By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-04-23 07:35:33
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。
上赛季取得了一些进步，但不幸的事件阻碍了马刺队找到如何最好地巩固他们基础的方法。
马刺队进入2024/25赛季，渴望找到答案。他们唯一可以确定的是， 维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 是一位冉冉升起的超级巨星。从哪种比赛风格最适合他，到哪些球员能很好地与他互补，其他一切都悬而未决。
为了找到这些答案，圣安东尼奥放弃了过度的实验，引进了两位可靠的老将，以提供组织和投篮能力，而这正是文班亚马的新秀赛季所严重缺乏的。阵容的其余部分基本保持不变。他们采取了保守策略，希望找到能够让他们得出结论的稳定性。
唉，并非出于自身过错，银黑军团实际上未能享受到他们所需要的稳定赛季。伤病、健康问题和交易层出不穷。他们起伏不定的一年确实带来了一些积极因素，球队正朝着正确的方向发展，但许多问题仍然没有得到解答。
伤病从一开始就阻碍了前进的道路。 德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell) 赛季初无法上场的声明，迫使教练组重新配置阵容，预示着接下来的情况。在最初看起来像一个年度最佳进步球员的早期候选人之后， 杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan) 紧随其后倒下。谨慎起见，他们被慢慢地带入状态，两人都有一段时间是从替补席上出发。文班亚马大放异彩，临时首发阵容表现出色，圣安东尼奥的表现超出了季前赛的预期，但人们感觉，在赛季四分之一的时候，我们还没有看到真正的马刺队。在文班亚马被宣布赛季报销之前，索汉再次受伤。最终，每个人都期望成为主力阵容的保罗、瓦塞尔、索汉、巴恩斯、文班亚马组合，在12场比赛中总共只打了136分钟。
与健康相关的问题造成的干扰不仅限于球场上。 格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich) 在11月遭受了中风，这使他远离了本赛季剩余的比赛。关于他病情的严重程度存在困惑，因此直到今年晚些时候才完全排除他回归的可能性。临时教练米奇·约翰逊在糟糕的情况下表现出色，但他的经验不足也很明显，因为他难以进行赛中调整，更重要的是，在几个月的时间里，难以找到球员们稳定的角色。在文班亚马被宣布赛季报销后，波波维奇可能也无法带领球队进入附加赛，考虑到球队拒绝在文班亚马缺席的情况下加强中锋位置，提高马刺队的乐透抽签概率似乎是管理层可以接受的结果。尽管如此，球队有时会感到迷失方向。
寻找答案和变得有竞争力这两个主要目标都遥不可及，但这并不意味着对于马刺队来说这是一个失败的赛季。动荡让 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle) 能够扮演比伤病情况更好的情况下更大的角色，这位新秀没有让人失望，展现出了巨大的潜力。在健康的文班亚马的带领下，尽管大多数持球者缺乏对篮筐的冲击力，并且替补中锋表现不佳，但球队的战绩徘徊在50%左右。文班亚马确立了自己作为联盟中最杰出的防守力量的地位，并且通过将他的进攻方式更多地转向外线，他使得与球队另一位防守王牌杰里米·索汉的搭档成为可能。最后，球队完成了一笔伟大的交易，将 达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox) 带到了圣安东尼奥，这一举动大大提高了球队的天赋水平。
现在，球队正走向另一个关键的休赛期。文班亚马应该会完全恢复健康。圣安东尼奥可能有两个乐透签。没有足够的薪金空间成为自由球员市场的参与者，因此用中产阶级条款签下一名球员，希望能加强中锋深度，似乎至关重要。有了福克斯在， 克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul) 就显得多余了，他可能会退役，但如果他愿意扮演更小的角色，就应该讨论一下是否有可能留住他。德文·瓦塞尔和 凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson) 在赛季末的爆发可能会使他们远离交易谈判，但如果有人感兴趣，管理层接听电话也就不足为奇了。但到目前为止，更重要的决定将归结于教练问题。格雷格·波波维奇还没有排除回归的可能性，但如果他的健康问题导致他退役，马刺队将需要找到一个永久的替代者，无论是取消米奇·约翰逊的临时标签还是进行外部聘用。
2004/25赛季的困难太多，让人感觉良好，但苦难可以孕育韧性。现在的问题可能比上个休赛期更多，但也多了一年的信息可以用来寻找答案。圣安东尼奥重返巅峰的进程可能被推迟了，但并未脱轨。
重回正轨需要多长时间，将取决于决策者们以多快的速度明确两个主要因素：文班亚马的回归日期和波波维奇的未来。一旦确定了这些，构建一个提供很少确定性的2024/25赛季的艰苦工作就将开始。
点击查看原文：The Spurs couldn’t find the answers they needed from the 2024/25 season
The Spurs couldn’t find the answers they needed from the 2024/25 season
Progress was made during the past season, but unfortunate events prevented the Spurs from figuring out how to best build upon their foundation.
