By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-01-12 08:04:37
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。
由于早期的成功，马刺队和他们最近的五号秀都面临着更高的期望，但对于年轻球员和年轻球队来说，不稳定是很常见的。
由于杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)受伤，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔在马刺队最近的四场比赛中重回首发阵容。在这两场比赛中，这位新秀的投篮命中率只有25%，九个三分球只命中一个，并且在防守端也出现了一些糟糕的表现。在这两次首发之间的替补出场表现也并不理想。
在过去的四场比赛中，圣安东尼奥只赢了一场，那场鼓舞人心的胜利是战胜掘金队，其余三场都输了。输给公牛队的崩盘和输给雄鹿队的大败，都令人沮丧，只是原因各不相同。马刺队目前排在西部第11位，无缘附加赛。
对银黑军团和2024年NBA选秀的第四顺位新秀来说，这都不是一段美好的时光。但由此产生的失望情绪可能在某种程度上被夸大了，因为期望值提高了。卡斯尔和马刺队都在为他们赛季初的成功付出代价。
卡斯尔所在的选秀届普遍不被看好。专家们是对的，除了因伤赛季报销的贾里德·麦凯恩(Jared McCain)之外，没有人场均得分超过12分。探花秀里德·谢泼德(Reed Sheppard)被下放到发展联盟，因为火箭队没有他的位置。状元扎卡里·里萨切(Zaccharie Risacher)是一位出色的防守者，但在进攻端却是一场灾难；榜眼亚历克斯·萨尔(Alex Sarr)最近有所进步，但赛季初的糟糕表现让人们对他的未来产生了严重的担忧。这届新秀中没有人能点燃联盟。卡斯尔也不例外，他的投篮命中率和三分命中率都很糟糕，助攻失误比为2比1，防守时好时坏，这提醒着人们，他只打了36场NBA比赛。正如预期的那样，卡斯尔的表现经常很糟糕，但也展现出了一些希望。
问题在于，他在赛季初有过一段表现，看起来他比预期的要好得多。在杰里米·索汉因手指骨折休战期间，卡斯尔首发了17场比赛，场均得到14.6分和4.5次助攻，投篮命中率虽然仍然很差，但也不至于太糟糕，分别为40%和31%。在那段时间里，他四次得分超过20分，并且投进了他本赛季总共34个三分球中的27个。他经历了起起伏伏，但感觉他比宣传的要更擅长投篮，而且他很容易就适应了NBA。马刺队在那段时间里取得了9胜8负的战绩，卡斯尔场均出场时间超过30分钟，并且是联盟中最好的首发阵容之一，尽管样本量很小。当然，自从卡斯尔回到替补席后，他的表现与之前相比令人失望。
类似的事情也发生在银黑军团身上。本赛季开始前，马刺队预计能赢下34场比赛左右，考虑到他们上个赛季只赢了22场，而且没有增加任何球星，认为这些预测过于乐观也是合理的。西部预计将是一场恶战，事实也的确如此，有10支球队的胜率达到或超过50%，而拥有凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant)、德文·布克(Devin Booker)和布拉德利·比尔(Bradley Beal)的太阳队却有可能错过附加赛。在这种情况下，圣安东尼奥在几名预计的首发球员受伤，并且缺少他们传奇主教练的情况下，战绩不佳也就不足为奇了。即使在理想情况下，他们也从未被认为是顶级球队之一，因为克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)和哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)的到来并不被视为是赢在当下的举措，而是为了给一支不断变化的阵容建立一些秩序。
在赛季开始之前，大多数球迷都会很高兴球队在赛季中期能取得18胜19负的战绩，但马刺队早早地超出了预期，现在对他们的衡量标准也不同了。最初的几场比赛并不出色，但一段时间后，圣安东尼奥开始赢得一些高质量的比赛，徘徊在50%胜率左右也不再像最初那样令人印象深刻了。文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)成为了超级巨星，保罗和巴恩斯证明他们不仅是好的补充，而且是非常合适的补充，即使在主要球员缺席的情况下，马刺队也依然具有竞争力。一些西部球队的表现不佳，突然之间，看起来可以争取的不再是附加赛资格，而是直接进入季后赛的门票。银黑军团并没有太多标志性的胜利，但他们经常击败他们应该击败的对手，尽管即将迎来密集的客场之旅，但人们期待的是稳步提升，而不是令人失望的比赛。
尽管外界 perception 如此，但马刺队和他们珍视的新秀的表现可以说都比最初的预期要好。球队有望赢得40场比赛，在被认为是过渡赛季的情况下，大多数球迷都会认为这是一个成功。文班的表现和预期一样好，老将们也提供了帮助。这支球队的精神力足够强大，以至于格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)的意外缺席并没有让他们感到不安。至于卡斯尔，他向控球手和组织者的转型进展顺利，因为他能在挡拆中做出正确的判断，并用他不规则的运球突破到篮下。他的投篮很糟糕，但他双脚起跳的 athleticism 令人惊喜，如果他能得到正常的哨子，他每场比赛可以多罚几个球。他显然在联盟中有着光明的前景。
随着赛季的进行调整预期是完全可以的。希望一名球员或一支球队能够达到他们过去所展现的水平并没有错。“情况可能会更糟”并不是一个特别鼓舞人心的口号，尤其是有证据表明情况可能会好得多。自满不是一种美德。
然而，重要的是要记住为什么最初的预期会被建立。年轻的球队和年轻的球员都会经历起伏，这正是我们在圣安东尼奥所看到的。希望情况能尽快好转；但如果不能，我们已经是在用意外之财了。
点击查看原文：Stephon Castle and the Spurs are both victims of their earlier success
Stephon Castle and the Spurs are both victims of their earlier success
The Spurs and their recent top-5 pick face increased expectations because of their earlier success, but inconsistency is common among young players and young teams.
Stephon Castle returned to the starting lineup in two of the Spurs’ last four games due to an injury to Jeremy Sochan. The rookie shot 25 percent from the floor in those two matchups, made just one of nine of his three-pointers and had some bad moments on defense. His performance off the bench in between both starts wasn’t much better.
In the past four games, San Antonio has come out on top once, an inspiring win over the Nuggets, and has lost the other three. A collapse against the Bulls and a blowout against the Bucks were disheartening for different reasons. The Spurs are currently outside the play-in spots, sitting at 11th in the West.
It hasn’t been a good stretch for the Silver and Black and the fourth overall pick of the 2024 NBA draft. But the disappointment that’s come from it might be overblown to some extent because of raised expectations. Both Castle and the Spurs are suffering from their early-season success.
Castle was part of a universally panned draft class. The experts were right, as no one except for Jared McCain, who is out for the season, is averaging over 12 points. Reed Sheppard, the third overall pick, was sent to the G League because there were no minutes for him in Houston. Zaccharie Risacher, the top pick, is a solid defender but an offensive disaster and Alex Sarr, the second pick, has improved recently but had a rough start to his season that was raising serious concerns about his future. No one from this group of rookies is lighting the league on fire. Castle isn’t the exception, as he’s shooting terribly from the floor and beyond the arc, has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and alternates between tantalizing defensive possessions and ones that serve as a reminder that he only has 36 NBA games under his belt. Castle has often been bad but also promising, as he was expected to be.
The problem is he had a stretch earlier in the season in which he looked like he could be much better sooner than anticipated. In 17 games as a starter while Jeremy Sochan recovered from a broken finger, Castle averaged 14.6 points and 4.5 assists while shooting a still bad but not completely horrendous 40 percent from the floor and 31 percent on threes. During that stretch, he scored over 20 points four times and made 27 of his total 34 threes for the season. He had his ups and downs, but it felt like he was a better shooter than advertised, and he was acclimating to the NBA easily. The Spurs went 9-8 during that span and Castle was playing over 30 minutes per game and was part of a starting unit that was among the best in the league, in an admittedly small sample size. Of course the version of Castle since his return to the bench has disappointed compared to the previous one.
Something similar happened with the Silver and Black in general. The Spurs were expected to win around 34 games coming into this season, and it was reasonable to think the projections were too optimistic, considering they won 22 the year prior and didn’t add any stars. The West was predicted to be a buzzsaw and it has been, with 10 teams having a .500 record or better and the Kevin Durant-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal Suns on track to miss the play-in. In that context, it should be no surprise that San Antonio, after suffering several injuries to projected starters and missing their legendary head coach, has a losing record. They were never supposed to be one of the top teams even under ideal circumstances, as the arrivals of Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes were not seen as win-now moves, but rather as a means of establishing some order to a roster in flux.
Before the season’s start, most fans would have been elated to know the team would have an 18-19 record near the halfway point, but the Spurs exceeded expectations early and are now measured differently. The first few games weren’t great but San Antonio started to get quality wins after a while, and hovering around .500 stopped seeming as impressive as originally. Victor Wembanyama turned into a superstar, Paul and Barnes proved to be not just good but great fits, and the Spurs were competing even with major absences. Some Western teams underperformed and suddenly it wasn’t the play-in that seemed attainable but a direct ticket to the playoffs. The Silver and Black didn’t have many signature wins but they were beating the opponents they were supposed to regularly and, despite a road-heavy schedule being on the horizon, the expectation was steady improvement, not letdown games.
Despite perception, both the Spurs and their prized rookie are arguably doing better than originally expected. The team is on pace to win 40 games, which most fans would have considered a success in what was deemed a transitional season. Wemby is as good as projected and the veterans have helped. The group has been strong enough mentally that Gregg Popovich’s unexpected absence has not fazed them. As for Castle, his transition into a featured ball handler and creator is going well, as he makes good pick-and-roll reads and gets to the rim with his herky-jerky drives. The shot is bad but his athleticism off two feet has been a pleasant surprise, and he could be averaging a few more free throws a game if he got a normal whistle. He clearly has a future in the league.
It’s perfectly fine to adjust expectations as the season goes along. There’s nothing wrong with hoping a player or a team will live up to the level they showed in the past. “It could be worse” is not a particularly inspiring battle cry, especially when there’s evidence that it could be much better. Complacency is not a virtue.
It is important, however, to remember why the original expectations were established. Young teams and young players have their ups and downs, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen with San Antonio. Hopefully an upswing comes soon; but if it doesn’t, we’re already playing with house money.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock