By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-03-23 09:17:19
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。
布雷克·韦斯利(Blake Wesley)已经在联盟打了三年，但从未获得过稳定的上场时间来证明他是一名合格的NBA球员。本赛季剩余的比赛应该会提供一些答案。
迪阿伦·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)赛季报销的主要亮点是，这会给斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)提供必要的上场时间和角色，以锁定年度最佳新秀，并展示他作为主要组织者的能力。到目前为止，结果似乎不错，卡斯尔正在蓬勃发展。
轮换调整的一个副产品，当时感觉并不那么重要，是它会为布雷克·韦斯利腾出一些时间。在几场比赛之后，现在看来获得上场机会对于加速韦斯利的发展，或者至少让马刺队更好地了解他能做什么至关重要。
韦斯利只有22岁，但已经在联盟完成了他的第三个赛季。在圣母大学只待了一年后，他宣布自己有资格参加2022年的选秀。这在经济上对他是正确的选择，但对他的球员发展来说并非如此。韦斯利非常粗糙，是一个有趣的天赋运动员，拥有很强的运动能力，但没有精湛的技巧。他仍然没有为一线队出战1000分钟，并且在奥斯汀度过了很多时间。他需要做出的最重要的改进是成为一名可靠的射手，但他未能做到这一点。其他更有前途的年轻球员加入了球队，他在轮换阵容中的地位有所下降。没有人能责怪马刺队直到现在才找到一个经常在进攻端成为负担的人的用处。
情况发生了变化。伤病和交易，加上附加赛看起来不太可能，创造了一种情况，在这种情况下，使用韦斯利不仅可行，而且可取。随着克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)首发，特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)离开，福克斯赛季报销，需要有人担任替补控球后卫。如果马刺队输掉了韦斯利的上场时间，那就这样吧。他们在这一点上不是为了任何事情而战。圣安东尼奥选择了他的（以及马拉基·布兰纳姆(Malaki Branham)的）球员选项，所以看看当每个人都健康时，他是否真的可以填补一个角色，符合他们的最佳利益。
信任三月份的数据是危险的，因为优秀的球队已经在关注季后赛，而糟糕的球队往往没有最好的球员在场上，并且正在给那些之前没有获得上场机会的球员机会，就像马刺队对韦斯利所做的那样。在排除这一警告之后，韦斯利似乎正在充分利用他的机会。自从五场比赛前进入轮换阵容以来，他场均出场18分钟，得到6.6分、2个篮板、3次助攻和1.5次抢断，同时在三分线外表现出色，在他的五次出场中至少投中一个三分球。
少数几场比赛的数据可能比肉眼测试更具欺骗性。观看韦斯利打球表明，他在防守端很有帮助，他在全场施压并获得抢断，但作为一名进攻球员还有很长的路要走。对手仍然不尊重他的外线投篮，他对阵76人队的3投3中感觉像是一种侥幸。他仍然难以在内线完成进攻，并且似乎没有最紧的控球或控球后卫级别的球场视野。他最好的属性是他的运动能力，因为他从不停歇地移动或努力比赛，这在防守方面有时可以弥补他的弱点。
没有任何迹象表明韦斯利取得了飞跃，但这就是为什么他至少应该继续获得过去五场比赛中场均18分钟的上场时间的原因。如前所述，他下赛季将在账面上，并且已经在NBA打了三年。现在是时候看看他是否有人可以在下一个训练营中担任现任替补控球后卫，或者他是否是一个仍然需要时间来发展的项目。过去曾有过闪光点，并且在最近一段时间内这些闪光点不再那么零星，但韦斯利从未保持稳定。在他职业生涯的大部分时间里，扮演着微不足道的角色，并且被拴着一根短绳是很困难的，但这些障碍现在应该消失了。他能让对手为放他空位付出代价吗？他能组织进攻，或者至少可靠地让球队进入状态吗？他实际上是一名高于平均水平的防守者，还是他只是四处奔跑？
接下来的13场比赛是韦斯利回答这些问题，并为在休赛期应该会发生重大变化的阵容中扮演角色而试镜的机会。直到最近，马刺队似乎并不急于就他们的年轻球员和他们的复垦项目做出任何重大决定。在福克斯交易之后，应该有紧迫感开始修剪脂肪。重建期间的口头禅是“我们不会跳过步骤”。但下一步实际上是建立一个赢家，打造一个由真正的贡献者组成的阵容，并尽可能减少负担。
对于马刺队来说，比起弄清楚布雷克·韦斯利是否适合下赛季在福克斯身后打10分钟，还有更重要的决定在等待着他们，但在休赛期之前他们将无法做出这些决定。在本赛季的剩余时间里，确保他们真正了解像布兰纳姆、桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)，尤其是韦斯利这样的边缘球员的立场应该是一个优先事项。
点击查看原文：It’s time to see what Blake Wesley can do for the Spurs
It’s time to see what Blake Wesley can do for the Spurs
Wesley has been in the league for three years but never had the consistent playing time to prove he’s an NBA player. The rest of the season should offer some answers.
