SAN ANTONIO — It didn't start getting real until the NBA Cup. That's when Harrison Barnes remembers first thinking the San Antonio Spurs were capable of winning a title.
"I thought we were able to put some things together that gave the collective an idea of, 'OK, we can do this,'" Barnes said at shootaround on Wednesday, citing a stark contrast to his first season in San Antonio, when the Spurs began the season with a 6-8 record.
He remembers that feeling, too. He'd rather leave that in the past.
"Those first 10 to 15 games, it was like, 'OK, there's a lot of growth and potential that we have,'" Barnes recalled, "'but we're not quite there as a unit yet.'"
Barnes saw it through. After his first season with the Spurs resulted in 22 wins, a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis for Victor Wembanyama, pinkie ligament damage for De'Aaron Fox and, unbeknownst at the time, the final full season of Chris Paul's NBA career, he happily rode the high of their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2014 a year later.
Still, he knows it isn't enough to rely on that experience as the Spurs wade their way through the preseason ahead of what they hope will be a return trip to the championship series. Their 0-3 start to a five-game exhibition slate served as a bit of a reality check.
"You still have to put in the work," Barnes said. "You still have to put in the collective time. Sometimes, it can be a fallacy to just say, 'OK, cool, we'll just pick up with late-season execution and (we'll be) just right there on point.' You still have to build every step."
For the Spurs, who will finally have a chance to put their three-guard starting lineup on display Wednesday night, navigating minor injuries and pre-planned rest has made building momentum difficult. Bringing three rookies into the fold presented another challenge.
Where Barnes is able to lean on his past experience, the newest members of the Spurs are still getting their feet wet. Preseason has brought them valuable lessons in that regard.
"Everybody's good here," Tarris Reed Jr. admitted. "That's been the biggest difference between here and in college. (That) and the space. There's a lot more space in the NBA."
The rookies and the veterans have only two games — the second of which will likely be a full "dress rehearsal" for Spurs coach Mitch Johnson's rotations — to find the energy they'd like to begin the season with. The next 96 minutes of basketball will be extremely meaningful.
"That'll be a big thing for us," Barnes said. "Just making sure that we're starting off on the right foot. Teams are going to obviously be physical, bring the pressure (and) be on point to start. We can't ease our way into games. We have to start executing the right way."
Against the Hawks, the Spurs' reserves couldn't hold off a second-half surge. Against the Jazz, the starters weren't playing in the first place. Perhaps the one game San Antonio feels slipped away from it came against Phoenix on the road. They want to make that right at home.
"They had great intensity," Barnes said. "They picked us up full court. They were disruptive."
With more of their starters in the lineup, the Spurs will keep searching for their first win of the preseason. Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet and Julian Champagnie are next on the list for pre-planned rest, but missing pieces have seldom been excusable for Johnson's squad.
By this time next week, San Antonio hopes it has a better idea of the kind of team it will be. It hopes to look like it did a season ago, when it started a franchise-best 5-0, though looking a little sharper, even in games without stakes, sits atop their list of priorities.
"The whole preseason," Johnson said. "There's just been some times where we've got to make sure that we are putting our energy in the right spots. Being simple as that can be."
Added Barnes: "It's just a matter of (whether) we can put together a better 48 minutes than we've done in the first three games. That's what we're looking for tonight."
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