Nothing fuels NBA superteams quite like Team USA
LAS VEGAS —When LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh publicly donned matc
hing Miami Heat uniforms for the first time — at a raucous pep rally in Ameri
can Airlines Arena on July?10, 2010 — the sight of three all-stars in the sam
e jersey represented something larger: a shift in how NBA teams are constructe
d.
当LBJ、Wade、Bosh这三个人2010年在热火的组团，比起看到同一场球赛三位球星穿着同
一件球衣，更大的事情是这改变了NBA球队的组建方式。
Eight years after the Big Three danced onstage amid billowing smoke, NBA stars
are dictating player movement more than ever. Nothing has fueled that power m
ore than Team USA, an incubator of sorts for such bold-name partnerships.
在LCD连线之后八年，NBA球员们更多地掌控自己的权利，没有什么能比美国队训练营更好
推入球员们成为各自球队工作伙伴。
“If you don’t have a super team, or three superstars, or three all-stars on
your team, it’s very hard to win,” Washington Wizards guard John Wall said a
t Team USA’s minicamp last month.
如果你没有一支超级球队，或是球队里
没有三个全明星，或是三个超级巨星，就很难赢球，Wall在上个月的美国队迷你训练营说
。
Such movement has already led to a direct pooling of talent on Team USA itself
. Of the 35 players in contention for spots on next year’s World Cup roster,
five — Durant, Cousins, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — ar
e Warriors. Three others — Paul, Harden and Eric Gordon — are Rockets. With
another eight teams featuring two players in the program, 24 of the 35 players
on Team USA’s preliminary roster come from 10 of the NBA’s 30 teams.
在美国队35人的大名单中，5个来自勇士，3个来自火箭，另外8支球队有两个人入选，35
人当
中的24个人，来自联盟30支球队中的10支球队。
Retired stars from Charles Barkley to Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan have de
rided modern superstars for joining forces to chase championships, which baffl
es current players.
从Barkley到Pippen再到Jordan，他们都嘲笑现代球星联手组队，这让现在的球员们感到
困惑。
“No team has won [a title] where one single guy was the lone star and it was
their team. It’s not that era. I’m not sure how the veterans, the legends, d
on’t understand that part,” said George, who stayed with Westbrook by re-sig
ning with the Thunder this summer.
没有一支球队能够依靠单核夺得总冠军，这个时代已经不存在了。我不知道为什么那些传
奇球星们不明白这一点。现在的比赛已经完全不同了，PG说。
“It’s a different game now. For those guys to chime in and say we’re not bu
ilt the same . . . I never understood that, because who would we be fooling
if we went out alone and tried to go up against the Warriors?
现在的比赛已经不同了。某些人还说不要跟风抱团，我从来不理解。难道我们要一个人去
对抗勇士吗？我们这是在骗谁？
“The best guy in our league right now couldn’t do it. [James] got swept [in
the 2018 Finals]. So that just goes to show you at this point what it takes to
win. Because you need guys that are alike talent-wise and skill set-wise to w
in championships.”
我们联盟里最好的球员也无法做到这点，（LBJ）在今年总决赛被横扫。所以这告诉你现
在怎样才能夺冠。因为你需要其他拥有天赋和技术的球员来帮你夺冠。PG说。
Through the first seven decades of NBA history, championship teams were built
by general managers drafting, trading for and, occasionally, signing one star
free agent. Regardless of the era — the Boston Celtics of the ’60s, ’80s an
d even late 2000s, the Los Angeles Lakers of the ’80s and early 2000s, the ’
90s Chicago Bulls — championship DNA was forged only one way.
在NBA历史中刚开始，冠军球队可以借由交易、选秀或在自由市场签下一位球星来打造，
无论是60、80年代甚至2000年代末的塞尔提克，80年代或2000年代初的湖人或是90年代的
公牛，冠军基因都以同样的模式被建立。
James, Wade and Bosh changed that paradigm.
LBJ、Wade、Bosh这三个人改变了这个风气。
“Back in the day, guys were stuck on teams,” George said. “It was up to the
front office to build around that one guy, and that one guy was going to brin
g championships to them. It’s not the same now. . . . [Players] understand
that, and we know what it takes.”
PG表示：回到过去，球员们会一直眷恋于一支球队。球队管理层会围绕着那个球星打造球
队，而那个家伙真的能给他们带来总冠军。但现在已经变了，球员们要知道这一点，要知
道怎样才能夺冠。
Front-office executives, for their part, see benefits in stars taking a more p
roactive role in team building, especially if it inadvertently helps the franc
hise’s bottom line more than the players’.
对球队管理层来说，他们乐意看到球员在组建球队中扮演更重要角色。
Though players taking increased ownership can siphon some control from the fro
nt office, multiple executives said players taking pay cuts to fit under the s
alary cap, all for the purpose of banding together, only helps general manager
s
尽管球员可以从管理层那得到球队较大的控制权，但多位球队管理层表示，球员们需要减
薪控制薪资空间，这只会帮到各球队GM。
Not everyone, though, can participate in this arms race. Being part of Team US
A allows Mike Conley Jr. an opportunity to look at what could be — but isn’t
. Though he has been a key part of Memphis’s successful run this decade, incl
uding seven straight playoff berths and an appearance in the 2013 Western Conf
erence finals, those “Grit ’N’ Grind” Grizzlies had no realistic shot at s
tars such as James, Durant or Harden on the open market.
然而，并不是每个人都可以参加这场军备竞赛。作为美国队的一员，Mike Conley Jr.有
机会看看会有什么 - 但事实并非如此。尽管他已成为曼菲斯这十年的重要组成
部分， 包括连续七个季后赛席位和2013年西区决赛出场，但对他们来说，在自由市场得
到像LBJ、KD、Harden这样的球星，对他们来说并不现实。
“Yeah, it definitely can be frustrating,” Conley said. “Being in Memphis, b
eing part of a smaller market, you have a tough time in free agency, and you h
ave to build through the draft. With all the things teams have been able to ac
complish through free agency, and through all the player movement, you kind of
miss out on that.”
Conley对此表示：是的，这很令人沮丧，在曼菲斯这样的小市场球队里，很难通过自由市
场来寻求什么，你必须得通过选秀来建立球队。其他球队可以通过自由市场来组建球队，
你感觉就像被抛弃了。
“A lot of people need to understand this: Players want to win,” the Rockets
’ Gordon said. “They want to go to winning situations. When you have a winni
ng culture, things become so much easier. It’s good to see all these super te
ams, because [it means] guys are willing to win.”
很多人必须去了解这点，球员想要赢球，他们想处在赢球氛围中，当你有了赢球文化，事
情都会变得很简单，因此很乐于见到这些超级球队组成，因为这意味着球员们想要赢球。
Gordon说。
But once those stars align, Harden cautioned, it’s up to them to make it work
.
但一旦这些球星们聚在一起，Harden表示，要让他们起到作用还是得靠他们自身努力。
“You’ve got to figure it out. You’ve got to compete,” the reigning league
MVP said. “You’ve got to get your [butt] in that gym and try to get to that
level that the top is at. If you don’t, you’re never going to get there.”
你必须去找出办法磨合。你需要去努力竞争。你需要训练馆中拼命，试着达到那种顶级水
准。如果你做不到的话，你永远都无法达到那个水平。Harden说。
记者末段总结：
Honing one’s craft alone isn’t enough. For the game’s elite to win, it requ
ires picking up the phone.
现在仅仅一个人磨练的球技是不够的。这些为了赢得比赛的精英们，还需要拿起电话。
来源：
https://goo.gl/2BfwVk
短评或心得：
这样看起来记者认为LCD是始祖吗