By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-12-08 13:42:33
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)（左）在本赛季的八场比赛中场均得到 17.8 分和 2.6 次助攻，尽管他场均仅上场 23.5 分钟。
对于马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)来说，一个词可以形容他试图重新启动这断断续续的第五个 NBA 赛季的感觉。
“充满动力，”瓦塞尔说道。
赛季初，瓦塞尔因脚部手术恢复而进入伤病名单，11月中旬又因膝盖骨挫伤再次缺阵，他的赛季开局并不如预期。
周日主场对阵新奥尔良鹈鹕队的比赛将是瓦塞尔本赛季的第九场比赛。他仍然没有被允许参加背靠背的比赛，并且仍然计划谨慎地控制上场时间，以替补身份出战。
至少他已经回到了赛场上，这在一个月前是瓦塞尔无法想象的。
“我很高兴能够上场比赛，”瓦塞尔说道。
当瓦塞尔能够出战时，他的效率很高。
这位24岁的球员在周日之前的比赛中场均得到17.8分，投篮命中率为51%，尽管单场比赛从未超过28分钟。
即使上场时间有限，瓦塞尔也一直保持着稳定的得分能力。他每36分钟能得到27.2分，这是他职业生涯中最高的效率。
“从去年年底到今年初，我缺席了很多比赛，”瓦塞尔说道。“显然我没有参加训练营和其他一些活动，所以我现在感觉很新鲜。”
现在马刺代理主教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)和其他教练组成员面临的问题是：瓦塞尔还需要多久才能重返球队首发阵容？
在过去的两个赛季里，瓦塞尔在106场比赛中首发了94场，如果不是受伤，他本该是今年首发五虎的必然人选。
由于他的上场时间仍然受到医疗团队的限制，瓦塞尔在不久的将来似乎仍将以替补身份出战。
“当一名球员像德文一样缺席这么长时间时，我们肯定会非常依赖医疗团队的意见，”约翰逊说道。“对于像德文这样宝贵的球员，我们会采取保守和谨慎的态度。”
这主要归结于一个数学问题。约翰逊表示，如果瓦塞尔每晚的上场时间需要控制在30分钟以下，那么让他在第四节关键时刻能够上场的最佳方式就是让他留在第二阵容中。
“你把他放在首发阵容中，然后让他在第三节首发，在48分钟的比赛中，你的时间是有限的，”约翰逊说道。“对他来说，在第四节（上场时间）可能会很紧张。可能会非常紧迫。”
如果马刺队希望瓦塞尔在比赛最后时刻提供得分火力——他们确实希望如此——那么只有让他在上下半场开始时都休息，这个数学题才能成立。
在这种情况下，将瓦塞尔的上场时间安排在剩余的36分钟里就变得更容易了。
“如果你去掉第一节和第三节的前六分钟，你就可以在第四节稍微‘贪心’一点，”约翰逊说道。
马刺队对杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)的复出也采取了类似的谨慎态度，索汉赛季初是首发前锋，但后来因左手拇指骨折缺席了13场比赛。
有四名球员在2023-24赛季开始时是首发，现在却以替补身份出战：瓦塞尔、索汉、凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)和扎克·科林斯(Zach Collins)。这证明了马刺队的阵容深度——或者说是上赛季缺乏阵容深度。
瓦塞尔的队友们都渴望看到他更多的表现，越快越好。
“我认为他还没有完全恢复，”朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)说道，如果瓦塞尔重返首发阵容，他将是替补席上的候选人。“如果你问我，他仍在从伤病中恢复，只是让他的身体做好准备。我知道一旦他准备好了，他就会恢复到德文的状态，甚至更好。”
无论是现在以替补身份出战，还是以后重返首发阵容，瓦塞尔都充满动力去证明他的队友们是对的。
“我感觉很好，感觉已经恢复正常了，”瓦塞尔说道。“随着我参加越来越多的比赛，我的感觉会越来越好。”
科林斯被罚款 3.5 万美元
科林斯在周五输给萨克拉门托国王队比赛上半场的失控行为最终让他付出了3.5万美元的代价。
这是NBA对科林斯在第二节被驱逐出场后对裁判做出不雅手势而处以的罚款金额。
科林斯顶替受伤的维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)首发，他因对判罚提出异议而吃到第一次技术犯规，这是他本场比赛的第三次犯规。在吃到另一次技术犯规后，科林斯在走下场时竖起了中指。
当被问及他对科林斯失控行为的反应时，约翰逊说道：“我没有看到他说了什么。我们只是继续前进，努力用我们现有的阵容稳住局面。”
科林斯在赛后没有接受采访。他离场时得到2分和2个篮板。
特约撰稿人汤姆·奥斯本(Tom Orsborn)对本报道有贡献
点击查看原文：Devin Vassell's return to Spurs' starting lineup still on hold
Devin Vassell’s return to Spurs’ starting lineup still on hold
San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell, left, is averaging 17.8 points and 2.6 assists per game in his eight games this season, despite playing only 23.5 minutes per game.
