[外電] An ode to a different kind of NBA failure

[LABOYS (洛城浪子)]

An ode to a different kind of NBA failure
對於另一種失敗的禮讚。

原文網址 : http://0rz.tw/zW85f

Just before last night's comfortable 103-89 victory over the Washington
Wizards, news broke that a three team deal had been agreed in principle
between the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets, and the New Jersey Nets.
 The deal sends two first round picks (one from L.A., one from Houston) to
New Jersey, who plan to use those picks as further enticement in a trade
package for Carmelo Anthony, troubled shooting guard Terrence Williams moves
from New Jersey to Houston, and the Lakers pick up Joe Smith as further
insurance against the health of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Theo Ratliff.
 But the deal has a final piece; Just like that, Sasha Vujacic is no longer a
member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

就在昨晚和華盛頓巫師那場103-89的大勝之前，
新聞爆出湖人，籃網，火箭之間完成了一起三方交易。

籃網得到了湖人跟火箭的第一輪選秀權，
這將成為他們 用來換取Camelo Anthony的籌碼；
而麻煩不斷的SG Terrence Williams則從籃網換到了火箭，
湖人得到了Joe Smith作為雙塔Andrew Bynum，Pau Gasol以及Theo Raliff的保險。

而交易最後的一塊關鍵拼圖，是湖人丟出Sasha Vujacic。

Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic might be the unofficial winner of the
undistinguished award for "Most disliked player in the NBA."  Fans don't like
him.  Players don't like him.  Coaches don't like him.  There may be more
fans who dislike Kobe Bryant, and for that matter, LeBron James might be
running away with the category.  The people who dislike those players
certainly do so with more passion than gets reserved for a relative nobody
like Vujacic.  The key difference, however, lies in the fact that just about
all of the vitriol directed at those two players comes from outside of their
home fanbase.  Within the friendly confines of their home arenas, Kobe and
LeBron are gods.  Sasha faces animosity from all sides.  Even Laker fans
don't like him.

Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic，也許是毫無爭議的"NBA最討人厭球員"獎者主。
球迷不愛他， 球員不愛他，教練也不愛他。

也許不喜歡Kobe Bryant的人更多，而討厭LeBron James也不遑多讓。
而那些不喜歡他們的人對他們必定是充滿自身情緒的厭惡，
而不是會白費力氣耗在無關的其他人，比如Vujacic身上。

這其中最主要的差別就在於，
那些用尖銳的語言去刻薄他們兩人的球員都不是所在球隊的球迷。
在那些球迷心中，Kobe跟LeBron就是神。
而Sasha不管在哪都備受挑剔，就算是湖迷也不愛他。

Sasha's career arc can't really be described as a roller coaster; it's more
of a sharp peak, like the sales of a one-hit wonder, or the trend graph of
"double rainbow".  On paper, Sasha fits the mold of so many NBA
disappointments who have gone before him.  This is his seventh season in the
league, and only one of those seasons is remembered fondly.  That season just
so happened to be the year before his free agency, and on the basis of that
year, Vujacic received a 3 year/$15 million contract that now makes him
massively overpaid.  It fits the mold of one of the NBA's most generic (and
accurate) cliches, the NBA player in a contract year.  It's a well known
phenomenon that players who are in the final year of their contract try
harder and perform better, in the hopes of landing a lengthy and lucrative
contract.  Many of these types go right back to under-performing as soon as
they get paid.  Tim Thomas had an entire 13 year career based entirely on
playing for a new contract every third season.  However, to attach that
phenomenon to Sasha Vujacic is massively unfair.  The hallmark of a "contract
year" player is laziness,  that he will only perform his best with the
motivation of being paid more staring him directly in the face.  Sasha has
never been lazy, never lacked motivation.  The problem with a "contract year"
player is that he doesn't care enough to try his hardest unless he sees a
direct, personal gain to be made.

Sasha的職業生涯並不能用單純的角色球員來定義，如同一座起伏的山脈，
高峰曇花一現，又如同雙層彩虹一樣的趨勢。(delta function?)

從數據上來看，Sasha的生涯就像之前那麼多讓人失望的球員一樣。
這是他進入NBA的第7年，只有其中1個球季他讓人留下了愉快的回憶。
而那個球季卻剛好是他的合約年，靠著那年的好表現，
Sasha拿到了一份3年1500萬的合約，而這份約也讓他承受了高薪低就的臭名。

他的表現符合了NBA最普遍（也是最正確）的慣例：合約年 = 本命年。
這是一種眾所皆知的現象：當球員身處合約最後一年的時候，
他們會更加努力表現得更好，希望能得到更長更大的合約，
甚至很多球員簽了合約之後表現馬上被打回原型。

Tim Thomas的13年職業生涯每到合約第三年就表現的特別出色。
不管怎麼說，把Sasha Vujacic跟這種現象擺在一起是不太公平的。
“合約年 = 本命年”球員最主要的特徵就是懶惰，
他們只有在能拿到更多錢的時候他們才能有動力在球場上全力表現。

而Sasha從來都不是懶惰的球員，他也不缺乏動力。
而“合約年 = 本命年”球員的最大問題就在於除非受到利益驅使，
否則他們才不會在乎在場上表現得怎樣。


Sasha Vujacic's problem is, and has always been, that he cares too much.

而反之Sasha Vujacic的問題，一直都是，他太在乎。


Sasha Vujacic plays basketball as if every second on the court will be his
last.  This description is sometimes used metaphorically to describe someone
who plays hard all the time, someone who never leaves anything in reserve.
 It's usually considered a positive quality.  Such usage, though
aesthetically pleasing, is inaccurate.  Hollywood consistently idolizes how
people spend their last moments, illustrating heroism and calm.  In reality,
unless final moments involve a great deal of mental and physical preparation,
they are often marked by the most powerful and instinctual of emotions: Fear
and panic.  Very few people on this earth have the mental strength and
composure to think clearly with a gun pointed to their head.  Sasha plays
with a gun to his head every time he sets foot on the court.

Sasha Vujacic打球的方式，就好像是上場的每一秒鐘都是他的最後一秒。
這種比喻有時候是用來描述那些一直努力的球員，那些拼戰不留餘力的球員。
這本來是一種積極向上的優良特質。這種習慣，

雖然從美學角度上來說，這是不準確的。
好萊塢總是宣揚那些人們如何度過最後的時光，塑造著英雄主義和冷靜。
但是事實上，除非你為了最後的階段做了足夠的心理和生理上的準備，
否則一般人都是充滿了最強烈也最本能的情感：恐懼和痛苦。
這世上很少有人的精神力能強大到在被一把槍抵著腦袋的時候還能保持鎮定。

而Sasha每次上場時，都好像有一把槍在抵著他的腦袋。

That mentality is why he has become so universally despised.  Fans and
players from opposing teams don't like him because he takes unnecessary three
point shots at the end of blowout wins, or because his goal from the second
he enters the game is to be as annoying as possible to his defensive mark.
 He doesn't play by the same code as all the other professional athletes,
because to him, this is not a matter of profession, but a matter of life and
death.  Add those factors in with non-basketball related qualities (his
nickname is both arrogant and massively misplaced, he plays for the Lakers,
he wears a girly hairband) and it's easy to see why the majority of world
outside of Southern California doesn't appreciate Sasha very much.

這種精神狀態是他顯得不惹人愛的原因。
對方球員跟球迷不喜歡他，因為他總是在勝負已定的時候投沒有必要的3分，

或者是因為他每次上場的目標就是迅速變身煩人裝忙的防守球員。
他和其他職業球員表現的不一樣，因為對他來說，這無關職業，而是有如生與死的大事。

把這些個因素，再加上一些與籃球無關的細節
（他的綽號既傲慢又不合適，他在湖人打球，他戴一個娘砲般的頭帶），
你很容易就明白為什麼除了南加州以外的地區幾乎都不怎麼喜歡他。

Within Lakers Nation, Sasha is disliked because his mental approach to the
game causes foolish decisions.  He fouls people 50 feet from the basket with
two seconds left in the half.  He shoots long jump shots with 18 seconds on
the shot clock in garbage time.  He rushes an open shot in .3 seconds when he
could take twice that much time to set his feet and gather himself.  All of
these decisions are stupid within the context of the game, but for Sasha
there is no context.  Another tried and true effort-related cliche is the one
about the player who's motor is always running, but even the most energetic
of players knows that he needs to keep that motor at 95% or he'll be out of
control.  Sasha Vujacic is red-lining at all times, and he cares too much to
know how to turn it down or shut it off.  If Kobe Bryant's veins are filled
with ice, Sasha must bleed molten lava.

而在湖人王國裡，人們不喜歡Sasha，
是因為他對待比賽的態度總是容易做出愚蠢的選擇。
他在半場結束前還剩2秒時對一個離籃框還有50英尺遠的球員犯規；
垃圾時間裡進攻時間還有18秒他就出手投籃；
拿到球0.3秒他就衝動的丟3分，而他本來可以花更多的時間來調整步伐命中這次投籃。
這些選擇在比賽中看起來都顯得很愚蠢，
但對於Sasha而言，他並沒有考慮到比賽的現況。

另一條不變的定律是他總是火力全開，但就算是最有精力的球員都知道，
得把自己的功率輸出控制在95%左右，否則火力將會不受控制。
Sasha Vujacic則是永遠都處於紅色警戒的狀態，他太在乎，
完全不懂何時該減少功率，或者乾脆關掉它。
如果說Kobe Bryant一直如冰霜般冷靜，那麼Sasha的血液就像是火山裡的熔岩了。

It's a pitiable condition, but if you really think about it, isn't it also
just a tad bit refreshing?  Sasha is hardly the first NBA player to fail to
live up to his potential.  There are tons of player storylines which mirror
Sasha's in terms of production, and in the end, what a basketball player can
do on the court is all that will define him.  Most of the players that fit
into this category can all share the same criticisms:  Player X didn't work
hard enough, Player Y's heart isn't in basketball.  Shouldn't we have a soft
spot in our hearts for a guy that wants it so bad that he trips all over
himself trying to get it?  As fans, we see so many players who fail to make
it in the league and think wishfully to ourselves "If only I had his
talent/size/skills/athleticism", but we can't say that about Sasha.  The
truth is, where you might look at Sasha and see nothing but nerves, failure,
and long hair, I see one of us.

這其實很可憐，但如果你坐下來認真想一想的話，
這是不是有那麼一點的讓人耳目一新呢？

Sasha並不是第一個無法發揮出自己全部潛力的球員。
有許多人的故事都和他如出一轍，而一個籃球員在場上能做的一切就定義了他這個球員。
大部分這樣的球員都能聽到同樣的批評：球員X不夠努力，球員Y的心不在球場上。

我們內心深處，
難道沒有一個柔軟的地方留給這樣一個如此努力，付出了一切，如此渴望的球員嗎？

作為球迷，我們看過太多球員不能在聯盟裡闖出一番名堂，
我們一定在心底都曾暗自想過 "要是拎北有他的天賦/體格/技巧/運動能力"...etc，
但是我們卻不能這樣指責Sasha。
事實上，你從Sasha身上能看到的只有緊張，失敗，長髮，如同我們自己。

It takes a certain mental makeup to be successful as a performer in any
trade.  You have to be able to cope with pressure, to perform well as other
people watch your every move.  No matter who you are, it takes time and
experience to have the confidence to perform under these circumstances, but,
just like any other skill, there are some people who are more adept at it,
and some who just can't do it.  If, overnight, you became 6'7", developed a
sweet shooting stroke and the other necessary skills and athleticism to
compete in the league, do you really think you'd be able to step on the court
and perform at a high level?  I'm honest enough to know that I couldn't do
it.  Maybe over time I could learn, but right at the start, I'd play like
Sasha does.  And there's a decent portion of the population that would never
be able to improve under those circumstances.  The honest truth is that there
may not be a player more relatable to the common man than Sasha Vujacic.

