Mitch Johnson confirmed ahead of tonight’s preseason finale against the Kings that De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama will start Tuesday against the Thunder. Three leaders, a shooter/victory and an Alien. That’s not very conventional in today’s NBA, but after watching two halves of it, that seems to be the point, and maybe that’s great.
He started that group before the preseason opener on Oct. 8, then declined to say whether it would hold out for the regular season. Four days later, the coach said it out loud. This means that it is no longer an experience. This is the reality with which San Antonio plans to beat its opponents over the head. Non-traditional is difficult to schedule, and teams will get a full serving of it every night going forward.
Nothing at Wembanyama is traditional, so Spurs lean
Simple logic might say that Julian Champagnie set a franchise record with 195 three-pointers last season and started 68 of 82 games. Or Tobias got the full non-taxpayer mid-tier at two years and $30.8 million and was the big free agent addition of the offseason. Go with one of these; they are real attackers. Instead, both will come off the bench to secure the departure of a 20-year-old player.
Someone will call this forcing things. However, after seeing the group gradually improve, I’m convinced that forcing it would go the other way. Watching Champ or Harris and deciding that one of them should open games simply because they are strikers is almost like keeping score. Check the boxes. Make the moves because the decisions are predetermined.
But this is basketball, and Johnson opts for a different kind of common-sense logic that’s hard to argue with: putting your best players on the court at the same time. With this unit, anyone can play for themselves or the rest of the team, and these plays can take place anywhere on the field.
Teams must defend every plausible play from all five players, and one of them is a 7’4″ athletic demon who also happens to be the most dangerous lob threat we’ve ever seen. He’s a nightmare no one else can summon.
Think about the man around whom everything is built. Victor Wembanyama is listed as a center, but he doesn’t play like one, no matter how much fans, analysts, and former players berate him. He’s his own player, and so far, it’s working. The Alien brings the ball in, runs a pick-and-roll as the ball handler, and shoots it from the perimeter whenever he wants.
If your best player has already broken the leaderboard, counting positions in the other four spots is a waste of time. The league has been talking about positionless basketball for a decade. Well, Silver and Black are living this truth in the most extreme way we’ve seen yet.
Pressure is the whole point of Spurs
Coach Johnson has preached speed since taking over from the legendary Gregg Popovich. His team is young, so he wants them to play with that strength. They swarm. Pressure the ball, clog passing lanes, force bad shots and loose handles, then grab it and go the other way with force.
It is the dictatorship that they decided to impose.
It’s not just about distancing teams. The Spurs want to speed you up until you’re playing at an uncomfortable pace. Easy buckets come next. Look what they did to Sacramento in the first half tonight. San Antonio led 33-12 four minutes into the first quarter and outscored the Kings 71-37 in the first half.
Much of that came from stops and refusing to let anyone breathe, not set plays. Houston and OKC in the regular season will be a different test than the Kings in the preseason finale. It’s more than fair to recognize that. But the process is the process, and the process is starting to look really good.
There’s no movie about it. Not really. Twenty-nine coaching staffs have to spend the next few months coming up with a plan for something they’ve never really had to guard, and San Antonio gets to see them try it out live. Us too, and it might be pretty funny to watch the wrestling.
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