By Charlie Thaddeus | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-01-31 05:28:41
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。
圣安东尼奥的又一个令人沮丧的夜晚
当场外发生的事情比场上更精彩时，情况从来都不好。 这支球队周围的热议，让人感觉像是久违了。马刺队出现在时装秀的T台上！马刺队参加扣篮大赛！有传言说马刺队是大牌自由球员的“首选”目的地！ 令人兴奋的事情，对吧？我知道我每天醒来都对马刺队的篮球比赛充满期待，有时即使我正在看他们比赛也是如此！
说真的，情况没那么糟。我们已经看过足够多糟糕的篮球比赛，知道什么是糟糕的，而目前的这段时间并非如此。这是有竞争力的，引人入胜的，而且充满希望。令人沮丧的是，它也总是功亏一篑。它缺乏最后的打磨或优势，无法真正将所有东西整合在一起，成为特别的东西。
我不知道该怎么办！我对理论上的马刺队比实际的马刺队更有乐趣，这让我感觉很奇怪。这就像我作为一个篮球迷最糟糕的本能被喂养，即使我意识到了这一点，我仍然觉得每次我坐下来真正观看他们比赛时，我都必须为此做好心理准备。当然，看着维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)填满数据表，看着斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)成长为联盟中最好的年轻球员之一，这很有趣，但我也可以在YouTube上做到这一点，而不必为科怀·伦纳德面无表情地将领先优势稳步扩大到两位数而感到压力。
也许我是一个糟糕的球迷。毕竟，考虑到所有因素，在这个阶段失去耐心是相当短视的。他们没那么糟糕！他们只是……令人沮丧。这就是我一直回到的想法。他们令人沮丧。他们犯了一些愚蠢的错误，感觉这些错误在此时应该已经解决了。他们在不合时宜的时候失去了注意力。他们本身并不懒惰，但有时当事情不顺心的时候，你可以明显地看到他们的努力有所下降。
也许是真正接近优秀，却又不断上演“踩耙子”的戏码让我感到沮丧。我只是想告诉他们，等他们把一切都想明白了再给我打电话，你知道吗？这些失利似乎是可以避免的，我很难想象正在采取哪些切实的步骤来防止它们发生。我相信他们正在幕后或其他什么地方做这些事情。录像带正在被观看。训练正在进行。进步正在取得。教训正在吸取。我知道这是一支更好的球队正在建立的方式。我想我只是发现我对它的日常工作不太感兴趣。
这对我来说不是一个好兆头。非常像一个“晴天球迷”。我基本上是说我想去参加派对，但不想真正帮忙布置或付钱。我知道，这是最糟糕的那种人。尽管如此，我认为在场的每个人都会同意，现在是马刺队开始成长的时候了。“年轻”的借口已经开始让人厌倦了。缺乏经验的理由也开始站不住脚了。低期望的时钟正在滴答作响。
马刺队即将再次成为篮球界首屈一指的球队之一。是时候让他们开始表现得像样了。
要点：
- 我很高兴文班差点打架。我喜欢看到每个人都赞不绝口的竞技之火。我还认为，对他来说，偶尔提起“伙计，我确实被犯规了很多”的想法很重要。我知道抱怨裁判有点不得体，但这必须做。联盟其他球队对抗文班怪异比赛方式的最重要武器之一，就是对他进行超级身体对抗，并指望他们不能每次都吹犯规。基本上就是沙克的战术。我猜，这对他们来说很公平，但与此同时，提醒裁判，实际上，你可以每次都吹犯规，这对他们的做法是一个很好的制衡。只是一些思考。
- 还想指出的是，我很高兴文班没有打架。“差点”是很关键的。
- 快船现在可能很厉害，这真让人恼火。我真的很想支持他们的所有事情，你知道吗？我喜欢湖人球迷恼火的想法。我喜欢Intuit球馆。我喜欢“墙”。我只是有点……讨厌他们所有的球员？这是一个难以克服的障碍。在我们真正取得进展之前，需要在那里进行一次彻底的换血。
- 考虑到所有的噪音，现在很难不觉得每一场比赛都是对每个人交易价值的全民公投。索汉打得足够好吗，可以留在球队名单上吗？卡斯尔已经让自己变得不可触碰了吗？如果瓦塞尔昨晚多投进几个球，他在三方交易中会更有吸引力吗？我知道这不是任何事情的运作方式，坦率地说，如果是这样的话，会有点吓人。尽管如此，目前还是很难不从这个角度来看待事情。一段时间以来，马刺队第一次发现自己真正处于交易截止日期的讨论中心，即使这有点有趣，我很确定我已经准备好让它结束了。
WWL赛后新闻发布会
- 你现在对交易的想法感到兴奋吗？
- 我……是的。我不知道。是也不是？我不完全确定我是否准备好放弃这些人中的任何一个，但是，正如我上面的全部态度所证明的那样，我也非常渴望开始下一阶段的事情。马刺队按下交易的按钮，感觉就像是从高层发出的一个非常明确的信号，表明他们也准备好开始这个阶段了。
- 达龙·福克斯是那个人吗？
- 谁说得准呢？我认为他很有趣，也很有天赋，我还认为他在国王队待了很长时间，而国王队并不是我League Pass订阅列表中的头号球队。他在YouTube上的精彩集锦看起来很精彩。他在那些视频里几乎从不失手。
- 除了马努，你对左撇子是出了名的反感。如果福克斯要过来，你认为你的心中会有空间再容纳一个左撇子吗？
- 我们得看看。事实上，他显然说过“我想去圣安东尼奥”这句话，这对我来说意义重大。
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs loss to the Clippers
What We Learned from the Spurs loss to the Clippers
Another frustrating night in San Antonio
It’s never good when the things happening off the court are more exciting than what’s happening on it. There’s buzz around this franchise for the first time in what feels like forever. The Spurs are on the runway at fashion shows! Spurs are in the dunk contest! Spurs are rumored to be the “preferred” destination for big free agents! Exciting stuff, yeah? I know I wake up every day pumped about Spurs basketball, sometimes even when I’m watching them play!
It’s not that bad, in all seriousness. We’ve watched enough bad basketball around these parts to know what bad looks like, and this current stretch isn’t that. This is competitive, it’s compelling, and it’s promising. The frustrating part is that it’s also coming up short. It’s lacking that final polish or edge to really have everything pull together and be something special.
I don’t know what to do with that! It makes me feel weird to be having more fun with the theoretical Spurs than the actual ones. It’s like my worst instincts as a basketball fan are being fed and, even though I’m aware of this, I still feel like every time I sit down to actually watch them play, I have to psych myself up for it. Sure, it’s fun to watch Victor fill up the stat sheet and Stephon Castle blossom into one of the best young players in the league, but I can also do that on YouTube without having to stress out about Kawhi Leonard’s emotionless visage steadily pushing the lead out to double digits.
Maybe I’m being a bad fan. After all, running out of patience at this stage of the process is pretty shortsighted, all things considered. They’re not that bad! They’re just… frustrating. That’s what I keep coming back to. They’re frustrating. They make silly mistakes that feel like they should be ironed out at this point. They lose their focus at inopportune times. They aren’t lazy, per se, but sometimes when things aren’t going their way, you can palpably see their effort dip.
Maybe it’s the actual proximity to being good while still continuously running the “Step on Rakes” play that’s getting to me. I just want to tell them to ring me when they’ve figured everything out, you know? These losses seem preventable, and I have a hard time visualizing the tangible steps being taken to prevent them. I’m sure they’re happening behind the scenes or whatever. Tape is being watched. Drills are being run. Progress is being made. Lessons are being learned. I know this is how a better team is being built. I think I’m just finding that I’m less interested in the day-to-day of it.
It’s not a good look for me. Very fair-weather fan. I’m basically saying I want to show up for the party but don’t want to actually help set it up or pay for it. The worst kind of person, I know. Still, I think everyone in the building would agree that it’s time for the Spurs to get on with the business of growing up. The “youth” excuse is starting to wear out its welcome. The lack-of-experience well is starting to run dry. The clock is ticking on low expectations.
The Spurs are on the cusp of becoming one of the premier organizations in basketball once again. It’s about time they started acting like it.
Takeaways:
- I’m glad Victor almost got in a fight. I love it when we get a glimpse of that competitive fire that everyone is always raving about. I also think it’s important for him to occasionally raise the specter of “boy, I sure am getting fouled a lot.” I know complaining about the refs is a little gauche, but it simply must be done. One of the most important weapons the rest of the league has for combatting the freakish nature of Vic’s game is to play super physical with him and count on the fact that they can’t call a foul every play. The Shaq playbook, basically. Fair play to them, I guess, but in the meantime, reminding the refs that, actually, you can call a foul every play is a nice counterbalance to that. Just something to think about.
- Would also like to note that I’m also pretty glad Victor did not get in a fight. The “almost” is pretty key.
- Hyper annoying that the Clippers might be good right now. I really want to support their whole thing, you know? I like the idea of Lakers fans being annoyed. I like the Intuit Dome. I like The Wall. I just sort of… hate all their players? Tough hurdle to get over. Need a complete transfusion there before we can really make progress.
- With all the noise out there, it’s a little hard not to feel like every single game right now is a referendum on everyone’s trade value. Did Sochan play well enough to stay on the roster? Has Castle made himself untouchable? If Vassell had made a few more shots last night, would he be more attractive in a three-team deal? I know that’s not how any of this works, and frankly, it’d be sort of frightening if it was. Still, it’s hard not to view things through that lens at the moment. For the first time in a while, the Spurs find themselves really sitting in the middle of a trade deadline conversation and, even though it’s a little fun, I’m pretty sure I’m ready for it to be over already.
WWL Post Game Press Conference
- Are you excited about the concept of a trade right now?
- I’m…yes. I don’t know. Yes and no? I’m not totally sure if I’m ready to give up on any of these guys yet but, as evidenced by my whole attitude up there, I’m also pretty keen to get going on the next phase of things. The Spurs pressing the button on a trade feels like it would be a pretty definitive signal from on high that they too are ready for that phase to begin.
- Is De’aron Fox that guy?
- Who can say? I think he’s fun and I think he’s talented and I also think he’s been on the Kings for a long time and the Kings aren’t exactly the number one team in my league pass rotation. His highlight reels on YouTube look sweet. He almost never misses on those.
- Manu aside, you’re famously anti-left handers. If Fox were to come over, do you think you would have space in your heart for one more?
- We’re going to have to see. The fact that he has apparently said the words “I want to be in San Antonio” really carries a lot of weight for me.
By Charlie Thaddeus, via Pounding The Rock