Damian Lillard is an optimist. At least he was optimistic Wednesday, hours befor
e a disappointing loss in Boston, where I caught up with him on the TD Garden fl
oor. Despite Portland’s rocky season—31–35 entering Friday-night’s game in P
hiladelphia—Lillard still believed the Trail Blazers could salvage it.
Damian Lillard是一位乐观主义者。至少在星期三的时候是这样，在惨败赛提前的几个小时
，我在TD花园球场上找到了他。尽管波特兰的本赛季表现不佳——在周五晚上前往费城比赛
时的战绩是31胜35败——但Lillard仍然相信他们能够挽救这个局面。
It looks like we’re struggling, but there are [five] teams with 33 or 34 losses
,” Lillard says. “So it looks like, ‘Oh, you know, trying to get a play-in sp
ot.’ But everybody’s playing each other and everybody’s in the same thing. We
could end up fifth. In a perfect world, it’s possible. Right now, we just have
to keep fighting and try to be one of those teams that comes out on the other s
ide.”
Lillard说：我们看起来有些吃力，但还有其他五支球队也输了33或34场比赛。所以，大家
都在互相竞争，争取一个季后赛名额。在理想的情况下，我们可以跻身前五名。这是有可能
的。现在我们只需要继续奋斗，努力成为那些能够脱颖而出的球队之一。
This isn’t a column calling for the Blazers to trade Lillard. Or for Lillard to
ask for a trade. That story is old. Tired. Done. Lillard is committed to Portla
nd. He has said so publicly. He has contractually locked himself in. He plays to
win championships. He is just hell-bent on winning one with the Blazers.
这不是一篇呼吁拓荒者交易Lillard的专栏。也不是为了让Lillard提出申请交易的请求。Li
llard致力于波特兰，他已经公开表态过了。他在合约上签下了承诺。他为赢得冠军而打球
。他非常渴望和拓荒者赢得一座冠军。
The question is, how do they do it? Portland has some nice pieces. Anfernee Simo
ns can score. Matisse Thybulle can defend. Jerami Grant can do both. The Blazers
have dealt with injuries over the season like most teams. But if the playoffs s
tarted today, Portland would not be part of it.
问题是，他们应该怎么做？拓荒者有一些不错的球员，Anfernee Simons能得分，Matisse T
hybulle能防守，Jerami Grant两者兼备。 就像大多数球队一样，本赛季拓荒者也遭遇了伤
病问题。 但如果季后赛今天开打的话，波特兰将不会是其中的一支球队。
It’s just been one of those seasons for us where we have had a lot of adversity
,” Lillard says. “We haven’t been able to hit our stride at any point in the
season. That’s the first time I’ve ever experienced that in my career.”
Lillard：这个赛季对我们来说，一直都是充满著挑战和困难，我们始终没有找到自己的状
态。 这是我职业生涯中第一次遇到这种情况。
Lillard needs help. It’s Portland general manager Joe Cronin’s job to get it f
or him. Cronin is in his first full season as the Blazers’ top basketball exec,
a job he ascended to after Neil Olshey was fired in 2021. His tenure has been
… unremarkable. He traded CJ McCollum—a move that needed to happen—netting wh
at amounted to Josh Hart and a first-round pick. He flipped Hart for Thybulle an
d Cam Reddish. His wheeling and dealing has so far amounted to little more than
a shuffling of deck chairs.
Lillard需要帮助，而总经理Joe Cronin就是为他提供帮助的人，2021年Neil Olshey被解雇
后，他接替了这个职位。然而，他的任期至今还没有取得亮眼的成绩。他交易CJ McCollum
至鹈鹕，得到了Josh Hart和一个首轮选秀权，然后他又用Hart换来了Matisse Thybulle和C
am Reddish，但他的一系列交易行动似乎只是在处理表面问题，并未真正解决球队的核心问
题。
It will take a well-executed plan to get Portland to a championship-caliber leve
l.
Does Lillard see one?
I definitely can understand what the plan is,” Lillard says. “Me and Joe, one
thing we do have is transparency. He knows what I want. I want to win. I want to
win in Portland, and he’s expressed the same to me. He’s told me, ‘We want t
o give you every opportunity to win.’
拓荒者想要达到冠军水准，必须执行一个良好的计划。Lillard认为有吗？他说：我绝对可
以理解计划是什么，我和Joe有很好的沟通，他清楚知道我的需求。我想赢球，我想在波特
兰赢球，而他也向我表达了同样的想法。他告诉我，我们会给你每一个赢球的机会。
“But there comes a time where we have the right intentions, [but] we’ve got to
execute. We have to actually make that come to life, to give ourselves a chance
to really make a run at it. And because of who I know him to be, I trust him on
that. I don’t ever think he would tell me one thing and then not do it. If any
thing, it would just be like, ‘We did our best and we couldn’t do it. And what
happens then?
Lillard：但是有时候即使我们有好的意图，也是需要去实践它。我们必须让这个计划实现
，让我们有机会真正追求冠军。因为我认识他，我无条件的信任着他。我永远不认为他会告
诉我一件事然后不去实现它。最多就是他会说，我们尽力了但没有成功。那之后会发生什么
？
I think I’ve always been firm in my commitment to what I want and to this organ
ization, and that’s where it stands right now,” Lillard says. “But like I sai
d, if it comes time where they say, ‘Man, we can’t get it done, maybe it’s ti
me for us to turn a page,’ I don’t think that will be the case, but we’ll see
. Right now, all I know is I want to win.”
Lillard：我对自己一直以来所追求的目标和对于球队的承诺都非常坚定，现在的状况就是
这样，不过，如果有一天他们告诉我：我们办不到了，或许是时候该翻开新的一页了，我不
认为会发生这样的情况，但我们还是要看情况而定。现在，我所知道的就是我想赢球。
It’s not impossible. The most important piece of a title contender is a franchi
se player. Lillard is it. He’s 32 and remains at the peak of his powers. He is
averaging career highs in scoring and field goal percentage. He is taking 11 thr
ee-pointers a game and making 37.5% of them. Some wondered whether the injury th
at interrupted the 2021–22 season was a sign of decline.
赢得总冠军最重要的一环是球队的核心球员，Lillard就是他们的核心。他现年32岁，依然
处于职业生涯的巅峰，场均得分和命中率都达到了职业生涯新高，场均出手11个三分球
，命中率达到了37.5%。有一些人担心2021-22赛季的受伤会是衰退的迹象
For Lillard, it was rejuvenating.
“I feel as good as I felt in a long time,” Lillard says. “Dealing with that [
abdominal] injury, it was just stressful. Because I knew I wasn’t right. Being
up late, being sore all the time, not being able to move, knowing I was limited,
not knowing how my body was going to respond and s