By Eric Fritts | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-31 14:00:00
每当你看任何一场马刺队的全国直播比赛，在所有关于明星球员和青年才俊的讨论声中，几乎总会有一个话题围绕着队内效力时间最长的球员——凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson)。年仅26岁的约翰逊，已为这支球队扮演过多种角色，其成功程度也各不相同。
他在动荡的2020赛季进入联盟，那个赛季因疫情而缩短，他仅出战了16场比赛。在接下来的三个赛季里，他晋升为首发球员。当时，球队的前进方向尚不明朗，但约翰逊展现出了潜力。2022年，他似乎找到了自己作为射手的定位，场均远投出手5次，命中率高达39.8%，底角三分命中率更是达到49.5%。然而，远投专家最终并非他的归宿，因为他的命中率未能保持，在接下来的三个赛季里，他的三分命中率平均只有33%。
不过，他在2023年确实得到了更多分数，场均得分从17分跃升至22分。尽管他的投篮效率不算高，但他总能得分——即便是在一支战绩糟糕的球队里。但此后不久，他的得分开始下滑，接下来两年场均得分分别降至15.7分和12.7分。
在他的第五个赛季过半时，约翰逊很快发现自己已不再是首发阵容的一员；到了他的第六个赛季，他的场均得分创下新秀赛季以来的新低，场均出场时间则是二年级赛季以来的最低点。
需要注意的是，这一切都发生在马刺队进行重建的短短几年间。约翰逊仿佛一夜之间，就成了他刚进队时那批球员中少数的留守者之一。像德里克·怀特 (Derrick White) 和德章泰·穆雷 (Dejounte Murray) 这样的熟悉面孔，都作为重建的一部分被交易离队。球队在短短时间内经历了从中游徘徊到跌入谷底，再到如今重振旗鼓的全过程。
时间快进到今年，这是约翰逊作为替补球员的第二个完整赛季。他的使用率从19.7下降到17.8（数据来源：cleaningtheglass.com）；他的场均得分（13.2分）和场均上场时间（22.9分钟）与之前相差无几，但不知何故，一切都变得截然不同。
约翰逊的效率实现了飙升。他的有效命中率从54.1%跃升至65.2%。他的每次出手得分从1.15分暴涨至1.34分（数据来源：cleaningtheglass.com）。这是他严格控制出手选择的产物。约翰逊场均仅有2.8次三分出手，但命中率高达41.8%。他有近一半的出手来自篮下，在该区域他的命中率高达70.8%。而他为数不多的中距离出手，命中率也达到了56.4%。这些都是顶级的投篮分布和命中率数据。
不知何故，米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 教练找到了完美的配方，将凯尔登·约翰逊的上场时间价值最大化。如今，他就算不是领跑者，也绝对是年度最佳第六人讨论中的热门人选。
这背后的原因是多方面的。虽然约翰逊只有26岁，但这已经是他职业生涯的第7个年头，正值巅峰期的开端。随着心智的成熟，他从观看、学习和参与职业篮球比赛中获益良多。他过去的职业生涯让他能够积累上场时间和比赛经验，在犯错中不断学习和成长。
有趣的是，在分析约翰逊的成功时，会发现这不仅源于他个人的成长，也与球队围绕他的发展方式息息相关。正如前文所述，他见证了这支马刺队从跌入谷底到如今重返竞争行列的全过程。因此，他的任务量已经减轻到接近他二年级时的水平。从2022年到2024年，约翰逊的使用率维持在19.5%到26.4%之间（根据cleaningtheglass.com的数据，处于联盟第80至第91百分位）。到2025年，这一数据降至19.7%，而现在则稳定在17.8%（分别对应第70和第66百分位）。
他的场上价值之所以被最大化，并非因为他做得更多，恰恰相反，是因为他做得更少。
在过去的几年里，约翰逊拥有更多的机会。他有更多的上场时间、更多的出手次数，球权也更多。但那并非最适合他的角色。他之所以大量出手，只是因为当时总得有人站出来。
如今，重点并非他每次出手都是好球，而是他只选择好的出手机会。在他以前的角色中，他不得不更多地强行创造机会。虽然他因此得到了更多分数，但这并不能转化为胜利。如今，在他身边有了像维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 这样能够凭一己之力打破僵局的明星球员，他不再需要过度消耗自己。他是“角色明星”的典范，也正是马刺队所需要的拼图。
约翰逊在圣安东尼奥的效力生涯经历了非同寻常的跌宕起伏。纵观队史，没有多少马刺球员经历过他这样的职业生涯波折。但球员和球队管理层都选择了坚守彼此。这最终让他找到了现在所扮演的角色——一个在几乎所有数据指标上都证明其价值日益重要的角色。
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：Keldon Johnson has unlocked peak efficiency
Keldon Johnson has unlocked peak efficiency
Turn on any nationally broadcast Spurs game, and amongst all the discussion of stars and youth, there will almost always also be the talking point of the Spurs’ longest tenured player, Keldon Johnson. At 26 years old, Johnson has held a variety of roles for this team, each with varying success.
He entered the league in the tumultuous 2020 season, which was cut short by the pandemic, only playing 16 games. He escalated to a starting role in his next three seasons. At that time, it wasn’t clear what direction the team was headed, but Johnson showed potential. In 2022, it looked as though he might have found his niche as a shooter, converting 39.8 percent of his shots from long range on five attempts a game, and averaging 49.5 percent from the corners. Ultimately, a long-range specialist would not be his destiny, as his percentages didn’t maintain, averaging 33 percent from deep over the next three seasons.
However, he did score more in 2023, jumping from 17 to 22 points per game. He wasn’t shooting as well, but he was getting buckets, albeit for a poor team. But shortly thereafter, his scoring would start to dip, averaging 15.7 and then 12.7 points in his next two years.
Halfway through his fifth season, Johnson soon found himself no longer in the starting lineup, and by his sixth season, was averaging his fewest points per game since his rookie season and his fewest minutes per game since his sophomore season.
Keep in mind, this is all within the relatively short window of time the Spurs structured their rebuild. Johnson seemingly overnight was one of the few players still on the team from when he started. Familiar faces like Derrick White and Dejounte Murray were traded away as part of the rebuild. The team bounced around from middling to bottoming out, and now finds itself resurging, all in a brief period.
Fast forward to this year, Johnson’s second full year coming off the bench. His usage is down from 19.7 to 17.8 (per cleaningtheglass.com); he’s averaging about the same points per game (13.2) and about the same minutes per game (22.9), but somehow everything is different.
Johnson’s efficiency has skyrocketed. His effective field goal percentage vaulted from 54.1 to 65.2. His points per shot attempt exploded from 1.15 to 1.34 (per cleaningtheglass.com). This is the product of his strict shot diet. Johnson only takes 2.8 three-point attempts per game, but he is making them at a 41.8 percent clip. Nearly half of his shots are coming at the rim, where he is shooting 70.8 percent. The handful of shots that are coming from the mid-range, he is converting at 56.4 percent. These are all elite splits.
Somehow, Coach Mitch Johnson has found the perfect formula to squeeze the absolute most out of Keldon Johnson’s minutes. And he is now very much in, if not leading, the Sixth Man of the Year discussion.
The reasoning for this is multifaceted. While Johnson is only 26 years old, this is his 7th year and the start of his prime. He has benefited from watching, learning, and playing professional basketball as he has matured. Having the career he’s had, he has been able to log minutes and reps, make mistakes, and learn from them.
Interestingly, when analyzing Johnson’s success, it not only rests with his development but also with how the team has developed around him. As noted, he has seen this Spurs team hit its lowest lows, and now it’s ascension into contention. As such, his workload has decreased to nearly what it was in his second year. From 2022 to 2024, Johnson maintained a usage ranging from 19.5 percent to 26.4 percent (80th to 91st percentile per cleaningtheglass.com). In 2025, that dropped to 19.7 and now sits at 17.8 (70th and 66th percentiles, respectively).
His play is being maximized, not because he is doing more, but rather because he is doing less.
In previous years, Johnson had more opportunities. He had more minutes, more shot attempts, and just had the ball more. But that wasn’t the best role for him. He got the shots up because someone had to.
Now, it’s not that every shot he takes is a good shot so much as he only takes good shots. In his previous role, he had to force the issue more. And while he did get more points, that didn’t equate to winning. Now, alongside stars like Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox that can force the issue, he doesn’t need to overextend himself. He is the epitome of a “star in his role” and is exactly what the Spurs need.
Johnson’s tenure with San Antonio has been uncommonly fluctuant. Historically, not many Spurs have seen the ups and downs he has. But both he and the organization stuck with eachother. Leading him to find the role he now plays, which has proven to be increasingly valuable by most every metric.
By Eric Fritts, via Pounding The Rock