By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2025-12-04 11:38:19
在执教的第一个完整赛季，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 发现自己陷入了一个两难的境地。他失去了球队的建队基石维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和备受瞩目的后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)。然而，他的进攻体系却终于开始起飞。
在周三以 114-112 战胜奥兰多魔术队后，马刺队的进攻效率值达到 119.4，高居联盟第八。自从文班亚马因小腿拉伤缺阵以来，他们的助攻失误比达到 2.0，位列联盟第九 ， 而在那之前文班亚马出战的 12 场比赛中，该项数据仅排在联盟第 23 位。
这一进步足够显著，以至于约翰逊获得了西部月度最佳教练的提名。这并非因为没有文班亚马的马刺进攻更好，而是球队终于在德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 的带领下磨合到位。
约翰逊的下一个任务，将是把福克斯为进攻带来的开放流畅打法，与文班亚马时而停滞的力量型打法相融合。
文班亚马拖慢半场进攻节奏本身并非问题。他尚处在成长的早期阶段，只要有足够的实践，他就能轻松地在包夹中传球和得分，届时让他在低位强打将会是高效且极具威胁的。
在那之前，福克斯正在向约翰逊展示另一条前进的道路，这条路能为福克斯提供深入禁区的空间，并以此为基点为文班亚马和其他队友创造机会。
福克斯能持续地突入禁区深处，并轻松地送出突分传球。当他在场时，马刺能获得更多仅需一次传球就能得到的空位三分机会，以及向底角空位射手的轻松转移球。防守轮转也与文班亚马在低位时有所不同，因为相比于包夹文班亚马的低位单打后再轮转，协防球员在应对福克斯的动态进攻时，更难以及时回防到外线射手身前。
福克斯以其速度自豪，但真正让他充满威胁的是他运用节奏变化的能力。他足够强壮，可以直接冲击内线的大个子，然后转身摆脱对手完成急停跳投。但他最具破坏力的时刻，是他开始在罚球区内减速，从而吸引额外的协防球员，为队友创造出空位三分机会。
文班亚马放慢比赛节奏，让防守方更容易准备好应对策略。好的一面是，他实在难以被限制，并且在处理包夹方面正变得越来越出色。尽管没有他在低位站桩时进攻可能运转得更流畅一些，但当这位大个子在场时，马刺的进攻上限无疑更高。另一方面，在福克斯找到节奏后，他与因文班亚马受伤而顶上首发的卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 之间的挡拆配合也渐入佳境。
当文班亚马在场时，约翰逊的进攻体系中包含大量的“牛角战术”，即由两名大个子在罚球线发起进攻。这种经典战术非常适合那些掩护能吸引大量防守注意力的球员，或者为侧翼的第二组织者设置斜向挡拆。但这些战术缺少变化，而当今的进攻崇尚出其不意。为文班亚马跑牛角战术，使得马刺的半场进攻变得可以预测。
从长远来看，这没什么问题。球队正致力于将文班亚马培养成一名划时代的球员，这意味着需要经历大量的成长阵痛，也需要一些结构化的战术安排。但现在，福克斯已经掌控了自己的比赛，并能利用他在空间中的突破能力创造有价值的进攻，这为约翰逊提供了另一种打法。
当文班亚马伤愈归来后，他可以通过学习科内特的打法，将福克斯和马刺的进攻提升到一个新的层次。这位前凯尔特人队的大个子在如何以及何时进行掩护方面有着聪明的判断。他已经掌握了“在真正能帮助球队之前绝不碍事”的艺术。
注意在这个回合中，科内特甚至从未靠近去掩护森林狼队的侧翼防守者杰登·麦克丹尼尔斯 (Jaden McDaniels)，后者在福克斯刚过半场时就采取了高位领防。
这看似有违常理，但科内特知道福克斯的速度足以在没有掩护的情况下过掉麦克丹尼尔斯，并意识到自己的首要任务是提早且深入地顺下到禁区，为的是挡住森林狼中锋鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert)，让他无法协防到篮下。如果科内特完全提到高位去设置掩护，他再顺下回篮下就会花费太长时间，而福克斯早已冲到他前面了。正因为科内特及早地为福克斯让出了空间并迅速顺下，福克斯才能够先减速、将麦克丹尼尔斯卡在身后，然后在科内特就位挡住戈贝尔后，再次加速冲击篮筐。
随着文班亚马场上意识的提升，约翰逊可以设计更多战术，让文班亚马在无球端处于更有利的位置，从队友为他创造的轻松机会中受益。看看这个由科内特发起并由他终结的回合，执行得有多么精确。
福克斯持球推进，同时凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 跑向右侧底角。福克斯一过半场线，科内特就转身为哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 做下掩护。但科内特并没有真正完成掩护，因为马刺希望小贾伦·杰克逊 (Jaren Jackson Jr.) 追防巴恩斯到外线，而不是待在篮筐前。
巴恩斯为福克斯掩护的时机恰到好处，并决定假掩护后顺下，因为他知道杰克逊的本能反应是去夹击福克斯。福克斯提早将球转移给巴恩斯，并送出提前量，让巴恩斯能轻松接球杀入篮下。与此同时，科内特从底线一侧移动到另一侧，正好处于完美位置，接巴恩斯的分球，完成一记杰克逊无法封盖的反手上篮。
这是一个简单的战术，却蕴含着无数技术上的精确细节——这是球队在赛季初所不具备的稳定性。福克斯的经验和耐心正让这一切得以实现。而如果由文班亚马扮演科内特的角色，这次进攻的结果很可能就不是一个反手上篮了。
自从福克斯回归阵容以来，马刺的战术执行力稳步提升。赛季初，他们的场上空间很混乱，这使得文班亚马的低位单打风险更大，并导致了大量失误。球员们似乎不知道如何与他的传球点保持一致，也没有足够精心策划的弱侧切入，好让他能从包夹头顶传球。现在，约翰逊的球队在进攻中展现出了更好的节奏感和整体性。他们能更早地发起战术，配合也更加协调。
当文班亚马在不久的将来回归时，这一切将不得不做出改变，因为球队必须利用他非凡的技术组合。你不必为了美学而刻意追求华丽的进攻。一个围绕文班亚马、打法更具“粘滞性”的体系同样可以非常高效，尤其是在福克斯已经找到节奏的当下。
尽管如此，这段没有文班的日子对于约翰逊的执教成长以及团队其他成员来说，都是一次很好的锻炼。它帮助约翰逊确立了另一种进攻模式，让马刺在面对不同防守时能更加灵活。它证明了福克斯能够重返全明星状态。最重要的是，它提醒着人们：即使文班亚马是这支球队的领袖，但这支球队的全部并不仅仅是他。
马刺拥有一位可能很快就会定义 NBA 的旷世奇才，但他们不能完全被他所定义。最近这段连胜最棒的部分在于，他们证明了自己不仅仅是文班的球队。
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。
点击查看原文：Without Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox is bringing the Spurs' offense to life
Without Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox is bringing the Spurs’ offense to life
In his first full season at the helm, San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson finds himself in a quandary. He’s missing his franchise cornerstone, Victor Wembanyama, and his lightning rod guard, Stephon Castle. Yet his offense is finally taking off.
After Wednesday’s 114-112 win over the Orlando Magic, the Spurs have the NBA’s eighth-best offensive rating at 119.4. They have the league’s ninth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.0 since Wembanyama went out with a strained calf**,** after ranking 23rd in the 12 games with Wembanyama before that.
It’s a notable enough improvement that Johnson received a Western Conference coach of the month nomination. That wasn’t because the Spurs offense is better without Wembanyama. It’s that the team has finally jelled under De’Aaron Fox’s leadership.
Johnson’s next task will be to mesh the open flow Fox has brought to the offense with Wembanyama’s occasionally static power game.
Wembanyama slowing down the half-court offense isn’t inherently problematic. He’s early in his development and, with enough reps, he’ll be passing and scoring around double teams so easily that having him hammer away in the post will be efficient and effective.
Until then, Fox is showing Johnson another path forward, one that provides Fox the room to get deep into the paint and then open things up for Wembanyama and others from there.
Fox consistently gets deep into the paint and makes kickout passes easily from there. With him on the floor, the Spurs are getting more one-pass open 3s and easy swings to an open shooter in the corner. The defensive rotations are different than with Wembanyama in the post because help defenders aren’t as ready to recover out to the shooters against the flow of Fox’s action than they would be after double-teaming a Wembanyama post-up.
Fox is proud of his speed, but what makes him impactful is how he hits the brakes. He is strong enough to drive right into a big man in the paint and then spin off of him to hit a pull-up. But when he’s really disruptive is when he starts decelerating through the lane and luring in extra help defenders to create open 3s.
Wembanyama slowing the game down makes things a little easier for the defense to prepare its escape plan. On the bright side, he’s so hard to contain and is getting a lot better at manipulating those double-teams. The Spurs’ offensive upside is higher with their big man out there, even if it may function a little more smoothly without him holding down post position. On the other hand, the pick-and-roll between Fox and Luke Kornet — who is starting with Wembanyama injured — is working well now that Fox has his rhythm.
When Wembanyama is out there, Johnson’s offense includes a lot of Horns plays, where two bigs start the action on the free throw line. These classic sets are ideal for players whose screening draws a lot of attention, or when setting up a secondary wing creator for an angled pick-and-roll. But there’s not a lot of mystery to them, and offenses crave mystery these days. Running Horns for Wembanyama makes the Spurs’ half-court offense predictable.
That’s fine in the long run. The franchise is trying to develop Wembanyama into a transcendent player, and that means plenty of growing pains and a need for some structure. But now that Fox is in control of his game and able to create valuable offense with his driving ability in space, Johnson has another way to play.
When he returns from injury, Wembanyama could take Fox and the Spurs’ offense to the next level by studying Kornet. The former Celtics big man makes smart reads on how and when to screen. He’s mastered the art of not getting in the way until it actually helps his team.
Notice on this play how Kornet never even comes close to screening Timberwolves wing defender Jaden McDaniels, who takes a high pick-up point on Fox coming across half court.
This may seem counterintuitive, but Kornet knows Fox is quick enough to get by McDaniels without a screen and realizes his primary responsibility is to roll early and deep into the paint to wall off Wolves center Rudy Gobert so he can’t help at the rim. If Kornet had gone all the way up to set the screen, it would’ve taken him too long to roll all the way back down and Fox would already be ahead of him. Because Kornet gave Fox the space early and rolled quickly, Fox was able to hit the brakes, get McDaniels on his back, then take off again to surge to the rim once Kornet was in position to seal off Gobert.
As Wembanyama’s court awareness develops, Johnson can design more actions that put Wembanyama in better positions off the ball to benefit from his teammates creating easy looks for him. Watch how precise the execution is on this sequence that starts and ends with Kornet.
Fox brings up the ball, while Keldon Johnson runs to the right corner. As soon as Fox crosses the half-court line, Kornet turns to set a down screen for Harrison Barnes. But Kornet doesn’t actually set the screen, because the Spurs want Jaren Jackson Jr. to chase Barnes out to the perimeter instead of hanging out in front of the rim.
Barnes times his screen for Fox well and decides to slip it, knowing that Jackson’s instinct is to blitz Fox. Fox swings the pass early to Barnes and leads him into the catch, making it easy for Barnes to get to the basket. Meanwhile, Kornet shifts from one side of the baseline to the other to be in the perfect position to receive Barnes’ drop-off pass and go for a reverse layup that Jackson can’t block.
It’s a simple play with a myriad of technical precision, something the team didn’t have consistently at the start of the season. Fox’s experience and patience is making it take hold. And if Wembanyama is occupying Kornet’s role, chances are it wouldn’t end with a reverse layup.
Since Fox returned to the lineup, the Spurs’ execution has steadily improved. Their spacing was messy early in the season, which made Wembanyama’s post-ups more risky and led to plenty of turnovers. Players didn’t seem to know how to stay aligned with his passing outlets, and there weren’t enough well-orchestrated cuts from the backside for him to pass over the top of doubles. Now, Johnson’s team is playing with a better sense of tempo and alignment in the offense. They get into their actions earlier in the clock and with better coordination.
It will have to change when Wembanyama returns in the near future, as the team has to make use of his remarkable skill set. You don’t have to run a beautiful offense just for the sake of aesthetics. A more sticky system through Wembanyama can be effective, especially now that Fox has his rhythm.
Still, this Wemby-less period has been a good exercise for Johnson’s coaching development and the rest of the team. It’s helped Johnson establish another offensive identity so the Spurs can be more flexible against different defenses. It’s established that Fox can get back to All-Star form. Most of all, it’s been a reminder that this team is more than Wembanyama, even if he is their leader.
The Spurs have a singular talent that may soon define the NBA but they can’t be entirely defined by him. The best part of this recent run is they’ve proven they can be more than just Wemby’s team.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic