By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-05-24 08:44:08
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。
马刺队最近在发掘别人忽略的天赋方面表现挣扎，而这曾经是他们的专长。他们需要扭转这一趋势，才能打造一支持久的争冠球队。
在季后赛中，球星们光芒四射，轮换阵容更加紧凑，球权掌握在天之骄子手中，但这个季后赛提醒我们，如果目标是争夺冠军，角色球员至关重要。顶尖天赋是必需品，但一支冠军球队也需要那些不太出名且身价较低的球员做出贡献。
随着 维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)的到位、 德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)负责外线控球，以及在选秀大会上拥有榜眼签，马刺队正进入一个球星云集的时代。如果 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)能够实现飞跃，他们甚至可能拥有过剩的球星。但考虑到未来，他们近年来未能发掘出璞玉令人有些担忧。
令人惊讶的是，圣安东尼奥会面临这样的担忧，因为这支球队曾经是最擅长在选秀末段和自由球员市场淘金的球队之一。在他们争冠的那些日子里，他们最容易让对方球迷惊呼：“等等，那家伙是谁？” 当然，在一个拥有冠军核心的球队中，更容易专注于寻找优秀的配角球员。事实上，可以这样说，如果没有冠军核心，这些互补球员就不会显现出来。如果卢冈茨·多尔特在一个缺乏外线球星的球队中，被要求承担创造进攻的重任，他就不会那么有价值；而像阿隆·内史密斯这样的球员，在一个不断进步但仍在发展中的球队中，也不会像在步行者队这台运转良好的机器中那样闪耀。天赋固然重要，但尤其是对于互补球员来说，合适的定位才是释放他们真正价值的关键。
然而，近年来马刺队管理层面临的最大问题之一就是寻找或培养优秀的配角球员。他们在马努·吉诺比利职业生涯的最后一年选中了德里克·怀特，之后卡瓦伊·莱昂纳德提出了交易要求。从那以后，他们在首轮选秀中出现了一些重大失误（约什·普里莫、卢卡·沙马尼奇），而且在乐透区之外，似乎只有凯尔登·约翰逊算是成功的。他们在第二轮选中了特雷·琼斯，这是一个稳妥但明智的选择，但他们没有发掘出任何瑰宝，除非哈里森·英格拉姆在不久的将来实现意想不到的飞跃。除了乐透区选秀球员，也许还有凯尔登，其他人都无法进入联盟任何顶级球队的轮换阵容。有些人已经离开了NBA，而且很快就会发现其他人步其后尘，这并不令人震惊。马刺队最近在选秀的边缘位置上表现不佳。
在自由球员市场上有一项发现，在一定程度上恢复了人们对马刺队管理层在别人看不到的地方发掘天赋的能力的信心。朱利安·尚帕尼被76人队裁掉，被马刺队签下，并签下了一份联盟中最好的非新秀合同之一。尚帕尼不是什么隐藏的球星，但他是一位23岁的落选秀，已经为圣安东尼奥出战了3700分钟，并且完全有可能进入一支渴望廉价3D球员的球队的轮换阵容。然而，除了他之外，并没有太多成功的故事。德鲁·尤班克斯和乔克·兰代尔仍然在联盟中，但上场时间不多。凯塔·贝茨-迪奥普在中国打球。特雷·莱尔斯在萨克拉门托的职业生涯很不错，但他是一名曾经的乐透秀，而不是一个默默无闻的发现，扎克·科林斯也是如此。也许桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利和查尔斯·贝西还能扭转局面，但这似乎不太可能。
通常情况下，为一个非争冠球队寻找互补球员而担忧似乎是本末倒置，而且马刺队确实有办法在核心球员身价上涨时，找到价格合理的球员来围绕他们。他们在本届选秀大会上有两个乐透签，并且由于选秀权互换，在未来几年还有许多潜在的高顺位首轮签。那些在巅峰时期不会廉价或只能担任替补的球员，可以填补那些通常由马刺队还没有运气或机会找到的角色球员的位置。通过不断更替新秀合同的年轻球员来填补轮换阵容，而不是发掘璞玉，这在一段时间内可能会奏效。
但最终，马刺队需要找到他们自己的泰·杰罗姆、安德鲁·内姆布哈德和纳兹·里德，就像他们过去找到帕蒂·米尔斯、丹尼·格林和蒂亚戈·斯普利特一样。随着价格低廉的新秀合同变成昂贵的续约合同，这样做对于在一个注重成本的球队和一个惩罚过度消费和限制交易的联盟中，建立一些持久的东西至关重要。
希望马刺队的智囊团能够表明，他们仍然拥有发掘被低估的天赋的眼光，从而能够用优秀的互补球员来围绕他们的球星，而近期的失误只是重建过程中固有的不确定性和动荡的结果。
点击查看原文：The Spurs have to get better at finding underrated talent
The Spurs have to get better at finding underrated talent
The Spurs have recently struggled to find talent where others miss it, which used to be their specialty. They’ll need to reverse that trend to build a lasting contender.
The stars shine bright in the playoffs, where rotations are tightened and the ball is in the hands of the anointed, but this postseason provides a reminder that the role players matter if the goal is to contend. Top-end talent is a must, but a championship team needs contributions from less heralded and cheaper guys.
With Victor Wembanyama in place, De’Aaron Fox to handle the ball in the perimeter, and the second overall pick in the draft, the Spurs are entering a period where they should be set in terms of star power. If Stephon Castle makes a leap, they could even have it in spades. But their inability to find diamonds in the rough in recent years is a little concerning, thinking about the future.
It’s surprising that this is even a worry for San Antonio, since the franchise was among the best at finding value late in the draft and in the free agency scrap heap. They were the most likely to prompt opposing fans to go “wait, who’s that guy?” back in their contending days. Naturally, it was easier to focus efforts on finding good role players with a championship core in place. In fact, it’s possible to say that without one, the complementary pieces won’t reveal themselves. Luguentz Dort wouldn’t be as valuable on a team that asked him to create because it lacked perimeter stars and a guy like Aaron Nesmith wouldn’t shine with an improving but still in-development squad the way he does in the well-oiled machine that is the Pacers. Talent is great, but especially for complementary pieces, fit is the key that unlocks their true value.
Still, one of the biggest problems the front season has had in recent years is finding or developing good role players. They picked Derrick White in the last year of Manu Ginobili’s career, before Kawhi Leonard demanded a trade. Since then, there were some big misses in the first round (Josh Primo, Luka Samanic), and, outside of the lottery, only Keldon Johnson seems to be a hit. They found Tre Jones in the second round, which was a safe but smart pick, but they didn’t unearth any gems, unless Harrison Ingram makes an unexpected leap any time soon. No one outside of the lottery selections, except for maybe Keldon, would be in the rotation for any of the best teams in the league. Some are already out of the NBA and it wouldn’t be shocking to find others following them soon. The Spurs have not been great in the margins of the draft recently.
There is one find in free agency that restores some of the faith in this front office’s ability to find talent where others don’t see it. Julian Champagnie was waived by the 76ers, picked up by the Spurs, and signed to one of the best non-rookie scale contracts in the league. Champagnie is not some hidden star, but he’s a 23-year-old undrafted player who has already given San Antonio 3,700 minutes and could realistically be in the rotation for an expensive team looking for a cheap 3-and-D guy. Other than him, however, there haven’t been many success stories. Drew Eubanks and Jock Landale are still around the league, but not getting many minutes. Keita Bates-Diop is in China. Trey Lyles has had a nice career in Sacramento, but he was a former lottery pick and not an obscure find, as was Zach Collins. Maybe Sandro Mamukelashvili and Charles Bassey can still turn things around, but it doesn’t seem likely.
Normally, worrying about a non-contending team finding complementary pieces would seem like putting the cart before the horse, and the Spurs do have a way to get affordable talent to put around the core as it gets expensive. They have two lottery picks incoming in this draft and many potentially high first-rounders in the upcoming years, due to swaps. Players who would not be cheap or come off the bench in their prime could fill the spots that normally go to the role guys that San Antonio has not had the luck or the opportunity to find yet. Recycling through young guys on rookie contracts to fill the rotation instead of finding diamonds in the rough could work for a while.
Eventually, the Spurs will need to find their own Ty Jeromes, Andrew Nembhards, and Naz Reids, just like they found Patty Mills, Danny Green, and Tiago Splitter in the past. As affordable rookie contracts turn into expensive extensions, it will be paramount to do so to build something durable in a cost-conscious franchise and a league that penalizes spending and restricts transactions.
Hopefully, the Spurs’ brain trust will show it still has the eye for underrated talent that allowed it to surround its stars with great complementary pieces, and the misses of the recent past are just the result of the inherent uncertainty and turmoil that comes with rebuilding.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock