[外電] 老闆談美國隊

[DonNelson (達拉斯遊騎兵)]

http://www.sportsline.com/columns/weblogs/entry/9631872

Going international -- and paying for it
國際化 -- 並付出代價

You are about to read some of the smartest analysis from any NBA player, coach
or official about why it seems the Americans, when it comes to international
basketball play, couldn't beat a foreign team composed of three French Poodles
and two third-graders if their lives depended on it.
你大概已經聽過不少 NBA球員、教練或官員的分析，關於為什麼當美國隊去打國際賽時，
沒辦法幹掉只不過由三個法國獅子狗和兩個三流球員所組成的外國球隊，即使他們可是靠
著打球混飯吃的。

This is why we stink in international hoops, why we finish in third place
despite having delicious NBA stars on the roster, or at least how Dallas owner
Mark Cuban sees it. And he's right. He's so right that by the time you are done
reading this you will be nodding your head in agreement.
這就是為什麼我們在國際籃壇臭名遠播，為什麼我們只拿到第三名儘管我們的陣容裡有上
好的 NBA明星，換句話說，至少達拉斯的老闆 Mark Cuban 看到了這些。而且他是對的。
他的正確性會讓你在看完這篇文章後同意地點著你的腦袋。

"I can make it easy for you," Cuban said when I asked him to give me 10 steps
to make America's international basketball experience more successful -- and
less like having a left testicle being hit with a ball peen hammer. "Either
we change all levels of basketball in the USA to play by international rules,
or we get them to play by U.S. basketball rules.
「我可以很簡單地弄給你看，」當我要求他給我 10 個步驟來讓美國的國際賽經驗能夠更
完美時，Cuban 說的話至少就像你左邊的蛋蛋被槌到一樣地一針見血。「要嘛就是我們改
變美國國內所有的規則去配合國際賽，要嘛就是我們讓全世界都用美國的規則。」

"I would be willing to bet that if you brought back all the same teams in the
final eight and played under NBA rules," Cuban said, "with an NBA ball on an
NBA-sized court, we would torch them. The different rules require different
skill sets. It's that simple.
「我敢打賭，如果你把所有同樣的隊伍帶到季後賽然後用美國的規則打，」Cuban 說。「
用 NBA 的球在 NBA 規格的場地，我們可以放火燒了他們。不同的規則需要用到不同的技
巧模式。就是這麼簡單。」

"If one set of rules isn't natural to you, you will struggle to adapt," Cuban
continued in his e-mail. "We hear it all the time about international players
having to adapt to the NBA game. Here the rules are geared towards
entertainment, which is a good thing. But if we changed to international rules,
we would have a completely different set of stars and teams would be
constructed and coached completely differently."
「如果某套規則對你來說很不自然，你將很難去適應，」Cuban 繼續在他的 e-mail 裡論
述。「我們老是聽到關於國際球員必須去適應在 NBA的比賽，這裡的規則是以娛樂為目的
訂立的。但如果我們改用國際規則，我們會有一群完全不同的明星、完全不同的建隊模式
以及完全不同的帶隊方法。」

The international teams put more emphasis on pure shooting, for example. They
don't care as much about slam dunks. They want to make outside shots, not
highlight shows.
舉例來說，國際球隊把更多的重點放在基本的投籃。他們不太在乎灌籃。他們要做的是外
線投籃，不是十大好球。

Don't stop reading. Cuban is just getting warmed up.
不要轉台，Cuban 正在做準備。

"And as far as wondering why the USA can't dominate the Olympics like the
original Dream Teams, there is an easy answer," he said. "We plugged in our
NBA stars to play against international teams that had been comprised of
non-professionals forever. While at the same time the Soviet Union imploded,
so the one team that also was filled with professionals didn't exist any
longer."
「然後如果要探究為什麼（現在的）美國隊無法像夢一一樣稱霸奧運，這答案也非常簡單
，」他說。「我們不讓我們的 NBA明星有對抗國際球隊的機會，老是派些業餘的出去打。
而且剛好（夢一）那時蘇聯瓦解，所以這支也由職業球員所組成的球隊沒能存在太久。」
（言下之意就是說蘇聯瓦解所以夢一唯一的對手派不出人來......老闆真勁爆。）

