http://0rz.tw/0e3fG FOR HIS NEXT TRICK: Saunders tries to make doubters finally disappear 老桑的下一场魔术表演：把怀疑论者通通变不见 By MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST October 31, 2007 He wears long pants, his socks are dark, his shoes have heels and he’s not even allowed on the court. He doesn’t shoot. He doesn’t dribble. He doesn’ t rebound, post-up or block a single shot. He doesn’t even have a number. Yet Flip Saunders — of everyone in the Pistons’ organization — is the one on the hot seat? Well, Sports Illustrated thinks so. ESPN thinks so. Stephen A. Smith, the NBA analyst, said Wednesday that if the Pistons didn’t make the NBA Finals this season, Saunders was gone, no doubt about it. 这个男人穿的是长裤，套的是深色袜子、踩的是有跟皮鞋，他甚至不得踏入球场。他不 投篮、不运球、不抢篮板、不打低位、不搧火锅。他连背号也没有。 不过全活塞队上，却是这个男人--老桑、Flip Saunders--背负了最大的压力？ 运动画刊和ESPN都这麽认为，而NBA分析师、Stephen A. Smith上周三说，如果活塞队 今年打不进NBA冠军赛，老桑肯定被火，毫无疑问。 Yet Saunders, who dabbles as an amateur magician, doesn’t believe there’s a rabbit in that hat. "No,” he says flatly when asked if his job is on the line. Then why all the noise? “Expectations,” he says. “Expectations. We haven’t won a championship. So that is what drives you.” 但喜欢在闲暇时玩几手魔术的老桑，认为这些说法都是空穴来风。 「不，」被问到工作是否有危机时，他的回答简单明了。 那媒体到底在吵什麽？ 「期望，」他说。「期望。我们还没拿过总冠军。这成了我们最大的动力。」 We are talking in his office at the Pistons’ practice facility in Auburn Hills. Saunders, the head coach now in his third season, is sitting behind his desk, but he doesn’t sit still. He is constantly shifting, throwing his arms behind his head, wedging his feet against the desk, squirming in his chair like a man trying to find a comfortable position. And I suppose, in many ways, he still is. Remember, Saunders, 52, followed a volcano, Larry Brown, who took the Pistons to two NBA Finals and one championship in two years. Unfortunately, life under Brown was like life on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Under Saunders, things have been more peaceful. But also less successful. No championships. No NBA Finals. Just two conference finals, both defeats, the last of which ended with four straight losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers. 我来到活塞队在奥本山的练习场，相约在他的办公室见面。即将展开第三个球季的老 桑，坐在办公桌後，但他定不下来。他不断改换姿势，时而把手臂枕在脑後，时而把 脚卡在书桌边缘，在椅子里扭呀扭的，似乎想找个舒服的位置。 我想，从很多角度来说，他依然在寻找他的定位。别忘记，52岁的老桑接下的，可是 布朗爷、Larry Brown的烫手山芋。在布朗的麾下，活塞两年内二度攻进NBA冠军赛， 抱回一座金盃。不幸的，布朗爷时期的活塞，就像是纽约证交所的场子中央，风波不 断。 来到老桑时代，生活平静许多，但成就却大不如前。没有总冠军、没有决赛，两次打 进分区冠军赛都以失败收场，第二次还是被骑士队横扫出局。 How much of this is on the coach? And how much can the man in the suit really do with a team full of veterans — some of whom feel they know better? At one point in our conversation — when I ask for a demonstration of his magician’s abilities — Flip reaches into the drawer and takes out a playing card, which he deftly makes disappear and reappear in his other hand. He’s very good. I can’t help wondering whether he wishes he could make people’s doubts disappear the same way. 这一切，教练该负多少责任？一个穿西装的家伙又能拿一整队老鸟怎麽办--尤其是某 些人自认比他更行？ 访谈进行到一半，我请他露两手魔术师的功力。老桑伸手从抽屉里拿出一叠扑克牌， 熟练的让一张张牌在另一手中出现、消失。他的技巧很高明。我不禁踹想，他是否希 望自己也能让别人的怀疑论，同样的烟消云散。 Ruling with an iron fist? 铁腕政策？ Did you know Saunders did magic? He’s been studying it for years. He has a book of coin magic in his office. He visits magic shops on the road. He mostly does his tricks at parties or for friends, but he takes it seriously and, based on a few moves he pulls off in the office — including making car keys disappear — he’s quite skilled at sleight of hand. But no amount of misdirection will help Saunders this season. There are two things he has to do. The first is to play the younger Pistons — the rookies and the reserves — to preserve the veterans’ bodies for the playoffs. The second is to get up into the faces of anybody — starting five included — who isn’t performing up to snuff. 你知道老桑会变魔术吗？他已经研究多年了。他在办公室放了一本铜板魔术书。他会 逛路边的魔术用品店。他多半在派对上或朋友前表演他的戏法，但他不只是随便玩玩 ，而且从他在办公室耍的几招手法--包括让车钥匙凭空消失--来看，他对於幻术可是 相当在行。 不过在这个球季，再多的障眼法也帮不了老桑。他有两件事必须完成。首先是让年轻 球员--菜鸟和板凳们--上场比赛，以节省老将的体力，应付季後赛。其次，不论任何 人--包括先发五虎--没打出该有的水准，他都得面对面给对方一顿难堪。 Last May, when certain starters went dry and committed uncharacteristic turnovers, some felt Saunders was too light. He trusted them too much, shook them up too little. That won’t happen again this season — or Saunders may indeed be gone. He seems to have clearly been told that the players are the horses, but he has gotta shake the reins. "When you first come in, especially when you have a veteran team, you give them opportunities,” he says, by way of defense. “You gotta remember, we started my first season like 15-2. So it wasn’t where I felt I had to come in and change things and say, ‘Well, this is my team and we’re changing everything about how you play and what you do.’ “I think now, we have some younger guys, and the other guys are definitely more aware of whom I am, what I am, what my expectations are.” 去年五月，部分先发球员打摆子，犯下离谱的失误，有人觉得老桑太软了。他给他们 太多信任、太少教训。 这个球季他不会重蹈覆辙--否则老桑可能真的会说再见。似乎有人清楚告诉过他，球 员是带头的马匹，但他非把缰绳握紧不可。 「你刚进到一个新球队，尤其是球员都是老将了，你会给他们机会，」他为自己辩护 。「你得记住，我们开季的成绩大概是15胜2败。所以我当时不觉得我非得一上任就做 很多改变，说『这是我的球队，你们的打法和习惯要全部改掉。』」 「我想，现在我们有一些年轻球员，其他人也一定更了解我的个性、我的风格，我的 要求在哪里。」 So he’s going to be louder. He’s going to be more abrupt. He’s going to tell the players if they’re not delivering. And I know what you’re thinking. Rasheed. 所以他会更积极出声。他会更主动介入。如果球员表现差强人意，他会告诉他们。 我知道你想到谁了。 希蛙。 （未完待续） 译 / hanway p.s. 我把相关的段落串在一起翻译，希望想看原文的能看原文， 想看译文也不至於太零碎。这个系列会分成三篇来翻。 --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 125.225.66.15 ※ 编辑: hanway 来自: 125.225.66.15 (11/07 23:51)