For Spurs guard Devin Vassell, one word describes the feeling as he seeks to jump-start his on-again, off-again fifth NBA season.
“Motivated,” Vassell said.
Having opened the season on the injured list while recovering from foot surgery, only to be sidelined again in mid-November with a bone bruise in his knee, Vassell isn’t off to the kind of start he wanted.
Sunday at home against New Orleans was set to be his ninth game of the season. He is still not cleared to play in back-to-backs, and is still slated to log a carefully managed batch of minutes off the bench.
At least he is on the floor, which is something Vassell could not have said a month ago.
“I’m just happy to be playing,” Vassell said.
When Vassell has been active, he has been effective.
The 24-year-old entered Sunday averaging 17.8 points and shooting 51% from the field despite never logging more than 28 minutes in a single game.
Even with a limited workload, Vassell has been a consistent bucket-getter. He is averaging 27.2 points per 36 minutes, by far the highest clip of his career.
“I’ve missed a lot of time from the end of last year to the beginning of this year,” Vassell said. “Obviously I didn’t have training camp or other stuff, so I’m fresh.”
The question now for Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson and the rest of the staff: How long before Vassell is reinstated into the team’s starting lineup?
Vassell started in 94 of his 106 appearances over the previous two seasons, and would have been a shoo-in for this year’s starting five had he not been hurt.
With his minutes still capped by the medical staff, Vassell seems ticketed to continue coming off the bench for the near future.
“We definitely lean on the medical staff heavily when it’s someone who has been out for as long as Devin was,” Johnson said. “It’s going to make us be conservative and mindful with someone as valuable as Devin.”
It mostly comes down a math problem. If Vassell needs to stay under 30 minutes per night, Johnson said, the best way to have him available at crunch time in the fourth quarter is to keep him with the second unit.
“You put him in the starting lineup and you start him in the third, you only have so many minutes in a 48-minute game,” Johnson said. “It can get close for him (to playing too much) in the fourth. It can get pretty tight.”
If the Spurs want Vassell’s scoring punch down the stretch of games — and they do — the math only works if they rest him to start both halves.
In that case, it becomes easier to squeeze Vassell’s stints into the remaining 36 minutes.
“If you take out the first six minutes of the first and third, you get to be a little bit greedy in the fourth,” Johnson said.
The Spurs are taking a similarly cautious approach with the return of Jeremy Sochan, who opened the season as a starting forward before missing 13 games with a fractured left thumb.
It is a testament to the Spurs’ depth — or perhaps the lack of it last season — that four players who began the 2023-24 campaign in the starting lineup are now coming off the bench: Vassell, Sochan, Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins.
Vassell’s teammates are itching to see more of him, the sooner the better.
“I don’t even think he’s in full form yet,” said Julian Champagnie, a candidate to head to the bench if and when Vassell is elevated to the starting five again. “If you ask me, he is still coming back from his injury and just getting his body ready for it. I know once he’s set, he’ll be back to being Devin plus more.”
Whether coming off the bench for now or returning to the starting lineup later, Vassell is motivated to prove his teammates right.
“I’ve been feeling good, feeling back to normal,” Vassell said. “As I get more and more games under my belt, I’ll just keep feeling better and better.”
Collins fined $35K
Collins’ meltdown in the first half of Friday’s loss against Sacramento ended up costing him $35,000.
That is the amount the NBA fined Collins for making an obscene gesture at a referee after being ejected in the second quarter.
Starting in place of the injured Victor Wembanyama, Collins picked up his first technical for disputing a foul call against him, his third of the game. After earning another technical, Collins raised his middle finger while walking off the court.
Asked for his reaction to Collins’ meltdown, Johnson said, “I didn’t see what was said. We just moved on and tried to hold the fort together with the group we had.”
Collins wasn’t available for comment after the game. He exited with two points and two rebounds.
Staff writer Tom Orsborn contributed to this report
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News