Devin Vassell exhorts Spurs to 'become the hunters again'

Devin Vassell has plenty of reasons to cherish the Spurs' stunning run to the NBA Finals last season.

He hit timely shots. Blocked 7-footers at the rim. Provided poise and leadership.

But the seventh-year pro knows it's best to put it all behind him.

"We did what we did last year," he said. "That's gone and out the window."

Speaking to reporters after practice Monday, Vassell stressed the need for him and his teammate to stop resting on their laurels and ramp up their intensity level in a big way beginning with Tuesday night's home game against the winless Sacramento Kings.

Vassell took himself and his teammates to task after the defending Western Conference champions finished the first week of the season 1-2, a showing he said wasn't befitting of a team with championship aspirations.

"Honestly, we have a goal we want to reach and we're far away from that goal," Vassell said. "So we can't sit here and, I don't even know how to say it, jog our way through the season. No, we have to be honest from day one. And I feel like our first two games (losses to West powers Oklahoma City and Houston), we realized we can't just walk into a game and feel like we're just going to win a game because we're San Antonio."

The young Spurs shocked the league last season by winning 62 games before fearlessly fighting their way to the NBA Finals, where they lost in five games to the New York Knicks.

They should be proud of all of that, Vassell said. But they also need to put it out of their minds.

"We got to become the hunters again," he said. "I think we're a little bit drunk off the success of last year, and we have a lot of room to grow. So trying to just put that behind us because we're a new team. This is a new season."

Vassell said the Spurs giving up 30-plus points in the first quarter of each of their games underscores their lack of intensity. To solve their early game problems on the defensive end, he said they need to get back to "throwing the first punch, being more physical, not letting teams get to their spots, pushing them off their spots."

"I just think we're not playing to our standard," Julian Champagnie said. "We're not coming out with the level of intensity we need to. And obviously I think we've seen that against OKC, Houston. Obviously we got the 'W' in Dallas, but I think we still came out pretty lax in Dallas."

Champagnie said it all boils down to having the right mindset.

"We have the same players from last year," he said. "I don't think it's schematic. Everybody on the court can guard. The starting lineup can guard. The second unit can guard. We did it last year, so there's really no excuse for us not to do it this year."

Coach Mitch Johnson lit into the Spurs after they gave up 31 points in the first quarter against a Mavericks team playing without stars Cooper Flagg (shoulder) and Kyrie Irving (rest) and others. The Spurs went on to claim a 122-106 victory , but that didn't stop Johnson from giving his players an earful.

"We've played three games, and we've got stretches of the games where we're getting our butts kicked," Johnson said after the game. "There's a lot of things we can control and we've got to be better at that."

Champagnie said it's up to the players, not the coaches, to make that happen.

"In all instances, we have to hold each other accountable," he said. "Coach isn't on the floor. None of the coaches are on the floor. They always say that to us. We all have to go out there and be able to have those tough conversations with whoever it is."

Many of those "tough conversations" have already happened, Champagnie said.

"As players we always talk," he said. "I'm not going to go out here and tell you guys what we're talking about in the locker room, but we've had our own conversations and we know what we have to figure out."

"We got to sit here and beat teams," Vassell said. "We've got to impose our will, and we got to start doing that from today."