The main silver lining from De’Aaron Fox being out for the season was that it would give Stephon Castle the minutes and the increased role necessary to lock down Rookie of the Year and show what he could do as a lead creator. So far, the results seem good, as Castle is thriving.
A by-product of the rotation changes that didn’t feel all that significant at the time was that it would open up some minutes for Blake Wesley. After a few games, now it seems like the opportunity to get playing time could be crucial in speeding up Wesley’s development or at least give the Spurs a better idea of what he can do.
Wesley is just 22 years old but already wrapping up his third season in the league. He declared himself eligible for the 2022 draft after just one year at Notre Dame. It was the right choice for him financially, but not for his development as a player. Wesley was as raw as they come, an intriguing athlete with a high motor but no refined skills. He still hasn’t logged 1,000 minutes with the big team and has spent a lot of time in Austin. The most important improvement he needed to make to push for playing time was to become a reliable shooter and he hasn’t been able to do that. Other more promising youngsters joined the team and he lost ground in the rotation. No one can blame the Spurs for not finding a use until now for a guy who was often a liability on offense.
Things have changed. Injuries and trades, combined with the play-in looking like an impossibility, have created a situation in which playing Wesley is not only viable but also desirable. With Chris Paul starting, Tre Jones gone and Fox out for the season, someone needs to play backup point guard. And if the Spurs lose the Wesley minutes, so be it. They are not playing for anything at this point. San Antonio picked his (and Malaki Branham’s) player option for next season, so it’s in their best interest to see if he could actually fill a role when everyone is healthy.
It’s dangerous to trust March numbers, as good teams are already focusing on the playoffs and bad teams don’t have their best players on the floor often and are giving opportunities to guys who didn’t get minutes earlier, like the Spurs are doing with Wesley. With that caveat out of the way, Wesley seems to be making the most of his opportunity. Since cracking the rotation five games ago, he’s averaging 6.6 points, two rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals in 18 minutes a game while shooting well from beyond the arc, sinking at least one three-pointer in three of his five appearances.
Numbers from a handful of games can be more deceiving than the eye test. Watching Wesley play reveals that he’s helpful on the defensive end, where he pressures full court and gets steals, but still has ways to go as an offensive player. Opponents still don’t respect his outside shot, and his 3-for-3 performance against the 76ers feels fluky. He still struggles to finish inside and doesn’t seem to have the tightest handle or lead guard-caliber court vision. His best attribute is his motor, as he never stops moving or playing hard, which in his defense allows him to negate his weaknesses at times.
Nothing suggests Welsey has made a leap, but that’s why he should at minimum continue to get the 18 minutes a game he’s been averaging in the past five games. As mentioned, he’ll be on the books next season and has played three years in the NBA. It’s time to see if he’s someone who could start the next training camp as the incumbent backup point guard or if he’s a project that still needs time to develop. There have been flashes in the past and they have been less sporadic in the recent stretch, but Wesley has never been consistent. It’s hard to be on the tiny role he’s played for most of his career and while being on a short leash, but those obstacles should be gone now. Can he make opponents pay for leaving him open? Can he run the offense, or at least reliably get the team into its sets? Is he actually an above-average defender or does he just run around a lot?
The next 13 games are Wesley’s opportunity to answer those questions and audition for a role on a roster that should change significantly in the offseason. Up until recently, the Spurs didn’t seem in a rush to make any major decisions regarding their young players and their reclamation projects. After the Fox trade, there should be urgency to start trimming the fat. The mantra during the rebuild has been “we are not skipping steps.” But the next step is to actually build a winner, to craft a roster of real contributors with as few liabilities as possible.
There are more important decisions awaiting the Spurs than figuring out if Blake Wesley is fit to play 10 minutes behind Fox next season, but they won’t be able to make them until the offseason. For the rest of the year, making sure they get a real sense of where the fringe guys like Branham, Sandro Mamukelashvili and especially Wesley stand should be a priority.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock