By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-12-27 11:16:09
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。
主教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)已经缩减了轮换阵容,并且为了弥补阵容的不足,大量使用克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)和文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)。
马刺队圣诞大战负于尼克斯队的比赛向世人展示了文班亚马的能力,并证明了圣安东尼奥可以与一支精英球队抗衡。这场比赛也揭示了教练组在做事方式上的变化,这可能预示着球队目标的重大转变。
文班亚马出场超过40分钟,这是他本赛季出场时间最多的一场比赛。在圣诞节前的两场比赛中,他的出场时间都超过了36分钟,这两次都排在他本赛季出场时间的前五名。克里斯·保罗在12月23日对阵76人队的比赛中出场近35分钟后,在对阵尼克斯的比赛中出场超过36分钟,这是他本赛季出场时间最多的两场比赛。在纽约,查尔斯·巴塞(Charles Bassey)和扎克·科林斯(Zach Collins)整场比赛都坐在替补席上,这似乎是替补中锋出场时间逐渐减少的自然延续。杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)和德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)的出场时间也超过了30分钟,而有四名球员的出场时间不足18分钟。进攻也越来越以文班为中心;文班的投篮次数比其他任何球员的出手次数都多。情况很明朗:米奇·约翰逊最近一直在缩减轮换阵容,依靠一小部分球员,同时限制其他所有人的出场时间。
表面上看,这些决定并不神秘。文班亚马是一位超级巨星,而保罗在场上时产生了巨大的积极影响,因此让他们尽可能多地留在场上是有道理的。索汉和瓦塞尔是队中另外两名最好的球员。哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)的状态起起伏伏,所以看到他的出场时间波动并不奇怪。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)、特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)和凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)也是如此。这几个人中谁表现好谁就能获得更多上场时间;最近表现出色的是朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)。表现不佳的人就不会在场上待太久——或者像替补中锋那样根本不上场。马刺队距离附加赛席位只有半个胜场差,距离第六名也只有两个胜场差。如果目标是不惜一切代价进入季后赛,那么让最好的球员和状态正佳的球员上场,同时限制经验不足或效率低下的球员的出场时间是明智之举。
但这是马刺队的目标吗?如果是的话,又是从什么时候开始的呢?
圣安东尼奥在本赛季以低价引进了两名老将。保罗签下了一份七位数的合同,而马刺队实际上还因为接手巴恩斯而获得了补偿。他们用巴塞和桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)填补了阵容的剩余空缺,保留了表现平平的马拉基·布拉纳姆(Malaki Branham)和布莱克·韦斯利(Blake Wesley),并交易了一个乐透签,不是为了获得即战力,而是为了未来的选秀资产。这些都不是志在必得的举动。同样,当球队受到伤病困扰时,教练组实际上减少了文班和保罗的出场时间,而不是像一支迫切希望在排名中保持竞争力的球队那样增加他们的出场时间。轮换阵容的调整和一些球员出场时间的增加和减少仅仅持续了几场比赛,但似乎有些事情发生了变化,并且影响了马刺队管理阵容的方式。问题是,究竟是什么改变了呢?
一些理论是有道理的。文班亚马打出了前十球员的表现,这可能加快了球队的进程。如果他已经准备好今年在季后赛中有所作为,那么其他球员的发展就会退居其次。球队的表现也比预期的要好。管理层可能预计马刺队在这个赛季的这个时候距离季后赛席位会更远,而球队的目标已经从保持竞争力,同时培养年轻球员并展示像巴恩斯和约翰逊这样的潜在交易筹码,转变为不惜一切代价赢得胜利。也许一开始的目标是尽可能多地使用最好的球员,但由于瓦塞尔和索汉缺席比赛,以及首发阵容在他们缺席的情况下表现出色,这个计划不得不搁置。
无论最近这些变化背后的原因是什么,都有一个问题:这些调整并没有真正起到很好的作用。以尼克斯的比赛为例。马刺队在索汉打中锋的几分钟里输了10分。文班亚马打满了整个第四节。在前六分钟里,他得到11分和4个篮板。在最后六分钟里,他没有得分。保罗也打满了最后一节,并在比赛后期得到了很多分,但他在防守和篮板上都被压制了。他被安排防守约什·哈特(Josh Hart),后者在最后六分钟里得到6分和3个进攻篮板。文班亚马在进攻篮板上也被对手击败,在比赛还剩一分钟时输掉了一场关键的争夺。当然,如果米卡尔·布里奇斯(Mikal Bridges)没有变成巅峰时期的凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant),我们现在讨论的将会是一场伟大的胜利,并且受到的 scrutiny 会少得多。但问题依然存在。
简而言之,问题在于,如果马刺队真正的目标是赢球,那么他们现在没有足够的可靠人才,仅仅增加稳定球员的出场时间是行不通的。保罗征战多年,身体负担过重;文班亚马在没有得到休息的情况下容易疲惫;尽管他很努力,但索汉不可能满场追着对手最好的外线得分手,然后又到内线与中锋对抗。头重脚轻的轮换阵容只适用于短时间,而不适用于NBA常规赛。即使它真的有效——汤姆·锡伯杜(Tom Thibodeau)的尼克斯就是一个很好的例子——马刺队多年来一直坚持认为,过度比赛会增加受伤的风险,并缩短球员的职业生涯。
那么解决方案是什么呢?交易。如果马刺队真的把赢球放在首位,而不是给边缘球员一个发展和证明自己的机会,那么一半的球员都不适合球队。在这种情况下,圣安东尼奥需要一个可靠的替补中锋,一个可以替补保罗的老将控球后卫,以及一个稳定的替补得分手。球队有足够的资产来得到他们,但使用这些资产是有风险的,因为如果没有第二个球星,加快球队进程可能会适得其反,如果瓦塞尔和索汉没有取得进步,球队也很难找到保罗的替代者。尽管如此,进行交易似乎是成为一支志在必得的球队的唯一途径,而无需增加那些应该减少出场时间的球员的出场时间,这既是为了让他们保持最佳状态,也是为了避免伤病。
自从最近一次轮换阵容的调整以来,只进行了少量的比赛。也许约翰逊教练只是在尝试一些新的东西,之后会让保罗的出场时间回到30分钟左右,使用替补中锋来防止文班亚马的出场时间达到30分钟以上,并更多地使用第二阵容。目前的趋势可能只是暂时的。
如果新的做法将持续下去,这表明管理层在交易截止日期前需要做出重大决定。
点击查看原文:The Spurs aren’t the win-now team they’re acting like... yet
The Spurs aren’t the win-now team they’re acting like… yet
Coach Mitch Johnson has trimmed the rotation and is playing Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama heavily to make up for the roster’s deficiencies.
The Spurs’ Christmas Day loss to the Knicks showed the world what Victor Wembanyama can do and proved that San Antonio can compete against an elite team. It also illuminated a change in how the coaching staff is doing things that might point to a larger shift in goals.
Wembanyama played over 40 minutes, the most he’s played this season. In the past two games before Christmas, he logged over 36 minutes, two marks that rank in the top five for him in playing time. Chris Paul played over 36 minutes after playing almost 35 against the 76ers on Dec. 23, his two highest marks this season. In New York, Charles Bassey and Zach Collins both stayed on the bench the entire game, a seemingly natural continuation of the dwindling minutes the backup centers have been seeing. Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell also eclipsed the 30-minute mark and four players logged under 18 minutes. The offense is also becoming more and more Wemby-centric; Victor made more shots than any other player even attempted. The picture is clear: Mitch Johnson has been trimming the rotation recently and relying on a select group of players while limiting the playing time of everyone else.