The Spurs headed into the 2024/25 season looking for answers. Their only certainty was that Victor Wembanyama was a superstar in the making. Everything else, from what style of play suited him best to which players complemented him well, was up in the air.
To find those answers, San Antonio left extravagant experimentation aside and brought two rock-solid veterans to provide playmaking and shooting, which were sorely missing in Wembanyama’s rookie season. The rest of the roster mostly stayed intact. They played it safe, hoping to find the stability that would allow them to draw conclusions.
Alas, to no fault of their own, the Silver and Black couldn’t actually enjoy the steady season they needed. Injuries, health scares, and trades abounded. Their up-and-down year did offer positives, and the team is trending in the right direction, but many questions still remain unanswered.
Injuries got in the way from the beginning. The announcement that Devin Vassell would not be available to start the season, thus forcing the coaching staff to reconfigure lineups, foreshadowed what would come. After starting out looking like an early Most Improved Player candidate, Jeremy Sochan was the next to fall. Caution dictated they’d be brought along slowly, and both came off the bench for a while. Wembanyama shined, and the makeshift starting lineup did well as San Antonio exceeded preseason expectations, but there was a sense that a quarter of the way into the season we hadn’t seen the real Spurs. Another Sochan injury followed before Wemby was ruled out for the year. Ultimately, the Paul, Vassell, Sochan, Barnes, Wembanyama unit that everyone expected to be a staple only played 136 minutes spread out over 12 games.
The disruptions from health-related issues weren’t confined to the court. Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke in November, which kept him away for the rest of the season. There was confusion about the severity of his condition, so a return wasn’t fully ruled out until late in the year. Interim coach Mitch Johnson did well under awful circumstances, but his inexperience was evident as he struggled with in-game adjustments and, more importantly, with finding consistent roles for his players as the months passed. Popovich probably wouldn’t have been able to steer the roster to a play-in spot after Wembanyama was ruled out for the season, and increasing the Spurs’ lottery odds seemed to be an acceptable outcome by the front office, considering the refusal to shore up the center position in Wemby’s absence. Still, the team felt directionless at times.
The two main goals of finding answers and becoming competitive were beyond reach, but it doesn’t mean it was a lost season for the Spurs. The turmoil allowed Stephon Castle to have a bigger role than he likely would have with better injury luck, and the rookie didn’t disappoint, showing tremendous potential. With a healthy Wemby, the team was hovering around .500 despite lacking rim pressure from most ball handlers and having subpar backup center play. Wembanyama established himself as the preeminent defensive force in the league, and by shifting his offensive game towards the perimeter more, he made the pairing with Jeremy Sochan, the team’s other defensive ace, viable. Finally, the franchise pulled off a great trade that brought De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio, a move that greatly raised the roster’s talent level.
Now the team heads towards another crucial offseason. Wemabnyama should be back at full health. San Antonio could have two lottery picks. There’s not enough cap space to be a player in free agency, so nailing a signing with the mid-level exception, hopefully to shore up the center depth, seems paramount. Chris Paul is superfluous with Fox around and might retire, but there should be a talk about potentially holding on to him if he’s willing to fill a smaller role. Devin Vassell’s and Keldon Johnson’s late-season surges will probably keep them off the trade block, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the front office field calls if there’s interest. But the more important decision, by far, will come down to coaching. Gregg Popovich hasn’t ruled out a return, but if his health issues lead to his retirement, the Spurs will need to find a permanent replacement, whether by removing the interim tag from Mitch Johnson or making an outside hire.
There was too much adversity during the 2004/25 season to feel good about it, but hardship can breed resilience. There are arguably more questions now than last offseason, but there’s also another year of information to use in the pursuit of answers. San Antonio’s return to relevance was likely delayed but not derailed.
How long it takes to get back on schedule will depend on how quickly the decision-makers find clarity on the two main factors, Wembanyama’s return date and Popovich’s future. Once that’s settled, the hard work of trying to build on a 2024/25 season that offered little certainty will begin.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock