage for five straight seasons (2012-13 to 2016-17) playing alongside Paul. Clint Capela won the NBA’s field goal percentage title in 2017-18 as Paul’s Houston Rockets teammate, before averaging a career high the following season in scoring.
“He’s probably seen everything on the basketball court,” said Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson, who is leading the team while Gregg Popovich is recovering from what the team called a “minor stroke” suffered on Nov. 2. “It’s hard as a coach because you’re trying to talk to everybody at the same time and the game’s going on. So, to have someone like Chris, who probably has a better solution than I do, can actually be on the court with the ball, help, or affect that in real time is worth its weight in gold.”
Paul has 20 years of experience in making bigs better, but he’s never played with one quite like Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom once famously described by Paul’s friend LeBron James as “an alien.” Paul adds the obvious lob threat to Wembanyama’s game, but the fit hasn’t been as seamless as many around the league expected over the summer, with Wembanyama’s ability to score on the perimeter – and the way opponents are defending that – adding a complexity to the partnership that the duo is still smoothing out.
“Traditional bigs switching one through five?” Paul said. “You’ve never played with a point guard like me, know what I mean? So, we’re constantly doing different things. I’ve never played with a center that I’ve set screens for. It’s different.”
PAUL FLOATED A lob on a pick-and-roll as Wembanyama cut to the basket in the first quarter of a Nov. 15 game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bang.
A two-handed jam with Austin Reaves hopelessly trailing.
The assist was Paul’s third of the game and the 12,000th of his 20-year career, making him just the third player to reach that milestone, behind John Stockton and Jason Kidd. The history-making assist came on the exact kind of play most expected to see frequently when Paul and Wembanyama joined forces in July.
Instead, it was the only one of Paul’s 11 assists that night that led to a Wembanyama dunk. Meanwhile, three of Paul’s team-high 11 assists against the Lakers found Wembanyama for 3-pointers.
“Our first priority is to win games,” Paul said. “A lot of people think it’s just going to be lob, lob, lob. If the lobs come and we win, so be it. It’s going to happen just because he is who he is. There are going to be times when we get open shots, and a lot of times when we do throw it up and he can finish. But we are always going to try to figure it out.”
Paul believes the diversity in Wembanyama’s game plays a role in delaying the process of optimizing chemistry between them.
“Some nights, it’ll be centers guarding him,” Paul said. “Some nights, it’ll be small forwards. In this league, you’ve just got to be able to adapt. That’s what he’s figuring out and learning.”
There have also been other barriers blocking the process. The 20-year-old took somewhat of a break on the heels of a whirlwind summer, and the club held him out of three of San Antonio’s five exhibition outings as Paul missed two preseason matchups.
Wembanyama, who has missed the team’s past two games with a right knee contusion and has been ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz, spent the first few contests of the regular season playing his way back into shape, simultaneously learning the intricacies of playing with an elite point guard such as Paul.
“We share a lot of similarities in our view of basketball,” Wembanyama said. “The biggest thing is his knowledge of the pick-and-roll. I’m just trying to apply what he sees and experiment, also telling him what I like. He’s telling me what he likes, what we don’t like. I think it’s a very healthy relationship because we see basketball pretty much the same way.”
Pair a future Hall of Fame point guard with a 7-foot generational talent and watch the alley-oop dunks rain abundantly. The thought seemed a no-brainer when news spread of Paul signing with San Antonio to a one-year deal.
“On paper, it looks like it should work,” Johnson admitted.
Just 13 games into the NBA season, Paul and Wembanyama admit they’re still engaged in the learning stage of a partnership that could grow boundlessly as 2024-25 progresses. But Paul has already assisted on 98 of Wembanyama’s 295 points in 2024, the most points assisted by one passer to a scorer this season, according to ESPN Research.
“The most important thing is he’s willing to tell us things,” Wembanyama said. “Every practice, he gives us feedback on what he used to do, how defenses played them usually, how we can get more space. He’s approaching this in a very unselfish way.”
San Antonio Spurs point guard Chris Paul has assisted on 98 of Victor Wembanyama’s 295 points in 2024, the most points assisted by one passer to a scorer this season, according to ESPN Research. Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty ImagesWHEN WEMBANYAMA SCORED his first career 50-point game during a 139-130 win on Nov. 13 against the Washington Wizards, 14 of those points came off of Paul assists.
But none resulted in a single dunk by the French phenom. He scored 12 of his Paul-assisted points on four of his career-high eight 3-pointers in the contest.
“We want him to shoot those shots,” forward Julian Champagnie said. “[He’s] obviously a special, special player. It’s not always going to be in the paint for him. Teams are going to play him differently. Tonight, [it] was the 3. He’s not going to post up [Jonas] Valanciunas the whole game. That’s a big body. We want him to keep shooting [3s]. He’ll get them. He’s 7-5. So, there’s really no closeout that’s going to get to him.”
It’s clear opponents believe in defending Wembanyama physically in or near the paint, a strategy reflected in his shot profile over San Antonio’s first 13 games. Rivals routinely beat up and harass Wembanyama near the basket, and Johnson attributes that to the way big men are routinely officiated around the NBA.
So, Wembanyama has taken his skill set this season to where it’s most effective: the perimeter. Given his athleticism, towering height and length, such an approach would seem counterintuitive. Yet 62.5% of Wembanyama’s attempts over San Antonio’s first 13 games came on catch-and-shoot opportunities and pull-ups, while 33.2% of his shots came from fewer than 10 feet from the basket.
So much for the onslaught of lob dunks – for now.
“A lob is a dunk, an easy basket,” Wembanyama said. “And this is one of the first things that teams are about to guard. So, it’s not as easy as it seems to throw lob. But if there is one guy in this league who can throw them, it’s probably [Paul].”
Luckily for Wembanyama and the Spurs, history has shown that Paul can dish any variety of passes he chooses. That has led to an interesting combination of connections between the duo, which can often be seen in the postgame locker room chatting about what they saw minutes earlier on the floor.
Paul has dished 31 assists to Wembanyama this season with 15 coming on 3-pointers, eight on dunks and four on alley-oop jams. The Paul to Wembanyama connection ranks as the only combo in the NBA in which one player has assisted on at least seven 3-pointers and seven dunks to a single player.
And Paul’s impact doesn’t end with the young Frenchman. Paul has been a veteran presence with Popovich away from the team. And with Wembanyama on the bench Tuesday night, Paul led the Spurs to a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the NBA’s top teams. At 7-8, the Spurs still have a lot of work to do to reach the playoffs, but they are well ahead of last year’s pace, when they recorded their seventh win on Jan. 12.
“I wish you guys could see the work that goes in, day in and day out,” Paul said. “You know how talented he is. But his will and want to get better, his will to want to work on things…the more games we play, I think we’ll get more familiar with each other.”
By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, via ESPN