The Spurs have three talented guards and plenty of questions about how to use them. Mitch Johnson’s approach is to put them on the court together and get to work.
De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper shared the floor for nearly 10 minutes during Sunday’s Silver & Black Scrimmage, according to Tom Petrini of Spurs on SI. That’s a meaningful chunk considering the trio played just 25 minutes together during the entire regular season last year.
“Honestly, I just like that they got more reps,” Johnson said, via Petrini. “We have so many different guys, so many combinations of players that can play together.”
Starting lineups and closing groups still need sorting out. But San Antonio clearly intends to give this combination a longer look.
“We’re three high-level guards that are pretty unselfish, that can touch the paint whenever,” Castle said at media day. “Being able to play off each other as much as we can, whether we have two of us on the court, three of us on the court, I think we’ll figure it out and it’ll continue to grow as it did last year.”
Petrini’s breakdown highlights the challenge. Basically, all three like to attack, and defenses can crowd those drives when the other two aren’t drawing attention outside. He also details how movement, transition opportunities and improved shooting could help the group function together.
Plenty to work on, in other words. Fortunately, October offers time to experiment.
“We just have to get to it and get hours on the job training and continue to see and feel what works and complements each other and how we can best help them,” Johnson said. “But they’re pretty talented and they’re good guys, so I don’t have too much concern.”
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