Suns top pick Dragan Bender's track carries promise 太陽首選的龍哥帶來了承諾 http://goo.gl/aMWRQj The Suns’ decision process to take a spindly, 7-foot-1 Croatian with their highest draft slot in 29 years began two summers ago. 在太陽29年來最高的選秀順位中，我們選擇了一個身材細長的七呎一寸克羅埃西亞長人。 而他是在兩年前的暑假被注意到的。 Dragan Bender was a 16-year-old playing against older teens in the Under-18 European Championship in Konya, Turkey, with Suns assistant general manager Pat Connelly and Suns international scouting consultant Emilio Kovacic on hand. 當龍哥還是一個16歲的小帥哥的時候(原諒我翻譯自肥，我喜歡帥哥球員XD)，他就在 歐洲18歲以下的冠軍杯中出賽。那時候太陽的總經理助理 Pat Connelly 跟國際球探 Emilio Kovacic 掌握到了他的資訊。 Bender looked like a potential future No. 1 pick, posting two near triple-double performances and having a 34-point, 14-rebound, no-turnover game against Lithuania, which had another of Thursday’s first-round picks, Domantas Sabonis. 龍哥看起來就像是一個潛在的狀元人選，他打出了兩次大三元，還在對立陶宛的比賽 中交出 34 分 14 籃板無失誤的表現。而那個被他打爆的立陶宛有著另一個本次選秀 會中的主角，就是小 Sabonis 。 “He did some incredible things there,” Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said after picking Bender fourth overall Thursday night. “He was 6-10 at the time. He is 7-1 now. Playing like a point forward. Honestly, in some of those videos, he looked a lot like Toni Kukoc.” 「他做了一些不可思議的事情。」麥當勞在星期四晚上接受訪問時透露。「那時候他 才 6-10 ，現在卻已經成長到了 7-1 ，而且打得像是一個大前鋒了。老實說，在他 的一些影片中，我們看到他表現得像是 Toni Kukoc 一樣。」 Bender, the draft’s youngest player at 18, has modeled his game after Kukoc, another tall, skilled player who developed to his prime in Europe before coming to the Chicago Bulls when he was 25 years old. 身為這次選秀中最年輕的18歲球員， Bender 他的模板 Kukoc 是另一個身材高大， 技術精湛的球員。而 Kukoc 從歐洲被帶到公牛隊的時候他已經25歲了。 Bender just hints at being able to do some of the things – and more – from Kukoc’s game. Offensively, he shows a shooting touch with a high release, improving his 3-point shot from 27 percent in a second-division Israeli league last year to 36 percent with Maccabi Tel Aviv this year. He has a passing feel and desire to make teammates better but shows a knack for finishing too. Bender 暗示了他可以從比賽中做到一些 Kukoc 能夠做到的事情──而且或許更多。 進攻上，他展現了高度的投射能力。他的三分球從以色列次級聯賽的 27% ，到去年 成長為 36% 。他也有傳球的感覺，能夠使隊友變得更好，卻也能獨力完成 play。 “You saw some of that passing, that magic feel he had with the ball,” McDonough said. “He’s a special player.” 「我們看了一些他的傳球，當他持球這樣做的時候，有著魔術般的感覺。」 麥當勞說：「他是一個很特別的球員。」 Defensively, he is agile enough to defend the perimeter and long and competitive enough to fill out his body for interior defense. 在防守端，他的敏捷度足以保護周圍，而身高也能夠掩護他的內線防守。 There was not much opportunity for Bender to back up his game’s promise this year, playing for a Maccabi team that emphasizes winning with older players but was disappointing as its first club to not reach the Euroleague Top 16 in 22 years. 今年 Bender 並沒有足夠的機會來表現出自己的比賽。他所效力的球隊 Maccabi 強調 勝利應該倚賴較為年長的球員，，但令人失望的是他們的俱樂部卻沒有打進歐洲22強。 “I’m looking forward to start with the practices, start with everything,” Bender said. “I’m just trying to put myself on the court and show everybody that I can play with these guys on the court.” 「我期待著從練習中開始一切。」龍哥說：「我只是希望把自己放在場上，而且告訴 所有人我能夠跟他們一起上場。」 Thursday verified every difficult decision Bender had made in his life. He left his parents – a railroad engineer and a fruits and vegetables picker -- and his small town of Capljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, (population 28,000) at age 12 to join Nikola Vujcic’s basketball academy in Croatia at age 12. By 15, he was playing professionally for KK Split. 星期四對於 Bender 的生命體驗來說，其實是一個很艱難的決定。他必須要為此離開 自己的雙親，一個鐵路工程師跟一個蔬果挑選員──還有他在Capljina, Bosnia 跟 Herzegovina 的小鎮。(人口兩萬八千) 當他加入 Nikola Vujcic 的籃球學院時才 12 歲，而15歲的時候，他已經開始幫 KK split 隊打職業比賽了。 “That (the NBA) was my dream from the beginning,” Bender said. “And then when I realized I can do it, I can make it happen, I just started working even hard for that, though I didn’t play a lot last year in Maccabi. I definitely put work in the mornings and individual work just to make it happen.” 「這(加入NBA)從一開始就是我的夢想。」Bender 說：「而當我認識到我可以做到這 些，這真的有可能發生，我就為此開始了更辛苦的鍛鍊。雖然去年我並沒有太多的上 場機會，但我一定會從早上開始一天的個人訓練，這一切都只是為了讓美夢成真。」 Bender, who will not turn 19 until after the season starts in November, only averaged 13.4 minutes in Israeli League play and 8.6 minutes in Euroleague games. 在新球季開始前都還未滿十九歲的龍哥，去年平均只上場 13.4 分鐘，而在歐洲聯盟 的比賽中甚至只有每場 8.6 分鐘。 “For me, as an 18-year-old guy, it was really tough to find minutes on the court,” Bender said. “We were losing some games and it’s always easier to go with veteran player, older guys than with a young guy, unexperienced. I struggled a lot with minutes on the court but I did have time to work individually and every aspect of my game.” 「對我這樣一個十八歲的球員來說，想要爭分爭秒的爭取上場時間是很重要的。」 龍哥表示：「我們在擁有一些資深球員的情況下還是輸了一些比賽。老球員甚至可能 比年輕球員打得更像雛兒。雖然我還是在這樣的情況下爭取到一點上場時間，但我並 沒有太多的機會在各方面展現我自己的能力。」 The Suns will not be so reticent for him to play and progress. They see the rare 7-foot player who could not only finish pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops but initiate them too. They seen an unselfish player fitting into their goals of having a team with versatility on both ends of the floor. 對於他的上場跟進步，太陽顯然不會再讓他那麼委屈了。我們看到了一個不只能在擋 拆擋投上有所建樹，甚至還能以他當成開始的七呎長人。彷彿預示到，把這樣無私的 球員作為我們的目標後，他能夠在球場的兩端都做出貢獻。 “Bender, to me, has a great opportunity to play on the perimeter,” Suns coach Earl Watson said. :He can handle the ball really well and he’s open to growing and that’s always a positive.” 「能投外線的龍哥，對我來說是一個很好的機會。」花生說：「而且他還可以控球， 並且具備成長性。他始終看起來很正面。」 Bender plans to join the Suns this season. He reportedly has a $1.3 million NBA buyout in his contract with Maccabi, who can receive half of that from the Suns. 龍哥計畫在本季就加入太陽。早先於此，NBA官方就幫他付出了1.3M的合約買斷金， 太陽會支付其中的一半。 This is the fruit of enduring the franchise’s second worst season. The Suns selected Alex Len at No. 5 three years ago but had not picked higher than Bender’s No. 4 spot since 1987, when they drafted Armon Gilliam. 這是太陽史上第二糟糕的球季帶來的果子，太陽在三年前的第五順位選擇了小蘭。 但這個順位也沒有龍哥的第四順位來得高。上一次太陽拿到第四順位已經是 1987 年選到 Armon Gilliam 的事了。 The Suns had a difficult time choosing between Bender and Washington’s Marquese Chriss at No. 4 but wound up with both when they traded for Sacramento’s No. 8 pick to also add Chriss. 太陽在選擇龍哥跟 Chriss 作為第四順位人選時顯得很為難，但最後因為跟國王 換到八號籤所以兩個都帶走了。 (編按：一個養不好你有養兩個嗎？) "I think it’s a great thing, first of all, for the Phoenix organization,” Bender said. “Just to have young guys on the team that combine with older veterans who can help us adjust ourselves to the NBA as quickly as possible. The other thing is that it’s great for practice to set up the tempo. I guess it’s going to be even better in practices to compete every day. 「我認為加入鳳凰城太陽隊是一件很棒的事情。」龍哥表示，「我們集結了很多年輕 人，之後就是尋找一些老將來幫助我們成長到 NBA 的水準。另外就是，透過訓練來 調整節奏是很棒的。我想我在每一天的訓練中都會變得越來越好。」 “I’m excited about that part. I just want to play hard and show everybody that I can play with these guys on the court equally. Just prove myself on the court. I’m going to try everything and put everything on the court.” 「我對這個部分非常興奮，我只是想努力打球，並且讓大家看到我可以跟這些人一樣 的發揮。只要保證讓我能上場就好了。我會盡我一切的努力並把一切帶到場上來。」 -- ★▃▃ ◣ ▅▅▅▅ ▄▄ █ ▇▇ ▄▄◣ ◢ ██▋ 　 ▅▅ █ ▅▃▉ ▊ █▅ ◣◢ ▄▄ █ｓ▋▄▄▄ ◣▊▄ █ ▄▄▄◥ █▆ ◥◢ █▄ █ ▋ ▄▄▌█▊██▌ 04-05╴╴╴ ╴ ╴╴◤▄▄◤ ◤ █▅▅▅ ◤ █▄▌▄▄◤ █ Ｐｈｘ-Ｓｕｎｓ ▕▕▕▕╱ ├╯05-06 ◤◥▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄ ◥ ★ Ｄａｌ-Ｍａｖｓ --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 220.132.181.125 ※ 文章網址: https://webptt.com/m.aspx?n=bbs/PHX-Suns/M.1466933572.A.234.html ※ 編輯: bll135 (220.132.181.125), 06/26/2016 22:23:52