San Antonio Spurs Season Preview

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3:08Good morning and welcome to the Athletic MBA Daily. Coming up, we're talking about the San Antonio Spurs with Jared Weiss. Good morning everybody. Hello, hello, continuing on with our season previews this time. It's the San Antonio Spurs, the team that made the run to the MBA finals only to lose to the New York Knicks. An incredible season, in my opinion, that just absolutely was like, must watch television. And part of that is Victor Wembeñama. Part of that is Dylan Harper. Part of that is just the incredible young team that they are developing there. Part of that is Jared Weiss and his coverage. Jared, the biggest part. Obviously. The biggest part, naturally. Look, this team didn't do a tremendous amount this off season. They drafted a few players to fill out their front court position. They signed to bias Harris. They re-signed Julian Champeni.

4:09But for the most part, this is a very similar team heading into this season. What do you think the fans are looking forward to most with this group and this core moving forward? Sure. I mean, they had the least to do of any team in the MBA this off season. They had great depth. They had a very, very few holes in either the plug. Their team that's going to develop. They made the finals so fast that the bar naturally raises. And we've seen this happen in other places before where they get to the finals super quickly. And everyone assumes that they're going to win and then they don't end up winning. Or maybe they get one and they never make it back. So I think San Antonio's main task now is, can they make this sustainable? And can they give themselves a legit five to seven-year window? We used to say like decade of dominance. You can't see it anymore. That's just not a thing in the MBA at this point. Maybe Webin Yamal will break that. Webin B seems capable of breaking any sort of expectation.

5:10But I think to answer your actual question, the answer is that they want to see growth. They want to see not confidence but comfort and clarity in who this team is. And I think last year's team, they had an unbelievable, they get an insane season. One of the most remarkable seasons that we've seen from start to finish in a long time. The next playoff run obviously was more remarkable. But the entirety of the next season wasn't great. I mean, there were some ugly points in the regular season. The spurs from the beginning were fascinating. And then second half of the season were dominance. And so I think what people are looking for is, can that continue on from last year? I know they were 62 and team, but can they push that even further? They have the pieces in place to do it. There's no question about it. There's multiple questions, I think, just like intriguing points that we can launch off. Of here and talk about this team. You can pick which one you want to talk about first, whether it is the next step and evolution of Victor Wembenyama,

6:10whether it is the Deeran Fox back court situation or question that they will have to eventually address. Or what Tobias Harris brings to this team? Because I think that's the new addition. That's the guy that rounds out what I would assume is their starting group. Which way do you want to go with this conversation? Let's start with the back court just because that's been the most polarizing and controversial one. The most flack I've caught for what was just talking about this one. It's the most interesting scenario and one of the most interesting dynamics in the NBA, because we have three guys that very clearly are worthy of starting. And especially with this team, starting does not necessarily equate to value. Monogen Obley, Pioneer, the Six Man, are sacrificing a career into being a Six Man, where Monu is one of my favorite players ever. Anybody that Washa would know that he would have been a top 10 player in the NBA. Maybe even better, maybe he would have been an MVP caliber player if he was getting the kind of usage and minutes of all these other stars.

7:11He had that talent. You watch Jill and Harper play. And the greatest irony of all is that his game reminds you a lot of Monu. There is a lot of differences in their style, the leftiness. There are so many similarities in the way that they move the floor and they work the floor. Monu had this daring playmaker's retomb and obviously he was like an unbelievable deep shooter off the dribble and all that kind of stuff. Dylan has the talent to build all those things. And so you look at Dylan's talent level on any other team in the NBA. How do you keep him off the starting lineup? Like I don't, maybe there's got to be some other team out there that maybe he wouldn't start on. But the way that he played not just in like the finals, which was really captivating, but that sustained play that he had from like February all the way through June was incredible. Now he wasn't super consistent. He was consistent enough that you would give him that opportunity. But he wasn't extremely consistent. Not at like a star level, but you can see the talent is there.

8:12The mindset is there. He continues to be open minded about coming off the bench and his public quotes. He is he's a perfect fit for the scenario there and now which is that Deering Fox still a good player despite what happened after he had that angle spring. He is still it's not just that it's not just that he's talented. It's that his feel for how to run that offense was so vital to the way they operated. And you know, his inability to finish was a huge part of why they lost the finals the way they did because. He was kind of running the offense the way that they usually would run it. And he was creating a lot of the looks for himself that usually were good looks and he hit a lot of those and he just couldn't make any of them. And you know, it seems like that was because of the ankle injury and whether that ankle injury and other effects on his confidence or comfort in a shot or whatever it is. There was some sort of rhythm issue very clearly because he was getting to a lot of spots and missing a lot of those shots. So whether he couldn't get the lift he wanted, he couldn't find the rhythm that he was used to. It didn't work. We saw him do that stuff throughout the year very effectively.

9:13He made the all-star team. He was really good throughout the year. He was playing injured. This is what happens in the post season. A lot of guys had bad playoffs and then you find out, oh, they need a surgery or you know, whatever it is like this stuff happens all the time. The air and fox still an all-star caliber player will still be absolutely vital to this team next year because I guess this year it's, you know, we're almost there now because they need somebody that knows how to run an offense. And their big weakness last year was that he was the only guy that was a veteran that had real comfort on creating offense consistently. When Beniyama didn't have it, Steph Castle didn't have it, Dylan Harper didn't have it. Now they have Tobias Harris who is another veteran that you can count on to make good reads constantly. But they're still really reliant upon fox to run the offense. So I just don't see him not being a starter for a while. Then I haven't gotten the castle yet, but like there's not much to say. Castle's been incredible. He's a lock starter. He's unbelievable. Yeah. And look, I think the spurs, at least in the second half of the season and especially in the playoffs, they showed a comfort of going with three guards all at once too.

10:16Like we've seen them in spurts. Do that. I think we will probably end up leaning into that even more. And I wonder, you know, to your point about fox, like you look up and down the numbers. They were better on offense when he was on the floor in the regular season and in the playoffs. And part of that is just having a guy who wasn't going to turn it over and that naturally bled into the youthfulness of Steph Castle and Dylan Harper, right? Because they when fox wasn't on the floor, would be a little bit more turnover prone, would be a little bit more. I guess they're playmaking errors showed a little bit to the point where, you know, in the regular season, you know, you now have opportunity to find other avenues for them to figure out their game. Like you can take the time and let those guys develop so that when you get to the playoffs again, you aren't as reliant on Darren Fox to be the only guard creator. I think the more reps that Steph Castle gets, the more reps that Dylan Harper get to just flesh out that aspect of the game will help them a bunch.

11:18Yeah, on that, do you feel any different way? Like one of Steph's weaknesses, it's actually a strength, but this is what the playoffs do to you is it turns or strengths in the weaknesses. Steph Castle's ability to slow it down and bounce, but you know, kind of like bounce around in your own steps to, you know, get to land on two feet and up fake and pivot his way to the final opening. That's kind of his main thing. He doesn't like that's that's his style. Most of the time when he drives and it's really difficult to guard during the regular season when you're playing the team once. You're a playoff team like the next that has so much length that when he could stop and pivot stuff didn't work well against them because they had the length that he couldn't get around guys. They were strong enough that you know, couldn't get through them that he needs to develop more variety. Fox's strength is that he plays kind of heals to the ground like he'll explode, but he's really good at kind of keeping his feet flat to the ground and staying upright. And so he's he's able to just kind of take his time, explode through a space and then keep running through it because he doesn't need to pick up his dribble to do the step through moves and stuff like that.

12:26So Steph needs to learn how can he maintain dribble and still be effective. Yeah, all these are the nuances that separate guys that look incredible during the regular season and then aren't able to deliver consistently in the playoffs. Now quite a to Steph Steph is such a he has such great touch around the rim, breathing in the floater range and he's so tenacious that he managed to force his way into it regardless. And he showed that mindset wise he's going to be great and as that skill set builds out he's going to be really dangerous. There's not much concern long term for some of the struggles that we have in the finals. It's just like it was just a good example of why this first they weren't going to win this first time because they all have a lot of development to do. Yeah, it's it's incredible how like ahead of the timeline they are on this anyways, you know, you're you're now playing with a little bit of house money in terms of development, but there's also the expectations there. If you had to pick between the three guards between Fox Castle and Harper to make an all star team next year, which one of them would it be.

13:28Castle Castle Castle. Yeah, yeah, Castle. I mean, he was so close last year. It was kind of a toss up between him and Fox. And I just I expect Castle to get better again. He improved so much near to expect them to improve a lot in your three is big focus in his off season workouts has been his you know, his pull up shooting. And he had he had improvement over the second half of the season and then it didn't really stick that much in the playoffs. If he adds a little bit of a confidence to his pull up game. I mean, that just kind of transformed. So because he's already one of the best offenders in the game. Like he's already a top 10 perimeter defender. He's you know, he's his playmaking is pretty good. And I know he had that 20 turnovers stretch there. You know, the guy that had the record was James Harden and James Harden's one of the best point cards of all time. So it's like you got to you got to crack a few eggs making omelette and I think his omelette. I think his chef skills are going to get better and look, I think part of of balancing all three of these guys is just making sure that they are given an opportunity to stretch their legs when they can, you know, whether it's the regular season is long right 82 games is a long stretch.

14:33And whether it's moments where Fox can kind of take a step back and have castle and Harper step up or vice versa. It's just finding for Mitch Johnson. I think it is finding a way to bounce all of these guys to one keep them happy, but also keep the team humming in a way that helps them develop long term. Okay, when we come back, we'll talk about expectations. We'll talk about Victor one, Benyama and we'll talk about, you know, what a what a good outcome for this team would be at the end of the season. This episode is brought to you by on it. You know those days where your schedule is packed to the brim. You're jumping straight for managing work deadlines, squeezing in a workout, running family errands and trying to handle a million things all at once. When you're deeply engaged in a busy day, staying in that zone can make all the difference. That's where on its alpha brain comes in as a daily, neutropic formula designed for daily cognitive support. It supports cognition, memory, attention, focus and mental clarity while you're tackling your daily tasks. It supports the alpha brain wave activity, helping you tune out distractions, get into the zone and support that optimal flow state when you're deeply immersed in an activity.

15:43It supports quicker reaction times and relaxes and supports alpha wave activity during normal occasional stress. If you're ready to support your concentration and focus throughout your demanding days, check them out. Shop now at on it dot com. O N N I T dot com. Are you the kind of sports fan that wants to dig into the story behind the stats? Then join us daily on the athletic live where we'll be live on YouTube to cover all the sports stories you can't stop talking about. On GameBase, we watch the biggest matchups live alongside the of legs most tap in reporters. We're come hang on an off night or an inside look at how headlines happen. We want you dropping questions in the chat and we'll bring answers straight from the source. The athletic live is presented by Google Gemini. Subscribe now on YouTube.

16:43Join in to growth. That's how you turn busy into business toast. Build for busy. All right, we're back with Jared Weiss from the athletic who covers the San Antonio Spurs for us here. I feel like the X factor is Tobias Harris. Am I wrong in saying that Tobias Harris is the X factor for the San Antonio Spurs? No, of course not. They just added the second best player on the playoff team. That was the number one seed. I mean, he's this is a pretty phenomenal ad for the mid level. And what's weird about the hair assigning is that he's not filling a hole that desperately needed filling. They have a ton of depth in that three-ish space. But they don't have someone that can like really play the four consistently besides KELT and Johnson. Champagne had to try to do it for Selkin sometimes do it. But like they they needed a four that complete rugged.

17:43Yeah, I don't know if he fits that bill necessarily. But what he does do is he is a reliable creator off the dribble or at least a reliable score. And a big thing that hurt them in the playoff playoff was that they didn't really have this they didn't have anything in between good guard scoring on dribble penetration and then Wendy. And then that all of their wings were perimeter scores who were kind of off the dribble guys. And then Kellid Johnson was their bully ball guy, but he really struggled in the last couple series because he was going up against teams that had just so much size at the rim that his approach of he's going to bully his way to the rim and then put back his miss that worked most of the time didn't work against like Isaiah heart and shine Mitch Robinson and guys like that. They needed somebody like Harris that just has more skill, more touch has a more varied offensive game. And that's just going to be so important for them because they just they need a little bit of variance to make themselves a little bit more unpredictable. I completely agree. And the size aspect is something that is so obvious with him.

18:44And you know, you look at the spurs and you know they have these big guards and stuff castle and Dylan Harper, but Tobias Harris as this six nine six 10 guy who can play alongside Victor. When I'm a he can say six eight probably. Sure I want to go that I don't know he plays bigger though. I would say you know like he plays even if he is six eight he plays as if he's a little bit bigger. He's he's a pretty good rebounder for his position, which I think will help the spurs overall. And you look at the the onoff numbers for the pistons last season like they were certainly a better offensive team when he was on the floor. That is just a level of impact. And I think that the spurs are more talented offensive team than than the pistons were last year. They clearly have more weapons. I think that will be a massive impact to this team, but another massive impact is also Victor one minyama. Who took a he could be important. He might be important took a discount this year in the summer saying you know he's bought in on on the collective group here.

19:48A lot of conversations about you know why he took the discount whatever that's for a different day. He took the discount so this team was provided the flexibility to build moving forward. And you look at what Victor one minyama did last year. Course defensive player of the year and barring injuries. It seems like he is going to win defensive player of the year basically every year for the rest of his career. His offensive game you saw moments and times where his level of aggression finishing at the basket really hunting his own shot in that you know five to 10 foot area made it absolutely impossible for him to be guarded. The the three point shot is is a massive factor and his ability to step out knock that down consistently is also a huge factor. But what is the thing you are looking for from Victor one minyama this season to I guess solidify himself as the best player in the world. I want to see him get the ball and know what he wants to do with it.

20:48I want to see quick action on catches want to see him catch the ball and not fall over. And that's a part of that is on the team they have to design more and varied ways to enter the ball into him in the post so that they can't just push him on the catch and he falls over every time and he's not starting on balance. But I think the big thing is I want to see him own his initial space when he's not catching the ball near the red. And I think that's the part that's going to be a bit of a challenge you know once he's on the move not much teams can do. It's pretty much it's pretty much a rap once he's on the move. There are some some people that think they can send a different ways stuff like that is such will have to get better on those plays. But it's really a matter of can he catch the ball whether it's in the low post or whether it's up on the elbows can he own that space and attack very quickly. And that's where you get advantages like guys that sit around and wait for their balance to be right that kind of stuff that's usually not effective. Like if you watch like a LeBron is a great example someone who owned his space matter where he was in the floor. I felt like 95% of the time when you saw him kind of sit in there waiting.

21:51Sure. Jamstamping whatever he was either raising into a shot he was waiting to feel like the tempo was perfect or he was looking to make that pass. And that's what most of those great players that catch in the triple threat too. So I want to see that out of Victor Victor last year just his talent is so amazing. It's work ethic is incredible. His energy was great frankly. I mean, I know then the playoffs he started to lose steam at the end of the games and that's a different discussion. But he he has all the right intentions. He has all the skills and it's just a matter of knowing. It's not like a processing thing so much as like a knowing what he wants to get to right away. And also like having the strength to be able to pull it off. So I mean he looks a little bit bigger in the pot in the off season like we're seeing him playing for France. He looks a little bit more jacked so be interested to see what he looks like when we see him at the end of September. But for him it's the slice of this. He just has to be more decisive quicker with his decision making and not get himself in the traps. And you know for a guy in your three he did.

22:51I mean he had one of the best of your threes of any player in MBS to read. So it's like there's not much to criticize at this point. He's on the natural trajectory and it's looking good. Yeah, it's it's one of those things and I agree with you. It is natural trajectory, but it's also you are trying to figure out what the next evolution for this guy is. And I don't I don't necessarily think he even has a good read on just how good he can potentially be. Of course in the quotes and everything you hear him talk about he understands how great and how what his potential is generally. But in terms of the offensive output like what he's able to provide on a night tonight basis finding that patent shot. And I feel like this summer, at least from what I've heard, there's been a lot of talk about Victor Webinyama needs to find a go to move. Whether it's the songboard shuffle for Yokech, whether it's the step back in the mid range for Shay. I think it's less of a go to move and more of a consistent area of the floor that he can just say this is my domain.

23:54And maybe that's just being at the rim. But that requires not a it's not a self creation thing. It's more something he needs to be able to create on a consistent basis. Do you what do you think that area of the floor could be like what's that spot for him that that is unstoppable? The left block is his is his favorite spot because even when he gets pushed out on the catch, he can just run across the lane and take that kind of running floater hook thing. It's a hook shot for most people for him. It's a jump shot because he's so big. You can put his you can put both hands around the ball or most guys would have to do a hook to reach it out. But I hit him owning that left block is the key. That's that's the space. I feel like the shot thing is really the thing is like he needs the jerk fade to be locked in that no matter where he catches the ball. He can always just throw it up and hit that shot. Like that's why Yokech is one of the best players ever is because no matter where he is on the core. If it doesn't work out, he just throws it up in his scores. That makes him that makes him so unstoppable.

24:55Victor needs that as well, especially because we saw as the playoffs went on, energy conservation throughout the game is so crucial. And for him to be able to take a little bit easier on himself and just throw up his jerk fade to somewhere shuffle his when B Wacken do whatever it's going to be called. Like that's what's going to allow him to be a more consistently impactful player on both ends because he's not driving and falling so much throughout the game. And he's not exposing himself to injury risk as much as he is because you know he's by the time he's 26 his body is not going to be able to handle the beating that he's taking right now. So he needs to develop in a way that allows his body to adapt over time to being less resilient and therefore making the game more efficient and just the way that he moves the floor. Having that having that turnaround jumper no matter where he is should be a thing for him. He can take a shot from within 15 feet without leaving his feet. He can just take a free throw from anywhere that he wants. He just needs to figure out how to get to that. Yeah, it's a great point about the long term kind of health of his game and what that means for his his shop diet, right?

25:59Like what it what what it's going to be moving forward. I think this season the expectations are very, very clear for the San Antonio Spurs whether you like it or not the the expectations for this team now after the season that they had after the run that they went on is championship or bust. Whether you think that's unfair or not it's kind of what exists in the ether anyways. What do you think is a reasonable outcome for this season for the San Antonio Spurs kind of a floor and ceiling for this group as they as they move into next year. What you're right his career is similar to Tim Duncan now you know second. I think it was second year for Duncan. He won the championship third year for victory made a finals. He is now expected to lead that team to the championship every year. So I mean I'm not going to say it's not going to happen. Victor is so good. You might win the next 13 championships who knows but he his the expectation as long as he's on the floor is it's a 60 win team. That's the floor. Yeah like that. I think that's the floor. There are 61 team no matter what they just got they got better since last year like they got they kept everyone they added to bias Harris is a good locker room guy.

27:08They kept Harrison Barnes and Jordan McLaughlin who are really good locker room guys Harrison Barnes especially is like a really crucial for their culture is a real key piece of it. And they got him to stick around even though he like has completely fallen out of the rotation and there's clearly no like there's no there's no path for him back into minutes at this point besides health because there's 10 guys now ahead of him in the backing order unless you know maybe he does something that changes that that's my hair seems like you stepping into the world that Harrison left last year then of course Carter Bryant is going to probably take another step forward next year so there's so much room for growth for the team. I don't see how they're not a 60 win team even if Victor misses 17 18 games they have the depth that they should be able to continue to win just as they did last year. So there is 61 team and they're trying to get to like 66 68 I think it really works out. Yeah, but a lot of it has to do with the has to do with the locker room chemistry they had phenomenal chemistry last year and you can't replicate that on a whim every single year like that takes a lot of development. All the signs point to it working out Victor just had almost the entire rotation out in the in France for many camps like they they're working out during the

28:17offseason they're not just like doing their own thing there's a lot of connectivity with the group so it's looking really promises. Yeah, we got to get Carter Bryant some different fits though I've seen people make fun of the fits from Carter Bryant. I don't know if you noticed that I like Carter's sweat. I like it's like I like to talk a lot of fashion of Carter. He's got good taste. Greenella Kuchenelli to Abercrombie. He actually taught me that Abercrombie is kind of back. I live right next to an Abercrombie store I walked right all the time and I ignored because you know what I was my first alone effort was from Abercrombie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, but the clothes aren't trash anymore. No, they're not. No, this is not a plug for Abercrombie but regardless it's good. Yeah, when I was in high school it was like the dark the dark room you know that that place that you went to the store that you walk into it's completely dark. You have no idea what's going on. You don't know what the clothes are but it's back smells like musk everywhere just smells like musk. That's correct. Okay, let's try to do like crystal ball predictions for this team. What I'm asking people to do is three predictions whether it's awards whether it's you know outcome whether it's a trade or something along the lines of that three predictions for the San Antonio Spurs this season.

29:28I mean, when he's going to win MVP, I think that's a pretty easy one to predict. It's just like the second it assuming he gets better and he stays healthy. I think we saw enough that he'll probably be the MVP front wonder this year. I think that I'm trying to have to come up with a good prediction. I should have come up with this before I was going to do predictions. I want to come up with a weird under the radar one. I'll do I'll do Carter Bryant maintains a rotation spot in turns into an impressive player. He's going to turn into like early herb Jones maybe like free and Joel defense. You know, I could see that happen. Yeah, yeah, like early herb Jones like that would be great if you can do that. I think that that'll be a fun one, which I don't know how that works because they have so many guys in that rotation right now. Yeah. And then I think the next one actually I'm going to bet on a fox bounce back and it probably numbers probably won't change because there's too much usage to spread around. But if you look at last season for Fox, he had a wrist injury that required surgery in the spring.

30:33So he was late this artist off season. Then he had a hamstring injury and camp that kept him out for like, he was out for like a month or so heading into the season. And when I would ask guys around the team and just people people around the team, people around the league. What, why do you think Fox doesn't really finish up at the rim anymore because you know, he used to be a high flyer just a few years earlier. And the lot of the feedback I got was you know, nobody had like a clear answer. Nobody was really sure, but they a lot of them felt because of the hamstring injury early in the off season or I guess early in the preseason. He was probably trying to be a little cautious and manage his explosiveness a little bit just prevent any reoccurrence or any of that kind of thing. And so he's fully healthy at this point like ankle spray and healed up. You didn't have surgery from what I've heard. He was active in workouts after the season. He hosted workouts with a few of the guys at his home in Houston early in the off season. It seems like he's getting a full healthy off season in and most people don't understand how important having a healthy off season is. I think a lot of people that are fans of the league think like, oh, that's the time you recover and rest.

31:38You have surgery and you're recovering all that stuff. Like I can tell you someone who's on that same schedules them like I use the summer to get in the best shape I possibly can so that I can deal with the insane schedule that I have in the inconsistencies that I have during the season like I'm recording this from my gym right now. I'm gonna go work out after this like the off season is when guys really focus on improving their games and their skill sets, which is still a thing for someone like the air and Fox. The air fox doesn't become a great floater shooter by building it skill up when he's young and then not really need to practice it. He's still less to take probably 500 floaters every single day like your requires meticulous precise training all the time. And then the off season is for you to like really improve your cardio really build your muscle and all that kind of stuff so that you can be optimized entering the year and then when you're, you know, when your ability to manage your body isn't as good during the year because you're recovering from injuries and all those kind of stuff, which is something, you know, everybody's injured during the year. They're all they're small enough injuries that they don't go on the injury report, but everybody's got recovery to do and all that stuff. It hurts playing the NBA. It's not fun.

32:40So he has a full healthy off season and I think that's going to make a big difference for him coming into the year strong and being able to shoot consistently throughout the year and stay healthier throughout the year. Yeah, I agree. I mean anybody who says Darren Fox is not important or not essential to this team and he should just be traded is I think is off their course. Like he is you weren't watching last year, not watching that's what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely. He's very, very important and until, you know, Castle and Harper can really take the helm of like running an offensive engine. It's they need Darren Fox to be that guy for them in San Antonio. Jared, it is always a pleasure to talk to you, especially when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs. My guy, thank you very much for joining us. Anything you want to plug anything you want to plug before we get out of here. Just peace and happiness, my friend. Peace and happiness is beautiful to plug. I love it. Thank you very much for everybody tapping in to listen to the athletic NBA daily. Appreciate you guys as always. That was Jared Weiss. Thank you for waking up with us.

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