theathleticuk
SAN ANTONIO As you can see, we had a type.
San Antonio Spurs General Manager Brian Wright wasnt hiding from it.
His team reached the NBA Finals a few weeks ago despite opposing bigs dominating the trenches: The Spurs kept running into centers such as Isaiah Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson, who could play with second units and feast under the rim.
Advertisement That has to change, for several reasons.
Not just so the Spurs can consistently win minutes with Victor Wembanyama on the bench in the postseason, but so they can allow him to get his proper rest.
That meant they had a type on draft night.
The Spurs backup big rotation had a combined 46 years of experience last season.
Thats about to change after San Antonio selected Kentucky center Jayden Quaintance (20th pick) and Connecticut center Tarris Reed Jr.
(26th pick) in the first round of the NBA Draft on Tuesday night.
Luke Kornet was the only backup center coach Mitch Johnson was willing to play rotation minutes in the postseason.
The hope is that will change down the road, if not sooner.
Wright and the front office took two different swings in the first round, starting with a lottery talent in Quaintance, whose extended recovery from a torn right ACL sent him falling down draft boards.
We do our homework, and weve got a great medical team thats very thorough in their analysis and process, Wright said.
And weve spent time with his representatives going through where he is and his rehabilitation process and what the options are.
We got comfortable about what that looks like today and then the long-term prognosis, as well.
Quaintance makes perfect sense from a skill perspective as a long-term backup to Wembanyama.
He can serve as a defensive linchpin for the second unit and keep the ball moving as a short-roll passer in the pick-and-roll.
The Spurs cant be afraid to play their backup center as many minutes as needed.
A healthy Quaintance can be that guy, but the right ACL tear remains a concern.
The Spurs must be confident in their medical evaluation, because his defensive ability is lottery-worthy if he can be healthy.
But that may take a while.
Still a little pain.
I feel like they say I have to do another surgery, so my meniscus getting cleaned up, some stuff with that, Quaintance said.
But feeling better again, pushing towards improvement.
Advertisement The most interesting aspect of this pick is whether the Spurs would actually play Quaintance next to Wembanyama.
His rim protection is good enough that they can have Wembanyama play the wing more, and his hips are quick enough that he could defend in isolation and even chase wings a bit if he plays the four.
It would take Quaintance a while to learn how to do that because most of his role has been different levels of drop coverage and switches, but he is so young (he turns 19 in July) that there is plenty of time to develop his defensive versatility.
The limit is probably more on the offensive end, and it would be similar to the French Vanilla lineups the Spurs played with Wembanyama and Kornet together.
Quaintance can put the ball on the floor a tiny bit, but he is mostly either a short-roll guy or a dunker spot guy like Kornet.
Maybe there is more skill to mine on the offensive end.
A player who does have that skill is Reed, who was a bruiser at Connecticut and described himself as having an ugly, gritty game.
Hes a post-up powerhouse who makes a living tossing around bodies.
(Im) going to do the dirty work, whatever Coach or the organization needs me to do, Reed said.
Im not coming here to be no superstar, to be the hero.
Im coming here to do my job, to do what is asked of me.
Wright emphasized these picks were not made specifically to address the immediate depth concerns.
That is obvious with Quaintances injury situation.
But it does address the long-term concern that Wembanyama will need to be managed carefully over the course of his career to make it a long one.