http://www.lakerschina.com/show/article/933/
Lebron的篮球智慧会将湖人推向一个全新的高度
作者：KEVIN DING
译者：MOMOSKI
校对：GLINCOIN&子羽
天赋
事实证明我们之前太过于肤浅了。Lebron从一开始就做好了决定。不同于初入联盟前那
个青涩的篮球天才，他以一个成熟男人的身心，已在联盟打滚多年。
Lebron就是为篮球而生的。
这种身体上的优势随着时间的推移不降反增，包括在其第8到第15个赛季还是以良好的
竞技状态在总决赛中占有一席之地。更可怕的是这位三旬老汉在上赛季的82场常规赛中
没有缺席任何一场比赛，通常队中的超级球星都会有轮休日。
难道这号称完美无瑕的人体样品，仅仅只是个天赋异禀的运动员怪物吗？
这种评价对于LBJ来说是短视而粗浅的。
是他的心智才造就了那样的躯体。
Magic Johnson说：“这家伙就是个篮球天才。”
LBJ认为现在的比赛跟之前没什么不同。他可以预见场上即将产生的机会，不是因为他
的力量和速度优势才允许他这么做，而是对于比赛的热情使他不断学习其中的精髓。
对于湖人来说，他就是Kobe和O'Neal的结合体。他的职业精神以及篮球智商让人联想到
Kobe的果敢；他压倒性的力量及敏捷性让人回想起当年O'Neal统治联盟时的不可一世。
由于湖人从来没有在总决赛中碰到过LBJ，对于那些只是偶尔会看看LBJ新闻或者比赛的
湖人球迷来说，他们可能会有一种误解，就是LBJ完全只是在靠身体打球。
事实上LBJ充分利用了自己的身体优势，但是并没有过于依赖它。他用精神意志结合超
强的身体谱写了属于自己的传奇。
心智
湖人在LBJ身体状态仍然很惊人的情况下得到了他，对于不相符合的年龄来说，他的心
理状态也正值巅峰。
自从进入联盟以来LBJ见证了许多事，并且从未忘记过，他会把所有发生过的事情分析
总结，然后在比赛前就坚定地贯彻执行。
这也是湖人必须面对的挑战。
湖人队的年轻人们必须以他们从未有过的方式去思考比赛，而且他们以往也没有被要求
去这么做。他们已经证明过自己是努力的，富有感染力，极具天赋，前途无量，被赋予
了重大的使命的年轻球员，这很棒。但如果他们真的想要竞争总冠军的话，只能跟上LBJ
的脚步，别无他路。
俗话说经验是最好的老师。但是在这里，LBJ就是他们的答案。
攻防
部分湖人吸引LBJ的一点就是他不需要再像以前这么累了。Magic研究了LBJ生涯各阶段
的比赛影片，并且与湖人的工作人员一同研讨如何才能尽可能减轻LBJ在队中的负担。
没错，有一部分则是因为Magic看到了今年西决中火箭如何给勇士带来麻烦。
Magic说：“因为他们很多人都能撕裂防守。”
“我们都有出色的防守意识和换防条件。”McGee说到这里提到了他自己和他两个经验
丰富的新队友Rondo以及Stephenson。
而一般情况下，Ball敏锐的篮板嗅觉和他精准的第一时间传球能让LBJ在攻防转换中像飞驰
的火车一般快攻篮下，让球迷的欢呼声响彻史坦波中心。
传承
LBJ可以像现在的年轻湖人球员一样打球，在场上不知疲倦的奔跑，这些都得益于湖人
的管理层要求—球员的体脂不得超过8%。
虽然LBJ有着异于常人的身体，鉴于他的篮球界的影响力，已不会有人认为他还是一个
童心未泯的怪咖，但熟悉LBJ的人都知道他很享受当指导员角色——部分原因是他觉得
一个老家伙被一群充满渴望的小家伙围着是一件很有趣的事。
LBJ在与湖人管理层会面时，向Magic和Pelinka传达了一些有关这方面的内容。
“Lebron跟我和Magic明确表示这是最令他兴奋的一件事之一，”Pelinka说道。“我们
都知道跟一群年轻人一块打球是非常令人振奋的事情。我认为年轻人围绕会让他感到动
力满满，他们充满活力，动作迅捷，训练努力。而培养这群可塑之才是件纯洁无私的事
。”
“我认为在Lebron职业生涯的这个阶段，想着要去传承、去指导年轻球员是件不可思议
的事，然而他不需要像打造骑士那样去打造这支球队。与其之前所处的球队相比，我们
想打造一支完全不同的球队。我认为年轻球员相互之间可以产生良好的效应。”
“享受比赛的乐趣，与年轻人一起打球，指导他们职业生涯的发展。当然他还可以让这
些家伙变得更好。我们之前看过Magic如何去塑造一支球队，Kobe如何去塑造一支球队
。现在这支湖人青年军团如同白纸一般，现在轮到Lebron为这支球队烙印出属于自己的
DNA了。”
这可以起到两方面的作用：随着LBJ提高对队员的要求，湖人年轻人的篮球智商将经得
