http://tinyurl.com/qyb73dc
原文标题:
Pistons leaving no game unwatched in hopes of uncovering the NBA's secrets
活塞为了发掘NBA的秘密一场比赛都不错过
There will be 1,230 NBA games this season. The Detroit Pistons want to
watch every one.
今年球季会有1,230场比赛，活塞每一场都想要观看。
The Pistons have four pro scouts, and that’s their job: Watch basketball.
A lot of basketball. Two or three games a day, all season. Last year,
they watched between 90-95% of NBA games, and for each one, they
evaluated every player in the game in several categories, and entered
their scouting reports into the team’s database. The Pistons want to
know everything relevant about every player in the league—and really,
about every NBA-quality player in the world.
活塞有四个职业球探，而他们的工作就是:看篮球。看很多的篮球。一整季每天看
两到三场比赛。去年他们观看了90%-95%的NBA比赛，每一场比赛他们都会以几个
类目去评估比赛中的每个球员，并将他们的球探报告输入球队的数据库中。活塞
想要知道跟联盟中每个球员有关的一切–他们真正想知道的是跟全世界每个NBA等
级球员有关的一切
It’s an enormous and unprecedented effort that could change how business
is done in the NBA.
这是可能改变NBA运作模式的前所未有且巨大的付出。
You know… if it works.
你知道嘛，如果它有用的话。
In the spring of 2014, Stan Van Gundy pulled out of the Golden State
Warriors’ coaching search to take full control of the Pistons. Outsiders
tend to look at these jobs simply as vehicles for winning games, and by
that standard, Van Gundy made a mistake. The Warriors have already won
a championship. Nobody knows if they would have won it with Van Gundy
coaching instead of Steve Kerr, but they would have had a great shot.
Just about everybody in the NBA agrees Van Gundy is a terrific coach.
2014春天大范退出了勇士的教练征选而取得了活塞的全面控制。外界总是把这类
工作单纯地视为赢得比赛的工具，而以这个标准来看，大范犯了个错误。勇士已
经赢得了一座总冠军。没有人知道如果不是Kerr而是大范来执教的话勇士会不会
夺冠，但他们会有很大的机会。几乎所有NBA的人都同意大范是个优秀的教练。
But after a Pistons practice recently, Van Gundy insisted, “If I had it
to do over again, this is where I’d want to be.” He has a chance to do
something that very few coaches ever get to do: Build an organization
as he pleases. The Pistons’ owner, Tom Gores, has given him the budget
and authority to do it.
但在最近一次活塞的练习之后，大范强调“如果我得重新做一次选择，这儿是我会
想要待的地方。”他有机会去做很少很少的教练有机会做的事情：依他想要的方式
去打造一支球队。活塞老板Tom Gore给了他这么做的预算和权力。
Van Gundy did not want control just for the sake of having it. He had
a vision. Van Gundy has been a coaching grinder his whole professional
life: watching film forever, preparing for every possible circumstance,
worrying about every detail. When he hired his friend, Jeff Bower,
to be the general manager in 2014, he told Bower he wanted to apply
that kind of mindset to the front office.
大范不是为了拥有权力而想要权力。他有一个愿景。大范整个职业生涯都是
个苦学教练工作的人：永远在看影片，替每个可能的状况做准备，担心每个
细节。当他在2014年雇用他的朋友Jeff Bower担任总经理时，他告诉Bower
他想要把这种思维应用在管理部门上。
They went on a hiring spree, the likes of which the NBA has never seen.
In a year and change, the Pistons have gone from one of the league's
smallest front-office staffs to one of the largest.
他们以NBA前所未见的疯狂程度招募人力。经历了一年的变化，活塞的管理部门
人力从全联盟数一数二小变成了数一数二大。
To understand the scope of what the Pistons are doing, go back a decade.
It’s really not that much time, when you think about it. The Spurs were
perennial contenders behind Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker.
LeBron James was trying to end Cleveland’s championship drought.
Again: Not a long time.
