By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-12 16:05:56
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。
马刺后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔本赛季的表现甚至超出了预期，并以年度最佳新秀的热门人选和圣安东尼奥未来关键一员的身份结束本赛季。
六个月前，一位“天才”曾在这里。
就在这个地方，他写了一篇十月中旬的专栏文章，预测了马刺整个赛季的细节，按月按周地进行分析。以下是最后一篇文章的开头：
4月13日：马刺主场击败猛龙，最终战绩为34胜48负，比上赛季提高了12个胜场，但仍比竞争激烈的西部联盟第10名少7个胜场。
周日下午，几乎所有这些都可能成为现实，预测的战绩完全准确。唯一的小瑕疵是，马刺最终可能比第10名少6个胜场，而不是7个。
所以你可能会认为这位“天才”比其他人知道的更多，直到你注意到他的其他预测都没有那么准确。在同一篇专栏文章中，他提到了格雷格·波波维奇在巴黎，健康的 维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 入选NBA最佳阵容二阵，马刺在交易截止日保持安静，以及 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle) 在年度最佳新秀的竞争中获得第二名。
这些都没有发生。在马刺最终达到“天才”预测的战绩的过程中，他们证明了他对细节的预测完全错误。
当他们进入休赛期，寻找乐观的理由时？
他们可以从“天才”没有预料到的事情开始。
没有人预料到马刺会在一位临时主教练的带领下打77场比赛。没有人预料到他们最好的球员会因血栓缺席最后两个月。如果不是整个组织坚持不懈的努力，这两个事件中的任何一个都可能摧毁一个赛季，甚至整个重建计划。 米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson) 和文班亚马的队友们没有让球队偏离原定的计划，这证明了整个组织的韧性。
管理层采取了大胆的举措，许多人认为这还需要几年时间才能实现，而且他们成功地完成了这一举措，没有放弃任何具有长期价值的资产。正如预测的那样，他们带着两个前15顺位的选秀权和所有25岁及以下的年轻核心球员进入休赛期。但他们正在和 达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox) 一起实现这个目标。
如果这位“天才”在十月份写道，马刺将以文班亚马、卡斯尔、 德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell) 、 杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan) 、 凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson) 加上福克斯的阵容结束本赛季，并且仍然控制着亚特兰大未来三个选秀权？这样一篇疯狂的专栏文章可能会成为被解雇的理由。
但是总经理 布莱恩·莱特(Brian Wright) 做到了，而且这并不是因为这些年轻球员表现不佳。是的，马刺仍然希望看到瓦塞尔表现出更高的稳定性。是的，他们仍然在等待索汉实现飞跃。但这两个人都表现出足够多的进步迹象，让他们保持着吸引力，而卡斯尔的表现超出了所有人的想象。
对于这位来自康涅狄格大学的四号秀来说，问题在于需要多长时间才能适应。他的天赋毋庸置疑，大赛履历也很扎实，但新秀们似乎总是需要一段时间才能学会“马刺之道”并赢得波波维奇的信任，不是吗？
卡斯尔并非如此。他在达拉斯的揭幕战中就获得了关键时刻的上场时间，马刺整个赛季都在不断挑战他。他的回应可能不是联盟中最令人印象深刻的年度最佳新秀表现，但显然比他的2024届选秀同级生们高出几个档次。
多亏了卡斯尔本赛季的表现？马刺不再需要担心那个位置了。那个角色——一位精英级别的侧翼防守者，并且具备得分和组织进攻的能力——已经确定了。
在努力打造一支长期竞争者球队时，这样的细节至关重要。现在马刺已经有了卡斯尔和他们未来的控球后卫，再加上他们的超级中锋文班亚马，他们可以专注于填补其他的空缺。他们仍然需要大量的投篮能力，以及文班亚马身后的内线高度。但这远没有弄清楚他们的核心阵容是谁那么令人畏惧。
这样想一下：如果马刺在周日结束一个34胜48负的赛季，他们有一个完整赛季的主教练，并且文班亚马保持健康，卡斯尔仍然在逐渐适应重要的角色，并且仍然对他们的控球后卫位置存在疑问？
那不会是一场灾难。从某种程度上说，那正是那位“天才”所预期的。
但是，在一个知道确定主教练的位置应该会带来提升，文班亚马应该会在健康问题后回归，卡斯尔和福克斯能带来真正的改变的34胜48负赛季结束后呢？
不要被那位“天才”猜对的一个答案所迷惑。
细节才是最重要的。
点击查看原文：Reason for Spurs' optimism? It's in the details
Reason for Spurs’ optimism? It’s in the details
Spurs guard Stephon Castle has been even better than expected this season and closes the season as a Rookie of the Year favorite and a key piece for San Antonio’s future.
Six months ago, a genius was here.
In this very space he wrote a mid-October column predicting the details of an entire Spurs season, month by month and week by week, and this was how the last entry began:
April 13: The Spurs beat Toronto at home to finish 34-48, a 12-game improvement from last season but still seven victories shy of the 10th spot in the stout Western Conference.
Sunday afternoon, almost all of that can come true, with the forecasted record spot-on perfect. The only minor quibble is that the Spurs probably will wind up six games out of 10th instead of seven.
So you might be tempted to assume the genius knew more than everybody else, until you notice that the rest of his prognostications didn’t work out so well. That same column included references to Gregg Popovich in Paris, to a healthy Victor Wembanyama making second-team All-NBA, to the Spurs staying quiet at the trade deadline, and to Stephon Castle finishing second in the race for Rookie of the Year.
None of that happened. On the way to landing exactly where the genius expected them to finish, the Spurs proved he had the details all wrong.
And as they head into an offseason looking for a reason to be optimistic?
They can start with what the genius didn’t see coming.
Nobody expected the Spurs to play 77 games under a fill-in head coach. Nobody expected their best player to miss the final two months with a blood clot. Either of those developments could have wrecked a season, if not an entire rebuilding project. That neither Mitch Johnson nor Wembanyama’s teammates allowed the team to be knocked off schedule is a testament to their doggedness of an entire organization.
The front office made the big, bold move many figured was a couple of years away, and it pulled this off without giving up any assets of long-term consequence. They enter this offseason with two Top 15 draft picks and all their age 25-and-under core pieces, just as predicted. But they’re doing it with De’Aaron Fox already in the fold.
If the genius had written in October that the Spurs would finish the season with Wembanyama, Castle, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, Keldon Johnson, plus Fox, and still control Atlanta’s next three drafts? An insane column like that might have been grounds for dismissal.
But general manager Brian Wright made it happen, and it wasn’t because those young players flopped. Yes, the Spurs still would like to see more consistency from Vassell. Yes, they’re still waiting for Sochan to make a leap. But both of those guys showed just enough signs of progress to keep them interesting, and Castle was better than anyone could have dreamed.
For the No. 4 overall pick out of Connecticut, the question was how long it would take. The talent was undeniable, and the big-game résumé was solid, but didn’t it always seem like it took rookies a while to learn the Spurs Way and earn Popovich’s trust?
Not Castle. His first crunch-time minutes came on opening night in Dallas, and the Spurs kept challenging him all season long. He responded with not necessarily the most impressive Rookie of the Year campaign the league has seen, but one that clearly was several notches above the performances of each of his 2024 draft classmates.
And thanks to what Castle proved this season? The Spurs don’t have to wonder about that spot anymore. That role — an elite wing defender and with a knack for both scoring and play-making — is set.
When attempting to put together a long-term contender, details like that are huge. Now that the Spurs have Castle and their point guard of the future to go with their superstar center, they can focus on filling in the gaps. They still need lots of shooting, and lots of size behind Wembanyama. But that’s much less daunting than wondering who their nucleus is.
Think of it this way: If the Spurs were finishing a 34-48 season Sunday in which they had one coach the entire time, and had a healthy Wembanyama for the duration, and had Castle still easing into a significant role, and still had questions about their point guard position?
That wouldn’t have been a disaster. In a way, it would have been exactly what the genius expected.
But to be finishing a 34-48 season knowing that settling the coach’s position should provide a lift, and that Wembanyama should be back after a health scare, and that Castle and Fox give them true difference-makers?
Don’t be fooled by the one guess the genius got right.
The details are what matter.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News