来源: San Antonio Express News 网址: http://tinyurl.com/y7vmn5fo For Spurs’ Derrick White, the fairy tale is just beginning 马刺新秀Derrick White的新人生 Let’s get one thing straight from the top. Derrick White was never really interested in going to cooking school. 先讲重点，Derrick White从来就没有想去厨艺学院。 He can barely boil an egg. The only chef he feels comfortable emulating is Boyardee. 他连煎个蛋都不太行。 White is perfectly capable of toasting opponents on the basketball court. But bread in the kitchen? Not so much. 他最会的是在球场上火烤对手，至於厨房的火烤嘛，只能ㄏㄏ了。 “It’s not my thing,” said White, the high-scoring guard from Colorado the Spurs selected No. 29 in Thursday’s NBA draft. “Not. At. All.” 「那真的不是我的专门，真-的-不-是」White说。马刺今年在第29顺位选上这个来自 Colorado得分能力很强的後卫。 Yet when White graduated from Legends High School in Parker, Colorado, in 2012, his first plan was to enroll at Johnson & Wales University in Denver. 当他2012高中毕业时，他原本是想去丹佛的强森-威尔斯大学。 The NAIA school is renowned mostly for its culinary arts program, but at least they would let him play basketball there. 这所学校主要是因为他的厨艺课程而着名，但是至少他们愿意让White在那边打篮球。 Johnson & Wales was one of the few institutions of higher learning that would. White’s only other offer at the time was from a junior college in Wyoming. 强森-威尔斯大学是愿意给White念书的两个大学的其中之一，另外一所是在怀俄明州。 “I just loved basketball and wanted to continue,” White said. “I didn’t want it to be over.” 「我真的好想打篮球~~」White说。 The White who will arrive in San Antonio this week to begin his NBA career is not the same guy once nearly forced to begin his college career at cooking school. He is taller now, having sprouted from 6-foot-1 as a high school senior to 6-5. He is bigger, having packed a solid 200 pounds onto that frame. White这周来到马刺开始他的NBA生涯。现在的他跟当初差点要去厨艺学院的他已经完全不 同，身高从6尺1寸长到6尺5寸，体重也达到200磅。 He is also no longer invisible to NBA scouts, having finished his lone DivisionI season at Colorado a first-team All-Pac 12 selection, averaging 18.1 points and 4.4 assists for the Buffaloes. 他也开始被NBA的球探注意到，平均得18.1分及4.4个助攻，入选Pac-12第一队。 “He’s just a good basketball player,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “He’s not really a point guard. He’s not really an off-guard. He’s a guard.” 「他是个好球员，」马刺总管Buford说到White，「他不算是控卫，也不算是得分後卫， 他就是个後卫。」 Said assistant general manager Brian Wright: “The things he does well — dribble, shoot, pass, make good decisions — that’s something every team can use.”Once upon a time, the player every team can use was a player no team in America wanted. 马刺总管助理说：「他能运球，得分，传球，场上能做正确的决定，这些都是球队需要 的。」不过，White当初并没有球队要他。 His path from Parker to the NBA has been at once painstaking and dizzying. He has had more doors slammed in his face than a Jehovah’s Witness on Saturday morning. White往NBA的道路并不顺遂，甩他的球队大门可能比周末推销信教被甩门的还要更多。 Now White is set to become a grizzled NBA rookie at the ripe age of 23. He is likely the only player drafted Thursday who will use his first contract to pay off student loans. “It’s quite a story,” said Jeff Culver, the coach who recruited White to Johnson & Wales. White现在23岁，比起其他今年进NBA的菜鸟，算是比较老的了，而且他可能是唯一一个在 今年选秀球员中要拿签约金去付学贷的了。「他的故事很感人。」招募他进去强森-威尔斯 大学的教练Jeff Culver说。 White grew up in Parker, a tight-knit town of nearly 50,000 about 30 miles southeast of Denver. Almost from the beginning, he harbored a love for basketball his slow-developing body stubbornly refused to match. White began his prep career as a 5-4 freshman, baby-faced and raw-boned. By his senior season, he had sprouted to a shade over 6-foot, but still without much meat to him. White在一个只有五万人的小镇长大，距离丹佛约30哩远。很早他就爱上篮球，但是他的身 材始终没有很好。在他的大学先修课程的时候，他只有5尺4寸，只是个瘦皮猴，还是个娃 娃脸。到大学先修的最後一年，他长到了六尺，但是还是瘦巴巴一只。 He was good enough to earn all-state honorable mention honors as a senior. Not good enough to attract the eyes of college scouts. “I had good numbers,” White said. “They just looked at it like I was too small. I had Division-II schools telling me I wasn’t even good enough to play at that level. It was frustrating.” 他的球技让他拿到全州优秀高中球员奖，但是这没有让他得到球探的青睐。White说： 「他们觉得我太小只，有的大学甚至觉得我的球技不够资格在他们的层级打球，那真的很 令人沮丧。」 After a futile recruitment period, White had to fight the inclination to give in to the critics. In the months after graduation, his father Richard began sending highlight films to small schools across the country, hoping for a nibble. 在招募期过了之後，White还在跟球探给的评论奋斗。在他高中毕业後数月之後，他的爸爸 帮他剪了一些高光影片寄去一些小学校，希望能得到一些回音。 Such national powers as New Mexico Highlands and Missouri Western said no thanks. Midway through the summer of 2012, White still had no place to play. He was considering enrolling at Colorado State as a student and surrendering his basketball dream for good. 一些篮球强权学校是直接打枪的。直到2012年夏天，White还是没学校念，他一度考虑就乾 脆放弃他的篮球梦好了。 “They’d been trying to get him recruited, trying to get his tape out,” Culver said. “They were hitting a lot of dead-end roads.”Culver had seen White play at a Thanksgiving tournament early in his senior season, and liked him enough to keep tabs. 「他们很努力在找学校招募White，」White的大学教练Culver说，「只是他们一直碰到死 胡同。」Culver有一次看到White打球的影片，非常喜欢，喜欢到赶快笔记下来。 As the coach at Johnson & Wales, Culver couldn’t afford to be as persnickety about the talent he recruited. “Other programs want guys who are job-ready right away,” Culver said. “I always tried to project two or three years down the road.” Culver是强森-威尔斯的教练，不是篮球强权，所以他挑球员也不能太高标准。 「其他学校可以要马上可以上场的，」Culver说，「我总是看两三年後可能的发展。」 Culver invited White to play at Johnson & Wales. There would be no scholarship — some NAIA programs do not offer them — but at least cooking classes would be optional. To White, the proposition already sounded like salvation. Then the deal got even better. Culver邀请White到强森-威尔斯打球，没有奖学金，不过至少厨艺课程是选修的。这对 White来说已经是一个好到流口水的机会了。不过，好戏还在後头。 Just before White was set to enroll at Johnson & Wales, Culver accepted a job as head coach at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, an NCAA Division II school. The new gig was a promotion for Culver. It turned out to be a life-changer for White. “If he doesn’t get that job,” White said, “I don’t get a D-II offer.” 当White决定要去强森-威尔斯念书的时候，Culver得到了一个在科罗拉多大学科罗拉多泉 分校的教练一职，那是NCAA二级的学校。对Culver来说，那算是升迁，对White来说，那是 人生的转捩点。 「如果教练没拿到那份工作，」White说，「我不可能去的了二级学校打球。」 White became Culver’s first recruit at UCCS, eagerly agreeing to follow the coach south in exchange for a $3,000 housing voucher. The initial idea was for White to redshirt as a freshman. That plan soon was soon scuttled as White began tearing up practices, almost daring Culver to play him as a freshman. White是Culver教练新工作招募的第一个球员，他也很兴奋，因为有个3000镁的房屋补 助。一开始本来是想让White,用转学理由从大一新鲜人开始打，但是他在球队练习的时候 就展现了摧枯拉朽的实力，让Culver不敢把White放在转学大一的层级。 When one of the team’s older guards was injured in an early-season game, Culver had no choice but to unleash White. “He probably could have used a redshirt year to get stronger,” Culver said. “But we also realized we really needed him. We couldn’t redshirt him. He was consistently making plays.” 当球队上的一个年长的後卫受伤的时候，Culver决定让White上场了。 「我当然可以继续把White放在转学大一位置，让他变得更强後再上场，」Culver教练 说，「但是我们需要他为球队打球，所以不能继续放在转学大一层级。」 The removal of White’s redshirt set the fuse on a rocket-ship ride for White that is still racing upward. He was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2012-13. Midway through his sophomore season at UCCS, he was attracting D-I looks, mostly from mid-major programs. 让White脱离转学大一的身分像是点燃了一枚火箭般，White当年就拿下落矶山脉运动联盟 年度大一新生球员。在他的大二生涯，开始有一级学校注意到他。 By the time White completed his junior season, he had become one of the top D-II players in the country. In his second-to-last game at UCCS, White logged 50 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks against Colorado School of Mines. By then, it was clear D-II couldn’t hold him anymore. 在White的大三球季，他已经是在二级学校比赛中的顶尖球员。在他为Culver打的倒数第 二场比赛，他拿下50分，14个篮板，8个助攻，跟3个火锅。很明显的，二级学校层级的比 赛已经不是让White可以打得了。 The decision to move up a level was a no-brainer if White planned to pursue an NBA career. The last D-II player selected in the NBA draft was Ronald Murray, a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2002. Even so, White struggled with the notion of leaving UCCS. “He came in after spring break to tell me, and you could tell he was pretty broken up about it,” Culver said. “There had been D-I overtures during his freshman and sophomore years. When CU came calling, it was too shiny to turn down.” 如果White将来想要打NBA，转往一级学校打球是不用大脑想就知道的选择。最近一个在二 级学校打球被NBA选秀选上的是在2002年，密尔瓦基公鹿选的Ronald Murray。即使如此， 对於离开科罗拉多泉分校，White还是很挣扎。 「White在春假後来找我，我可以看得出来他很惨。」Culver教练说，「在大一大二的时候 有一级学校来找他。当科罗拉多大学打来的时候，这个机会已经是好到不能再拒绝的 了。」 Colorado coach Tad Boyle had come across White long before the guard blossomed into a D-II star. As a high school senior, White had attended Colorado’s team camp. “That was the good news,” Boyle said. “The bad news was, he was 6-foot-1 and 150 pounds. He didn’t hit our radar.” 科罗拉多大学教练Boyle其实在打电话之前其实有跟White交集过。在高中最後一年的时 候，White有参加过科罗拉多大的篮球营。 「那是好事，」Boyle教练说，「坏事是那时候White才6尺1，150磅，我们压根没注意到 他。」 Like most every other coach in the country, Boyle didn’t think much of White as a college prospect coming out of high school. By the time he was preparing to leave UCCS, however, White’s potential was undeniable. Boyle offered his former camper a full scholarship, and White packed his bags for Boulder. 在篮球营那时候，Boyle教练跟其他教练一样认为White没有打大学篮球的实力。不过，到 离开Culver教练的时候，他的天赋已经是无可怀疑的。科大给White全额奖学金，让他来科 大打球。 After sitting out the 2015-16 season under NCAA transfer rules, White spent his lone campaign at Colorado torching a talent-laden Pac-12 conference. A combo guard adept playing either on or off the ball, White starred in a league that produced the top two picks in Thursday’s draft — Washington’s Markelle Fultz and UCLA’s Lonzo Ball. 在坐完NCAA转学规定的一年球季监後，White在天赋洋溢Pac-12联盟发光发热。他可以打持 球也可以不持球的後卫，成为跟今年NBA选秀的前两名-华盛顿大学的富家子跟UCLA的鲍 尔-同一区的明星球员。 “He did everything for us,” Boyle said. “He was our best shooter. He was our best ball-handler. He was our best defender. He was our best decision-maker. He did it all.” When Buford called inquiring about White, Boyle told him the same. The two go way back. Boyle was a senior guard at Kansas in 1985 when Buford was a graduate assistant on coach Larry Brown’s staff. 「White为我们球队做到所有事情，」教练Boyle说。「他是我们最好的射手，他是我们最 好的持球员，他是球场上最好的决策者。」 这番话也是教练Boyle跟马刺总管Buford说的话。 Typically, players ticketed for the first round of the NBA draft have been scouted and vetted and nitpicked since they were teenagers. With a late bloomer like White, intel can be sketchy. Boyle became a credible voice helping the Spurs fill in the gaps. “Knowing Tad and trusting Tad had a big impact on our feelings,” Buford said. “He was really confident this guy belongs.” 通常第一轮选秀的球员，大概球探报告都会很完整，从高中就会注意到。但是像White这 种大器晚成型的，报告都不会太准，所以就会需要像教练Boyle的意见。 「我跟教练Boyle认识，我也相信他的眼光，他的意见对我们有很大影响。」总管Buford 说，「他很确定White是NBA等级球员。」 White’s fit as a basketball player is self-evident.The object of the game is to make the ball go in the basket, and White was one of the best in the nation at it last season. “You don’t find the 80-50-40 guys in college very often,” said Buford, referring to White’s free-throw, field-goal and 3-point percentages. “ Derrick has proven to be one of them.” White是极佳篮球员是毋庸怀疑的。 「你不太容易在大学球员里找大80-50-40的球员，」总管Buford说的80-50-40指的是罚球 率，两分球进球率跟三分球进球率，「但是White就是其中一个。」 Shooting ability isn’t all that separates White from the NBA draft pack, in Boyle’s estimation. “The best thing about Derrick White, he wasn’t one of these kids that had everyone blowing smoke up his skirt since he was in the eighth grade,” Boyle said. “He’s had to earn everything he’s gotten.” 外线并不是唯一让White跟其他选秀不一样的唯一原因。 「White最好的特质是，他不像那些从小就人人称赞将来会是明星球员的那种，」马刺总管 Buford说，「他得去拼命才能得到他想要的东西。」 It is White’s ability to raise his game with the level of competition that most intrigues the Spurs. He has spent a lifetime telling himself yes when others tell him no. “A lot of guys might be cautious or lack confidence in stepping up to those different levels,” Buford said. “He’s not only stepped up but excelled as he’s moved up the food chain. He’s got another big jump coming.” White可以把他的能力提升到甚麽等级是最让马刺制服组好奇的。 「很多球员当他进入到另外一个层级比赛的时候，会过於小心或是缺乏自信，」总管 Buford说，「但是White不只提升他自己的能力，而且会往顶尖迈进；他将会再往前迈进一 大步。」 White is aware of what awaits. His story has already been the stuff of fairy tales, but he hasn’t quite made it to the happily ever after part yet. A new chapter, the biggest chapter, is only now beginning. “I think I’ll fit in great (with the Spurs),” White said. “I love the style they play, with the ball movement. That’s how I like to play, too. I can’t wait to get started.” White知道前方有甚麽样的考验在等他。他的人生经历目前已经像是童话故事了，但是最後 的"永远快乐的生活着"那部分还没到，而最重要的那个篇章，才正要开始。 「我想我会在马刺融入的很好，」White说，「我喜欢他们打球的方式，我喜欢他们球的流 动，那也是我喜欢打得方式，我等不及要为马刺打球了。」 Maybe this last giant leap, from Colorado to the NBA, is the one White can’t make. Maybe the stage finally grows too big for him, the competition finally becomes too tough. Maybe, at last, the naysayers will be right about him. 从科大到马刺或许会是White的最後一个关卡，而且是White可能跨不过去的关卡，很有 可能会是这一路上看衰White的人得意的时候。 Maybe. As the coach who once nearly convinced White to attend cooking school in order to disprove his doubters, Culver wouldn’t count on it. Late last Thursday night, at the end of an evening that changed his former player’s life forever, Culver stood up among a crowd of well-wishers at White’s draft party in Parker and offered a prediction of what comes next for the soon-to-be Spur. “He spent five years being able to take out his grudges on the colleges that missed on him,” Culver said. “Now he’s got 28 NBA teams to take it out on. That’s part of his fuel and his fire.” 或许吧！ 曾经教练Culver差点说服White去念厨艺学校，他不认为这次他会跨不过去。选秀那天晚 上，教练Culver在White家乡小镇为White选秀祈福的聚会上，说了他对将成为马刺球员 White的看法， 「他花了五年把那些对没选他的大学所产生的怨气都发出去，而且现在他有28个球队可以 吐怨气，那些怨气将会是他将来的NBA生涯的燃料与力量。」 White’s career to this point has been built on handing out “I told you sos. ” The Spurs are betting he has a few more left in him. 马刺这次赌他还有更多潜力还没发挥。 -- 马刺制服组也是很能挑，之前挑了一个理发师，现在挑了一个厨师... 拭目以待吧! --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc), 来自: 124.155.74.173 ※ 文章网址: https://webptt.com/cn.aspx?n=bbs/NBA/M.1498444694.A.875.html 感激 已更正 ※ 编辑: pneumo (126.204.196.145), 06/26/2017 11:48:40 ※ 编辑: pneumo (126.204.196.145), 06/26/2017 11:49:48