为了要了解活塞这改变的范围有多大，让我们回溯到10年前。当你仔细想想，
那并不是很长的一段时间。马刺在波波、TD跟趴车的带领下是长年的冠军挑战者。
LBJ试着要完结克里夫兰的冠军荒。再说一次：真的不是很长的一段时间。
The 2004 Pistons basically had five people in their front office:
a general manager (Joe Dumars), his three closest confidantes
(John Hammond, Scott Perry, George David), and an international scout
(Tony Ronzone).
2004年的活塞管理部门基本上有五个人：总经理老乔，他三个最亲近的知己
(John Hammond, Scott Perry, George David)，以及一个国际球探
(Tony Ronzone)。
That was it. Five people.
就这样。五个人。
The current Pistons have those four pro scouts. The 2004 Pistons didn’t
have any. If a player on another team became available at the trade
deadline, or was about to hit free agency, Dumars and his staff already
had an opinion on him. Sometimes they would watch some extra tape.
现在的活塞拥有那四名职业球探。2004年活塞一个都没有。如果别队的一个球员在
交易截止日前成了可交易的球员或是即将成为自由球员，老乔和他的幕僚已经对他
有了评价。有时候他们会看一些额外的录影带。
David and Perry would travel around the country seeing games, and
sometimes Dumars and Hammond would drop in on one.
David和Perry会走遍全国观看比赛，有时候老乔跟Hammond会加入看一场。
They did have an advance scout, watching teams that were coming up on
the Pistons’ schedule. But an advance scout is really an extension of
the coaching staff. Advance scouts help with game strategy, not player
acquisition.
他们是有一个先遣球探负责观看活塞接下来要面对的球队们的比赛。但一个先遣
球探事实上是教练团的延伸。先遣球探们协助的是比赛策略，而不是网罗球员。
Now? The Pistons have Van Gundy, Bower, three assistant general managers,
a basketball-operations director, four pro scouts, six
college/international scouts, two analytics software engineers and a
director of strategic planning. That’s 18 people.
现在呢？活塞有大范、Bower、三个副总经理、一个篮球事务总监、四个职业球探、
六个大学/国际球探、两个分析软件工程师和一个策略计划总监。这样是18个人。
That’s just the front-office increase. Then there are the various
support people who have been added. Everywhere you look, you see more
people. The 2004 Pistons had one video coordinator. The 2015 Pistons
have three.
那只是管理部门的扩增。然后还有各种找来的支援人员。不管你往何处看，
你看到的是更多的人。2004年活塞有一个影片调度员。2015年活塞有三个。
The construction of the 2004 Pistons seems primitive and downright
laughable now, until you remember: That team won the NBA championship.
2004年活塞的建构跟现在相比看似简陋及十足可笑，直到你想起来一件事：
那支球队赢了NBA总冠军。
Dumars’s Pistons were not outliers. The other teams that won
championships in the aughts had similarly small front-office staffs.
Today, Pat Riley’s front office in Miami is less than half the size of
Detroit’s, and the Heat has been to five of the last 10 Finals.
As Van Gundy builds his team, there is no doubt that his model is
different. The Pistons have to show it is also better.
老乔的活塞不是异类。其他在21世纪前10年夺冠的球队拥有的也是类似的小
管理部门的人力。今天油头在迈阿密的管理部门大小是底特律的一半，而
热火在上十次总冠军赛中打进了五次。毫无疑问地，大范打造他球队的模式
是不一样的。活塞需要证明这模式同时是更好的模式。
When you document more than 1,000 games, the idea is not to find
some big championship secret. That’s not how this works. The goal
is to find a lot of smaller clues—to see what other teams don’t see
yet, and capitalize on it.
当你纪录1000场以上的比赛，你的概念不是要找到什么巨大的冠军秘密。
事情不是这样运作的。目标是要找到许多比较小的线索–看到其他球队尚未
看到的东西并加以利用。
Now Bower can sit in his office and get an updated scouting report
on each player in the league, each week of the season, in a variety
of categories. One great or bad week can be an outlier, of course.
But evaluating players every week means the Pistons should know if
a player is rising or declining as it happens. A player may have an
A-minus reputation and A-plus endorsement portfolio, but if he plays
like a B player for a few weeks in a row, the Pistons want to know
about it.
