By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-03-27 09:58:26
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。
马刺队和活塞队在重建之路上采取了相似的策略，而两者之间成功与否的主要差距在于运气不佳。
马刺队最近惨败于活塞队之手。对于如今的这支马刺队来说，输掉一些比赛并不是最糟糕的事情，但这场失利让人感到难受，不仅仅是因为比分上的悬殊。
不，让人难受的是，马刺队本可以拥有一个与活塞队本赛季非常相似的赛季。赛季初看起来很有可能，在福克斯的交易之后更是如此。唉，令人难受的赛程安排和时不时出现的伤病使得这一切成为了不可能。但实际上，这两支球队本可以走上相似的道路，而不是其中一支在通往季后赛的道路上轻松击败另一支。
在赛季开始前，活塞队决定为他们年轻且一度糟糕的阵容增加一些老将。他们引进了托拜厄斯·哈里斯、马利克·比斯利和蒂姆·哈达威二世，为这支此前严重缺乏经验、领导力和稳定性的球队提供帮助。目标不是一夜之间成为争冠球队，而是成为一支令人尊敬的球队，能够与他们年轻球星的天赋相辅相成，并为年轻球员的发展创造必要的结构。结果还不错，凯德·坎宁安爆发，底特律在赛季的大部分时间里都徘徊在胜率50%左右，之后迎来了一波连胜，让他们牢牢地占据了有利位置，并表明他们已经实现了一次小飞跃。他们目前在东部排名第六，位于季后赛席位。
马刺队也做了类似的事情。圣安东尼奥引进了克里斯·保罗来担任控球后卫，为他们组织进攻，并引进了哈里森·巴恩斯来提供急需的投篮空间和前锋位置的稳定性。这些是他们最大的两个弱点，他们通过引进老将的方式来解决这些问题，同时保持阵容其他位置的年轻化。他们没有孤注一掷地试图在 文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 身边找到一位年龄较大的球星，而是打造了一个更加全面的阵容，一旦文班开始像他应有的那样打出超级球星的表现，他们就可以与所有人竞争。和底特律一样，圣安东尼奥在今年的大部分时间里都徘徊在胜率50%左右，然后进行了一笔交易，这笔交易可能会让他们更进一步。随着 达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox) 的到来，在西部有这么多令人失望的球队的情况下，交易截止日后的强势反弹似乎是可能的。
我们都知道事情的进展。文班亚马被诊断出患有深静脉血栓，并宣布赛季报销。这发生在赛程密集的客场之旅中，并且紧随交易截止日之后。维克托从未能与福克斯培养出化学反应，福克斯在接受手术以修复他全年都在忍受的手指伤势之前只打了几个比赛。最近有一些不错的个人表现，甚至赢得了一些比赛，但这个赛季对于马刺队来说已经结束了。
与此同时，活塞队正准备自2019年以来首次重返季后赛。面对排名第三的尼克斯队，他们将处于劣势，但由于达米安·利拉德也因患有深静脉血栓而缺席，并且步行者队看起来很脆弱，他们可能会超越密尔沃基和印第安纳，升至第四位，如果他们能以良好的状态结束本赛季，他们将可以在首轮系列赛中获得主场优势。底特律充满了希望，不仅仅是对未来，而是对今年。而且他们的做法与马刺队使用的基本相同。
显而易见的结论是，在NBA中，运气比大多数人愿意承认的更为重要。马刺队经历了一个不幸的赛季，许多超出他们控制范围的负面事件破坏了他们可能重返季后赛的机会。活塞队的运气却没有那么糟糕。
更乐观的结论是，活塞队的成功表明圣安东尼奥在一切出错之前走在正确的道路上。重建的方式有很多种，但马刺队和底特律队选择的方式似乎是可行的，这是一个好消息。下个赛季，随着福克斯和文班亚马的健康回归，再加上另一位新秀和一两个老将，季后赛应该不成问题，就像对 J.B. 比克斯塔夫(J.B. Bickerstaff) 的球队一样。
马刺队惨败于活塞队之手让人感到难受，因为它表明如果一切顺利的话，圣安东尼奥本赛季本可以取得的成就。希望明年，当马刺队在赛季末将一支伤病缠身的对手打得落花流水，为季后赛做准备时，这场失利将变成一个积极的回忆，一个早期的迹象，表明最初的计划从一开始就是合理的，只是需要更多的耐心和更多的运气。
点击查看原文：The Pistons’ success shows that the Spurs are on the right track
The Pistons’ success shows that the Spurs are on the right track
The Spurs and Pistons have taken similar paths on their rebuilds, and the main reason for the disparity in success has been bad fortune.
The Spurs recently suffered a shellacking at the hands of the Pistons. It’s not the worst thing for the Silver and Black to lose some games at this point, but this one hurt, and not just because of how lopsided it was.
No, it hurt because the Spurs could have had a very similar season to the one the Pistons are having this year. It seemed likely at the start of the season and then again after the Fox trade. Alas, a punishing schedule and untimely injuries made it impossible, but the two teams could have been on a similar trajectory instead of one just outclassing the other on their way to a playoff berth.
Before the season, the Pistons decided to add some veterans to their young and formerly terrible squad. They brought in Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. to provide some know-how, leadership and consistency to a group that previously seriously lacked it. The objective wasn’t to become an overnight contender, but to become a respectable team that complemented the talent of their young star and to create the structure needed for their younger guys to develop. It went well enough, with Cunningham breaking out and Detroit hovering around .500 for most of the season before a big win streak that put them firmly in the green and showed that they had taken a mini-leap. They are currently sixth in the East, in a playoff spot.
The Spurs did something similar. San Antonio added Chris Paul to run point guard and organize the offense for them, and Harrison Barnes to provide much-needed spacing and consistency from the forward spots. Those were their two biggest weaknesses, and they addressed them with veterans while staying young elsewhere. They didn’t go all in by trying to get an older star next to Wembanyama but created a more well-rounded roster that could compete with everyone once Wemby started to play like the superstar he is. San Antonio, like Detroit, hovered around .500 for most of the year and then made a trade that could catapult them further. With De’Aaron Fox in tow, a post-trade deadline push seemed possible, especially with so many disappointing teams in the West.
We know how things went. Wembanyama was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and ruled out for the season. It happened in the middle of a road-heavy schedule and soon after the deadline. Victor never got to develop chemistry with Fox, who played for a few games before undergoing surgery to fix a finger injury he had been playing through all year. There have been some good individual performances lately, and even some wins, but the season is over for the Spurs.
The Pistons, meanwhile, get ready to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. They would be underdogs against the third-place Knicks, but with Damian Lillard also being out with deep vein thrombosis and the Pacers looking vulnerable, they could leapfrog Milwaukee and Indiana, get to fourth, and have homecourt advantage in a first-round series if they close the season well. There’s hope in Detroit, not just for the future but this year. And they have done it with basically the same recipe the Spurs used.
The obvious takeaway is that luck matters more than most like to admit in the NBA. The Spurs have had an unfortunate season with a lot of negative events beyond their control derailing what could have been a return to the postseason. The Pistons haven’t been nearly as unlucky.
The more optimistic conclusion is that the Pistons’ success shows that San Antonio was on the right path before everything went wrong. There are many ways to rebuild, but the one both the Spurs and Detroit picked seems viable, which is good news. With Fox and Wembanyama healthy next season, plus another rookie and a veteran or two, the playoffs should be a lock, as it is for J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad.
The blowout the Spurs suffered at the hands of the Pistons hurt because it showed what San Antonio could have had this season if things had gone well. Hopefully next year, as the Silver and Black are the ones running an injury-riddled opponent off the floor late in the season as they prepare for the playoffs, the loss will turn into a positive memory, an early sign that the original plan was sound all along but just required a little more patience and a lot more good fortune.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock