[外電] Thabeet的征途

看板Thunder (奧克拉荷馬市雷霆)作者loserkobe (喪家犬科比)時間13年前 (2013/01/17 14:03)推噓6(6推 0噓 0→)

留言6則, 6人參與討論串1/1

THABEET GOES ON January 8, 2013 in by James Herbert http://ppt.cc/58S~ Hasheem Thabeet doesn’t like talking about the past. You can’t blame him. To call the first few phases of his NBA career underwhelming would be a polite understatement. Before signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 7’ 3 center averaged 2.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per game. This year, the numbers aren’t noticeably better — the difference is in the absence of DNP’s and disappointment. The No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft started 13 games in his first season with the Memphis Grizzlies, none in his second. He fell out of favor in Memphis, was forgotten in Houston and scarcely saw meaningful minutes in Portland. “He hasn’t had a lot of success for probably many reasons,” said Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. “He was on teams that didn’t really need his services or need his skills at that particular point and he probably wasn’t ready to give them the type of minutes they needed.” When poor play is coupled with extreme expectations, the result is relentless criticism. It can’t be easy to stay grounded through that. It can’t be easy to keep going. But the only way for Thabeet to be a regular in a rotation was to be strong enough to sacrifice and believe in himself. You can get a glimpse into his positive thinking if you follow his Twitter feed full of caps-locked affirmations and motivational phrases. “EVEN THE DARKEST NIGHT WILL END… AND THE SUN WILL RISE.” According to David Thorpe, Thabeet’s head coaches in Memphis and Houston never gave him much of a chance. As a Rocket, he played 27 minutes from February of 2011 to March of 2012. “He was young,” said Kevin Martin, who starred for the Rockets while Thabeet didn’t exactly blossom on their bench. “It takes a right group of coaches to get young players going and maybe he just really wasn’t feeling his whole Houston era, but it’s totally different here. Just like he doesn’t really probably want to talk about Houston, I think everybody moved past that. He’s just been so positive here. ” In the summer of 2011, Thabeet spent time at Thorpe’s Pro Training Center in Clearwater, Florida. Martin, Thorpe’s client, who is now playing for Oklahoma City, called Thorpe in November and told him the Thunder version of Thabeet was reminiscent of what he was like back then. What was similar about that Thabeet and this Thabeet? “Just actually liking to play the game of basketball,” Martin said. “He came in every day happy, wanting to work hard and that’s kind of what he has done here. That’s a credit to the coaches and his teammates here, getting him in a mindframe to want to continue his basketball career on a high note.” If you’re trying to rejuvenate your career, knowing you connect with your coach and have a chance to contribute can’t hurt your cause. Brooks and Thabeet talked about his troubled times shortly after he signed in July. “ Sometimes you gotta explain to people so they get to know you before they even get to spend time with you,” said Thabeet. “That’s what I did, I had a few minutes to talk to him and he understood my situation and he just said he’d work with me. Since then, we’ve just been good like that.” “We have him at a good time,” Brooks said. “He’s been in the league for four years now. He works hard. He has great enthusiasm for the game and I enjoy being around him. I enjoy pushing him and challenging him and figuring out ways for him to get better.” Thabeet started working out with Oklahoma City’s assistant coaches at their practice facility immediately after signing in July and he hasn’t stopped. “ He’s working hard after practice every day and coming in even when we have days off and getting work in,” said Martin. “He’s just a different guy right now.” Part of the reason the proverbial sun has risen for Thabeet is that he’s getting along with the group. “Great guys, man,” he says of the team’s leaders — Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins — who have welcomed him on and off the floor. “They just compete, motivate, they just want to win. When you have a great group of guys, young guys that compete every night, you just gotta work hard for them. If they trust you, you gotta do something with that.” “NEVER MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE TRYING TO SATISFY OTHERS” Thabeet called the team a “big family of big kids”. This family earned a remarkable reputation and record by grooming superstars who stay steady in the spotlight and surrounding them with responsible role players. Thabeet is asked only to be the latter. “They don’t expect me to come in and give them 20 every night. [They just ask] me to be a part of the team and do what I do, which is rebound and just be the force in the middle on defense. That’s what I do.” “The best thing he does is he’s active, he rebounds, he blocks shots,” said Thunder forward Nick Collison. “But his skillset is not to be a back-to-the-basket scorer and I think when you’re taken at that pick, people expect that all of a sudden. If that’s not who you are, and you have those expectations, you’re not going to be able to live up to them. I just think people have to look at players for who they are regardless of where they get picked. And as an individual player you can’t get caught up in that, either. You have to do what you do and that’s who you are in the league.” Martin agrees with Collison’s assessment. “As a player you just have to, especially in his case, you just have to worry about the task at hand and not the story somebody’s trying to write or frame on you,” he said. “The story lasts for one day, but developing into a player, that’s 365 days a year, so you gotta just focus on that.” On a roster where even the most tremendously talented players are totally team-first, it’s no accident Thabeet is finding his way. “I think what we like to try to do is take everybody in and everybody does the work,” said Collison. “That’s what we focus on is doing the work. I think instead of him trying to live up to some sort of expectation, because you know he’s a high pick, we’ve taken that away and just said, ‘Do your job every day. That ’s all you’ve got to focus on is doing your job every day and you can help us. That’s what we want you to do.’ And I think that kind of shift in his mindset has helped to where every time he makes a mistake he’s not thinking he’s letting everyone down. It’s just a mistake, that’s all it is. Everyone makes them.” Oklahoma City is 26-8 on the season and will send two or three players to the All-Star game. Relieving Perkins off the bench, when Thabeet makes a mistake it hardly makes a mark. This isn’t what anyone anticipated when he was drafted, but now it’s easy to envision him swatting shots in the Finals. After three trying seasons, two trips to the D-League, three teams and four coaches, Thabeet has finally found a home. “This is just a different opportunity,” said Thabeet. “I’m happy to be a part of it now and that’s what my focus is on.” Thabeet不喜歡談及自己的過去，而你不應該在這件事上責備他。用“令人失望”來形容他在NBA前幾個賽季的表現甚至都很禮貌了。在和雷霆簽約之前，這位7尺3寸（221cm）的中鋒場均只能出場10.5分鐘並貢獻2.2分和2.7板。本賽季裡雖然這些數據沒有本質上的提高，但是Thabeet被教練DNP和讓大家失望的次數卻明顯減少了。這位09年的榜眼秀僅僅在自己的新秀賽季里首發過13場，而在自己的第二個賽季裡這個次數為零。在孟菲斯，他不受歡迎。在休斯敦，他被人遺忘。而在波特蘭，他也沒撈著幾分鐘有意義的上場時間。 “有很多原因讓他沒有取得多少成功。”Brooks說。“他之前所在的球隊並不怎麼需要他所能提供的表現。而球隊需要的東西他當時又給不了。” 當糟糕的表現和過高的期望混合在一起，無窮無盡的批評是唯一的結果。在這樣的情況下，要面對現實並且堅持下去絕不是一件容易的事。但是，唯一能讓Thabeet進入常規輪換陣容的方法就是變的足夠強大，強大到能夠犧牲和相信自己。通過他那些充滿著大寫字母和鼓勵性短語的twiiter，我們不難看出他正努力給自己灌輸正能量。 “即使是最黑暗的夜晚也會過去，而太陽會隨後升起。” 根據訓練師Thorpe的說法，Thabeet在孟菲斯和休斯敦的教練根本就沒給他多少機會。在火箭，他從11年2月至12年3月一共加起來打了27分鐘。 “他很年輕。”當時還身為火箭球星的K-Mart說道，而那時Thabeet根本無法從板凳上站出來提供什麼貢獻。“需要有合適的教練才能讓年輕球員打出來。他在休斯敦顯然沒得到這些，但是現在完全不同了。他也許根本不想談起在休斯敦的經歷，我相信每個人都把這些放在腦後了。而現在在俄城，他表現得很積極向上。“ 11年夏天，Thabeet在Thorpe的位於佛羅里達州的專業訓練中心訓練過。K-Mart也曾是 Thorpe的客戶。他在11月曾經打電話給索普談及Thabeet，說他現在在雷霆的表現讓自己想起了他當初在那兒訓練的樣子。現在和那時的Thabeet有什麼相似之處呢？“只是單純的喜歡打籃球而已。”K-Mart如此評價道。“他每天都開開心心地來，想要努力練習，這就是他現在做的。這得歸功於他現在的教練和隊友，他們讓他想要成功地繼續自己的籃球生涯。” 如果你想重新激活你的職業生涯的話，了解自己和教練的聯繫並且能為球隊貢獻一份力量是絕對有好處的。Brooks在球隊和Thabeet簽約後沒多久就和他交談過。“有些時候，在別人花時間和你相處之前，你需要跟他解釋一些事情。”Thabeet說。“那就是我做的。我花了些時間和教練談話。他了解了我的情況然後告訴我他會和我合作努力。在那之後，我們一直相處的很好。” “我們在合適的時間得到了他。”Brooks說。“他已經在聯盟裡度過了4年。他很努力。他對比賽有著無比的熱情，我也很享受和他待在一起。我喜歡去督促他和挑戰他，我喜歡去想辦法讓他變得更好。” Thabeet在和雷霆簽約後立刻就和助教們開始訓練了，而且他一直堅持到了現在。“他在球隊訓練後都會留下來自己加練。甚至我們放假的時候他也會來練習。”K-Mart說。“他現在簡直就是變了一個人。” 寓言裡的太陽（指上文裡最黑暗的夜晚之後）之所以為Thabeet升起，很大程度上是因為他現在所處的團隊。“他們棒極了。”Thabeet在談及球隊領袖——KD，Russ和Perkeins時說道。 “他們去競爭，去督促，他們就是想要贏球。當你有一群棒極了的伙伴，就像他們這樣的年輕並且每晚拼搏的伙伴，你會為他們而努力。如果他們信任你，那你就必須去做點什麼（來回報這樣的信任）。” “不要為了取悅別人讓自己鬱悶。” Thabeet把雷霆隊稱為一個“由大男孩兒組成的大家庭”。這個家庭已經贏得了偉大的聲譽的戰績，而這是通過站在聚光燈下不斷成長的超級巨星和他們身邊負責任的角色球員一起達成的。Thabeet只是被要求成為後面那一類人中的一位。“他們不需要我站出來每晚得個20分。他們只需要我成為球隊中的一員並且提供籃板和防守。這正是我擅長做的。” “他最好的地方在於他的活力，他能搶板，也能火鍋。” Collison說。“他的技能條裡並不包括得分。可是當你被人用那麼高的順位選中時，人們會期待你立刻做到這一點。如果你不是那樣的球員，而人們又都期待你達到那樣的水準時，你肯定沒法滿足他們。我只是認為人們應該拋開順位的因素，去更多地關注球員本身。而作為一名球員，你也要學會去拋開那些（人們的期望）。你只是需要去做自己能做的，那才是你在這個聯盟裡的定位。” K-Mart也同意 Collison的說法。“作為一個球員，尤其是Thabeet的情況下，你只需要擔心手頭的任務，而不是去別人為你生搬硬套的故事。那個故事只持續了一天，可是對於球員來說，那也許就是一年365天環繞著你，讓你只專注於它上面。” 在一隻即使是最有天賦的球員也打著團隊籃球的球隊裡，Thabeet很自然地找到了自己的辦法。”我覺得我們喜歡做的是讓大家每個人都參與進來，做出自己的貢獻。” Collison說。“我們專注於完成每一件事。與其讓他去滿足那些別人的期待（因為他的順位），我們把那些都甩到一邊然後告訴他：'每天去做你該做的事。你專注於做你自己該做的事，這就能夠幫助我們了。我們就需要你這麼做。'我認為這幫助改變了他的思維方式。當他犯錯時，他不會再覺得自己讓所有人失望了。這只是個錯誤，沒啥大不了的，誰都會犯錯。” 雷霆現在坐擁26勝8負的戰績並且會有2-3名球員出現在全明星賽里。從替補席上站出來代替Perkins的位置，Thabeet就算犯了錯也不會有啥影響。這並不是他被選到時大家所期望的，但是這樣讓人更容易看腦海中浮現出他在總決賽上送出火鍋的一幕。在3個失敗的賽季，2次被下放到發展聯盟，3支球隊和4個教練後，Thabeet終於找到了自己的家。 “這是個完全不同的機會。”Thabeet說，“我很高興現在自己成為了其中的一員，而幫助球隊勝利正是我現在最關注的。” 翻譯:http://bbs.hupu.com/4933804.html -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 114.36.89.173