By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-09-30 15:44:21
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。
2025年9月29日，圣安东尼奥马刺队的斯蒂芬·卡斯尔在位于圣安东尼奥的Victory Capital表演中心，为马刺媒体日拍摄宣传照。
这个问题本不该是什么难题。
从难度上讲，这远不及《危险边缘》的决赛，甚至都比不上《你比五年级生更聪明吗？》。
在见证了斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在其荣膺NBA年度最佳新秀的赛季中扮演了多种角色后，马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 被问及一个问题：你认为他真正的场上位置是什么？
约翰逊狡黠的笑容和他的回答一样，意味深长。
“我不知道，”约翰逊说。“一个非常出色的球员？”
休赛期马刺后场遭遇的伤病，至少在目前，反而让卡斯尔的位置变得清晰起来。
作为一名新秀曾辗转于三个不同位置之后，这位20岁的卡斯尔在周二开启了他第二个NBA赛季的训练营，并成为了球队事实上的首发控球后卫。
这并非球队的原定计划。
马刺队在二月份通过与萨克拉门托的交易得到的全明星控卫德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)，上个月刚签下一份为期四年、价值2.29亿美元的续约合同。但他在休赛期训练中拉伤了腿筋，目前已被认为大概率缺席10月22日对阵达拉斯的常规赛揭幕战。
马刺队在六月选秀中用榜眼签选中的天才主控后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)，因本月早些时候左手拇指韧带撕裂而接受了修复手术，目前仍在恢复中。
这使得卡斯尔成为了马刺队内在新赛季首次训练中，最受瞩目的主要持球手。
卡斯尔表示，他已经准备好填补这一角色——至少是暂时的——尽管他并不理解外界为何如此执着于给他贴上位置标签。
“当我们布置战术时，我们不会说‘控卫站这，分卫站那，小前锋在这儿’，”卡斯尔说。“我们就是上场，然后尽我们所能去打球。教练会把最好的五名球员派上场，我们就去拼搏竞争。”
对约翰逊而言，答案并非如此简单。作为马刺队主教练，他首次训练营的大部分工作，都将用于拼凑出一套持球手轮换阵容，以便让全明星核心维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 打得更轻松。
乐观估计，哈珀或许能在训练营的某个阶段获准参加对抗训练，届时他将有机会融入球队的轮换阵容。
在卡斯尔之后，阵容名单上唯一健康的控球后卫是乔丹·麦克劳克林 (Jordan McLaughlin)，马刺将依靠这位征战六年的老将承担替补时间。
除了麦克劳克林，马刺的后场储备就显得有些捉襟见肘了。
上赛季训练营开始时，马刺拥有的持球手多到用不过来。
十一次入选NBA最佳阵容的克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul) 牢牢占据首发位置。老将特雷·琼斯 (Tre Jones) 作为一名实力远超替补的后备力量也位列阵中。年轻球员布雷克·韦斯利 (Blake Wesley) 和马拉基·布兰纳姆 (Malaki Branham) 则对上场时间望眼欲穿。
在关于福克斯的交易中，马刺将琼斯送往了芝加哥，并在休赛期将韦斯利和布兰纳姆交易至华盛顿，换来了经验丰富的中锋凯利·奥利尼克 (Kelly Olynyk)。
转眼之间，马刺从持球手过剩陷入了人手短缺的窘境。
约翰逊迫切希望福克斯和哈珀能重返训练，这样他就能重新面对那个“控卫太多、球权不够分”的难题。
在约翰逊看来，这终将成为一个“幸福的烦恼”。
“我们从不畏惧或回避拥有太多优秀球员，”约翰逊说。“回顾联盟中近期取得成功的那些球队，你会发现他们队中都有多个能运、能传、能投，并且能相互策应的球员。”
哈珀也表示赞同。
“我认为，当你在场上需要防守三个能持球冲击篮筐的球员，外加一个射手，以及显而易见的文班时，那会是件非常棘手的事，”哈珀说。“我的意思是，那样的阵容真的很难被防住和击败。”
至少，计划是这样的。
随着马刺队三大持球手中有两人高挂免战牌，卡斯尔将作为文班亚马在季前赛初期的首席挡拆搭档，独挑大梁。
身高6英尺6英寸的卡斯尔，在他NBA生涯的处子赛季中，就是一位球场多面手。
他曾作为得分后卫与保罗搭档首发47场比赛，在福克斯交易后作为控球后卫引领第二阵容，还在其他阵容配置中担任过小前锋。
无论约翰逊将他安排在哪个位置，卡斯尔总是承担起最艰巨的防守任务。
赛季结束时，卡斯尔的场均得分（14.7分）领跑所有NBA新秀，场均助攻（4.1次）排名第四。此外，他还以74次总抢断领衔同届新秀。
这种“即插即用”的全能性，将继续成为卡斯尔进入生涯第二年的招牌武器。
“我认为他已经展现出的能力，正是我们希望他继续成长的方向，”约翰逊说。“他已经证明了自己有这个本事。”
然而，一个意味深长的细节是，卡斯尔夏天的大部分时间都在打磨可以被称作“控卫技术”的能力——特别是他在挡拆后的决策和投篮。
“我感觉这些细节上的提升，将支撑我走过整个赛季，”卡斯尔说。
由于马刺的伤病情况，卡斯尔成为了球队眼下的控球后卫。
马刺队正期待着后场阵容兵强马壮的那一天，届时，关于卡斯尔位置的问题，才会更像一道刁钻的谜题。
Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs poses for the media at San Antonio Spurs Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center on September 29, 2025 in San Antonio.
Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs poses for the media at San Antonio Spurs Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center on September 29, 2025 in San Antonio.
De’Aaron Fox, 4, of the San Antonio Spurs,Victor Wembanyama, 1, and Stephon Castle, 5, pose for photographs at San Antonio Spurs Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center on September 29, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
点击查看原文：Injuries put Spurs' backcourt plans on hold
Injuries put Spurs’ backcourt plans on hold
Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs poses for the media at San Antonio Spurs Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center on September 29, 2025 in San Antonio.
The question was not meant to be a stumper.
In degree of difficulty, it wasn’t exactly the final round of “Jeopardy!” or even “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”
After watching Stephon Castle fill a variety of roles during his NBA Rookie of the Year season, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was asked, what would you say his true position is?
Johnson’s coy grin spoke volumes, as did his answer.
“I don’t know,” Johnson said. “Really good player?”
Summertime injuries in the Spurs’ backcourt have served to clarify Castle’s position, at least temporarily.
After dabbling at three spots as a rookie, the 20-year-old Castle opened his second NBA training camp Tuesday as the Spurs’ de facto starting point guard.
This was not by design.
De’Aaron Fox, the All-Star point guard the Spurs acquired in a trade with Sacramento in February and inked to a four-year, $229-million extension last month, tweaked a hamstring during offseason workouts and has already been deemed doubtful for the Oct. 22 regular-season opener against Dallas.
Dylan Harper, the ultra-talented lead guard the Spurs drafted second overall in the June draft, is still on the mend after undergoing surgery to repair a ligament tear in his left thumb suffered earlier this month.
It left Castle as the Spurs’ most prominent primary ball-handler for the first practice of the season.
Castle said he is primed to fill the role – for now – even if he doesn’t understand what the fuss over labeling his position is all about.
“When we’re drawing up plays, we don’t put ‘point guard, shooting guard here, small forward here,’ ” Castle said. “We kind of just go out there and play to the best of our ability. Coach is going to put the best five on the floor and we’re going to go out there and compete.”
For Johnson, the answer is not as simple as that. Much of the work of his first training camp as the Spurs’ head coach will be spent patching together a rotation of ball-handlers to make life easier for All-Star centerpiece Victor Wembanyama.
There is some optimism Harper might be cleared for contact at some point during training camp, at which point he would have the opportunity to work himself into the mix.
Behind Castle, the only healthy point guard on the roster is Jordan McLaughlin, a six-year veteran the Spurs will depend upon for backup minutes.
After McLaughlin, the Spurs’ backcourt cupboard is somewhat sparse.
Entering camp last season, the Spurs had more ball-handlers than they could hope to use.
Eleven-time All-NBA honoree Chris Paul was entrenched as the starter. Veteran Tre Jones was on board as an overqualified backup. Youngsters Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham were chomping at the bit for minutes.
The Spurs lost Jones to Chicago as part of the Fox deal, and swapped Wesley and Branham to Washington over the offseason in a trade for journeyman center Kelly Olynyk.
Suddenly, the Spurs have gone from too many ball-handlers to not enough.
Johnson is eager for Fox and Harper to return to practice, so he can go back to puzzling out the problem of too many point-guard mouths to feed.
The way Johnson sees it, that will eventually fall under the heading of “good problem to have.”
“We’re never going to shy away or avoid having too many good players,” Johnson said. “When you go back to a lot of the teams who’ve had success recently in our league, there’s been multiple people on their team that can dribble, pass and shoot and play off each other.”
Harper agreed.
“I think is going to be a big thing when you are on the court and you got to guard three people that can get downhill plus a shooter, plus obviously Vic,” Harper said. “I mean, that’s very hard to stop and beat.”
That is the plan at least.
With two of the Spurs’ top three ball-handlers on the shelf, Castle stands alone as Wembanyama’s chief pick-and-roll partner to start the preseason.
The 6-foot-6 Castle was a jack-of-all-trades during his inaugural NBA campaign.
He started 47 games as a shooting guard next to Paul, ran the second unit as a point guard after the Fox trade and played small forward in other lineup configurations.
No matter where Johnson deployed him, Castle often drew the most challenging defensive assignments.
Castle finished the season leading all NBA rookies in scoring (14.7 points per game) while ranking fourth in assists (4.1 per game). He also paced the league’s rookie crop in total steals with 74.
That “play anywhere” sort of versatility should continue to be Castle’s calling card entering Year 2.
“I think what he has already done is just something we want to continue to grow him in,” Johnson said. “He has already shown the chops to do it.”
It is telling, however, that Castle spent much of his summer working on what might be best described as point guard skills – particularly his decision making and shooting coming off a pick-and-roll.
“I feel like the little things are going to carry me through the year,” Castle said.
Thanks to the Spurs’ injury situation, Castle is the Spurs’ point guard of the immediate future.
The Spurs are looking forward to the day when the backcourt stable is full again, and the issue of Castle’s position feels more like a trick question.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News