By Jeje Gomez, Marilyn Dubinski, Mark Barrington, Bill Huan, Devon Birdsong | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-04-16 01:24:52
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。
马刺队并没有取得他们期望的成功，但2024/25赛季依旧有很多精彩时刻，为未来的乐观前景提供了理由。
如果1分代表彻底失败，10分代表巨大成功，你如何评价马刺这个赛季？
玛丽莲·杜宾斯基(Marilyn Dubinski)： 我会给他们7分，但要结合实际情况。如果在赛季开始前告诉你， 维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 只出战46场比赛，而且全部集中在赛季的“上半段”，你可能不会猜到他们最终能以34胜的战绩，仅差一场就达到拉斯维加斯季前预测的胜场数。此外，我们希望看到进步的球员确实进步了，引进的老将们也完成了任务，管理层还成功地“打劫”了 达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox) ，而且没有放弃任何轮换球员或有意义的选秀权。最让我恼火的是，保护两位数领先优势仍然是上赛季的重大弱点，无论谁在场上都是如此。如果下赛季解决这个问题，他们的排名将会上升。
马克·巴林顿(Mark Barrington)： 我本想给他们打低分的，因为赛季初人们对马刺的胜利场次抱有很高的期望，但你必须考虑到球队为长期成功所做的基础建设，才能公平地给他们评分。他们选到了 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle) 这样一位真正的天才和未来的球星，并且引进了福克斯这样一位关键球员，而且没有透支未来。 凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson) 已经成长为联盟最佳第六人之一，并且在每次出场时都带来活力和热情。阵容中仍然有很多需要填补的漏洞，但他们拥有填补这些漏洞的资产和选秀权。当文班亚马和福克斯完全健康归来时，球队从下赛季开始会变得更好。主教练的情况仍然没有确定，需要在休赛期进行一些明确。我给球队打7分，这可能有点苛刻，因为大部分糟糕的事情都是由于他们无法控制的因素造成的。
比尔·黄(Bill Huan)： 我会给他们打7分。当然，文班只打了半个赛季令人失望，但他充分证明了自己是我们认为的那种球员，甚至可能更出色。如果他保持健康，马刺很可能会留在附加赛的竞争中，而遭遇意外伤病不应抹杀一个成功的进步赛季，特别是考虑到卡斯尔的成长和交易得到福克斯。假设明年身体健康，这支球队绝对应该进入附加赛。
赫苏斯·戈麦斯(Jesus Gomez)： 从结果来看，是6分或7分。他们赢得了与大多数人（包括我自己）在赛季开始前所预期的相同的胜场数，但在经历了一段强势期后，这些期望被调整了，而他们未能达到这些期望。当然，有很多他们无法控制的主要因素，但他们仍然在西部排名第13位。在我看来，从过程来看，他们更接近8分。老将们提供了他们被引进时所需要的结构和稳定性，年轻球员们进步了，他们做了一笔很棒的交易，并且战斗到了最后。分数不高的原因是替补中锋位置的空缺迫使 索汉(Sochan) 再次打不擅长的位置，而且教练组未能建立一种球队的身份认同，尤其是在防守端。
德文·伯德桑(Devon Birdsong)： 我对给出具体的数字评分并不特别感兴趣。我会给它一个“I”，代表“未完成”。发生了太多超出任何人控制的事情，让我觉得我无法明确地给它赋予任何价值。但是，在没有其他选择的情况下，我可能会给它打5分的总体分。在文班受伤之前，根据赛季的结束方式，我会给它7-8分，但我真的认为我无法给整个赛季打高于5分的分数。在我看来，他们对阵容的下半部分的处理方式很奇怪，让内线轮换阵容非常脆弱，而且第二阵容缺乏射手。虽然 波波维奇(Popovich) 的病情不在他们的控制范围内/无法预测，但没有明确的备用计划也感觉像是一个很大的疏忽。
本赛季你最喜欢的比赛或时刻是什么？
杜宾斯基： 很难只选一个，因为这感觉像是两个不同的赛季——一个有文班的赛季，一个没有文班的赛季——所以我分别选一个。我最喜欢的文班比赛可能是在丹佛砍下35分的两双，与 尼古拉·约基奇(Nikola Jokic) 正面对决。 (那场比赛让马刺队在1月份达到18胜16负，也代表了本赛季的巅峰，此后赛程在对手水平和客场比赛方面都开始加剧，健康问题也开始占据主导地位。) 然后，我将没有文班时期最喜欢的比赛颁给对阵尼克斯的马穆之战。那场比赛太有趣了，而且非常离奇地以Flava Flav加入他在球场上而告终。这在圣安东尼奥不是每天都会发生的事情。
巴林顿： 我可能患有近期偏见，但那是 哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes) 对阵勇士的压哨绝杀。这很像去年战胜掘金的比赛，马刺队凭借顽强拼搏战胜了一支更强的球队，展现了一个相信自己的团队能够做什么。如果球队能够开始以这种精神持续比赛，谁知道他们未来能取得什么成就？
黄： 看着文班拿到50分很难被超越，而且像马克说的那样，巴恩斯的压哨绝杀也很棒。不过，我最喜欢的一系列比赛可能是对阵丹佛的背靠背“棒球系列赛”，当时文班亚马与约基奇正面交锋。这位“外星人”最早可能在明年成为前五的球员，而这些比赛充分展现了他的惊人能力。
戈麦斯： 那是在一场痛苦的失利中，但文班在麦迪逊广场花园拿下42分、18个篮板、4次助攻和4次盖帽真是太棒了。他在新秀赛季唯一一次访问纽约时表现得很挣扎，所以看到他在全国直播的圣诞大战中点亮尼克斯队不仅很有趣，而且出奇地令人释怀。同样，文班在赛季初完全压制了 阿尔佩伦·申京(Alperen Sengun) ，此前火箭队的中锋在他的新秀赛季中在他身上砍下45分。这两场比赛表明，文班亚马正在迈出重要一步，并且没有受到聚光灯或在他第一个赛季成为他克星的身体强壮的大个子的困扰。
伯德桑： 虽然赛季的最后阶段可能让事情有些黯淡，但本赛季实际上有很多非常酷的时刻。维克托拿下 50 分太棒了。他的罕见30分+10盖帽比赛也很棒。 还有他的第二次5x5（我知道我们都知道四双只是时间问题，但5x5的比赛让我有希望在我有生之年看到五双）。 但我认为我的选择一定是“Hector Banana Bread”的故事，这是一个意外的绰号，我希望他能在余下的职业生涯中都带着它。 唯一比这个绰号更有趣的是我立刻知道那位可怜的女士指的是谁。 成为马刺球迷真好。
如果你必须选择一个本赛季让你对明年感到乐观的数据，你会选择什么？
杜宾斯基： 回到之前提到的马刺队在1月第一周后的“巅峰”时期，马刺队的防守效率在联盟中排名第13位：虽然还达不到冠军级别的水平（通常认为前10名），但这是他们在防守端几年来的最佳表现。不出所料，在没有文班的情况下，这个数字直线下降到赛季结束时的第25位，但它表明，当马刺队拥有一个可以围绕他制定战术的人，并且可以盯住射手时（我对他不在场时所有的过度协防、双人包夹和换防感到畏缩），他们可以成为一支优秀的防守球队。
巴林顿： 我将选择34，即这支球队在大部分赛季中没有他们最好的两名球员，并且在大部分赛季中阵容中没有任何传统中锋的情况下能够获得的胜场数。我的意思是，文班是一个大个子，但他不是传统的，而且 比永博(Biyombo) 本赛季只打了 28 场比赛。这大约是我预测他们在拥有健康阵容时能获得的胜场数，而且他们在卡斯尔学习如何打职业比赛的同时，在文班缺席了几乎半个赛季的情况下，以及福克斯只打了17场比赛的情况下做得这么好，我认为他们比预期的要好得多。卡斯尔的发展将是未来一个巨大的因素，所以虽然这是一个过渡赛季，但它可能比现在看起来更有意义，因为它为不久的将来的一支争冠球队奠定了基础。
黄： 35.2%——文班本赛季的三分球命中率。考虑到他赛季初表现得非常低迷，我认为他明年可以接近30%多的命中率，这将在进攻端为他打开更多空间。此外，福克斯的加入将为文班创造更多空位机会，所以他的投篮选择也不会那么困难。
准备好了，伙计们：这位法国人很快就会证明外星人也有资格获得MVP。
戈麦斯： 我选择3.5，这是文班亚马-索汉组合本赛季的净效率值，去年是-3.6分。由于伤病，他们在一起打的时间不够长，无法得出明确的结论，但是随着文班投出更多的三分球，以及索汉有时在两人同时在场时担任中锋角色，他们似乎找到了一种在进攻端奏效的动态。如果他们最好的两名防守球员可以在球场上同时出场而不会扼杀进攻，马刺队应该会成为攻防两端的威胁。
伯德桑： 抛开赛季的疯狂之外，有很多事情值得乐观。我们可以选择2162，这是斯蒂芬·卡斯尔本赛季的出场时间，在马刺队新秀中排名第五，比文班亚马多56分钟，仅比 托尼·帕克(Tony Parker) 少105分钟。我们也可以选择 82，这是 克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul) 、哈里森·巴恩斯和 朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie) 本赛季每人打的比赛场次（斯蒂芬·卡斯尔只差一场比赛就加入了他们的行列，为 81 场）。 无论保罗下赛季是否重返圣安东尼奥，很高兴知道马刺队有几位贡献巨大的“铁人”。 但我认为我必须选择 34，因为你无法让我相信，如果文班亚马、福克斯和 格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich) 完全健康，马刺队至少不会再赢 10 场比赛，而这是一件非常重要的事情。 这可能看起来不像，但马刺队距离冲击50胜只差几个糟糕的休息时间，这确实是一个非常充满希望的数字。
点击查看原文：Spurs 2024/25 season grade: San Antonio made progress despite terrible injury luck
Spurs 2024/25 season grade: San Antonio made progress despite terrible injury luck
The Spurs didn’t have the success they hoped for, but there were plenty of good moments in a 2024/25 season that leaves reasons for optimism going forward.