起季后赛的考验；如此LBJ就更可以从容自在地运作整支球队，而不是过去像个汗流浃
背的俄亥俄州东北部工厂工人一样，靠单枪匹马承揽一切才能让球队出点成绩。
风格
LBJ上赛季在持球6秒或更长时间的情况下，投篮命中率为43.3％，比顶级控卫Lillard
（42.2%）和Wall（41.5%）还高，同时比其之前四个赛季平均34.2％的命中率更大幅上
升。
由LBJ控球来做出天才般的决策是有它的道理的，但也需要在一定条件下才能充分发挥
其威力：当整体进攻空间拉开，并非五个防守者等着他持球杀进去时，LBJ的持球才具
威胁性。
我们应该回顾当年LBJ在迈阿密时，减少单打，将现代比赛风格的转移球方式引入比赛
中——比勇士队做得更早。于是热火凭借其“节奏和空间”理念以及小球中锋Bosh赢得
了2012年NBA总冠军。
现在湖人想要创造出他们自己的风格——而不是依赖于像勇士队一样围绕几个射手建立
起来的三分大队。湖人队大量球权还是会围绕LBJ为轴心运转，通过他场上专业判断，
创造更有效率的战术来提升外线命中率。
“如果你真正研究过Lebron和Rondo的打球方式，”Pelinka说道。“他们拥有极高的篮
球智商并且非常善于创造传球的空间和角度。对于队中其他球员来说，他们轻而易举就
能得到许多空档出手的机会。”
LBJ将会做他该做的事，但他愿意适度地放手让年轻人们有更多地发挥空间，球迷们期
待已久的“Showtime”即将到来，这次是快节奏版本。毕竟，好莱坞本就需要更多伟大
的新血秀导。
LBJ很清楚湖人队可以为他提供这方面的东西。他提升思考比赛的方式有一部分是因为
他已经深陷其中无法自拔：观看并分析比赛中的不足之处，有时不仅是分析一场比赛。
湖人会更常摆出多锋线的组合，这让LBJ可以更容易与Ingram的犀利突破和Kuzma的行进
中小勾射相互磨合，并且可以好好体会一下上赛季快攻得分榜排名第二的湖人队的比赛
风格。
“他观察著整个NBA生态，”Pelinka说。“他着眼于已经完成的交易和球队的新秀们，
以及球队如何培养他们，如何建立比赛风格。”
“我确信他权衡了所有的事情。对我们来说，他对我们的年轻核心和他们的强硬的比赛
风格，以及我们还有足够的薪资空间（工资帽）来做一些特别的事而感到非常兴奋。”
LBJ告诉Magic说，他不仅很欣赏湖人球员的学习速度，还有这些年轻人为了提升为更好
的球员而时刻准备着。
“他对球员的责任感和纪律性方面非常在意并常常以身作则，”Magic说。“这就是他
喜欢我们队球员的原因。”
洞察
过去两年，LBJ在应对季后赛之后新闻发布会上记者的回答方式令人大开眼界，而由此
我们可以感受到LBJ对于篮球成熟的心态。
在输掉2017总决赛G3之后一天的新闻发布会上，LBJ说：“如果再来一次的话，我还是
会做出相同的选择，因为我当时注意到了三个情况。第一是Green在换防我的时候已经
身背5次犯规了，我可以让他犯满离场，所以我从左侧突破，这个时候我看到Durant过
来协防，同时我看到Curry在防守Love，而我看到Korver处于底角空档的位置，他可是
世界上最好的射手之一，所以我会给他投篮的机会。如果再给我一次机会的话，我还是
会做相同的事情。”
在第2018届年东部决赛第1场失利后的第二天，LBJ谈到了一些比赛转折点细节。
“发生了什么？我们在第一个回合几乎把他们（塞尔提克）防到了最后一秒，Morris先
是错失跳投，紧接着，他们完成了一次扣篮（Morris自抢自扣），回来之后我们给
Clarkson打了个战术，但他并没有命中投篮，之后塞尔提克抢到篮板。”LBJ说。
“我们返回后场布置防守，并成功将他们的传球破坏出界。Tatum场外开球传给底角的
Smart，他命中了三分。”
“我们返回前场，又一次进攻打铁。最后是Tatum追身打成了一次欧洲步的右手上篮。
然后就暂停了。”
在演讲结束后，一些记者对LBJ的洞察记忆力感到非常钦佩。
挑战
Pelinka和Magic已经对球员施加压力，要求他们在这个休赛季使自己在身体素质能有实
质性提升。Pelinka的命令在赛季结束后的第二天就发布出来了，利用NBA球星拍照前后
显示出引人注目的魅力，来阐述身体素质的优势的观点。LBJ就是一个很好的范例，多
年来坚定不移的锻炼，一直保持着速度和力量，这将使推动这个指令更加深入透彻。
但是你可不能仅仅是算著日子每天通过锻炼来消耗身上的卡路里。有很多具体的原因驱
使著一位球员应该立即去提高他的篮球理解水平。