在任何交易場面中，你都需要偽裝你自己來表現得很成功。
你得學會面對壓力，在所有人緊盯著你的一舉一動時要試著表現自己的優點。
不管你是誰，你都需要時間和經驗才能有自信在這樣的環境下表現自己。

但是，如同其他技巧一樣，總是有些人比你更擅長，而有些人學不會就是學不會。
你真的覺得你能夠上場去呈現一個高水準的自己嗎？我誠實的說，我做不到。
也許假以時日苦練我能夠成功，但一開始，我會打的跟Sasha一樣。
而還有很多人在這種情況下永遠都無法做到。
其實，再也沒有任何一個球員比Sasha Vujacic表現的更貼近普通人了。

Sasha is hardly the only person in the world who could never deal with the
pressure of performing, but it is a rare feat to make it all the way to the
top without developing a certain amount of composure.  I'm sure that there
are thousands of people who had all the necessary physical tools to make it
as an NBA athlete and lack the mental capacity, but most of these people wash
out well before reaching the peak of their profession.  That is what makes
Sasha unique.  I have no idea how he made it this far.  Maybe it is only the
pressure of the NBA, or of being a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, that he
finds suffocating.  Maybe he has made an entire career out of being a
"practice player".  Either way, it makes his one good season all the more
remarkable.  For one glorious year, Sasha Vujacic's mind operated on the same
ethereal plane as the rest of the NBA, and the result was a potent scorer and
feisty defender who was good enough to be the 6th man of an NBA Finalist.  If
his story were made for Hollywood, it would have ended there with a fade to
black, and possibly a 10 years later shot where we see that Sasha had a
successful NBA career from that moment forward.  Reality will not be so kind.

Sasha不會是這個世界上唯一一個無法在壓力面前呈現自我的球員，
但他一直沒辦法培養出一定的冷靜在這個聯盟裡還是非常少見。

我相信有數以千計的人有著各種成為NBA球員的生理條件卻缺乏心理素質，
但他們中大多數人都放棄去成為職業球員。
這是Sasha的獨到之處。我真的不知道他是怎麼撐過來的。

也許只是因為NBA的壓力，又或者是作為紫金湖人的一員讓他無法喘息。
也許他整個職業生涯都無法再成為一名有用的球員。
不管怎樣，這都讓他更加具有標誌性。
在他輝煌的那年，Sasha Vujacic的意志和聯盟裡的其他球員並沒有不同，
這股意志讓他成為了一個很棒的射手，
以及能夠擔當總冠軍球隊第六人的一個有活力的防守球員。

如果是好萊塢來說他的故事的話，那麼故事應該就會到此結束，然後螢幕逐漸變暗，
說不定就會跳到10年後，說Sasha從那以後擁有了一個成功的NBA職業生涯。
然而現實總是殘酷。

For that reason, I encourage you to think fondly of Sasha "The Machine"
Vujacic.  Remember him not for his foolish mistakes, but for the fact that
nobody, not even Kobe Bryant himself, cared more about being a Laker, and a
basketball player.  Don't deride him as overrated, or criticize him for
tricking a GM into an overpaid contract.  Instead, reflect on the one season
in which he was allowed to live his dream, and think about how you'd react if
you were in the same situation, and the dream started slowly slipping away.
 Sasha Vujacic is the closest thing to one of us that exists in the NBA.  On
Sunday, he entered the game against the New Jersey Nets at the end of the
first quarter, and played a grand total of eight seconds.  You can bet, just
as we might do, he played that eight seconds like it would be the last he
would ever play.