现在Bower可以坐在他的办公室里收取一份最新的球探报告–球季每一周针对
联盟中每个球员，以不同评核项目作成的球探报告。一个突出的礼拜或一个
失常的礼拜当然会被视为异常值。但每周都评估球员代表活塞应该要在一个
球员进步或退步的同时间也知道。一个球员可能声望是A-而代言量是A+，
但如果他连续几个礼拜打得像一个B级球员，活塞会想要知道这件事。
Everybody wants the next LeBron or Duncan. Those players tend to be
easy to identify but hard to acquire—especially in a market like
Detroit, which can’t lure top free agents as easily some other cities.
The Pistons want to answer questions like this one that Bower poses:
“Why does a guy go to another team and all of a sudden stand out,
where he barely got an opportunity before?”
每个人都想要下一个LBJ或TD。那些球员通常很好辨别但很难取得—尤其像
底特律这种无法像其他城市一样轻易吸引自由球员的小市场。活塞想要回答
Bower会问的问题：
“为什么一个之前几乎没有上场机会的家伙会在转队之后突然之间大放异彩？”
The sheer complexity of running a sports team is often lost on
fans—especially in the NBA, where rosters are smaller than other
sports, and one or two players can have an outsized influence on a
team. NBA teams generally draft between one and three players each
summer. It seems fairly simple.
球迷通常不会了解管理一只运动球队的复杂性，尤其是NBA—球员规模比其他
球队小，一或两个球员就能对球队产生巨大的影响。NBA球队在每个夏天选秀
通常都会选一到三个球员。这看似很简单。
But teams must evaluate hundreds of players around the globe every
year. And teams don’t really know who will be available at the trade
deadline, so they need to be prepared for every possibility.
但球队每年必须要评估全球几百名球员。而且球队们并不知道谁会在交易
截止日前成为可交易球员，所以他们必须要替每个可能性作好准备。
The Pistons believe their approach paid off last winter, when they
acquired point guard Reggie Jackson from Oklahoma City.
去年冬天，活塞在从奥克拉荷马市得到了控球后卫Reggie Jackson之后相信
他们的做法得到了回报。
Jackson was Russell Westbrook’s backup, and that is how fans viewed
him: As a backup. They weren’t alone. Bower says in the league,
“there was a variety of opinion, I would imagine.” And Jackson’s
public grumbling about his role did not help his reputation—he wanted
to show he could be a starter before he hit free agency, but to some
he looked like a complainer who didn’t care about winning.
Jackosn当时是西河的替补，而这也是球迷怎么看待他的：一个替补。
不只球迷。Bower说在联盟中“我可以想像会有各种不同的意见。”而Jackson
公开对他的角色表达不满对于他的名声并没有帮助—他想在他成为自由球员
以前证明他可以打先发，但对于某些人来说他像一个不在乎赢球的抱怨者。
The Pistons did not think Jackson would be available, but they
scouted him thoroughly, because they scout everyone thoroughly.
They loved what they saw of Jackson in his short stints as a starter,
when Westbrook was hurt. They thought he would play even better in
Van Gundy’s offense. And his age meant they could build around him.
活塞并不认为Jackson是可以交易的，但他们还是彻底地评估了他，因为他们
彻底地评估每一个人。他们很喜欢Jackson在西河受伤期间短暂的先发表现。
他们认为他在大范的进攻体系下能够打得更出色。而他的年纪代表他们能够
以他为中心打造球队。
When the Thunder indicated they were willing to deal Jackson,
the Pistons pounced, acquiring him in a three-team deal with Utah.
In two months with the Pistons, Jackson averaged 17.6 points and
9.2 assists, and the Pistons felt he had room to grow. The day
after the season ended, he turned 25. The Pistons signed him to
a five-year, $80-million contract this summer.
当雷霆表示他们愿意交易Jackson时，活塞抓住了机会，在一个加入犹他的
三方交易中得到了Jackson。加入活塞的两个月，Jackson平均17.6分和9.2
个助攻，而活塞感觉他还有成长空间。Jackson在球季结束的隔天满25岁。
活塞在这个夏天以五年，八千万的合约签下了他。
The Jackson contract seemed excessive to some. It’s easy to say
the Pistons overpaid him for two good months. But the Pistons saw
those two months up close, and they feel good about the investment.
Jackson的合约在某些人眼里看似过多。人们可以轻易地说活塞因为两个月
的好表现而多付了Jackson。但活塞仔细地评估了那两个月，而他们对于
这个投资感觉很好。
“We liked his ability, but what we liked even more was a guy who
we thought would not change once he got the money,” Van Gundy said.
“This was a guy who was really driven to be as good as he could be.
Even what we saw at the end of last year, which was really good,
we thought he could go to a higher level, and would work really
hard to get to a higher level. That was why we were able to make
that bet.”
“我们喜欢他的能力，但我们更喜欢的是一个我们认为不会在拿到钱的当下
改变的家伙。”大范说。“这是一个驱动自己不断进步的家伙。即使有了去年
结束前优异的表现，我们认为他能够达到更高的水准，而他会努力地达到更
高的水准。这是为什么我们能够下这个赌注。”
To win, the Pistons need to win a lot of bets like that—starting
with the player-acquisition process. They are heavily into
analytics, but their decisions are not purely driven by analytics.
Bower points out that the pro scouts are basketball veterans.
The idea is to blend old-school and new-school views. If the scouts
and numbers don’t align, the Pistons want to know why.
为了胜利，活塞需要赢得许多像那样的赌注—从球员招募开始。他们很注重
分析，但他们的决策不是完全依靠分析。Bower指出职业球探们是篮球老鸟。
他们的概念是整合老派观点和新式观点。如果球探意见和数字不一致，
活塞想要知道原因。
They apply the same philosophies to college and international
scouting that they use for pro scouting. Their scouting operation
is massive, and unimaginable just a decade ago. The NBA is swimming
in money, Gores is willing to spend it, and thanks to technology,
scouts can watch most of the relevant games that take place anywhere
in the world. As Bower says, “We are only limited by time.”
他们把用在职业侦勘的哲学也应用在大学和国际侦勘。他们的球探事务
规模很大—10年前根本无法想像。NBA在赚钱，Gore愿意花钱，而拜科技所赐，
球探们可以观看大部分在全球任何地方进行的相关比赛。就像Bower说的，
“我们的限制只有时间。”
The tricky part is taking this volume of information and molding
it into something useful. There is a risk in knowing so much:
You can lose sight of what is important. The Pistons are well
aware they are putting together a collection of people, not film
clips. The people must be able to work together. Bower says,
“Our target throughout the summer and all of last year was talent,
character and compatibility.”
棘手的部分是将这大量资讯塑造成有用的东西。知道太多有一个风险：
你会忽略掉重要的东西。活塞很清楚他们收集的是大量的人，而不是
大量的影片档案。人们必须能够一起工作。Bower说，“我们去年一整年
以及今年夏天的目标是天赋、个性以及相容性。”
The Pistons got a first-hand lesson in incompatibility last season.
Van Gundy’s first Pistons team had Andre Drummond, who will likely
get a maximum contract from the Pistons next summer; Josh Smith,
one of the NBA’s best forwards with Atlanta, and Greg Monroe,
who signed a three-year, $50-million contract with Milwaukee this
summer. That’s a lot of talent. Yet the Pistons started 5-23.
活塞在上个球季得到了〝非〞相关性的第一手教训。大范的第一支活塞队
包含预计会在明年夏天获得一份顶级合约的装猛；在亚特兰大时是NBA
最佳前锋之一的贾许；以及在今年夏天跟密尔瓦基签下三年，五千万合约
的梦罗。这是极大量的天赋。然而活塞开季5胜23败。
“I’ll be honest: I was really disappointed that I couldn’t make
it work better at the beginning of last year,” Van Gundy said.
“I look at that, and it still bothers me. I think that we had
better players, certainly, than to be off to a 5-23 start.
As a coach, you have a hard time with the fact that you couldn’t
get it to work better.”
“我老实说：我真的很失望我无法在去年开季时让球队运作得更好，”
大范说。“当我回头看，我还是会感到很困扰。我觉得我们当时明显地
有更好的球员，然后我们打出了5胜23败的开季成绩。身为一个教练，
你无法让球队更好的事实让你难受。”
Last December, the Pistons waived Smith, who was an easy
(and sometimes deserving) target of frustrations. But he was
symptomatic of a larger problem: the pieces did not fit,
offensively or defensively. Smith was a better player in Atlanta
than in Detroit. Monroe is a highly skilled player and a good
teammate, but playing next to Drummond highlighted weaknesses
(slow feet, which give him trouble guarding smaller players,
a limited outside shot) instead of his strengths (post moves,
excellent hands).
去年12月活塞挥弃了贾许—他是挫折时最容易拿来攻击的目标〈有时候
这些攻击是他应得的〉。但他象征了一个更大的问题：进攻上或防守
上各个环节不相容。贾许在亚特兰大时是个比在底特律时更好的球员。
孟罗是个技术优异的球员同时也是个好队友，但在装猛旁边打球没有
凸显他的优点〈优异的禁区动作〉反而凸显了他的弱点〈脚步慢无法
防守较小只的球员，外线能力有限〉。
This year’s Pistons may have comparable overall talent to the
team that started 5-23, but they should be a much better team.
今年的活塞的天赋也许跟去年那支开季5胜23败的球队差不多，但他们
应该是个更加优秀的球队。
So far, the Pistons are pleased with their real-world
application of Van Gundy’s vision. Drummond and guard
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are holdovers from Dumars’s regime,
but most of the roster has turned over since last year.
They think forward Ersan Ilyasova will fit their culture well.
They love rookie forwardStanley Johnson of Arizona.
目前为止活塞对于大范愿景的实务应用感到满意。装猛和后卫KCP是
老乔政权的存活者，但大部分的球员名单跟去年相比已经完全不同。
他们认为前锋Ilyasova会很适应他们的球队文化。他们相当热爱
亚利桑那州的新人前锋Stanley Johnson。
Johnson is an example of relationships and classic scouting.
Van Gundy worked with Arizona coach Sean Miller at Wisconsin
in the 1990s. He trusted Miller’s evaluation of Johnson’s
character and toughness. Van Gundy believes character rarely
changes once a player enters the league—some guys may mature
significantly, but most don’t. Johnson is the rare top-10 pick
who instantly improves a team’s culture.
Johnson是个关系和经典侦勘的例子。大范在90年代时在威斯康辛跟
亚利桑那教练Sean Miller共事过。他信赖Miller对于Johnson个性和
韧性的评估。大范相信球员在进入联盟后个性鲜少会改变—有些人也许
会大幅地成熟，但绝大多数不会。Johnson是少数能够立即改善一个
球队文化的前十顺位选秀。
“There is just something about him,” Van Gundy said.
“He is a great, great competitor. Every guy in that draft,
you have to get better if you’re going to make an impact
in this league. What you’ve gotta bank on is their work
ethic and commitment to being great.”
“他就是有种特质，”大范说。“他是一个很棒，很棒的竞争者。
那个选秀中的每个人，你要在这个联盟产生影响你就得要进步。
你得依赖的是他们的工作道德和对于拿出伟大表现的承诺。”
As Van Gundy went through the roster, from the young building
blocks to the veterans coming off the bench, he said,
“I love our guys.” The Pistons won their opener in Atlanta on
Tuesday and may be one of the surprise teams in the league.
But internally, they won’t be surprised. They have done their
homework.
当大范浏览球员名单时—从年轻的建队基石到板凳上的老鸟—他说，
“我爱我们的球员们。”活塞礼拜二在亚特兰大赢得了他们的开幕战
而且有可能成为联盟的惊奇球队之一。但在球队内部他们不会感到
惊讶。他们已经做足了功课。
(活塞在周三击败爵士，周五击败公牛，目前3-0)