What makes a great NBA coach? 一个伟大的NBA教练需要什么特质? A question with a multitude of answers has intensified throughout the NBA playoffs, but especially in the East. The centers of attention are Brad Stev
What makes a great NBA coach?
一个伟大的NBA教练需要什么特质?
A question with a multitude of answers has intensified throughout the NBA playoffs, but especially in the East. The centers of attention are Brad Stevens and Tyronn Lue.
随着NBA季后赛的进行,这样一个有着众多答案的问题会被越来越多的人提及,特别是在东部。人们的焦点就是布拉德·斯蒂文斯和泰伦·卢。
Stevens is described as the Celtics’ "bright young coach" who wins with strategy and guile. Lue is the Cleveland head coach who wins, so goes the narrative, because of LeBron James. Forget that both coaches are 41 years old.
在外界眼中,斯蒂文斯是凯尔特人“前途光明的年轻教练”,他依靠策略和狡猾赢得比赛。按照人们的说法,骑士主教练卢赢球就靠勒布朗·詹姆斯。别忘了,这两人都是41岁。
This media-instigated double standard has become more pointed, and convoluted, with each game these teams play.
随着两队在季后赛交手,由媒体煽动的双重标准变得更有指向性,更加复杂。
When the Celtics win, Stevens takes a step closer to the Hall of Fame despite having won no NBA titles, no conference titles. When the Celtics lose, as they did by 30 points on Saturday, it’s because of Boston’s youth.
凯尔特人赢球时,斯蒂文斯越来越接近名人堂,尽管他没有赢过NBA总冠军,也没有赢过分区冠军。当凯尔特人输球时,就像周六他们输了30分那样,那不过是因为球队太年轻。
Conversely, when Cleveland wins, James gets the credit; when Cleveland loses, it’s Lue’s fault.After the Cavaliers’ lopsided Game 3 win, I asked Lue about what appeared to be his no-win predicament.
相反,当骑士赢球时,功劳属于詹姆斯;当骑士输球时,一切都是卢的错。骑士在东部决赛第三场大胜时,我询问了卢有关他永远得不到赞许的尴尬处境。
"At the end of the day, I don’t care," a weary Lue said. "I do what I do to the best of my ability; the outside noise doesn’t bother me."
“不管怎么说,我不在乎。”疲惫的卢回答,“我尽了自己最大努力,外部的噪音不会影响我。”
During his playing career, Lue played with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. He knows the benefits of playing with Hall of Fame-caliber players.
球員时代,卢曾经与迈克尔·乔丹,科比·布莱恩特和沙奎尔·奥尼尔做过队友。他知道和名人堂级别球员做队友的好处。
"I played with all those guys, so I know what it takes to win," he said. "LeBron’s a great player; we wouldn’t win if it wasn’t for him. I understand that. That’s how it goes."
“我和那些人一起打过比赛,所以我知道需要付出什么才能赢球。”他说,“勒布朗是伟大的球员,如果没有他,我们不会赢球。这我明白,就是这样。”
On Sunday, I went to the Cavaliers’ practice to follow up on that question — what makes a great coach — and to ask one more: What are the perils of coaching a megastar?
周日我去了骑士训练场,想要跟踪“伟大教练需要什么特质”这个问题。我还想问一个问题:做超级巨星的主教练有什么不好?
Larry Drew, the Cavaliers’ associate coach, described a multitude of factors that define a great NBA coach. Drew played 11 NBA seasons, after which he was an assistant for five teams and a head coach in Atlanta and Milwaukee.
騎士助教拉里·德鲁描述了伟大NBA教练具备的多种因素。德鲁在NBA打过11个赛季,之后他在五支球队做过助教,也担任过老鹰和雄鹿的主教练。
"It starts with the coach’s ability to relate to players," Drew said. "A great coach has to know players, know how to put players in a position to be successful and has to know how to adjust." The greatest challenge for an NBA coach who leads a team with a megastar player is gaining the player’s respect. "If they see you’re not on point and you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, they can lose respect for you," Drew said.
“首先,是教练和球员产生情感共鸣的能力。”德鲁说,“伟大的教练需要了解球员,知道如何让他们进入能够取得成功的状态,知道如何调整。”对于带领拥有超级巨星球队的主教练,最大的挑战在于如何赢得球员的尊重。“如果他们觉得你说话不得要点,不知道自己在做什么,你就会失去他们的尊重。”德鲁说。
The challenge is compounded for anyone who coaches James because his basketball IQ is off the charts.
由于詹姆斯的智商极高,担任他的主教练还会面临更为复杂的挑战。
"LeBron is as sharp as they come," Drew said. "You’ve got to be pinpoint with your strategy, with what you do, why you do it and what happens if it doesn’t work."
“勒布朗非常犀利。”德鲁说,“你的策略必须明确,每个人做什么,为什么这么做,如果不执行会发生什么,这必须明确。”
"All those types of guys," Drew added, referring to iconic players such as James, "that’s what they expect. Anything less will likely end in failure."
“这种类型的人,这就是他们想知道的。做不到就会面临失败。”德鲁指的是类似詹姆斯的球员。
Having generational players like James can make coaching a no-win challenge: The head coach gets the blame and very little of the credit.
拥有詹姆斯这样划时代的球员,教练可能面对的是无法成功的挑战:责任都在主教练,而他们不会得到应有的赞誉。
James is often projected as Cleveland’s shadow coach and stealth general manager.
詹姆斯经常被人看作骑士的影子主教练和幕后总经理。
This is Lue’s reality. He has made peace with it but believes that type of talk slights his staff. "What it does is take shots at people who are working hard, trying to do an excellent job," Lue said. "That’s the hard part."
这就是泰伦·卢面对的现实。他已经平静地接受了这一现实,但他认为这种说法是对球队工作人员的侮辱。“这么说只是在侮辱那些努力工作,试图做出好成绩的人。”卢说,“这是最艰难的部分。”
"AS MUCH AS YOU WANT TO WIN FOR THE ORGANIZATION, FOR THE CITY OF CLEVELAND, YOU STILL HAVE EVERYDAY LIFE STUFF THAT HAPPENS THAT’S BIGGER THAN BASKETBALL."
“尽管很想为球队,为克利夫兰赢下冠军,但你还要生活,这比篮球更重要。”
In the 2016 NBA Finals, Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Golden State. Lue replaced David Blatt at midseason and led the Cavaliers to the franchise’s first NBA title.
2016年NBA总决赛,骑士从1比3落后的局面中走出,反败为胜战胜金州勇士。卢在赛季中取代大卫·布拉特,带领球队夺得队史上的第一个NBA总冠军。
Lue pointed out that in three out of the four Finals victories, Cleveland held Golden State’s vaunted offense in check.
卢指出,四场胜利中的三场,骑士限制了勇士赖以成名的进攻。
"We hold them to 89 points on their home court in Game 7. LeBron’s not doing that," Lue said, simply making the point that his staff did an effective job of putting schemes together to stop the Warriors’ high-powered offense.
“第七场在他们的主场,我们只让他们得了89分。做到这一点的不是勒布朗。”卢说,他想说的是,自己的团队制定了优秀的计划,行之有效地限制了勇士队强大的进攻火力。
"That says a lot. We have a great staff."
“这说明了很多,我们有着优秀的团队。”
This is the flip side of coaching a generational player.
这就是执教划时代球员的另一面。
Critics say that Phil Jackson would not have had his titles in Chicago without Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, or in Los Angeles without O’Neal and Bryant.
评判者说,芝加哥没有迈克尔·乔丹和斯科特·皮蓬,洛杉矶没有沙克·奥尼尔和科比·布莱恩特,菲尔·杰克逊也不会拿到冠军。
It’s hard to coach superstars, Lue said. "You have to get them to buy into your plan, your vision. You must have a shared vision."
卢表示,执教超级巨星是一件困难的事。“你得让他们信服你的计划和你的观点。你们对事物必须有着同样的看法。”
"The players run the league," Lue said."This is not college, where the coach runs it. It’s not overseas. This is the NBA, so when you have those great players, they run the league. If they’re not happy with you, you’ll be gone."
“球员掌控联盟。”卢说,“这里不是大学,那里才是教练做主。这也不是海外,这是NBA,所以,有那些伟大的球员掌控联盟。如果他们不喜欢你,你就得走人。”
As we concluded the conversation, Lue thought about the future and said at some point in his head-coaching career, he would like to coach a team of younger, less experienced players.
Obviously, the run with James and a veteran Cavaliers team has been great.
对话结束后,卢考虑了未来,他希望以后的执教生涯中,自己能有机会成为一支年轻,经验欠缺球队的主教练。显然,和詹姆斯以及拥有众多老将的骑士一起奋斗是一段美好的经历。
"I’ve seen that side. I’ve dealt with a veteran team for the last three years," Lue said. "If I get a chance or an opportunity, I would like to coach younger talent to see if I can coach those guys to take on my personality, coach them and mold them to the team I want them to be."
“我看過这一边的景象了,过去三年我面对的是一支老将球队。”卢说,“如果有机会,我想执教更年轻的球队,看看我能不能让他们接受我的个性,把他们打造成我理想中的团队。”
He added that it’s rewarding to coach veteran teams like Cleveland because the players have been through the battles, they know who they are.
他补充道,执教骑士这种老将球队很有益处,因为球员们经历过很多,他们对自己有着明确的定位。
"When you coach a veteran team, you can’t mold," he said."They already are who they are. There is no changing those guys —which is not a bad thing."
“执教老将球队,你不能塑造他们。”他说,“他们已经定型了。不能改变他们,这倒也不是坏事。”
James, Lue said, "has paved the way so they see what it takes to win, they see the work he’s put in, how hard it is to win, what it takes to win."
卢说,詹姆斯“开辟了一条路,球员们知道该做什么才能赢球,他们看到了詹姆斯付出的努力,看到了赢得总冠军有多难,知道需要付出多少”。
Lue won two NBA titles as a player for the Los Angeles Lakers.
球员时代,卢作为湖人成员赢得过两个总冠军。
He led Cleveland to the NBA title in 2016. Lue was under intense emotional pressure that only a few knew about during the 2016 season.
他帶领骑士拿到了2016年的NBA总冠军。在2016赛季,只有很少的人知道卢究竟承受着多大的压力。
Two important women in his life were fighting for their lives.
他人生中两个重要的女性面临着生命危险。
His mother, a minister, was fighting breast cancer; his grandmother was battling lung cancer. On top of that, critics said that Lue had undermined Blatt to become the Cleveland head coach. After the Cavaliers won Game 7, bedlam all around him, Lue sat alone on the Cleveland bench, crying.
他的母亲是一个牧师,她患上了乳腺癌;她的祖母则是肺癌。除此之外,还有人说卢对布拉特背后捅刀才得到了骑士主教练的职位。当骑士赢下总决赛第七场后,周围一片嘈杂与欢腾时,卢一个人坐在骑士板凳席上,他哭了。
"All the hate and criticism, having my mom and grandmother going through cancer treatment, it was a tough year," he recalled."When we finally won, I finally exhaled. We did it; this is over. We got through it."
“所有的仇恨和批评,妈妈和祖母接受癌症治疗,这是艰难的一年。”他回忆,“当我们终于赢了,我终于出了一口气。我们做到了,一切结束了。我们挺过来了。”
The ordeal put basketball in perspective and has made it easier to accept most of whatever has followed — criticism and praise alike.
这个磨难让卢能更全面地看待篮球,也让他更容易接受随之而来的批评和赞赏。
"As much as you want to win for the organization, for the city of Cleveland, you still have everyday life stuff that happens that’s bigger than basketball."
“尽管很想为球队,为克利夫兰赢下冠军,但你还要生活,这比篮球更重要。”
But if the Cavaliers advance that far, the narrative around Tyronn Lue will change.
如果骑士能走得更远,外界对泰伦·卢的表述也会出现变化。
This time Cleveland’s star player and the Cavaliers’ "brilliant head coach" will rightfully take a bow together.
这一次,骑士的明星球员和“卓越的主教练”,将会一起接受人们的掌声。
It didn’t take long for the 2018 NBA draft to take a drastic turn. The Mavericks shot their shot by moving up in the draft and thus set the stage for the rest of the night. 2018年NBA选秀没进行多久就出现了戏剧性的转折。