Re: [外絮] 在把文班亞馬帶進NBA榮光的十年大計幕後

: 原標題：Inside the decade-long plan to bring Victor Wembanyama to NBA glory: (在把 Victor Wembanyama 帶進 NBA 榮光的十年大計之幕後)
: 來源：https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37651212/
: 作者：Brian Windhorst, Jonathan Givony

（接著編譯第三、第四部分）

第三部分：

NANTERRE 92 IS a nearly 100-year-old family-operated basketball club located
a few miles from Paris' city center. The club is renowned for its incredible
rise, advancing from the very bottom of the French basketball infrastructure
up 11 divisions in a 24-year span. It culminated in an improbable top divisiontitle in 2013. All with the same coach and led by the well-respected Donnadieufamily. The story was made into a movie in France.

楠泰爾是一支距離巴黎市中心有數哩之遠、具有近百年歷史的家族式籃球俱樂部。該俱樂部以其令人難以置信的崛起而聞名，在二十四年的時間裡從法國籃球的最低級別聯賽連升了十一級，最高潮是在二零一三年獲得了不可能的頂級聯賽冠軍。這一切都是在同一個教練的帶領下，由備受尊敬的Donnadieu 家族領導。這個故事在法國被拍成了一部電影。

There is a spartan headquarters, where the handful of cups and trophies that
Wembnayama helped them win over his years there are treated with special
reverence. A few blocks away is a basic three-story dormitory, where
teenagers from its training program are housed in narrow rooms with miniaturekitchens and shared bathrooms.

在一個簡陋的總部，文班亞馬在隊內的幾年裡幫助他們贏得的一些獎盃，被特別尊重地對待。在數個街區外的是一個基本型三層宿舍，來自培訓項目的青少年被安置在狹窄的房間裡，有微型廚房和共用浴室。

It's like a basketball Hogwarts, the teenagers living, studying and playing
together. On the green doors of each room are placards commemorating eventualpros who called each room home during their formative years. Wembanyama's
name is affixed to his old quarters, where the club had to special order an
extra-long bed for him to sleep in.

正如籃球界的霍格華茲般，這是這些青少年們居住、學習和打球的地方。每個房間的綠色門上都貼著紀念牌，紀念那些在成長過程中以每個房間為家的最終職業選手。文班亞馬的名字被貼在他的舊宿舍上，這也是俱樂部不得不為他特別訂購一張超長床的住處。

There were a number of teams that offered similar accommodations and roles
for the growing Wembanyama, both inside and outside of France. It included
Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona, where Wembanyama visited and played one
summer, and INSEP, France's elite academy that has produced stars such as
Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Evan Fournier.

能為文班亞馬提供相似居住環境、位置的球隊，不論在法國境內、境外，都有很多。這些球隊包括西班牙豪門巴塞隆納（即他曾效力過一個夏天的球隊），以及法國國家體育學院（曾出產多位球星的精英學府）。

Wembanyama, though, had connected with the coaches he'd had at Nanterre when
he was playing for their youth teams. It was away from home but not far. And
there was the recent and improbable title that had given the team so much
momentum.

不過，文班亞馬與他在楠泰爾為青年隊效力時的教練有聯繫。這裡離家看似很遠，但並不遙遠；還有最近實現的冠軍，給了球隊很大的動力。

The club retains the same facilities and charm to this day, which helps
explain why he chose the little engine that could and later played a role in
his eventual departure.

時至今日，球隊保留了相同的設施和魅力，這也解釋了為什麼他選擇了這個小引擎，後來在他最終離開時發揮了作用。

So at age 14, Wembanyama left home and moved in, a giant step toward his goalof becoming a professional.

在十四歲那年，文班亞馬離開家並搬進宿舍，朝著成為職業球員的目標踏出巨大的一步。

"I was so much prepared for that. Especially at that age, you know? It's
almost like you want to leave your house," he says. "Of course, and then you
start realizing that what you left was precious."

他說：

「我為此作了許多準備。特別是在該年齡段，你知道嗎？這幾乎是你想離開家的時候；之 後當然也會開始意識到，你留下的一切都是寶貴的。」

More important than all of that was that Nanterre was committed to letting
Wembanyama shape his game in the way he preferred. He wanted to play all overthe court, to learn all the positions, and the Nanterre coaches would let him.