On the surface, the decisions are not mysterious. Wembanyama is a superstar, and Paul has had a massive positive effect when he’s been on the floor, so having them out there as much as possible makes sense. Sochan and Vassell are two of the other best players on the roster. Harrison Barnes has been up and down, so seeing his playing time fluctuate is not a surprise. The same goes for Castle, Tre Jones, and Keldon Johnson. Whoever is playing well from that group will get more minutes; lately that’s been Julian Champagnie. Whoever plays poorly will not be on the court as much — or at all when it comes to the backup centers. The Spurs are half a game back from the play-in and two games back from the sixth seed. If the goal is to make the postseason at all costs, then it’s smart to play your best guys and whoever is hot, while limiting the minutes of your inexperienced or ineffective guys.
But is that the Spurs’ goal, and if so, since when?
San Antonio came into the season with two veterans that it added on the cheap. Paul signed for seven figures and the Spurs actually got compensated for taking on Harrison Barnes. They filled out the rest of the roster with Bassey and Sandro Mamukelashvili, kept the underwhelming Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley and traded a lottery pick not for immediate help but for a future draft asset. Those are not win-now moves. Similarly, the coaching staff actually played Wemby and Chris Paul less when the team was struggling with injuries, not more, like a team desperate to stay within striking distance in the standings would have done. It’s only been a few games of altered rotations and extra minutes for some and fewer for others, but it seems something has changed and it has affected how the Spurs manage their roster. The question is, what exactly?
Some theories make sense. Wembanyama performing like a top-10 player might have accelerated the timeline. If he’s ready to make some noise in the postseason this year, the development of others would take a back seat. The team has also been better than anticipated. It’s possible the front office was expecting the Spurs to be much further away from a playoff berth by this point in the season and the mandate has shifted from being competitive while playing young guys and showcasing potential trade pieces like Barnes and Johnson to winning at all costs. Maybe the goal from the start was to use the best players as much as possible but with Vassell and Sochan missing time and the starting lineup without them doing well, the plan had to be put on hold.
Regardless of the reasons behind the recent changes, there’s a problem: the tweaks haven’t really worked all that well. Take the Knicks game as an example. The Spurs lost the Sochan at center minutes by 10 points. Wembanyama played the entire fourth quarter. In the first six minutes of the frame, he had 11 points and four rebounds. In the last six minutes, he went scoreless. Chris Paul also played the entire final period and did a lot of his scoring late, but he got destroyed on defense and the boards. He was hidden on Josh Hart, who got six points and three offensive boards in the last six minutes. Wembanyama also got outhustled on the offensive glass, losing a crucial battle after a free throw with a minute to go. Now, if Mikal Bridges hadn’t turned into prime Kevin Durant, we would be talking about a great win and there would be much less scrutiny. But the issue would have still been there.
To put it in the simplest terms, the problem is the Spurs don’t have enough reliable talent right now if the goal is actually to win, and simply upping the minutes of their consistent players will not do. Paul has too many miles on his body, Wembanyama tends to get gassed when he doesn’t get breaks, and as hard as he tries, Sochan can’t run around the court chasing the opponents’ best perimeter scorer and then battle inside with centers. A top-heavy rotation works for short stretches, not the NBA regular season. Even if it does work — and the Tom Thibodeau Knicks are a good example of it — the Spurs have maintained for years that the risk of injury increases and playing too much shortens careers.
So what’s the solution? Trades. If the Spurs are actually prioritizing winning above giving fringe players a chance to develop and prove themselves, then half the roster doesn’t fit. In that scenario, San Antonio would need a reliable backup center, a veteran floor general who can spell Chris Paul, and a consistent bench scorer. The team has the assets to get them, but using them would be risky, as accelerating the timeline without a second star in place could backfire if Vassell and Sochan don’t make a leap and the franchise struggles to secure a replacement for Paul. Still, making moves seems to be the only way to be a win-now team without extending the minutes of players who should probably be on the floor less, both to be at their best and to avoid injuries.
It’s only been a few games since the most recent changes to the rotation. Maybe Coach Johnson is just trying things out and will go back to playing Paul for around 30 minutes, using a backup center to keep Wemby’s playing time from getting into the high 30s, and using the second unit more. It’s possible the current trend is a temporary one.
If instead the new way of doing things is here to stay, it’s a sign that the front office has big decisions to make before the trade deadline.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock