Finally, expectations return to San Antonio. After a few years of comfortable mediocrity came a rebuilding process, with its absence of pressure. Now entering the third year of the Victor Wembanyama era,
the time to look at the silver linings of playoff-less seasons is over. The Spurs need to return to the postseason. Anything else would be a failure.
Those who remember the time when high expectations were a given for this franchise will welcome their return. Luckily, it seems the players and coaching staff do as well, especially after last season, when the Spurs could have tasted success by making the play-in had Wembanyama not dealt with deep vein thrombosis.
Things are different now. Wembanyama is healthy and looking poised to make the leap into undeniable superstardom. De’Aaron Fox is out but expected to miss only a handful of games, giving the French giant the sidekick he desperately needed. The Spurs invested heavily in Fox in the form of a controversial max extension and are eager to get proven right. Stephon Castle is not a rookie anymore. Devin Vassell had the luxury of a healthy offseason. The holes at key places in the roster have been filled. San Antonio has depth, veteran leadership, athleticism, top-end talent, and a good deal of continuity on its side. The team is built to win, and it will be disappointing if it doesn’t.
High expectations are not confined to the collective but also to individuals. Mitch Johnson was an assistant who had to take over after a legendary coach battled health issues last season. He was shielded from serious criticism until the interim tag was removed over the summer. All eyes will be on him if the Spurs have a slow start or if the schemes, which have not changed that significantly, are not effective. Johnson will have to figure out how to maximize three guards who are at their best with the ball in their hands and how much to play big lineups with Wembanyama at power forward and newcomer Luke Kornet at center. Finding the balance between defense and shooting in his rotation will also be a high priority.
Those three aforementioned ball handlers, Fox, Castle, and rookie Dylan Harper, can be the key to supercharging the offense with relentless driving, a major ingredient that accentuates what Wembanyama provides but hasn’t been present due to personnel reasons. They will also need to hit enough threes to keep the defense honest and find ways to contribute off the ball. All three seem ready for the challenge, which is enough to cause cautious optimism despite not being able to see how it would all look yet.
The wings and forwards are complementary players in a team built around dynamic guards and a one-in-a-generation center, but that doesn’t mean they’ll feel no pressure. There’s enough depth at the positions that a cold shooting spell or a few too many bad defensive sequences could cost someone a spot in the rotation. There are not enough minutes for everyone, after all, but there are enough assets to make an in-season trade to consolidate talent if things are not working out.
Finally, the centerpiece. Victor Wembanyama is being discussed as a potential top-five player after suiting up for just 117 games, and no one who has been paying attention should be surprised. The Alien is something we have never seen. It took him and the Spurs two years to even figure out how to use his tools. It seems that they finally have the answers. The team will go as far as Wemby takes them, and if he plays at the level he showed last season while sprinkling in the additions to his game he flashed during preseason, San Antonio could go farther than the oddsmakers and skeptics think. It would be foolish to wonder if he’s ready for the scrutiny, because someone as unique as he is has to be used to it at this point. But individual brilliance alone won’t do going forward.
San Antonio is entering the defining year of their rebuild, when expectations and pressure will become the norm. It’s what everyone hoped for during those bad seasons: for things to actually matter again. For a franchise that made the playoffs 22 years in a row before missing them six straight times, truly caring about the standings is a familiar emotion that faded as the realities of the league caught up to the, for a long time, seemingly exceptional Spurs.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new era of unprecedented success. But even if it isn’t, it should bring back the feeling of elation in triumph and heartbreak in defeat that sports at their best provide and have been missing in recent years of numbness.