这就是为什么即将来临的湖人新赛季变得有趣的原因，和LBJ并肩作战将背负更大的压
力。
“我知道他与众不同之处，他会从比赛中吸取经验，”Pelinka说到。这就是签约Rondo
的重要原因。“他对我们至关重要，因为我们想提高队伍的球商和季后赛的韧性，他带
来了这一点。”
如果湖人的年轻人无法按照LBJ的需要执行，那么新来到湖人的老将们将会获得更多的
出场机会。Magic，Pelinka和主教练Walton表示，除了LBJ，其他球员都要凭表现去竞
争先发位置。
影响
LBJ是一名具有球队凝聚力并且能让队友表现更好的球员，而不是对他们产生副作用，
他这一点被大家广为熟知。然而32到33岁的LBJ他最伟大个人赛季的最后画面，也许却
定格在JR Smith身上了。JR忽略了时间和比分，使得LBJ对总决赛那场比赛的失利极其
失望。
现在LBJ是一名湖人了，他带来了对比赛的百科全书式的理解以及对未知部分天生的好
奇心。LBJ来湖人的决定，紧紧抓住了和Magic和Kobe的对话权，他们是这个星球上为数
不多的几个能与他进行篮球对话的人。
哎，你说LBJ不是来挑战Magic和Kobe的，这不是他要做的事。
他来这重新开始，是球员更是导师。
这将让LBJ重新审视自己。
也许也将对他身边的人产生超乎想像的影响。
原文：
LEBRON'S BASKETBALL MIND WILL PUSH LAKERS' BOUNDARIES
BY KEVIN DING - SENIOR WRITER
We tend to be a superficial sort of people. And the snap judgments have
gone LeBron James’ way from the very start, because unlike the
preps-to-pros prodigies who came before him, he entered a man’s league
with a man’s body.
LeBron has always looked born for basketball.
That physical superiority has only been reinforced over the years,
including a stubborn unwillingness to decline during Seasons 8 through 15,
berths in the NBA Finals every single time—then last season clocking in
for all 82 regular-season games in this new-age era of scheduled superstar
spa days.
The consummate so-called physical specimen. Just a freakish athlete, right?
Genetically gifted.
All true.
And an altogether superficial, short-sighted evaluation of who James is.
The mind has enabled that body.
“This guy is a basketball genius,” Magic Johnson said.
James thinks the game like almost no other ever has. He can see plays
before they happen not because of strength or speed, but because of study
habits arising from true passion for the game.
To put it in Lakers context, he is both Kobe and Shaq. The work ethic and
strategic acumen are reminiscent of Bryant’s determination; the power over
smalls and agility against bigs evoke memories of O’Neal’s inherent
dominance over mere commoners.
