Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes are excited to join Spurs and help build a winning team

As the Spurs wrapped up their free-agent careers, they welcomed new additions and notable NBA veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes to the team today. It all started yesterday when Chris Paul sent his own message to Spurs fans, expressing his excitement to be here and to have an opportunity he never expected: to play for Gregg Popovich.

Today, both Paul and Barnes had their introductory press conferences in San Antonio. (They weren’t live-streamed — even if that had been the plan, it couldn’t have happened because the Wi-Fi was reportedly down — so we’re relying on what reporters who were there and had enough signal to tweet had to say. KENS5’s Jeff Garcia seemed to have had the most luck.)

Paul started things off and after expressing his excitement to be here and to play for Pop, he said he was also here to learn and share his own knowledge. Just don’t confuse him with a player-coach; he’s here to play too.

He also said that in addition to the opportunity to play for Pop, the chance to play alongside Victor Wembanyama played a big role in his decision to come to San Antonio.

Perhaps my favorite line from him was when he told fans not to hold his behavior against him on the court and just know that it comes from a desire to win. (If anyone is new to the NBA, he has a long-standing reputation for losing his cool and yelling at the refs, which is often off-putting and not what Spurs fans are used to seeing from their players.) You have to respect a guy who knows his weaknesses (at least from the fans’ perspective) and can accept them. Pop likes to be mean, and he gets some of that back in Paul.

This attitude, and the general rivalry between Spurs and Paul’s teams, has sometimes made him seem off-putting to Spurs fans, but it must be remembered that he was always a good friend of the “Big Three” and continued to hear about them even after signing with Spurs.

Finally, he reiterated his desire to play and talked about his family (who will stay at their home in Los Angeles during his stay).

Barnes was next, and of course the consummate professional said exactly the right thing. He too expressed his excitement about playing for the Spurs, Pop and Wemby, as he had always admired the organization from afar. (Note that Barnes had a transfer kicker that he waived to make the move possible, so he had some say in his move here.)

He also noted that he understands it takes time to build a winner and that he is here to help.

He and Paul have already trained together and Barnes joked that Spurs will top the league next season with Paul as goalkeeper. While several key players are currently away on either national team or Summer League commitments, they are expected to be back in the gym as soon as possible to get to know their new teammates.

It’s interesting how different Paul and Barnes are in terms of their personalities on the pitch, but both should fit equally well into the team. They won’t take Spurs to new heights on their own – that will require internal growth as well – but they can be expected to have a positive influence on everyone in the dressing room and help solve many of the problems on the pitch.

Welcome to San Antonio, Chris and Harrison!