Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images A mixed bag that likely means nothing. Every night, it’s the same dream. A 20 turnover game. Missing Victor Wembanyama on the block. Clunky offense. Defensive miscommunications. I awaken and recite the comforting words, “It’s only the preseason. It’s only the preseason. It’s only the preseason.” During the day, I see Stephon Castle bully NBA veterans at the rim, Julian Champagnie knock down contested threes, ball movement akin to the (REDACTED SPURS TEAM), and Chris Paul orchestrating the pick-and-roll like nothing we’ve seen in the last two seasons. “Don’t overreact to the preseason,” they tell me. Fine. I won’t. But I have to write this article, so I am going to try to pull SOMETHING from the last five games. If I had one word to describe the San Antonio Spurs preseason, it would be uneven. Things just never really clicked like many had hoped. The starting five (sans the recovering Devin Vassell) of Paul, Wembanyama, Champagnie, Jeremy Sochan, and Harrison Barnes never looked natural, but they hardly played together. Chemistry isn’t built overnight. If they still look this clunky 15 games in, then it might be time to be concerned. Until then, file this issue under “monitoring.” On the flip side, the Spurs have way more talent than last season. That much is clear. Castle looks more ready than even I (one of his biggest believers) would have expected. His ability to get to the rim and finish with strength is something that’s translated from the college game right away. I had high hopes for his ceiling, but his floor in year one may be higher than I expected. With him, Tre Jones, Keldon Johnson, and Zach Collins coming off the bench, San Antonio has some legitimate NBA depth. It’s hard to be too judgemental about the team’s defense. Preseason is the time to work out the kinks on that end and tighten things up for when the games count. We didn’t see much of Wembanyama, but it’s pretty safe to assume he will continue to be a game-changer on that end. The bigger issue overall was some miscommunication and poor transition defense that particularly haunted them in the Miami and Houston games. This is a young team, so mistakes like this should be expected. But if this team truly has playoff aspirations, they have to clean that up. On an individual-player basis, I came away most impressed with Sochan. His defense is as good as ever. He’s fully moved into the off-ball cutting and slashing role that he was always meant to play. On top of that, he has the passing chops to be a fun connector for the offense. His shot is... still not totally sound fundamentally, but if he’s at least someone the defense needs to pay attention to, that’s what matters. He still needs to work out how to fit in with Wemby, but his preseason was certainly promising. Draft Kings set the Spurs win total for the regular season at 36.5. Getting even close to that would be a 10+ win increase from last year. That’s a big gap. They’ll have to get to about 40 wins to compete for the play-in tournament in a loaded Western Conference. Does this preseason indicate they can get there? Maybe? I don’t know. It probably doesn’t mean all that much anyway (at least that’s what the internet tells me!) I’m just glad to have basketball back on our televisions every night. (more) Observations: Sandro Mamukelashvili is a confounding player. He makes the offense sing with his floor spacing, creativity, and passing. He is not a player you can count on to anchor your defense at the center position. This huge tradeoff is why he’s struggled to see playing time. But with the team struggling offensively in the preseason, and Mamu playing so well, it’s going to be easy to make the argument he should see some minutes come the regular season. Choose your third-year fighter: Blake Wesley or Malaki Branham. Wesley had the upper hand this preseason with his improved decision-making and stellar point-of-attack defense. I’m still uncertain of his offensive role. The Spurs have enough non-shooting players who don’t create offense for themselves. But if he doesn’t hurt you with turnovers and locks down on D, I don’t see how you can look past him for PT. Branham on the other hand looks like he may be on his way out of the rotation. He shot 37.8% from the field in the preseason, and he took a LOT of shots. If Branham’s not defending or knocking down shots, how can you justify a role for him? The Spurs “three-guard” lineups with a combination of Paul, Jones, Wesley, and Castle are interesting and... kind of awesome? All of that playmaking and defense is fun to experiment with in the preseason. I’d like to see more of it when the games really matter.