"Of course the U.S. teams were going to kill any and every team," Cuban
continued. "It was our stars against their amateurs. Well, 15 years later,
they have had plenty of time to integrate their professionals into their teams.
Their national teams not only start playing together much younger, they play
together every summer and their players go pro younger. So they have
professional players who are now playing together every summer, year after
year, for well-funded national teams. On top of that, the top Euro (teams)
play against each other. They get friendlies that are competitive. The U.S.
team played against creampuffs a couple times before the tournament."
「當然美國隊曾經橫掃任何球隊，」Cuban 繼續說。「那是因為我們派明星去打他們的業
餘。嗯，15年前，當時的他們有足夠的時間把職業球員整合起來，當時的國家隊不只是在
很年輕的時候就開始一起打球，而且他們是在還沒進職業的每個暑假都一起打球。所以當
時他們擁有每個暑假都在一起打球的職業球員，組成了漢草很好的隊伍。

That makes so much sense my head hurts.
這番話讓我那疼痛的腦袋非常有感覺。

Cuban is not trying to diss the Dream Team, but what he says is true. That team
did not play a series of pro teams. They played scrubs. It was like the Dallas
Cowboys taking on a state college.
Cuban 無意靠北夢幻隊，但他說的是真的。這支球隊沒有打一系列的賽前賽，他們是臨時
湊成的。這就像達拉斯牛仔隊打州大隊伍一樣。

Then Cuban says something that at first I don't agree with, but then, after
reading what he says, his argument sways me.
然後 Cuban說了些我一開始不贊同的話，但之後在我看了他所說的一切，他的理論折服了
我。

"All that said, I personally think that the NBA, from a business perspective,
is stupid for letting our players play at all," Cuban explains. "We absorb all
the risk and we have gained little if anything from it. Well, that's not
completely true. (The) last six to 10 years of international competition have
led media to call our players selfish, without basic basketball skills, ugly
Americans and worse. This year's team was far better behaved and that's great.
But we put ourselves in a no-win, everything-to-lose situation (just ask
Memphis). That’s not good business. Ever."
「我的意思是，我個人認為，從商業的角度來看 NBA，讓我們的球員一天到晚打球簡直就
是笨，」Cuban 解釋。「我們要吸收所有的風險，而即使我們可以從中得到些什麼，那也
是微乎其微。嗯，這不完全是事實。過去十年來的六支（國家）隊伍讓媒體把我們的球員
稱作自私鬼，缺乏基本功，醜陋與糟糕的美國人。這支年度球隊確實很好。但我們根本啥
都沒贏，每件事情都處在輸掉的狀態（也可以問看看曼菲斯這種感覺）。這生意簡直糟透
了。」

When I tell Cuban that -- to borrow a lame phrase being used about another
topic altogether -- refusing to play, instead of fixing the problems, would be
cutting and running, he responds: "It's just a financial decision. The Olympics
is nothing but a big business. It's not a platform for national pride. They are
a competitor for advertising and TV dollars. Lending them our best players is a
dumb business decision. It has nothing to do with winning or losing."
當我告訴 Cuban -- 我借用一段話來作為這另一個議論的標題 -- 用拒絕打球來代替解決
問題是否本末倒置，他如此回應：「這不過是個財務上的考量。奧運只不過是個大生意而
已，它不是一個讓國家自大的平臺，他們（奧運官方）是要競爭廣告和轉播收入的人。為
此借出我們最優秀的球員在生意上是個蠢斃了的決定。這跟輸贏根本沒關係。」

The Americans have everything to lose while international clubs have everything
to gain. Keeping our NBA players out of it and reengineering the international
team to play a more international style might be the best thing to do.
當世界各國在各方面都獲勝時，美國人卻在各方面都落敗了。把我們的 NBA球員從那之中
抽離出來而以國際的方式對付國際隊,或許會是最好的作法。

As usual, Cuban makes too much sense.
總之， Cuban 的感觸良多。

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