In Bunyama's rookie year, his partnering guards were Jones, Wesley and Branham.

In Bunyama's upcoming junior year, the guard partners have become: Fox + Rookie of the Year Castle + No. 2 Harper.

Castle can win the Rookie of the Year award, which does not mean that he is perfect. In fact, he has a little bit of everything, but he is not proficient in it: he is not a master of organization, and he has no special skills. Flexibility is better than explosive power. His most outstanding ability may be attacking the basket in the open field and single defense. At the last moment, he made a lob pass error, which almost ruined the game he saved.

But his masterpiece - 33 points against the Hornets - showed the temperament of "Although there are three goals from Fox and Paul on the court, I am the best" on the court. When Sanqiu gave Wenban a headache with his gorgeous drunken eight immortal dance moves and throws, Castle went to confront Sanqiu, copied his ball, fell to the ground and tried his best to get Sanqiu to foul. Just like when Pierce met LeBron 20 years ago, "I know you are more talented than me, but when you come to dance here, have you asked me?" In the first quarter, he was on fire to chase points, and in the fourth quarter, he was unyielding. That day, Castle and Sohan refused to admit defeat and caught up with three goals: Sohan was like the two-meter energetic forward that the Spurs always needed (Malik Rose); Castle was like the combo guard that Popovich always wanted (George Hill and White).

Dylan Harper, a lefty who can pick and roll and shoot free throws.

Spurs: Speaking of a left-handed playmaker who can pick and roll and shoot free throws? Then I won't be sleepy.

Of course, Harper, compared to Ginobili’s aggressive aggression, has a more hard-nosed approach to court control: sophisticated, cunning, changing speeds, and anticipating responses. The explosiveness and speed are not the best, but he can rely on reading and pick-and-roll to find gaps. His father is Ron Harper, an old man who has won a bunch of rings with Jordan Pippen and the Sharks. There is no doubt about the academic mentality of a golf businessman. Less than 20 years old, his body can adapt to the NBA as soon as possible - when his father won the championship with Payton on his head, he publicly complained about Payton's post-up offense and defense, and Payton could not retaliate.

Harper can cut through the air, and has already thought about switching hands for a layup when the opponent fills in.

can catch up and block shots, and can predict the opponent's shooting point and take off in two steps to block shots.

Can make misstep layups and cheat the opponent's rhythm.

Can use Harden's "I know you are going to shoot me the ball, I let you go for a layup."

He has good balance and control, has a wide field of vision while dribbling, and can also play Harden/Jokic-style looking east and west.

And he is very competitive. Everyone in Xia League is just fighting, but when he sees Flagg hit a three-pointer, he will shake his head and feel unhappy: just like his father, he is very strong at heart.

The temporary problem is still the long shot: his shot seems to be a bit "push", a bit like Ronnie Brewer of the Jazz back then.

The best thing is his mentality: When asked about the reality of possible substitutes, he said: Harden was also the sixth man when he was with the Thunder.

Is Carter Bryant the Spurs' best rookie defender on the outside since Leonard left? ——If Sohan is not counted as an outsider.

The Spurs signed Cornet for 41 million in four years. The hot pot feast against the Knicks in Game 5 probably increased Cornet's worth, right? For the first time in many years, the Spurs have a backup center who can block shots, screen, protect the basket, and pick-and-roll, and he can play pick-and-roll with the Spurs defenders. When Bunyama was pushed, a bodyguard stepped in for him. If Wenbanyama has a good three-pointer, he can even play twin towers with Cornet.

Based on all this, Fox renewed his contract with the Spurs for 230 million in four years.

This contract is of course slightly higher: there were rumors before that he would renew his contract with a salary slightly lower than the maximum salary, giving the Spurs a discount, similar to what Irving did to Dallas.

But in the end, the Spurs deserved to pay this salary: the Spurs exchanged Fox for almost nothing, and they also handled Collins' contract smoothly, and it was also polite to give him a maximum salary.

In this way, the Spurs can have Fox's peak years-27 to 31 years old.

The three teenagers of the Spurs - Bunyama, Harper and Castle - are all young, so there is a time gap:

The Spurs can keep Fox first and take advantage of the cheap contract of the three teenagers: Harper also accepts the possibility of being a substitute first.

Bunbanyama should only be able to get a super high salary of 35% in 2031.

Unless Castle and Harper are already All-Stars by the end of their rookie contracts, it is unlikely that the situation of "Vinban Yama, Castle, Harper, and Fox squeezing wages" will occur.

On the other hand, if the contract renewals of Harper and Castle conflict with Fox in the future and cause the Spurs a headache, it will also be a happy worry:

It is similar to the Thunder this summer, happily saying "Chet and Jaywe, you are so promising at such a young age" while spending a lot of money.

Will Vassell be traded? have no idea. He is an impeccable standard wing: running and jumping, wingspan, willing to defend, three-pointers, mid-range, attacking the basket, and occasionally holding the ball. He is even the Spurs' only typical wing-Barnes can no longer compete with young wings in running and jumping.

There is only one problem: his talent and influence are not as good as the Spurs' three guards.

If there is any new trend in the 2024 and 2025 Finals, it will probably be: the Celtics use Holiday + White as two guards, and the Pacers use Haliburton + Nembhard as two guards.. More and more teams will be willing to add a secondary ball-handler to replace the typical wing 3D: can handle the ball on the weak side, rather than shooting three-pointers directly?

I imagine that after they are all familiar with each other, the Spurs can rotate like this:

Starting lineup: Fox, Castle, Bryant, Barnes, Wenban

Then: Fox, Castle, Vassell, Olynyk, Wenban

Harper, Vassell, Johnson, Olynyk, Konette

Harper, Champagne, Barnes, Sohan, Cornet

Fox, Castle, Barnes, Sohan, Wenban

Space: Fox, Castle, Barnes, Olynyk, Wenban

Twin Towers: Fox, Castle, Harper, Wenban, Cornet

Finally, of course, Wenbanyama.

Before the blood clot problem last season, Bunyama averaged 24 points, 11 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 3.8 blocks and 3.1 three-pointers per game. He was on his way to becoming the Defensive Player of the Year.

Facing the triple-double master and the best organizer in the league, Sasha, he had a triple-double of 34 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.

Faced with Zubac and Harden, he scored 24 points, 13 rebounds and 9 blocks.

Facing Embiid, who once scored 70 points above him: 26 points, 9 rebounds and 8 blocks.

In the game where Jokic scored 46 points, he also scored 20 points, 23 rebounds and 4 blocks. Looking back, Jokic scored 41 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists, but he returned 35 points and 18 rebounds.

Wenban’s basket shooting percentage is 76% - Giannis is 75% - and the average three-point range is 27 feet 4 (Curry is 27 feet 2).

In 46 games, he led the league in blocking 176 times - Lopez, who was second in the league, spent 80 games and blocked 148 times.

Among them, he blocked 11 three-pointers, ranking sixth in the league. He ranked first in the league in blocked shots at the basket 103 times, second in blocked short and mid-range shots 55 times (after Lopez and Kessler), and ranked first in the league in blocked long and mid-range shots 7 times.

only interfered with the ball 8 times.

Looking back at Wenban Yama's half of the season: Made the All-Star - the last All-Star insider for the Spurs was Aldridge six years ago.

46 games, averaging 3.8 blocks per game, fourth in team history. He was a general in the previous three seasons.

142 three-pointers in 46 games - the most three-pointers in a single season in Spurs history is Danny Green's 191 in 2015. Ben Yamada has great hope of breaking through: this is also the most special thing about him this season.

Wenban Yama is not a heavy hammer or a gate, he is a framework.

Everyone has the history of the Spurs. In terms of scoring, the Icemen have four scoring champions. In terms of defense, Alvin Robertson, General and Leonard all have Defensive Players of the Year. Duncan's 8+7 totaled 15 times, ranking first in the history of the first two teams in defense of the year. Bunyama can block shots, but in total blocks in the regular season + playoffs in his career, Duncan is third in history and General is sixth in history. In terms of the 20+10 season, Duncan and the Generals are even more continuous.

But before Bunyama was injured, he was on his way to Defensive Player of the Year + the highest three-pointer season in team history.

And averaged 3.7 assists per game - putting Duncan and the general, these are the top two performances in his career.

On offense, 15% are ended by counterattacks, 9% face the basket and attack alone, 7% hold the ball in the pick-and-roll, 10% post-up, 15% pick-and-roll and move, 6% cut inside, and 9% go around the screen. He doesn't have any special skills, but he can hit everything.

Lopez’s three-pointer + basket protection.

Mobley's weak-side cuts and rotations.

Downs can be a threat both inside and outside.

And a figure that is much larger than these people.

And the average range of three-pointers is 27.4 feet-Lillard is 27.2 feet. Long range and large space. Barnes and Castle then have more space to cut inside.

Basket protection + finishing + space + support, a leader in the new era.

Occasionally he can perform Jokic-style long-man skills, and occasionally he can perform moves that are more supermodel than Giannis: the most important thing is his fluid defensive moves.

He is becoming a perfect leader of the new era, an excellent team framework: basket protection + support + one-size-fits-all finishing.

He makes it easier for Castle to break through, for Sohan to cut inside, for Paul to move more comfortably, and for Barnes to attack from both the wing and inside. He can't provide a lot of meat himself, but his long and huge body is a big frame that the team can stuff things into.

This past summer, due to well-known reasons, we couldn't continue to tell the joke about "Wen Banyama learned a lot in the Shaolin Temple": the fact is that he didn't practice shooting much in the summer, but he did a good job in physical training. It was rumored that he weighed 110 kilograms - about 100 kilograms in the draft and 105 kilograms in his rookie year.

He trained hard with Dameng and KG - these two are basically the most ideal defenders in the previous generation of basketball and this generation of basketball.

In the preseason, he had a goal: Facing the opponent's defensive position, he dribbled the ball five steps from his own backcourt and dunked. He can break through from the three-point line and into shooting distance.

If he plays enough games next season, he should be able to compete for Defensive Player of the Year; as for the rest? have no idea.

You cannot use any existing player models to set him up, such as "how a grown man should play".

In this era of rapid change, Jokic shows unprecedented support from a long man, Luka tells everyone that you can become a ball-handling magician without using speed, Giannis tells you that you can dominate the basket without using your back, and Brunson tells you that you can become a mid-range shooter with physical combat at less than 1.9 meters: existing frameworks and models are constantly updated in this space era.

What's more, there is no precedent in the history of basketball like Bunyama?

Finally, show off.

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