If 1 is abject failure and 10 is an overwhelming success, how would you rate this Spurs season?
Marilyn Dubinski: I’ll give them a 7, with context. If you were told coming into the season that Victor Webmanyama would only appear in 46 games, and they would all come in the first “half” of the season, you probably wouldn’t have guessed they’d still come within a game of their preseason Vegas predictions with 34 wins. Also, the players we wanted to see improve did, the veterans that were brought in did exactly what was asked, and PATFO managed to pull off the heist of the decade by getting De’Aaron Fox without giving up any rotation players or meaningful draft picks. The main thing that irked me was that protecting double-digit leads remained a big weakness from last season, no matter who was playing. Fix that issue next season, and they will rise up the standings.
Mark Barrington: I’m tempted to give them a low grade, because there was so much hope for the Spurs to have a lot more wins at the beginning of the season, but you have to look at what the team has done to build a foundation for long term success to grade them fairly. They drafted a true stud and future star in Stephon Castle and added a key performer in De’Aaron Fox, all without mortgaging their future. Keldon Johnson has developed into one of the best sixth men in the league, and brings energy and enthusiasm whenever he enters the game. The roster still has plenty of holes that need to be filled, but they have the assets and draft picks to fill them, and the team will be much better starting next season when Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox return fully healthy. The head coaching situation is still unresolved, which will need some clarification this offseason. I give the organization a 7, which might be on the harsh side, since most of the bad things that happened were due to factors not in their control.
Bill Huan: I’d give them a 7. Sure, it’s disappointing that Wemby only played half the season, but he proved every bit the player we thought he could be, and perhaps even more. If he remained healthy, the Spurs likely would’ve stayed in the play-in race, and sustaining a freak injury shouldn’t take away from a successful developmental season, especially considering Castle’s growth and the trade for Fox. Assuming good health next year, this team should absolutely make the play-in.
Jesus Gomez: In terms of results, it’s a six or a seven. They got as many wins as most people, myself included, thought they would get before the season started, but those expectations were adjusted after a strong stretch, and they failed to reach them. Granted, there were major factors beyond their control, but they still finished 13th in the West. In terms of process, they are closer to an eight, in my eyes. The veterans provided the structure and consistency they were brought in to supply, the young guys improved, they made a great trade, and they competed until the end. The reason the grade is not higher is because the hole at backup center forced Sochan to once again play out of position, and the coaching staff failed to establish an identity, especially on defense.
Devon Birdsong: I’m not particularly interested in scoring it numerically. I’d give it an ‘I’ for Incomplete. Too many things happened that were out of anyone’s control to feel like I can definitively assign any value to it. However, in the absence of another option, I’d probably score it as a 5 overall. Up until Wemby’s injury, I would’ve given it a 7-8 based on how the season finished out, but I don’t honestly think I could score them higher than a 5 for the whole thing. They handled the lower half of the roster oddly in my opinion, leaving their big man rotation incredibly vulnerable, and the 2nd unit thin on shooters. And while Pop’s stroke was out of their control/impossible to predict, not having a clear backup plan feels like a sizable oversight as well.
What was your favorite game or moment of the season?
Dubinski: It’s hard to pick just one since this kind of felt like two different seasons — one with and one without Wemby — so I’ll pick one from each. My favorite Wemby game may have been his 35-point double-double in Denver while going toe-to-toe with Nikola Jokic. (That game, which put the Spurs at 18-16 in January, also represented the peak of this season before the schedule ramped up both in terms of opponent level and becoming road-heavy, and health issues started taking over.) Then, I’ll give the title of favorite game from the no-Wemby portion of the season to The Mamu Game against the Knicks. That was too fun and bizarrely concluded with Flava Flav joining him on the court. That isn’t something that happens every day in San Antonio.
Barrington: I might be suffering from recency bias, but it’s Harrison Barnes’ buzzer-beater against the Warriors. It was a lot like last year’s win over the Nuggets, where the Spurs just outplayed a better team with grittiness and showed what a group that believes in itself can do. If the team can start playing with that spirit on a consistent basis, who knows what they can accomplish going forward?
Huan: Watching Wemby go for 50 is tough to beat, and like Mark said, Barnesy’s buzzer-beater is up there too. My favorite set of games, though, is probably the back-to-back baseball series against Denver when Wemby went toe-to-toe with Jokic. The Alien could be a top-five player as soon as next year, and those games put his incredible abilities on full display.
Gomez: It came in a painful loss, but Wemby going for 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and four blocks at Madison Square Garden was great. He really struggled in his only visit to New York as a rookie, so seeing him light up the Knicks on a nationally televised Christmas game was not only fun but weirdly cathartic. Similarly, Wemby completely dominating Alperen Sengun early in the season after having the Rockets’ center drop 45 on him in his rookie campaign was great. Those two games showed that Wemby was taking a major step forward and wasn’t bothered by the bright lights or the physical bigs that were his kryptonite in his first year.
Birdsong: While the ending portion of the season may have put a damper on things, there were actually a lot of really cool moments this season. Victor going for 50 was awesome. So was his incredibly rare 30 point + 10 block game. And so was his second career 5x5 (I know we all know a quadruple-double is just a matter of time, but 5x5 games give me hope that I’ll see a quintuple-double in my lifetime). But I think the winner for me has to be the saga of “Hector Banana Bread”, an accidental nickname that I hope he carries for the rest of his career. The only thing funnier than that nickname to me is that I immediately knew who that poor lady was referencing. It’s good to be a Spurs fan.
What would you pick if you had to pick a stat from this season that makes you optimistic for next year?
Dubinski: Going back to that aforementioned “peak” of the Spurs season after the first week of January, the Spurs ranked 13th in the league in defensive rating: not quite championship level (that’s generally considered top 10), but it’s the best they’ve been on that end in several years. Unsurprisingly, that number plummeted all the way down to 25th by the end of the season without Wemby, but it shows when the Spurs have someone to scheme around and can stay home on shooters (I cringe at all the over-helping, double-teaming and switching when he’s not out there), they can be a good defensive team.
Barrington: I’m going to go with 34, the number of wins this team was able to get despite not having their two best players for much of the season, and not having any traditional bigs on the roster for most of the season. I mean, Wemby is a big, but he’s not traditional, and Biyombo only played in 28 games this season. That’s about the number of wins I predicted they would get with a healthy roster, and the fact that they did that well while Castle was learning how to play in as a pro, with Wemby gone for almost half a season and Fox only available for 17 games, I think they were much better than expected. The development of Castle is going to be a huge factor going forward, so while this was a transitional season, it might be more significant than it seems right now, as it created a foundation for a contending team in the near future.
Huan: 35.2% — Wemby’s three-point percentage from this year. Considering he started the season ice-cold, I think that he could flirt with shooting in the high 30s next year, and that would open up even more for him offensively. Moreover, the addition of Fox will create many more open looks for Wemby, so his shot diet won’t be as difficult, either.
Gear up, folks: the Frenchman will soon prove that aliens are worthy MVP winners, too.
Gomez: I’m going with 3.5, which is the net rating the Wembanyama-Jeremy Sochan duo posted this season, after being in the red by 3.6 points last year. They didn’t play enough together because of injuries to allow for definitive conclusions, but with Wemby taking more threes and Sochan playing the center role at times when the two shared the floor, they seemed to figure out a dynamic that works on offense. If their two best defenders can be on the court together without killing the offense, the Spurs should become a two-way menace.
Birdsong: Craziness of the season aside, there are a lot of things to be optimistic about. We could go with 2162, which is the number of minutes Stephon Castle played this season, which is 5th all time for a Spurs rookie, 56 minutes more than Victor Wembanyama, and just 105 less than Tony Parker. We could also go with 82, which is the number of games Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes, and Julian Champagnie each played this season (Stephon Castle was just one game shy of joining them at 81). Regardless of whether Paul ends up back in San Antonio next season, it’s nice to know that the Spurs have a couple of critically contributing ironmen. But I think I have to go with 34, because you cannot convince me that the Spurs would not have won at least 10 more games with a fully healthy Wembanyama, Fox, and Popovich, and that’s a very big deal. It may not seem like it, but the Spurs were a couple of bad breaks away from pushing for 50 wins, and that makes it a very hopeful number indeed.
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By Jeje Gomez, Marilyn Dubinski, Mark Barrington, Bill Huan, Devon Birdsong, via Pounding The Rock