For Lakers fans who’ve only casually followed James’ career in the
Eastern Conference, especially because he never did face the Lakers in the
NBA Finals, there might be a misconception that James’ supremacy is a
simple, physical one.
The truth is that James took his physical advantages and didn’t rest on
them. He built a legend on them by maximizing his mental advantages, too.
The Lakers are getting James at a point in time when his physical powers
are still amazing—but his mental game is unequivocally at its peak.
He has seen so much by now, he never forgets anything, he has analyzed it
all…and now he operates consistently ahead of the game.
That is the challenge that the Lakers must meet.
They have to think through the game in a way that these young Lakers have
not before…and have not even been tasked to. They’ve proved they are hard
workers who have an infectious spirit, promising talent and real
accountability, and that’s great. But if they want to contend for a title,
they have no choice but to keep up with what he sees.
The cop-out is that experience is supposed to be the best teacher.
Except here is James with all the answers.
Part of the allure in Lakerland is that James won’t have to work as hard.
Johnson studied video of various stages of James’ career to have an
informed discussion about how they would and should lighten James’ load as
a Laker.
And yes, part of it was that Johnson saw the problems Houston gave Golden
State in the Western Conference Finals.
“Because they had multiple guys who could break the defense down,”
Johnson said.
Easier baskets in transition—“We all have great defensive minds,” JaVale
McGee said of himself and fellow veteran newcomers Rajon Rondo and Lance
Stephenson—often via Lonzo Ball’s knack for rebounding and outlet-passing
will fill Staples Center with the sound of James’ fast-break freight train
roaring down the tracks.
James wants to play more like the young Lakers have, running and riffing
without getting tired because of the front office’s mandate for no more
than 8 percent body fat.
James is more of a kid-at-heart goofball than you would think given his
global icon stature. Those close to James have no doubt that he will revel
in the mentoring role—in part because it will be so much fun for the
not-yet-old dog to be around so many eager pups.
James conveyed some of that to Johnson and Rob Pelinka in his meetings with
the Lakers’ front office.
“LeBron made it clear to Earvin and me that it was one of the things he
was so excited about,” Pelinka said. “We all know when you’re hanging
around youth, it’s exciting. I keep thinking it’s going to add fuel to
his rocket pack, just to be around young, energetic guys who play fast and
play hard. There’s an innocence to being able to shape them and mold them.
“I think a player at LeBron’s career stage, it’s going to be really
incredible for him to feel like he’s giving back to the game and helping
shape these young guys. He didn’t necessarily have that experience the way
the Cleveland team was built. So we purposely wanted this team to be built
very differently than the past one he has played with. I really think the
youth is going to be a mutually beneficial thing.
“Bring joy back to him, being around the young guys, shaping their
careers. And then of course the influence he’s going to have on making
those guys better. We’ve seen that here before with Magic shaping a team,
with Kobe shaping a team. Now it’s LeBron’s turn to have a blank canvas
to put his imprint on the DNA of this team.”
It can work both ways: James raising the bar so the young Lakers’
basketball IQ can pass postseason tests, James operating freer and easier
than when he looked like a sweat-soaked Northeast Ohio factory worker
singlehandedly laboring so the company was getting something up out of the
smokestack.
Of James’ field goals last season, 43.3 percent came after he held the
ball for six or more seconds. That’s a higher rate of ball stopping than
top point guards Damian Lillard (42.2) and John Wall (41.5), and it marked
a huge jump from the 34.2 percent average of James’ previous four seasons.
There’s logic in James controlling the ball to make those genius
basketball decisions, but there has to be a happy medium: James’
brilliance is all the more dangerous when the defense isn’t overloaded
with five men in the box waiting for him to carry the ball.
It should be noted that James ran the end-around once before, turning away
from isolation ball in Miami and evolving the modern game well before the
Golden State Warriors did. The 2012 Heat won the NBA championship with
their “pace and space” invention and undersized Chris Bosh at center.
The Lakers now want to create their own style that is not dependent on
Golden State-level three-point splashing. A lot of it will revolve around
James as a basketball savant, and the Lakers’ perimeter shooting will
improve just from James’ elite decision-making efficiency.
“If you really study LeBron, and Rajon Rondo and the way he plays,”
Pelinka said, “these guys are so smart at creating angles and passing. The
shooting windows for our other players are going to be bigger.”
