Tarris Reed Jr. didn’t need a big scoring night to make his presence felt in San Antonio’s first preseason game. He gave Mitch Johnson exactly the kind of work the Spurs coach appreciates: rebounding, rim pressure and a whole lot of noise in the paint.
Johnson made that clear when Jeff McDonald asked him about Reed’s first outing.
"I love it," was Mitch Johnson's response when San Antonio Express-News reporter Jeff McDonald asked the Spurs' head coach what he thought about Tarris Reed Jr.'s rebounding after the team's first preseason game.
Reed finished with six rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, and mixed in a handful of other plays that disrupted things around the rim. That kind of production fits the job description.
The Spurs did not bring him in to be a nightly scoring engine. They brought him in to make life miserable for the other team in the middle.
At 265 pounds, Reed is hard to budge. His 7'4" wingspan gives him another edge, letting him poke at rebounds and loose balls even when he can’t get all the way to the carom himself.
Sometimes that means the ball winds up with a teammate. Sometimes it goes out of bounds and stays with San Antonio.
Either way, the Spurs usually benefit.
He also earned a couple of fouls, which is part of the deal when a player that size is carving out space. Opponents can’t just run through him. They have to work around him, and that is not a pleasant assignment.
Reed did miss both of his shot attempts, but that’s not the part that stands out here. He’s a rookie, and this was his first NBA action. Even if he’s older than Wemby, he’s still learning the speed, spacing and timing that come with this level.
There’s reason to think the scoring will come in the right spots if he gets enough minutes. Reed can create extra possessions by forcing his way into offensive rebounding position and cleaning up misses. That said, he didn’t check in until the second half of the third quarter and was playing with the reserves, which shaped what his role looked like in that game.
That may be where he lives for now on a deep roster, but that won’t be the whole story forever. When he shares the floor with better creators, the offense should open up around him. The work gets tougher in that environment, too, but that’s the kind of challenge young players usually want.
McDonald summed up Reed’s mentality this way: "Reed has a habit of playing as if every rep is a referendum,"
That edge matters. It can help him settle into the NBA faster, and it gives San Antonio another body in the middle who can bang, rebound and compete. Luke Kornet looked good last night, but Reed’s first impression showed why the Spurs are glad to have more depth there.
If Victor Wembanyama or Kornet misses time, the backup option has something the Spurs can use right away: size and effort. Reed already has both.
In Other News...
Spurs Bench Could Decide How Far This Playoff Push Goes
The Spurs have spent the early part of this season trying to make their bench look less like a gap to survive and more like an advantage to exploit. With Tobias Harris and Tarris Reed Jr. added to the mix, and familiar pieces like Keldon Johnson and Luke Kornet back in the fold, San Antonio has clearly tried to deepen the rotation around Victor Wembanyama. For a team with bigger ambitions, the minutes when Wembanyama sits have become a central measuring stick.
Dylan Harper is part of that equation, too, with the Spurs expecting him to shoulder a much larger offensive load as the second unit settles in. How quickly that group comes together may go a long way toward determining how far this playoff push can travel, because San Antonio does not need its bench to be perfect. It just needs the reserves to hold the line often enough, and maybe even tilt a few games, when the stars are off the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Are Finally Testing A Lineup That Could Define This Season
Mitch Johnson is using the preseason to take a first real look at a guard-heavy look that could shape the Spurs season, naming Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and DeAaron Fox as starters for an upcoming exhibition. Harper showed enough promise last season to make this feel like more than a routine early-October experiment, and San Antonio clearly wants to see how his game fits alongside two established guards who can handle the ball, push pace and create stress for defenses.
The focus now is less on results than on fit. The Spurs want to sort out spacing, ball movement and defensive balance with this trio on the floor, using these preseason minutes to build chemistry and learn how much they can ask of the combination. It is the kind of lineup question that can linger well beyond the exhibition schedule, because the answer could help define how San Antonio structures its backcourt rotation when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
P.J. Washington Is Already Shaping A Mavericks Rookie Behind The Scenes
The Spurs got an early look at Dylan Harper in Fridays preseason opener, even if the lineup script changed before tipoff. Mitch Johnson had planned to start Harper in place of Julian Champagnie, but the personnel shuffle opened the door for Champagnie to keep the spot while Harper still made a strong first impression, giving San Antonio another reminder of why his arrival has become such a focal point for the fall.
Harpers debut fit neatly into a broader camp theme around the Spurs: the young core is being asked to grow fast, and the veterans are being asked to help steer it. Johnson and several players have already pointed to Devin Vassells progress as a leader, while across the division, Dallas has shown how much behind-the-scenes teaching matters, with P.J. Washington already working with rookie Morez Johnson Jr. on the Mavericks side of things. [Read more 🡒]