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Kawhi Leonard’s ‘load management’ not going down easy in Los Angeles
可爱的"工作量管理"不会简单的在洛杉矶落幕
After his year-long sabbatical in foreign parts, America has noticed that
Kawhi Leonard has changed. And America doesn’t like it.
在可爱国外休假一年后，美国发现可爱变了，而美国并不喜欢这种改变。
Leonard ditched Canada for his hometown, Los Angeles, over the summer. The
separation was about as amicable as these things get.
可爱抛弃了加拿大回到他的家乡。这个分手非常的和平。
There was no public cursing as he went out the door. No one in the Raptors
organization is slagging him behind his back, but there is some ruefulness
about the process. Though Leonard went through the proper motions, Toronto
never had a shot. The organization didn’t see that until it was already over.
没有人公开咒骂他，暴龙队里面没有人责怪他，当然整个过程有点残忍。虽然
可爱表现的还算得体，暴龙从来就没有任何的机会，它们却到整个过程结束了才
了解到（它们只是被当作喊价的）。
No one wants to see Leonard fail, exactly. But it would be nice if it were
proved he’d have been better off here.
没有人想要看到可爱失败，但看到可爱仍够变的更好的话更好。
On that score – and it is still very early days – things are looking good
(i.e. bad).
目前来看，他看起来过的不错（不好）
Leonard returned to the United States newly minted as the NBA’s ideal
winner. He’d taken a team from Canada, for God’s sake, and turned it into a
champion. He’d done it largely by himself.
可爱的回归被视为NBA的理想赢家。他把一个加拿大的球队变成冠军，而他几乎靠他
自己做到了这一切。
What people hadn’t taken into consideration was how he’d done it.
而人们没有考虑到的是他怎么做到的。
Leonard was a part-time employee during the 2018-19 regular season. He took a
quarter of his games off, most with no explanation.
在去年球季，可爱只是个打工族，他有1/4的球季没有上场，而且没有给任何理由。
The Raptors created the term “load management” to excuse these vacation
days. The NBA responded with a “Yeah, yeah, whatever. We told you only to
use this number if it’s an emergency”.
暴龙创造了一个名词"负载管理"做为这些假期的借口。
NBA官方的回应是："好啦～好啦～随便你啦～只有紧急的时候才用这个号码打给我
好吗？（不要来烦我）"
Leonard’s absence was permitted because no one in the NBA knows or cares
what is happening up here. For years, the Raptors might as well have been
playing on the moon.
可爱的缺席是允许的，因为没有人在NBA在乎北方发生了什么事。在过去几年
暴龙队或许已经去月球打过球几次了。
They had next-to-no national TV commitments in the United States. No
Christmas Day games. No prime-time tipoffs in the postseason. They were
functionally invisible back at NBA HQ.
暴龙队在美国没有全国转播，没有圣诞大战，在季后赛没有被注目，整体而言
它们在NBA总部眼里是看不见的。
If Leonard wanted to spend the whole season poolside in Boca Raton, the only
people who would notice were Raptors fans. And Raptors fans weren’t
bothered. They wanted Leonard fit for the playoffs. How he managed it was his
business. Even the media refused to pick up the story.
如果可爱整季都要花时间在Boca的泳池旁边，大概只有暴龙球迷会注意到。
但暴龙球迷并不会在意，他们希望可爱季后赛的时候可以健康。他要怎么
做是他自己的事，媒体甚至不想报导这件事。
That situation has changed. Somewhere between his “fun guy” intro and his
T-1000 routine in the playoffs, Leonard has become the most fascinating man
in the league. He was always good, but is now recognized as basketball’s
most reliable closer. He’s leap-frogged the Jameses, Currys and Durants in
the U.S. imagination.
情况改变了。在他的"方盖"个性和季后赛的T-1000型号魔鬼终结者之间，可爱已经
变成了联盟中最迷人的人物。他总是很棒，但现在他变成篮球比赛中最值得信赖的
终结者。在美国的想像中，他已经超过詹姆斯、curry和杜兰特。
In an age of carefully curated public personalities, Leonard’s lack of one
seems revolutionary. He’s become the Thomas Pynchon of pro sports.
Completely inscrutable, but everyone wants to pretend they understand him.
在精心塑造个人形象的时代，可爱没有个性的形像是革命性的。他完全无法被理解，
但每个人都想要假装自己了解他。
Leonard presumed he could move to the U.S.'s second-biggest media market,
take a wing-dinger of a contract, create an outrageous amount of tumult
around the manner of his arrival (Batman with his hand-picked Robin, Paul
George) and then just continue on as he had. Apparently not.
可爱被认为他可以来到美国第二大的媒体市场，拿着巨额的合约，随着他的到来
创造大量的风潮（蝙蝠侠带着他自己挑选的罗宾-乔治)，并且继续做他原本在做
的事。但显然事情不是这样发展的
Acquiring Leonard turned the L.A. Clippers into must-see TV. The team will
appear in two, and sometimes three, nationally televised games each week. The
next one happens Monday, against the visiting Raptors. Leonard gets the main
Christmas Day time slot – 8 p.m. ET against the Lakers.
可爱的到来让快艇变成必须要在电视上出现的队伍，它每周都会在全国电视上出现
二～三次。下一次是周一对上来访的暴龙，而且可爱还会出现在耶诞大战中。
In moving to L.A., Leonard took a squadron of camp aides with him. They
oversee his physical well-being. He is more of a subcontractor of the
Clippers than an employee. As such, he sets his own hours.
来到LA，可爱带来了一整票人在他身边监控他的健康状况。他跟快艇之间比较像
是承包商关系，而不是员工。所以他可以安排他自己的时间。
He has continued his Toronto practice of skipping a game when the team plays
on consecutive nights. On Wednesday, he took a pass on a fairly big occasion
– Clippers versus Bucks (i.e. Kawhi versus Giannis).
他继续施行在暴龙队施行的不打背靠背比赛政策。只是这次他省略了一个相当重要的
比赛：快艇对公鹿（可爱对字母哥）
Everyone freaked out. The U.S. press piled in as though he’d missed work
because he was hungover. It became a great big story.
每个人都吓坏了，媒体以为他是因为宿醉酒喝太多才缺席工作（疑？）。这变成一个
大事件
Even the most pragmatic members of the broadcast media were outraged. No
wonder. If the stars don’t care about the regular season, then why should
the fans? That is not a good precedent for the TV business.
甚至连最务实的传播媒体都不爽了。如果球星不在乎例行赛，那球迷干麻在乎，
这对整个电视圈不是一个好的先例。
The Clippers tried the same load-management line the Raptors had sneaked by
easily. It no longer works. The league fined the team US$50,000 for sitting a
healthy star.
快艇想要尝试跟暴龙一样的负载管理，但它不在管用了，联盟罚了它们$50000。
The money doesn’t matter. Leonard makes nearly 10 times that amount per
outing, whether he plays. But the signal it sends does. Load management is no
longer kosher.
钱不重要，可爱每场赚的钱是它的10倍，不管他有没有打。但它所传达的讯息却不是，
负载管理已经不再合适了。
By that point, the Clippers had figured out an important life lesson – that
it isn’t what you tell people, it’s how you tell them. “Load management”
became “managing a knee injury.” The two things are the same (if there’s
no injury load to manage, there’d be no need to manage it). But one sounds
better. The NBA agreed.
这时候，快艇学到重要的一课：不是你告诉人们什么，而是你如何告诉他们的。
"负载管理"变成了"管理膝伤"。这两个基本上一样（如果没有伤势需要管理，
那也不需要去管理它）。但这听起来好多了，所以联盟也同意了。
It’s working for now. It may not work for long.
这个现在还行的通，但能够用多久？
You can see other teams and coaches losing their patience. The Clippers play
a back-to-back next week – at Houston and New Orleans. The Houston game is
nationally televised. It would be very like Leonard to skip that one, just to
make a point. We’ll see how that goes over.
你可以看到其它队伍和教练已经失去了他们的耐心了。快艇下周又会在背靠背打
火箭和黄蜂。火箭的比赛是全国转播的，但大概也是可爱会跳过的。我们会看看
这事要怎么落幕
After the New York Knicks’ R.J. Barrett played 41 minutes the other night,
his coach was asked to justify the expenditure of energy. He was not best
pleased.
在纽约新秀打了41分钟后，他的教练被问到他的上场时间是否合适，教练很不高兴：
“We gotta get off this load-management crap,” David Fizdale said. “The kid
’s 19 years old. Drop it.”
"负载管理是什么鬼东西？，这个孩子才19岁大，不要去管那个"
Which guarantees no one will drop it.
谁能够保证大家都不去理它呢？
You can see the NBA’s double-bind here. The league is paid a lot of money by
broadcasters. Broadcasters who expect to be broadcasting the biggest stars
from the biggest teams on a nightly basis. Leonard is now the biggest in both
regards. What if the rest of the talent starts getting notions?
你可以看到NBA的两难。联盟从转播单位得到了很多钱，转播单位期待说他们每晚
都可以转播到最好球队里最好的球星的出赛。可爱是目前最大牌的球员，又在最受注目
的队伍里。如果其它队伍的球星也注意到了怎么办？
Teams expect the rules will be enforced evenly. No one cared what Leonard did
in Toronto. But now that everyone’s attention has been focused on him, it
looks as though he’s getting special treatment.
每个队伍都希望可以公平执法。没有人在乎可爱在多伦多做了什么。但现在大家的
注意力都在他身上，仿佛就像是他获得了特殊待遇。
Thus far, Leonard’s said nothing and felt no need to do so. The man is a
stump – immovable. The last time a team tried to force him to do something,
he essentially quit. If the NBA gets on top of him here, things could get
unpredictable in a hurry.
目前，可爱什么都没说也觉得没有必要这么做（注：有说联盟公布他的伤让他震惊）
这个男人跟树一样无法移动。上次有队伍逼他做事的时候，他辞职了。如果联盟要
逼他，事情很快的会无法预测。
One thing we do know about Leonard is that he doesn’t like fuss. He wants to
be left alone to do his work. He had that freedom in Toronto. Now, in L.A.,
not so much.
我们知道可爱不喜欢小题大作，他想要自己一个人去完成他的工作。在多伦多，他有
这样的自由，在LA，没有太多。
You can never know what’s going through Leonard’s mind. But one does wonder
if he’s beginning to consider whether getting exactly what you want is all it
’s cracked up to be.
你永远不知道可爱在想什么。但我们会想知道他是否会开始想要不要得到他一定要得
到的事。
心得：
这个介绍其实还蛮完整的