James will do what he does, but the Lakers’ game will also be the purest
Lakers incarnation of up-tempo Showtime this century has seen—with James
willingly relinquishing some creative control. After all, Hollywood is
supposed to have other great showrunners.
James is fully aware the Lakers can offer him this. Part of his elevated
way of thinking the game is being a basketball junkie: watching and thus
digesting an unhealthy amount of NBA action, sometimes more than one game
at the same time. The Lakers have usually played at a later time slot than
James, making it easier for James to take in Brandon Ingram’s diligent
drives and Kyle Kuzma’s running hooks and appreciate the Lakers ranking
second last season in fast-break points.
“He looks at the entire landscape of the NBA,” Pelinka said. “He looks
at trades that have been made, he looks at how teams draft players, how
they develop them, the style of play.
“I’m sure he evaluated all those things. For us, he was particularly
excited about our young core, the toughness that they played with, and the
fact that we have (salary-cap) flexibility to build something special.”
James told Johnson he admired the Lakers’ speed of play, but also how the
young players looked ready to level up as professionals.
“He was big on that accountability and discipline and playing the game the
right way,” Johnson said. “That’s what he liked about our players.”
James’ answers to press-conference questions after playoff games the past
two years offered eye-opening glimpses into his beautiful basketball mind.
After losing Game 3 of the 2017 NBA Finals, James said the next day: “If I
could have the play over again, I would come off a three-screen situation.
Draymond (Green) would switch on me with five fouls. I would get him
leaning. I would drive left. I would see KD (Kevin Durant) step up. I would
see Stephen Curry drop on Kevin. And I would see Kyle Korver in the corner,
one of the greatest three-point shooters in this league’s history, and
give him an opportunity in the short corner. I would do the same exact
thing.
A day after losing Game 1 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals, James
spoke with more security about the game’s turning-point details than even
his teammates’ surnames.
“What happened? The first possession, we ran them down all the way to two
on the shot clock, Marcus Morris missed the jump shot, followed it up, they
got a dunk,” James said. “We came back down. We ran a set for Jordan
Crawford, I mean Jordan Clarkson, and he came off and missed it. They
rebounded it.
“We came back on the defensive end and we got a stop. They took it out on
the sideline. Jayson Tatum took the ball out, threw it to Marcus Smart in
the short corner. He made a three.
“We come back down, miss another shot, and then Tatum came down, went 94
feet, did a Eurostep and made a right-hand layup. Timeout.”
After the latter speech, some reporters actually applauded they were so
awed by James’ memory gymnastics.
Pelinka and Johnson already put pressure on their players to make
substantial physical improvements this offseason. Pelinka’s “look books,
” handed out the day after the season ended, showed compelling before and
after photos of NBA stars to drive home the value of physical dominance.
James standing there live and in person, with that power and speed, with
his unwavering commitment to workouts, will push that agenda further.
But you can only do so much with however many calories to consume and
however many days on the calendar. There’s less concrete reason why a guy
shouldn’t be able to raise his level of basketball understanding
immediately.
That’s why the pressure to be mentally sound alongside James will be so
intriguing to monitor in the coming Lakers season.
“I know he’s a student of the game like no other,” Pelinka said.
That alone is a big reason Rondo is here. He was “essential for us to add,
” according to Pelinka, because “we wanted to add basketball IQ and
playoff toughness, and he brings that.”
If the young holdover Lakers can’t execute the way James needs, the
incoming veteran Lakers will get more of the opportunities. Lakers coach
Luke Walton, Johnson and Pelinka are already saying no one but James is
promised a starting spot.
Widely regarded as a unifying force, wanting the best for and out of the
guys around him, James is not known for tearing down teammates. Yet the
lasting image of perhaps James’ greatest individual season will be JR Smith
—age 32 to James’ 33, for the record—failing to know time and score…and
James’ utter exasperation with it en route to an NBA Finals defeat.
Now LeBron is a Laker, and he brings with him this encyclopedic knowledge
of the game and innate curiosity about all its parts. His decision to come
was clinched upon having conversations with Magic and Kobe, two of the few
on this planet who could truly have next-level basketball conversations
with him.
Alas, LeBron won’t be playing with Magic and Kobe, you say. That’s not
what he came to do.
He came to start over, as a teacher and a player.
It’s a move that will refresh James’ mind.
And maybe the minds of those around him will be stimulated beyond belief.