因此，我希望你能更多的想想Sasha “The Machine”Vujacic的優點。

不是因為他那些愚蠢的錯誤，而是因為事實上，
甚至或許連Kobe Bryant都比不上他更在意自己身為一個湖人隊員，
以及身為一個籃球球員的身份。

別嘲笑他一直被高估，或者諷刺他騙到了一份大肥約。
不如把那個賽季當作他終於夢想成真了，想想如果是你的話，你會怎麼做，
以及他的夢將如何悄悄的消逝。

Sasha Vujacic對於我們來說是NBA球員中最接近我們的形象。
周日在湖人對籃網的比賽時，他在第一節末端上場，然後打了8秒鐘的當下，
你可以料想的到，就像我們會做的那樣，這8秒鐘對於他而言就像是職業生涯的最後一刻。


Finally, tragically, at least as it pertains to being a Laker, he was right.

只是最後悲劇的是，這對於他作為湖人的生涯而言，他是正確的。


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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 140.113.123.33
推 AlexSky:未看先推~~LA大沒睡!?(￣▽￣)~*
→ LABOYS:還沒~
※ 編輯: LABOYS          來自: 140.113.123.33       (12/18 06:52)
推 dannywhat:翻這篇不容易  推
推 kerry0496x:推翻譯
推 angelmax:這篇作者是莎莎粉絲吧XDD 觀察太入微了~  推長篇翻譯
推 zealeliot:淚推莎莎 希望跟農夫撐起籃網後場~
推 kerry0496x:不過，殺殺即使場上拼，練習量卻比不過香濃
→ kerry0496x:香濃號稱整個暑假都待在體育館，也很受教，肯改進姿勢
→ kerry0496x:殺殺還是很堅持要用橫移...   場下練習是非常重要的
推 Terminator99:在場上拼沒用啊，又沒基本功是要拼啥
→ lword:這篇描述殺殺描寫的有夠貼切~~
推 spko:這篇寫得真好，翻得也很棒，讓我想到一個更適合Sasha的外號：
→ spko:Sasha Vujacic, a.k.a. "Another Master of Panic"
→ spko:他比Stan Van Gundy更適合「恐慌大師」這個外號 XDDD
推 ssom:T___T
推 hikaruton:這篇讓我很感動~其實真得很喜歡沙沙~這篇都講出來了~
推 GANZ:殺殺年合約年也是像香濃現在這樣火熱,誰知道簽了以後就...
→ GANZ:希望香濃不會重蹈覆轍
推 bigbenrun:祝福Sasha~其實蠻喜歡他的打球態度~但有時卻不明智
推 lave70:該怎麼說呢 有打球該有的態度跟衝勁 但是不大用腦判斷@@
→ lave70:威力因此大大折扣
→ lave70:大打折扣
※ LABOYS:轉錄至看板 NBA                                           12/18 11:15
推 DDDDing:推一下，他真的很努力...
推 ralph0619:Sasha第七戰最後兩罰 我覺得就對得起他的薪水了
推 liousta:推
→ ralph0619:這種關鍵時刻沒澇賽 恐慌大師應該輪不到他吧
推 spko:去看Sport Science，就知道Sasha最冷靜的時候就是在罰球 XD
→ spko:美女、肥男、蒙眼、拉高、戴手套都影響不了他的罰球啊....
推 RAGERACER:Sasha迷推～
推 chancewen:莎莎什麼都不缺了<( ￣皿￣)╮☆(__ __|||)
推 CotaNi:我感動的想哭了 Q_Q 一路順風 我以後會多看籃網的比賽的
推 taolebi:很喜歡這篇！
推 mingbayf:好文推 希望Sasha在Nets可以打出來
推 hfi780:推長篇~
推 kb81:轉隊只是另一個開始，加油吧莎莎公主
推 mangojocker:有時衝過頭就像他這樣吧! 還是要感謝他曾帶來的貢獻