Sloan Provides Jazz Players With a Tough Act to Follow

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Sloan Provides Jazz Players With a Tough Act to Follow
By Michael Wilbon
Friday, June 1, 2007; Page E03

SAN ANTONIO

It used to be, even after some runs deep into the playoffs, that Jerry Sloan
would sit down on the final night of the season and face one question after
another about the window of opportunity closing on John Stockton, Karl Malone
and the Utah Jazz's chances of contending. Great as they were and as close as
they got, there was a certain sad inevitability about their last four or five
seasons.

But Sloan, who just completed his 19th year as an NBA coach, certainly didn't
hear that question Wednesday night, even though Utah was bounced from the
playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs in five games. Nobody needs to ask because
the Jazz's window of opportunity is wide open right now. Utah has the
fifth-youngest team in the NBA, advanced to the Western Conference finals
despite that inexperience and is led by a 25-year-old power forward in Carlos
Boozer, a 22-year-old point guard headed toward greatness in Deron Williams
and a creative staff of talent evaluators with an impressive track record of
finding complementary pieces.

Not even a 25-point loss in Game 5 here to close the series and some
frustrated finger-pointing in the Utah locker room afterward should darken
the overall positive outlook.

One of the biggest reasons the Jazz has such a bright future is Sloan at the
whip-hand, as hard, as demanding, as uncompromising on his basketball values
as ever. Asked if he thought the franchise could retool post-Stockton/Malone
without winning the lottery, while operating in a small market with limited
appeal to the marquee free agents, Sloan said in a recent conversation:
"There are still some guys who want to get on the yellow school bus every day
and go play. We've been fortunate to find a lot of guys who'll go bust their
butts. It's very difficult to find them . . . very hard."

Sloan isn't just preaching. Everything about him is tough, without pretense
or contemporary interpretation. Sloan isn't within 25 years of reaching old
school. Asked by ESPN's Shelley Smith if he knew what an iPod is, Sloan, now
65, said he thought it was the stand for a camera. You want to know how tough
Sloan is? Here's how tough:

It was probably 1971 when Norm Van Lier was with the Cincinnati Royals. "We
were playing an exhibition game against [Sloan's] Bulls, I think on the campus
of Illinois State," Van Lier recalled the other day. "Jerry and I got to
pushing and shoving each other and then fighting. . . . Well, play continued
at the other end and Jerry and I kept going at it. The rest of the guys looked
up and said, 'Where the hell are Norm and Jerry?' We had rolled right out of
the gym into the halls of the arena. . . . I think we knocked over a popcorn
machine."

In the offseason, the Bulls went to Sloan to say they had an opportunity
to trade for Van Lier (whom Chicago had drafted then traded in 1969), but
wondered if Sloan, an original member of the Bulls, would acquiesce to
playing with a man he had fought so doggedly. Sloan, as he's recounted many
times, told management any man who would fight him all the way out of the gym
and into the halls during a preseason game was a man he wanted to play with. 
And the two became back-court mates for the rest of their careers, perhaps
the toughest and best defensive back court in NBA history.

They're still exceptionally close, more than 35 years later. Van Lier, in a
phone conversation from Chicago, where he works as an analyst for Bulls games,
said: "You know what I called what Jerry had: controlled madness. I didn't know
if Jerry would have the patience for coaching. But I knew he'd be no-nonsense
with players, whether you were a superstar or not. I used to get to [Chicago
Stadium] early, put my jersey on and go underneath the [stands] to take a
pregame nap. . . . Jerry would come and find me, wake me up and start screaming
at me, 'Get your butt ready to play!' He'd pound me in my chest. 'Norm! You
ready to play? You ready to rock?' He's that way now. . . . He's ready and he
wants you to be ready."

What Sloan has done against type in recent years, quicker than many of his
peers, is adapt to the game's evolution toward more scoring. As rigid as Sloan
is about certain basketball principles, as much as he made his reputation as a
player on defense, he has tinkered with his system to fit the talent he has
rather than the other way around. This season, for instance, Utah had the
seventh-highest scoring offense in the NBA and Sloan gave Williams, his
second-year guard, more rope than he gave Stockton three years into his career.

Van Lier said, "I like Utah's team concept, the way they go after it, the
attitude they play with and the fact that they don't back down."

What Sloan will want to see between the end of the Game 5 blowout and
training camp is, yes, even less backing down. Utah did a little too much of
it against San Antonio. "Guys think shaking hands before the game is hard
work," he said. "Look, I never expected these players to play like I had to
in order to survive in the league. I didn't have any talent. I couldn't
outrun Tom Boerwinkle [his plodding 7-foot Bulls teammate] down the floor. .
. . But I'd run for 48 minutes. The only skill I had was playing hard."

The general perception in league circles is that if more Jazz players take on
Sloan's combative personality in the months before next season's playoffs,
Utah might be able to take one more step, even in the loaded Western
Conference. In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night's loss, Williams
and Boozer were clearly and justifiably ticked off about the lackluster play
of some teammates. They didn't name names, but the Charmin-soft play of
Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko, who were offensive no-shows during the
Spurs series, comes to mind.

Boozer battled Tim Duncan, the game's best player. Williams played sick and
injured, often brilliantly. Derek Fisher flew to and from New York, where his
infant daughter saw specialists about her eye cancer. It made Boozer angry to
see what he perceived as some teammates who weren't, to use Sloan's phrase,
ready to rock. "I will never say anything negative directly to a teammate
because I love my team and I believe in that code," Boozer said. "But we need
guys that are always going to give everything they have. . . . When you have
your vacation plans already, that's not a championship vision."

Sounds like Boozer already has a healthy dose of Sloan's attitude in him, as
does Williams, as does Fisher. Sloan just wants the combativeness they've
demonstrated to be infectious. It'll be necessary if Utah is going to get
back to this point next year.

"What I want to see," Sloan said, "is what happens after you become pretty
good and you have to prove yourself every night when people expect you to win.
Guys live off what they did for a year or two, and make a lot of money. . . .
Me? It's what you do tomorrow. We're trying to learn how to win. I'm not in
this business for individual honors. I didn't play for those reasons and I
don't coach for those reasons. I come back and do this because I love to have
a bunch of guys who want to go play."



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2007/05/31/AR2007053102085.html 

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 59.41.170.147
→ kreen:
推 hardaway:
推 RonnieBrewer:worth reading
推 HornyJazz:巴士大叔史龍教練員
推 hardaway:the Charmin-soft play of Okur and AK comes to mind...
→ hardaway:其實我後來才發現 Deron 說的好像有點過火了...
→ hardaway:Sloan 球員生涯看起來很不錯呢 @@
推 RonnieBrewer:都改口了, 比較娩轉
推 HornyJazz:那種話Deron小朋友來說還好 Boozer附和比較嚴重
→ RonnieBrewer:Boozer被老板反將一軍
→ HornyJazz:所以LHM才會對於Boozer著墨比較多
→ RonnieBrewer: Sloan的球衣掛在芝加哥
→ hardaway:嗯嗯，這個我知道。只是一直不清楚他是哪方面出色。
→ hardaway:我是看到Deron有一句是說叫那些不想留下來的球員去找老闆
→ hardaway:和GM。 那句就超過了...
→ HornyJazz:據說防守相當兇狠
推 hardaway:perhaps the toughest and best defensive back court in
→ hardaway:NBA history. 另外一個搭檔是誰？沒聽說過...
→ RustyLaRue:..看這篇之前要先有心理準備?
→ odyy:請安心服用
推 monmo:hardway你說的那句在哪篇外電? 蝶龍嗆聲那句....
推 RonnieBrewer:deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660225671,00.html
推 CarlosBoozer:還不錯
→ sam369:
推 gratitude:有沒有幾個球員才打第一次playoff就想變身成馬史的八卦?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <

作者: hardaway (一分錢) 看板: UTAH-JAZZ
標題: Re: Sloan Provides Jazz Players With a Tough Ac …
時間: Sat Jun  2 23:36:43 2007

這篇真的寫得很好，而 HC 翻譯團果然也有翻譯，
且翻譯水準翻得非常棒！

我就順手轉過來跟大家分享囉～

本翻譯文轉錄自 HC 翻譯團，感謝譯者 dazzle。

http://bbs.hoopchina.com/htm_data/39/0706/201535.html

=====

言傳身教，鐵血斯隆
Sloan Provides Jazz Players With a Tough Act to Follow

By Michael Wilbon
Friday, June 1, 2007; Page E03


曾經有段時候，即使他們在季後賽裡走了很遠，Jerry Sloan還是不得不在每個賽季的最
後一晚坐在媒體面前，一次又一次的面對如下的尖銳問題：在John Stockton，Karl
Malone和猶他爵士面前，爭冠之門正在逐漸關上。他們是如此的偉大，他們曾如此接近光
榮，然而他們最後的四五年卻始終被無可避免的悲哀宿命所籠罩。

但是Sloan，在剛剛完成了第19年的教練生涯之後，他不會在這個星期三晚上聽見那樣的
問題了。盡管爵士在五場之內就在聖安東尼奧馬刺面前碰壁而還，但不會有人去問那種問
題了，因為現在，爵士面前的成功之門正敞開著。猶他爵士現在是聯盟裡第五年輕的球隊
，盡管如此缺乏經驗，他們還是挺進到了西部決賽。而他們的領袖是一個25歲的大前鋒
Carlos Boozer，一個22歲，正逐漸邁上偉大之路的組織後衛Deron Williams，以及一位
創意十足，在尋找球隊拼圖方面成果輝煌的慧眼教練。

即使是以25分之差輸掉第五場和整個系列賽，或者是更衣室裡隨後令人懊惱的互相指責，
也無法令球隊光明的未來前景黯淡下來。

而令爵士擁有如此光明前景的最大原因之一，就是Sloan的鞭策。一如既往，他總是那樣
嚴格，那樣精益求精，從不在籃球價值觀上妥協。在被問到球隊能否在沒抽中樂透的情況
下在後Stockton/Malone時期重整旗鼓的時候，盡管球隊所在的市場很小，對自由球員的
吸引力也很有限，Sloan還是在最近的談話中說：“還是有一些人願意每天登上球隊大巴
然後去打球的。我們一直都很幸運，找到了很多願意拼死拼活的球員。找到這樣的球員很
不容易……很難。”

Sloan可不是光說不練。關於他的一切評語都是：硬派，不帶任何虛飾或當代解讀因素的
硬派。身為舊學派教練的Sloan，他在時間軸上的位置不屬於過去25年之內的任何一點。
當ESPN的Shelley Smith問他知不知道什麼是iPod的時候，65歲的Sloan說他以為那玩意是
個相機標准。你想知道Sloan有多硬派？這裡有個例子。

那大概是1971年，Norm Van Lier還呆在辛辛那提皇家隊的時候。“那次我們在跟Sloan的
公牛隊打一場熱身賽，我記得比賽地點是在伊利諾伊州立大學，”Van Lier有一天回憶道
。“Jerry（Sloan）和我互相推來搡去，然後就打起來了……嗯，比賽在球場另一邊繼續
，然後Jerry和我則繼續打個不停。剩下的人終於發覺了，說，‘Norm和Jerry那兩個家伙
死到哪去了？’我們倆翻滾出了球館，一直打到了體育館大廳裡……我想我們還撞翻了一
台爆米花機。”

在休賽期，公牛隊找到Sloan，說他們有個機會把Van Lier（公牛在1969年選中了他並把
他換走了）換來，但是不知道Sloan，作為公牛隊的一員，是否願意和一個曾跟他打得天
翻地覆的家伙一起打球。Sloan則告訴管理層，任何一個能在季前賽裡跟他從球館一路打
到大廳的家伙都是那種他願意與之一起打球的男人。這個故事Sloan後來詳細講述了很多
遍。然後這兩個人成為了後場搭檔，直到他們的職業生涯完結為止。他們有可能是NBA歷
史上最硬派，最好的後場防守組合。

35年後，他們仍然是非常親密的朋友。Van Lier在芝加哥擔任公牛隊比賽的解說，他在一
次電話訪談裡說：“你知道，我管Jerry的那種特質叫什麼？受控的瘋狂。我真不知道
Jerry能有當教練的那個耐心。但是我知道他不會讓球員胡來，不管你是超級明星還是什
麼。當年我總喜歡早點去芝加哥體育館，穿上球衣，然後去看台底下睡個賽前覺……
Jerry會來找到我，把我弄醒，然後對我大吼大叫，‘給老子准備好上場打球！’他會猛
捶我的胸口，‘Norm！你准備好了打球沒有？你准備好了露臉沒有？’他現在也是那樣…
…他進入了臨戰狀態，所以要求你也要進入狀態。”

而Sloan最近幾年一反常態做的事，就是把比賽風格轉變得更偏重於進攻。在這一點上，
他的步伐領先於他的很多同輩人。盡管Sloan對某些特定的籃球哲學非常執著，盡管他自
己一向是一個以防守揚名的球員，但他的做法是打造戰術系統來適應手頭的球員，而不是
相反。例如，這個賽季，爵士的得分是聯盟第七高。而Sloan也給了他手下的二年級控衛
Williams更多的犯錯自由，比當年他給三年級的Stockton的更多。

Van Lier說，“我喜歡猶他的球隊理念，他們追逐成功的方式，他們打球的態度，以及他
們永不言敗的事實。”

而從第五場的慘敗到下賽季訓練營，Sloan想要在其間看到的是更多的永不言敗精神。爵
士在面對馬刺的時候在這一點上做的相當不夠。“人們以為賽前握個手就是努力打球了，
”他說。“你看，我從來沒期望過這些球員能像我當年為了在聯盟裡生存而拼命那樣打球
。我當年沒有任何天賦。在場上我甚至不比Tom Boerwinkle（Sloan當年的公牛隊友，速
度很慢的7尺大個）跑得快……但是我會拼命跑48分鐘。我唯一的本事就是打球拼命。”

聯盟圈子裡的普遍看法是，如果能有更多的爵士球員在下個賽季季後賽到來前的幾個月內
拾起Sloan的戰鬥精神，那麼即使在強手如雲的西區，爵士也有可能再進一步。就在星期
三晚上的失敗之後，Williams和Boozer顯然的，也是合情合理的，被某些隊友無精打采的
打法激怒了。他們沒有點出名字，但是首先映入大家腦海中的就是打的軟綿綿的Mehmet
Okur和在對馬刺系列賽中進攻端消失的Andrei Kirilenko。

Boozer對陣Tim Duncan，如今最好的籃球運動員。Williams帶病帶傷堅持上陣，經常交出
閃亮的成績。Derek Fisher往返奔波於紐約和猶他之間，因為他年幼的患眼癌的女兒正在
那裡接受專家的治療。令Boozer憤怒的是他意識到了某些隊友沒有做到——用Sloan的話
說——准備好露臉。“我永遠不會直接說出關於任何一個隊友的負面評論，因為我愛這支
球隊，我會遵守這種禮儀，”Boozer說。“但是我們需要那種總是竭盡所能去拼搏的球員
……如果你老早就有了度假計劃，那不是一顆冠軍之心應有的行為。”

聽起來Boozer的體內已經有了足夠劑量的Sloan精神，和Williams一樣，和Fisher一樣。
而Sloan只是希望讓他們展現出的鬥志能感染整個球隊。如果猶他想要在明年重回西區決
賽，做到這一點是必須的。

“我想要看到的是，”Sloan說，“是在你變得相當好，人們都開始期待你獲勝，你需要
每個晚上都證明自己的時候，你能做到什麼。有些人躺在他們在一兩年內積攢下的成就上
，然後賺很多錢……而我？我在乎的是你明天做什麼。我們在試著學習怎樣獲勝。我不在
乎個人榮耀。我過去不曾為那些理由打球，現在也不會為那些理由執教。我回來，然後做
這些事，只是因為我喜歡帶領一群想要打籃球的家伙。”

====

翻譯完工時間：2007.06.2
翻譯作品鏈接：http://bbs.hoopchina.com/htm_data/39/0706/201535.html
招工連接：http://bbs.hoopchina.com/htm_data/39/0706/201415.html
關鍵詞：Jerry Sloan Utah Jazz
原文標題：Sloan Provides Jazz Players With a Tough Act to Follow
原文連接：
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/31/AR2007053102085.html
原文作者：Michael Wilbon
譯者：dazzle
備注：請轉移到爵士區

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 140.113.139.124
→ hardaway:不知有沒有簡繁體的問題？
推 Stockton:有沒寫變態教皇半夜查舖的事蹟＠＠？？
推 stenierkfrod:相機標准 ?? 推
→ ammon: stand of camera
推 sam369:GOOD
→ sam369:PUSH
→ sam369:
推 BlGP:史龍：那晚我們倆翻滾出了球館........
推 Actus:Jerry Sloan 兩次明星賽 四次防守第一隊 兩次防守第二隊
→ Actus:Noem Van Lier 三次明星賽 三次防守第一隊 五次防守第二隊
→ sam369:
推 hardaway:都是兩人合作時的成績嗎
→ Actus:不完全，他們其實只合作五年
→ sam369:
推 Actus:Van Lier還拿過兩次助攻王 一次年度第一隊
推 hardaway:查了一下，73-74年是唯一兩人同時防守第一隊
→ hardaway:過不久教皇就退休了
推 luche:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!爵士魂 季後賽!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
推 newlly:感謝
→ sam369:
推 XDTZ:還真熱血...的教練...
推 sam369:
推 yellowboy:酷       到底是誰要渡假@@?
推 lovecmgirls:推啦~!!!!