What we learned from Spurs’ preseason

Every night it’s the same dream. A game with 20 turnovers. Victor Wembanyama is missing from the block. Chunky offense. Defensive miscommunication. I wake up and say the comforting words: “It’s just preseason. It’s just the preseason. It’s just preseason.”

During the day, I see Stephon Castle bullying NBA veterans at the rim, Julian Champagnie knocking down contested threes, ball movement similar to (REDACTED SPURS TEAM), and Chris Paul orchestrating the pick-and-roll like we’ve never seen before last two seasons.

“Don’t overreact to preseason,” they tell me.

Fine. I won’t. But I have to write this article, so I’ll try to take SOMETHING away from the last five games.

If I could describe the San Antonio Spurs’ preseason in one word, it would be inconsistent. It just never quite worked out as many had hoped. The starting five (minus the recovering Devin Vassell) of Paul, Wembanyama, Champagnie, Jeremy Sochan and Harrison Barnes never looked natural but barely played together. Chemistry doesn’t happen overnight. If they still look this clunky after 15 games, then maybe it’s time to worry. Until then, file this issue under Monitoring.

On the other hand, the Spurs have a lot more talent than last season. That much is clear. Castle looks more ready than even I (one of his biggest believers) expected. His ability to get to the rim and finish with power translates immediately from the college game. I had high expectations for his ceiling, but his first-year floor might be higher than I expected. With him, Tre Jones, Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins coming off the bench, San Antonio has true NBA depth.

It’s hard to judge the team’s defense too much. Preseason is the time to sort out the issues in this area and improve things for the crucial games. We haven’t seen much from Wembanyama, but it’s pretty safe to assume he’ll continue to be a game-changer in that regard. The bigger problem overall was some miscommunication and poor transition defense that particularly bothered them in the Miami and Houston games. Since this is a young team, such mistakes are to be expected. But if this team really has playoff aspirations, it needs to get rid of it.

At the single player level, I was most impressed with Sochan. His defense is as good as ever. He has fully transitioned into the off-ball cutting and slashing role that was always intended for him. Additionally, he has the passing skills necessary to be an entertaining liaison on offense. His shot is… basically still not entirely solid, but if he’s at least someone the defense needs to pay attention to, that’s what matters. He still needs to figure out how he fits in at Wemby, but his pre-season has certainly been promising.

The Draft Kings put the Spurs’ regular season win total at 36.5. To even come close to that number would require an increase of more than 10 wins compared to last year. That’s a big gap. They need to reach about 40 wins to compete in a loaded Western Conference for the play-in tournament.

Does this preseason show they can do it? Perhaps? I don’t know. That probably doesn’t mean that much anyway (at least that’s what the internet tells me!). I’m just glad we have basketball on TV every night again.

(more) observations:

• Sandro Mamukelashvili is a confusing player. He makes the offense sing with his pitch spacing, creativity and passing ability. He is not a player you can rely on to anchor your defense in the center position. This major compromise is why he has a hard time seeing playing time. But with the team struggling offensively in preseason and Mamu playing so well, it will be easy to make the case he should see some Minutes come the regular season.
• Choose your third-year fighter: Blake Wesley or Malaki Branham. Wesley had the upper hand this preseason with his improved decision making and excellent point defense. I’m still unsure about his offensive role. The Spurs have enough non-shooting players who don’t contribute to the offense. But unless he hurts you with turnovers and lockdowns on D, I don’t see how you can look past him for PT. Branham, on the other hand, appears to be on his way out of the rotation. He shot 37.8% from the field in the preseason and took a ton of shots. If Branham doesn’t defend or block shots, how can you justify a role for him?
• The Spurs’ three-guard lineups with a combination of Paul, Jones, Wesley and Castle are interesting and… kind of awesome? It’s fun to experiment with all this playmaking and defense in the preseason. I’d like to see more of this if the games actually matter.