By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-06-24 16:21:37
圣安东尼奥——“正如你们所见，我们是有特定类型的。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 对此毫不掩饰。几周前，他的球队打进了NBA总决赛，尽管对方的大个子在内线予取予求：马刺不断碰上诸如以赛亚·哈尔滕施泰因和米切尔·罗宾逊这样的中锋，他们能与第二阵容搭配，在篮下予取予求。
这种情况必须改变，原因有很多。不仅仅是为了让马刺在季后赛中维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 坐在板凳上时也能稳定赢分，也是为了能让文班亚马得到恰当的休息。这意味着他们在选秀之夜有了一个明确的“类型”。
上赛季，马刺的替补中锋轮换阵容的经验加起来长达46年。在周二晚上的NBA选秀首轮中，圣安东尼奥选中了肯塔基大学中锋杰登·昆坦斯 (Jayden Quaintance)（第20顺位）和康涅狄格大学中锋小塔里斯·里德 (Tarris Reed Jr.)（第26顺位）之后，这种情况即将改变。卢克·科内特是主教练米奇·约翰逊在季后赛中唯一愿意给予轮换时间的替补中锋。球队希望，如果不能更快的话，这种情况在未来会有所改变。
莱特和管理层在首轮进行了两种不同的尝试，首先是在乐透区天赋的昆坦斯身上，他的右膝前十字韧带撕裂后的漫长恢复期让他在选秀榜上顺位下滑。
“我们做了功课，我们有一支出色的医疗团队，他们的分析和处理过程非常彻底，”莱特说。“我们花时间与他的代表沟通，了解了他的状况、康复进程以及各种选择。我们对他目前的情况以及长期的预后都感到放心了。”
从技术特点来看，昆坦斯作为文班亚马的长期替补是完全合理的。他可以充当第二阵容的防守核心，并在挡拆中作为短挡拆顺下的传球手保持球的运转。
马刺队不能害怕让他们的替补中锋打尽可能长的时间。一个健康的昆坦斯可以胜任那个角色，但右膝前十字韧带撕裂依然是一个隐患。马刺必须对他们的医疗评估有信心，因为如果他能保持健康，他的防守能力值得一个乐透签。但这可能需要一段时间。
“还有一些疼痛。我觉得他们说我得再做一次手术，清理一下我的半月板，还有一些相关的事宜，”昆坦斯说。“但感觉又好起来了，正在朝着进步的方向努力。”
这个选秀最有趣的方面在于，马刺是否真的会让昆坦斯与文班亚马并肩作战。他的护筐能力足够出色，可以让文班亚马更多地去打侧翼，而且他的髋部移动足够快，可以单防，甚至在打四号位时还能稍微追防一下侧翼球员。昆坦斯需要一段时间来学习如何做到这一点，因为他大部分的角色都是不同层次的沉退防守和换防，但他太年轻了（七月份才满19岁），有足够的时间来培养他的防守多样性。
限制可能更多在进攻端，这将会类似于马刺使用文班亚马和科内特搭档的“法国香草”阵容。昆坦斯能稍微运一下球，但他主要还是一个短挡拆顺下者，或者像科内特那样的扣篮点等候者。也许他在进攻端还有更多潜力可挖。
而里德则确实拥有这种进攻技巧，他在康涅狄格大学是一名悍将，并形容自己打的是“丑陋、强硬的比赛”。他是一个能背身单打的重器，靠着在内线肉搏立足。
“（我）会去干脏活累活，只要是教练或球队需要我做的，”里德说。“我来这里不是为了当什么超级巨星，当英雄。我来这里是做我的工作，做我被要求做的事情。”
莱特强调，这两个选秀权并非专门为了解决眼前的阵容深度问题。考虑到昆坦斯的伤病情况，这一点显而易见。但它确实解决了长期的担忧，即文班亚马在他的职业生涯中需要被谨慎管理，以确保其职业生涯足够长久。
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：Spurs hope Jayden Quaintance, Tarris Reed Jr. check the right boxes to boost frontcourt
Spurs hope Jayden Quaintance, Tarris Reed Jr. check the right boxes to boost frontcourt
SAN ANTONIO — “As you can see, we had a type.”
San Antonio Spurs General Manager Brian Wright wasn’t hiding from it. His team reached the NBA Finals a few weeks ago despite opposing bigs dominating the trenches: The Spurs kept running into centers such as Isaiah Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson, who could play with second units and feast under the rim.
That has to change, for several reasons. Not just so the Spurs can consistently win minutes with Victor Wembanyama on the bench in the postseason, but so they can allow him to get his proper rest. That meant they had a “type” on draft night.
The Spurs’ backup big rotation had a combined 46 years of experience last season. That’s about to change after San Antonio selected Kentucky center Jayden Quaintance (20th pick) and Connecticut center Tarris Reed Jr. (26th pick) in the first round of the NBA Draft on Tuesday night. Luke Kornet was the only backup center coach Mitch Johnson was willing to play rotation minutes in the postseason. The hope is that will change down the road, if not sooner.
Wright and the front office took two different swings in the first round, starting with a lottery talent in Quaintance, whose extended recovery from a torn right ACL sent him falling down draft boards.
“We do our homework, and we’ve got a great medical team that’s very thorough in their analysis and process,” Wright said. “And we’ve spent time with his representatives going through where he is and his rehabilitation process and what the options are. We got comfortable about what that looks like today and then the long-term prognosis, as well.”
Quaintance makes perfect sense from a skill perspective as a long-term backup to Wembanyama. He can serve as a defensive linchpin for the second unit and keep the ball moving as a short-roll passer in the pick-and-roll.
The Spurs can’t be afraid to play their backup center as many minutes as needed. A healthy Quaintance can be that guy, but the right ACL tear remains a concern. The Spurs must be confident in their medical evaluation, because his defensive ability is lottery-worthy if he can be healthy. But that may take a while.
“Still a little pain. I feel like they say I have to do another surgery, so my meniscus getting cleaned up, some stuff with that,” Quaintance said. “But feeling better again, pushing towards improvement.”
The most interesting aspect of this pick is whether the Spurs would actually play Quaintance next to Wembanyama. His rim protection is good enough that they can have Wembanyama play the wing more, and his hips are quick enough that he could defend in isolation and even chase wings a bit if he plays the four. It would take Quaintance a while to learn how to do that because most of his role has been different levels of drop coverage and switches, but he is so young (he turns 19 in July) that there is plenty of time to develop his defensive versatility.
The limit is probably more on the offensive end, and it would be similar to the French Vanilla lineups the Spurs played with Wembanyama and Kornet together. Quaintance can put the ball on the floor a tiny bit, but he is mostly either a short-roll guy or a dunker spot guy like Kornet. Maybe there is more skill to mine on the offensive end.
A player who does have that skill is Reed, who was a bruiser at Connecticut and described himself as having an “ugly, gritty game.” He’s a post-up powerhouse who makes a living tossing around bodies.
“(I’m) going to do the dirty work, whatever Coach or the organization needs me to do,” Reed said. “I’m not coming here to be no superstar, to be the hero. I’m coming here to do my job, to do what is asked of me.”
Wright emphasized these picks were not made specifically to address the immediate depth concerns. That is obvious with Quaintance’s injury situation. But it does address the long-term concern that Wembanyama will need to be managed carefully over the course of his career to make it a long one.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic