{"id":1969684,"date":"2026-06-03T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969684"},"modified":"2026-06-03T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:00:22","slug":"tight-knit-spurs-look-to-the-past-while-working-toward-their-own-golden-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969684","title":{"rendered":"Tight-knit Spurs look to the past while working toward their own golden future"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Julian Champagnie felt something click in Las Vegas. As he and his San Antonio Spurs teammates converged on NBA Summer League last year to watch their future teammates Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant and David-Jones Garcia make their debuts, he picked up on a vibe.<\/p>\n

The connection just felt right. The group knew this season was going to be a step forward. Victor Wembanyama was being cleared to return to basketball activity following a blood clot that had ended his season in February. De\u2019Aaron Fox was ready to go as well after a wrist injury. Steph Castle was primed for a step forward after winning Rookie of the Year. Everybody was just ready to see what the next stage of their careers would look like.<\/p>\n

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And they were ready to do it together. From underwater workouts to breaking bread, they found all sorts of things to do as a group before the season ever started. It took a while for the product on the court to truly click, but the vibes were locked in long before that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group loves each other. It\u2019s genuine. We\u2019re a tight-knit group,\u201d Keldon Johnson said. \u201cI feel like when you see one of us, you see all of us. That\u2019s how it\u2019s been from the start. I don\u2019t know why, I don\u2019t know how, but it\u2019s been just like it clicked from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Few players have benefited as much as Champagnie. A former two-way player who barely held onto a job in the league, he entered the season as the team\u2019s sharpshooter off the bench. Eventually, he was moved into the starting lineup, replacing veteran and 2016 champion Harrison Barnes in January. Both players handled it with grace; the team took off and has been elite ever since, culminating in an appearance in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks beginning Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has done a really good job of keeping us together, having us do things in Summer League, where it\u2019s team dinner, team activities. You\u2019ve seen the video of Vic in the pool in the summertime. We all went,\u201d Champagnie said. \u201cKeeping ourselves connected and combined. We\u2019ve been doing that since June, July last year. That\u2019s why you come to the locker room, you see us on the court in June this year, it looks like that. It\u2019s credit to that. We\u2019ve been doing that for quite a while now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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They could tell, watching Wembanyama\u2019s offseason workouts, that they were all on board for something special. He was about to charge ahead and disrupt the league, and they were the chosen few there to support it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot easier to put aside your own goals in support of the next great thing, knowing that the rising tide will lift all ships. That\u2019s what happened, with Champagnie breaking the franchise 3-point record, Fox returning to the All-Star game and Johnson winning Sixth Man of the Year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a point where you look in the mirror and you want to be a part of something special or you want to chase personal goals,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBeing here and being throughout this season and winning has been an ultimate reward. It just shows that everything was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Julian Champagnie has fit right in with the Spurs after bouncing around the NBA. (Christian Petersen \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now they are approaching a place ruled by their Spurs forefathers. It\u2019s no longer easy to say \u201cthis is the beginning of a dynasty\u201d \u2014 just ask the Oklahoma City Thunder. There hasn\u2019t been a repeat champion since Kevin Durant teamed up with Steph Curry with the Golden State Warriors last decade.<\/p>\n

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But, the Spurs have a chance if they can start now. Robert Horry, who won championships in 2005 and 2007 with the Spurs, sees an attitude in this year\u2019s team that reminds him of back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s levels to this because you look at the good teams, when they step on the court, they have an attitude that they\u2019re the best,\u201d Horry told The Athletic.<\/em> \u201cThey have an attitude like, \u2018Oh, we going to win this game.\u2019 And some people say it\u2019s cockiness, but I call it confidence and it\u2019s OK to be cocky and confident in sports because that\u2019s what the best players are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that comes from some of those Spurs of old who are still lurking in the halls. Longtime coach Gregg Popovich has become significantly more present with the team in his \u201cEl Jefe\u201d role<\/a>, which has ranged from greeting the team at the airport to calling players after games to give them feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Pop right away when we landed,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cThe emotion was really something I haven\u2019t felt in a while. I don\u2019t even know since when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horry sees it as Popovich\u2019s new way of just trying to stay in the mix and put his heart into the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis city is him and he is this city,\u201d Horry said. \u201cAnd I think, for me, that\u2019s his way of just being involved and having the opportunity to still put his thumbprint on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Popovich even marched into the locker room and gave the team a speech that helped it turn the conference finals around after its Game 3 loss at home. Most importantly, he has been a mentor to his successor at head coach, Mitch Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot have created a better rhythm or build-out of him being a constant resource for me, but then also totally giving me the freedom and runway to try to roll this thing out in my own reflection as myself,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty valuable. To be honest, I don\u2019t know if anyone\u2019s ever had that opportunity that I\u2019ve had this year. I don\u2019t take that for granted. It\u2019s not lost on me the impact he\u2019s had, while also empowering me to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The past is all around this year\u2019s team. The Spurs often talk about showing up to practice and there\u2019s Manu Ginobili, there\u2019s Tim Duncan. As they try to build a long-term program that will stand the test of time, they do it under the guidance of the tentpoles of yesteryear. Legends and culture builders helping to create a new iteration of Spurs lore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s like they\u2019re carrying us, you know?\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cThey\u2019re guiding us in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fox said their value doesn\u2019t come in the form of big speeches or demonstrative acts of \u201cback in my day.\u201d It\u2019s little tidbits about a box out or an extra pass. These are small edges that add up to the<\/em> edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know Pop\u2019s favorite saying when I was playing was bring a little nasty to the game,\u201d Horry said. \u201cYou think about their guards, they all play with a little nastiness. So you got to be aggressive. You got to have the mentality that you\u2019re not going to get, I use the word punked, or you\u2019re just going to go out and play hard and let whatever happens, happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all part of what makes this team special. The whole season, the Spurs seemed like the fun upstarts who were ahead of schedule, but they\u2019ve come to represent something so much bigger: a return to glory for a franchise that was the gold standard for decades, built around a potential GOAT.<\/p>\n

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Even though it\u2019s a new generation, the ingredients are all still there. From Pop to CEO R.C. Buford to the Hall of Famers lingering in the building, all the mentors are in place to help a startup go to IPO in a heartbeat. Players like Wembanyama and Castle have embodied a blend of nastiness and dedication that resembles the past and shapes the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve handled it \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say with grace, but they\u2019ve stepped into it and they want to be a part of that,\u201d Fox said. \u201cYou handle it with a level of respect and with a level of responsibility, knowing that when you put this jersey on that you have an expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standard is to always go through the process. It\u2019s being honed by a bunch of kids who can\u2019t rent a car yet, and Fox, who is only 28 and gets half annoyed every time they call him \u201cUnc.\u201d He is the OG on this team. That\u2019s how young they are.<\/p>\n

Working through the process makes up for their lack of experience. The Spurs don\u2019t have to know how to win an NBA Finals game so much as they have to know how the San Antonio Spurs try to win games. Don\u2019t mistake the setting for the plot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like winning is the most addictive thing in this league,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThis year is a testament to that, being able to win and contribute to us winning means more than anything that I\u2019ve done in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Julian Champagnie felt something click in Las Vegas. As he and his San Antonio Spurs teammates converged on NBA Summer League last year to watch their future teammates Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant and David-Jones Garcia make their debuts, he picked up on a vibe. The connection just felt right. The group knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1969684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1969684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}