更重要的是，南特爾專注於讓文班亞馬以他的方式塑造比賽。他想要打遍整個球場、習慣所有的位置，而教練們也讓他這樣做。

"Victor's coaches at Nanterre, they all understood that you have to let him
play his game," says Jeremy Medjana, a Paris-based agent who began working
with Wembanyama when he was 15. "Don't pull him around the basket and ask himto play just back to the basket because you're going to kill the kid. Victor
is a complete player, you have to let him play."

自從文班亞馬十五歲時，就和他合作的駐巴黎經紀 Jeremy Medjana 說：

「在南特爾的教練們都知道，『你該讓他打好自己的比賽』。不要把他拉到籃下，要求他 只背對著籃筐打球，因為你只會殺了這個孩子。他是一個完整的球員，你必須讓他（盡 情）發揮。」

While he attended a high school nearby during the day, he was kept under the
watchful eye of coaches from Nanterre, who had an office at the school where
his five meals a day were kept in a special refrigerator. For a while,
Nanterre officials charted that Wembanyama was growing about a centimeter a
month.

雖然他白天在附近的一所高中上學，但他一直被南特的教練們盯著，他們在學校有一間辦公室，他的一日五餐被放在一個特殊的冰箱裡。曾有一段時間，南特的球隊人員記錄了文班亞馬每月長高約一厘米的情況。

"What's funny is that I tried to protect him while getting a little bit too
involved in his life," says Michael Bur, who coached Wembanyama as a
teenager, including when he officially turned pro at age 15. "At 14, he was
very absent-minded like all teenagers. He forgot his shoes, he forgot his
schedule. But on the other hand, in terms of work and the rigor that we put
in place little by little, he already had the work ethic in him."

曾在少年時期執教過文班亞馬的 Michael Bur 說：

「有趣的是，我試圖保護他，同時又感覺有點過於介入他的生活。十四歲時，他像所有青 少年一樣非常心不在焉。他忘記了自己的鞋子，忘記了自己的時間表；但另一方面，在 工作和我們逐步設置的嚴格要求方面，他身上已經有了職業道德。」

It showed almost immediately. Early in his tenure with Nanterre, a troubling
habit emerged, one his coaches struggled to break. When Wembanyama would
shoot, he'd spread the fingers on his left hand, causing issues with the
rotation.

問題很快就出現了。在他早期效力南特爾時，一個令人不安的習慣出現了，而他的教練們竭力想打破它。當文班亞馬想要投籃時，他會張開左手手指，導致旋轉出現問題。

Then suddenly one day, Bur noticed it had been resolved. The hand was closed
and in perfect form every time, almost overnight. Bur, fascinated, asked his
student what happened. Wembanyama told him he'd spent the previous few days
putting small pieces of paper between his fingers so he'd learn to always
keep them together.

然後突然有一天，Bur 發現問題得到了解決。幾乎在一夜之間，這隻手就閉上了，而且每次都有完美的形態。Bur 好奇地問他的學生發生了什麼。文班亞馬告訴他，他在前幾天把小紙片放在手指間，這樣他就能學會把手指放在一起。

"He doesn't want to give back knowledge, he doesn't want to learn just to
learn," Bur says. "He needs to understand what he is doing. He was a player
who was always asking questions, even if it meant cutting me off 15 times
during training, because he always wanted to know why."

Bur 說：

「他不想回饋知識，他不想僅僅為了學習而學習。他需要了解自己在做什麼。他是一個總 是在問問題的球員，即使這意味著在訓練中將會打斷我十五次，因為他總是想知道為什 麼。」

Wembanyama's focus on what he wanted his future to be expanded beyond the
court. As he played in events elsewhere in Europe, he started to believe
English was the language of basketball.

文班亞馬對他希就本身未來的期盼擴展到了球場之外。當他在歐洲其他地方參加活動時，他開始相信英語是籃球的語言。

"Knowing I would play in the NBA later, I was really interested in English,"
Wembanyama says of his mindset as an early teen. "Basketball people speak
English."

文班亞馬以其少年時期的心態說：

「知道將來我會在NBA 打球後，我對英語起了興趣。畢竟籃球員多說英語。」

He dearly wanted to be a basketball person.

他是真心想要成為籃球員。

"Victor was always focused on his goals. ... I had to fight with him to get
him out of the gym," Medjana said. "After practice he was shooting the ball,
and he could shoot for hours. And I remember with the dad and the mum saying,'Victor, now! We need to go!' Every day, same story. It was like a battle to
get him out of the gym."

Medjana 說：

「維克多總是專注於他的目標。……我不得不和他爭吵，催他離開體育館。訓練結束後，
他還在投籃，他可以投上幾個小時。我記得他爸爸和媽媽說，『Victor，時間到了！我 們得走了！』每天，同樣的故事。這就像一場讓他離開體育館的戰鬥。」

At first, Wembanyama was on Nanterre's junior team, practicing before and
after the senior team. The older players couldn't help but notice the ultra
tall kid with shocking ability to both dribble and shoot. The French nationalteam would sometimes use Nanterre's arena, Palais des Sports, as a practice
base before international events, and that's where the country's top players
began to understand, and intensify, the Wembanyama buzz.

起初，文班亞馬在南特爾的少年隊中，在成年隊的前後練習。成年隊球員們不禁注意到這個超高的孩子，他的運球和投籃能力都很驚人。法國國家隊有時會在國際賽事之前使用南泰爾的球館——體育宮作為訓練基地，這也是該國頂級球員開始瞭解並加強文班亞馬氣勢
的地方。

In the spring of 2018, then-ESPN draft analyst Mike Schmitz saw Wembanyama
for the first time in practice and took some video of him. Once a player got
attention from Schmitz, who is now the assistant general manager of the
Portland Trail Blazers, the NBA world was usually soon to follow.

在二零一八年春季，時任 ESPN 選秀分析師 Mike Schmitz 第一次見到文班亞馬參與訓練時，順手拍下了數部影片。一旦一名球員得到現為拓荒者副總經理的Schmitz 之關注後，NBA 世界通常很快就會跟進。

Eventually Wembanyama was invited to practice and then promoted to play with
Nanterre's senior team, and he held his own. He played for Nanterre in his
first EuroCup in 2019, three months before his 16th birthday.

最終，文班亞馬受邀參加訓練，然後被提拔到南特爾的成年隊打球，他堅持自己的觀點。二零一九年，在十六歲生日的前三個月，他第一次為南特爾隊參加歐洲聯賽。

He was bumped around by older, stronger players, of course, but he answered
back -- and then some. His height gave him advantages when it came to
challenging shots and rebounding. His ability to create space with his
handles and make shots from the outside was impressive for anyone at his age,regardless of size.

當然，他被更年長、更強壯的球員撞來撞去，但他做出了一些回應。他的身高使他在挑戰投籃和籃板球方面具有優勢。姑且不論身材，他用手把創造空間的能力和從外面投籃的能力，對於他這個年齡段的人來說，都是令人印象深刻的。

"I think he always knew that he was special. Every time there was an event
where he was awaited, there was a lot of pressure ... where he was awaited byall the NBA scouts and everyone was already talking about him, he always
pushed his level," Bur says. "He was very confident, but not arrogant."

Bur 說：

「我認為他總是知道他很特別。每當有一個等待他的活動時，都有很大的壓力……在所有
NBA 球探等待他的地方，每個人都已經在談論他，他總是推進他的水準。他非常自信， 但並不傲慢。」

The intel on Wembanyama began to spread. NBA executives added him to their
lists when they came over on trips. Media requests started coming to Nanterrefor a player who wasn't even playing much. Letters started arriving with
self-addressed stamped envelopes inside, fans asking for Wembanyama's
autograph.

關於文班亞馬的情報開始傳播開來。NBA 高層人員在出行是，都會把他納入清單之中。媒體開始向南特爾提出請求，以採訪一名不常上場打球的球員。信件開始送來，裡面是貼有郵票的信封，球迷們要求文班亞馬的簽名。

He felt the need to take the next step.

他感受到了需要踏出下一步的需要。

第四部分：

WEMBANYAMA THEN MADE one of the biggest decisions of his life following the
2020-21 season. After three years in Nanterre and with offers pouring in fromacross the globe, he decided to leave the comfortable confines of home and
Paris.

在2020-21 賽季結束後，文班亞馬作出了人生最重大的決定之一。在效力南特爾三年後，隨著全球各地都有加盟邀約，他決定要離開住家、巴黎的舒適圈。

"When we have this meeting, just him and me, and he announced his decision
and it was a hard day," says Frederic Donnadieu, Nanterre 92's president, whohad shepherded the young star for years, in part because he had a son the
same age. "He thought it was the best for him in this moment. But it's a hardday. It was my birthday and that night I went out with my family, but it's
not a good night."

長年牧養年輕新星，部分是因為有一位同齡兒子的南特爾老闆 Frederic Donnadieu 說：

「當我們有這次會面，只有他和我，他宣布了他的決定，那是一個艱難的時候。他認為在 這個時刻對他來說是最好的。但這是一個艱難的時候。那天是我的生日，那天晚上我和 家人出去了，但那不是一個好的夜晚。」

Wembanyama had decided to play for ASVEL, a French League powerhouse then
primarily owned by four-time NBA champ and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Parker
and coached by Parker's brother, T.J. ASVEL plays in Lyon, a two-hour train
ride from Paris.

文班亞馬決定要轉投法國聯賽豪門艾斯維爾。該隊主要持有人為四次總冠軍球員、準名人堂球星 (Tony) Parker，並由其哥哥 T.J. 負責執教，主場位於里昂，從巴黎坐到來要兩個小時。

ASVEL not only played in the French Pro A League, the country's top league,
but also in the continental Euroleague, the most competitive in the world
outside of the NBA.

艾斯維爾不只在法甲打球，也在除NBA 之外、世界上競爭最激烈的歐洲聯賽打球。

Wembanyama was the youngest player on a veteran-laden team that was built to
compete for titles. His teammates weren't sure what to think of the thin,
lanky, baby-faced newcomer. Then came one of his first practices.

文班亞馬是一支老將雲集的球隊中最年輕的球員，這支球隊是為爭奪冠軍而建立的。他的隊友們不確定如何看待這個瘦小、瘦弱、長著一張童顔的新秀。然後，他的第一次訓練開始了。

During a scrimmage, the ball was passed to the corner for a 3-pointer.
Standing under the basket, defending the rim, Wembanyama leapt out and
closed, covering the ground in what seemed like a flash. He blocked the shot,grabbed the ball and went to the other end for a dunk.

在一次爭奪戰中，球被傳到角落裡，準備投三分球。站在籃下，防守籃板，文班亞馬躍出並收住，在似乎是一瞬間覆蓋了地面。他完成了阻攻、搶到了球，走到另一端扣籃。

"We were kind of stunned. We'd heard about this stuff with him, and after
that, everybody knew what he could do," says David Lighty, a former star at
Ohio State who was a teammate of Wembanyama's at ASVEL. "I can only imagine
being a 17- or 18-year-old playing against professionals. You're literally
playing against guys who could be your dad. I think it definitely prepared
him for the next level."

David Lighty 表示：

「我們都驚呆了。從前只是知道他能做的事，後來才明白他真正能做的。」

Playing in various competitions -- ASVEL won two cups last season, including
the French league title -- the pressure to win was a stronger focus than
developing Wembanyama, whose playing time was further limited by a couple of
injuries. He ended up as a limited role player, averaging less than 20
minutes a game in the 2021-22 season.

在各大賽會中，艾斯維爾贏得了上賽季的兩個盃賽，包括法國聯賽冠軍——取勝的壓力比
培養文班亞馬更重要，上場時間還需因數次受傷而進一步受到限制。他的出場時間因幾次受傷而進一步受到限制。他最終成為了一名有限的關鍵球員，在2021-22 賽季平均每場比賽出戰不到二十分鐘。

Regardless of the conventions or anyone's opinion, Wembanyama and his supportsystem had a path they wanted to follow. There wasn't much interest in
compromise.

不論場合、任何人的意見，文班亞馬和他的支援系統有一條他們想走的路，對妥協沒有太大的興趣。

"Victor will not be put in a box," Ndiaye says. "People will have to adapt tohim."

Ndiaye 說：

「Victor 不喜歡被擺在盒子中，人們總需要習慣他的存在。」

After the season, Wembanyama decided to look for another opportunity,
specifically one where his development was a team's priority. He opted out ofhis contract to become a free agent. There was no shortage of teams willing
to offer this sort of arrangement.

賽季結束後，文班亞馬決定尋找另一個機會，特別是一個以他的發展為優先的球隊。他選擇退出現有合同，成為一名自由球員。此時並不缺乏願意提供這種安排的球隊。

Interest quickly came from the G League, Australia and other European powers.But Wembanyama and his agents were working from their own yearslong blueprint.

G 聯盟、澳洲和其他歐洲強國很快就對他感興趣。但文班亞馬和他的經紀人是按照他們自己一年來的藍圖工作。

He chose instead to play for a much less accomplished team in Paris,
Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92. Mets 92, desperate to have a talent likeWembanyama come to the financially struggling club, allowed the young star tohave input on the coach, his teammates and the staff.

他卻選擇為巴黎的一支成就更低的球隊——大都會92隊效力。大都會92隊急於讓文班亞馬
這樣的人才來到這個財政困難的俱樂部，允許這位年輕的明星對教練、隊友和工作人員提供輔助。

The concept was to put Wembanyama through the rigors of a season as the
centerpiece of a team and all the pressures that come with it. They created
an environment that catered specifically to his growth, picking players and astyle that would best suit him. Guards who would set him up, forwards who
complemented him and a coach who would allow him to play through mistakes
without worrying about the team's record.

他們的想法是讓文班亞馬作為球隊的核心經歷一個賽季的嚴酷考驗，以及隨之而來的所有壓力。他們創造了一個特別適合他成長的環境，挑選了最適合他的球員和風格。後衛為他打下手，前鋒與他相輔相成，而教練則允許他在失誤中發揮，而不必擔心球隊的成績。

It wasn't a conventional route, but it appealed to Wembanyama's longstanding
desire to prepare himself for the NBA, not just to win trophies or awards.

這不是一條常規路線，但它吸引了文班亞馬長期以來為NBA 做準備的願望，而不僅僅是為了贏得獎盃或獎項。

Leaving ASVEL, and the guidance of Parker, confused some NBA teams that were
monitoring Wembanyama. But the strategy worked. Wembanyama led the league in
points, rebounds and blocks, and Mets 92 had the second-best regular-season
record. They are challengers for this season's national title, for which the
playoffs start this week.

離開艾斯維爾，離開帕克的指導，一些正在關注文班亞馬的NBA 球隊感到困惑。但這一策略起了作用。文班亞馬在得分、籃板和蓋帽方面領先於聯盟，大都會92隊在例行賽中取得了第二好的成績。他們是本賽季聯盟冠軍的挑戰者，其季後賽本週開始。

"The plan to exit was a very difficult choice," Ndiaye says. "But the idea toprepare him for this type of attention, because if he's No. 1 pick, if he
comes to the NBA, it's not going to be easy.

Ndiaye 說：

「退出的計劃是一個非常困難的選擇，但是，讓他為這種類型的關注做好準備的想法，因 為如果他是頭號人選，如果他來到NBA，那就不容易了。」

"People will try to go after him and beat him, and the pressure will be
exactly the same pressure that he's leaving now. The thing that we have
created with the Metropolitans and building all the team around him was to
make him ready to come into the league."

「人們會試圖去追趕他並擊敗他，壓力將與他現在離開的壓力完全一樣。我們與大都會隊 一起創造的事情，以及圍繞他建立的所有團隊，就是為了讓他準備好進入聯盟。」

Wembanyama and his team chose Vincent Collet, the current French national
team coach and five-time league champion, to coach him. The central mission
of the season was to make it easier for the best player to say goodbye.

文班亞馬和他的團隊選擇讓現任法國國家隊教練、五次聯賽冠軍 Vincent Collet 來執教他。本賽季的核心任務是讓這位最好的球員更容易說再見。

"I know a little bit about what is going to happen for him, and I try to
prepare him to handle his situation and to manage all the expectations, whichwill be very high," Collet says. "This means everybody's going to wait for
his performance, and he has to be ready for that. ... For a young guy, it's
not so easy."

Collet 說：

「我知道一點對他來說將要發生的事情，我試圖讓他準備好處理他的情況，管理所有的期 望，這將是非常高的，這意味著所有人都會等待他的表現，他必須為此做好準備。……
對於一個年輕人來說，這不是那麼容易。」

That concept led to Mets 92 playing two games against the G-League Ignite
last fall in Las Vegas, where the Wembanyama hype train exploded. He scored
36 and 37 points in the two games, showing off an intoxicating array of
skills in front of an NBA audience. The idea wasn't just to showcase him for
American fans, which it absolutely did, but to give him a taste of the
high-profile NBA life, from the media attention to the style of play to the
five-star hotels.

這個概念使得大都會92隊在去年秋天在拉斯維加斯與G 聯盟引燃隊打了兩場比賽，在那裡文班亞馬的炒作列車爆炸了。他在這兩場比賽中分別得到三十六分和三十七分，在NBA 觀眾面前展示了一系列令人陶醉的技能。這個想法不僅僅是為了向美國球迷展示他，這絕對是做到了，而是讓他嚐到了高調的NBA 生活，從媒體關注到比賽風格再到五星級酒店。

During one of the games Wembanyama played in Vegas, his old teammates at
ASVEL played a game back in France at about the same time. When the players
came into the locker room after the game, their phones lit up with the news
about what their former teammate had just done halfway across the world.

在文班亞馬在拉斯維加斯打的一場比賽中，他在艾斯維爾的老隊友們差不多同時在法國打了一場比賽。當球員們在比賽結束後進入更衣室時，他們的手機亮起了關於他們的前隊友在地球另一端剛剛做了什麼的新聞。

"I was like, 'What are y'all talking about? You know, we just won.' But
they're all like, 'Do you see this stat line?'" Lighty says.

Lighty 說：

「這就像『你們都在說什麼？你知道，我們剛剛贏了呀。』但他們卻說，『你看到這個數 據了嗎？』」

"Imagine Rudy Gobert being mixed with a little bit of Kevin Durant being
mixed with a little bit of Dirk [Nowitzki]. Like, these are things that you
do on your video games as a kid, you know, growing up, trying to make the
perfect player to score 50 every game type of thing. So for Vic to have all
those abilities in one and for him to have the mindset that he has, to want
to be great and want to get better, is very unique and special."

「想像一下，狗貝與KD的一點點混合，再與諾威茲基的一點點混合。就像，這些都是你小 時候在電子遊戲中做的事情，你知道，在成長過程中，試圖讓完美的球員每場比賽都能 得到五十分的事情。因此，對於文班亞馬來說，集所有這些能力於一身，而且他有這樣 的心態，想要變得更偉大、想要變得更好，是非常獨特和特別的。」

Wembanyama's teammates, current and past, know the NBA hasn't been far from
his mind for a long time. There's a long journey ahead as he moves to a new
country and develops his body.

文班亞馬過去、如今的隊友都知道，NBA 之夢從未離開過他的心懷。在他搬到一個新的國家並進一步發展自我時，還有一段漫長的旅程。

As with any draft pick, be it No. 1 or No. 30, there are no guarantees.

就像任何選秀一樣，無論是一號（狀元）還是三十號，都沒有任何保證。

Wembanyama, who keeps an eye on the league and has spent quite a bit of time
studying what he thinks is coming, knows there's going to be pressure and
serious expectations. But the closer the moment has gotten and the more his
strategy over the past few years has rounded into focus, the more excited he
gets about showing the world what he has spent his life preparing for.

文班亞馬一直關注著聯盟，並花了相當多的時間研究他認為即將發生的事情，他知道會有壓力和嚴重的期望。但越是接近這個時刻，加上他在過去數年的戰略越是圓滑，他就越是對於他要向世界展示之花了一輩子時間準備的東西感到興奮。

"[Vegas] just confirmed the thoughts that I had about the NBA," Wembanyama
says. "I think it fits my game so well. I love playing these games. I feel
like I got so much to express on the court. ... So yeah, I'm excited, too. I
know I've a lot to show."

文班亞馬說：

「（拉斯維加斯）只是證實了我對NBA 的想法，我認為它很適合我的比賽。我喜歡打這些 比賽。我覺得我在球場上有很多東西可以表達。……所以是的，我也很興奮。我知道我
有很多東西等著展示出來。」

--