Spurs' identity has become crystal clear after summer league

As the old saying goes, defense wins championships. It doesn't seem to hold such weight in this new-age NBA, but if the San Antonio Spurs have any say, it’ll still ring true.

The team is building an identity of being hard to play against, led by its defense. Tough, tenacious defending was the calling card of the old Spurs that lifted five Larry O’Brien’s over 15 seasons, and with players able to defend 94 feet today, Spurs Nation hopes history repeats itself.

Like the teams of old, this roster compares favorably defensively. Those teams had Bruce Bowen to defend the wing. This team has both Carter Bryant and Jeremy Sochan to do the same.

The old Spurs had guards who would defend (and could score) like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and others. This iteration of the Silver and Black has players like Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle to do that same job.

Those teams had David Robinson and Tim Duncan to defend down low. This team has superhuman Victor Wembanyama to do the same. Wembanyama will be the betting line favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year every season he’s healthy, and he’s already changing the ways teams play against San Antonio.

The Spurs will frustrate and smother teams defensively

Harper’s a big, athletic guard. He’s got great genes after all, being Ron Harper’s son. The Rutgers produced 42 steals in 29 games wearing scarlet and black in his lone college campaign, and his length and athletic ability will stymy guards in the half-court game. It showed in the Summer League with two steals in two games.

Carter Bryant, the 14th overall pick out of Arizona, has a similar long, athletic build to Harper. The 6’7” wing played well defensively in the SL, garnering two steals in four games. He also blocked eight shots. With his length on the wing, teams will have a hard time finding continuity against the Spurs.

Victor Wembanyama is unlike any player the NBA has ever seen. Offensively, he’s got guard skills that are typically the antithesis of someone his size. Defensively, he’s even better.

Slenderman has led the league in blocks per game in both of his seasons in the league. He’s nearing four blocks per game, an incredible feat not seen since Hassan Whiteside of Miami.

Wemby blocks 10.2% of opponents two-point shots while he’s on the floor, which has also led the league for both years he’s played. His defensive win shares last season was 2.8 and he only played 46 games. None of these numbers consider shots affected simply by the Frenchman being on the court.

With a generational, possibly all-time defensive talent like Wembanyama as the anchor, the team is building a defensive juggernaut that’ll make coaches go grey if they aren’t already. The team is completing this swarm at all levels of the court with players like Harper and Bryant, Sochan and Castle, and others.

The NBA has changed. But like all things, what’s old will be new, and if the Spurs have it their way, that’ll happen quicker than the rest of the league would like it to. Something big is brewing in the Alamo City.