This team's atmosphere is really pretty good.

Popovich left the locker room after speaking, and the players began to change their clothes one after another.

Budenholzer called the three rookies together and asked them about choosing their jersey numbers.

"Number 50 is David Robinson's, 44 is George Gervin's, 12 is Bruce Bowen's, 6 is Avery Johnson's... these 7 numbers have been retired and can't be selected. Of course, there are these others, and you can't choose numbers that your teammates already have. That leaves numbers 0 to 99," Budenholzer reminded them.

"I'll pick number 5," Cory Joseph said.

"Any reason? Just asking," Budenholzer said with a gentle smile.

"I used to wear number 6, but it's retired, so I'll pick number 5," Joseph's reason was simple enough.

"Number 2, number 15 is Bonner's," Leonard said.

Budenholzer nodded.

"Godfather, what about you?" Budenholzer asked with a smile, he really was quite easygoing, already calling Tang Tian by his nickname.

Tang Tian wore number 12 at UConn, it didn't have any special meaning, it was purely because a UConn forward had declared for the draft after his freshman year, and he had a new jersey that hadn't been worn, so he just took it and used it, and he'd been wearing that number ever since.

Most people who get to the NBA use their college jersey number, like Joseph's number 6, and Leonard wore number 15 at San Diego State.

"Number 31," Tang Tian said after thinking about it.

"Number 31? I don't think that was your number in college?" Budenholzer said.

Tang Tian nodded.

"Tang, Shane is also number 31," Joseph said.

"Shane?"

"Shane Battier."

Joseph's reminder made Tang Tian remember that he was compared to Battier during the draft, and now he was picking the same number as him.

"Because of that?" Budenholzer asked.

"No, it's just because I was picked at 31, it's meaningful," Tang Tian said.

Choosing this number was a commemoration of the draft, and also to remind himself of what happened with the Heat.

"Okay, the jerseys will be ready in a week, until then you can wear the training uniforms, these are based on your sizes," Budenholzer said as he gave them some jerseys.

After they had all changed their clothes, they followed him to the training gym.

Budenholzer gathered the players together, first had them run a few laps around the court, and then do a dozen sets of suicides.

Tang Tian persevered, but he found that none of his teammates fell behind. Except for Joseph, who was a little out of breath, everyone else completed it and seemed relatively relaxed.

This was the difference between the NBA and the NCAA, the physical fitness alone was not on the same level.

Of course, it also had to do with the Spurs players' self-discipline. Many players have to spend a month or two regaining their shape and fitness after the offseason, and the new season will definitely be difficult for those people.

Popovich nodded in satisfaction from the side. This year's lockout might actually be a good thing for the Spurs.

After the physical conditioning came shooting, with shooting coach Engeldorf leading them.

Tang Tian had pretty much adapted to the quick three-pointers, and at this point, his open shots were very close to his shooting percentage in his NCAA days.

"He's really underrated," Budenholzer said to Popovich at this time.

"Why else would I be willing to spend a million dollars," Popovich said with a smile, he rarely ever spent money to buy draft picks.

After shooting practice came passing and dribbling.

Joseph performed well during this segment.

Popovich and Budenholzer both had smiles on their faces the whole time, it was clear that they were both quite satisfied with the performance of this year's three rookies.

The last item of training was a full-court scrimmage, with one starting group, one backup group, and one bench group, for a total of three groups of 15 people.

Blair, Duncan, Jefferson, Green, and Parker were the starting group.

Splitter, Bonner, Leonard, Ginobili, and Gary Neal were the backup group.

Eke Diogu, Malcolm Thomas, James Anderson, Tang Tian, and Joseph were the bench group.

(Note: The Spurs' preseason roster has a total of 16 players. Mills did not participate in the full-court scrimmage due to injury.)

The three groups alternated playing full-court, and Budenholzer and Popovich would be on the sidelines observing their performance.

First up was the game between the starting and backup groups, and Tang Tian and the others watched from the sidelines.

Duncan and Ginobili were already in their thirties, and Parker was approaching thirty, but when they played, they were still the most outstanding on the court.

Duncan was still unstoppable in the paint, Parker's breakthroughs made it difficult for Neal to defend, and Ginobili's various breakthroughs and fancy passes kept the backup team competitive.

After 10 minutes, the starting group won 20 to 16.

After resting for a while, it was the game between the backup group and the bench group. The previous game had warmed up Ginobili's body, and he was almost unstoppable. The bench group, on the other hand, looked a little bad because it was the first time they had played together. The biggest highlight was Tang Tian's several beautiful switch defenses on Neal.

The backup group won by a large margin of 22 to 9. Ginobili scored 16 points alone.

"Manu is in great shape," Budenholzer couldn't help but exclaim.

"He's still young," Popovich said.

Budenholzer was amused by Popovich's dry humor.

However, Ginobili performed well as a starter again last season, and it was indeed a second spring for him.

After resting for a while, came the last group full-court scrimmage.

Tang Tian called the few people in the bench group together at this time.

"On offense, let's run pick-and-rolls and backdoor cuts, pull the spacing out. On defense, we can play a 2-3 zone. Parker can't shoot threes. There are only two preseason games this year. If we don't show something good in practice, we won't get a chance to play in the preseason, and we might not get a chance all season."

After Tang Tian finished speaking, the others nodded in unison. What he said made sense, and it also resonated with them.

Popovich watched Tang Tian talking to his teammates, a smile on his face, very interested.

The starting group and the bench group took the court one after another.

The bench group attacked first. Joseph dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Tang Tian and Anderson spread out the space. Diogu came up to set a pick-and-roll. Joseph quickly drove to the basket for a layup, but Duncan chased him down and blocked it.

Back on the defensive end, Duncan received the ball in the low post and posted up Thomas, easily turning around and banking it in.

The bench group had a hard time against the backup group, so playing against the starting group was indeed a bit too much for them.

After playing for more than three minutes, the score was already 8 to 0, and the bench group hadn't scored a point.

Ginobili couldn't help but reach out and scratch his head when he saw this scene.

But after scratching it a couple of times, he remembered that he didn't seem to have much hair left, so he unconsciously put his hand down.