[翻譯]爵士隊準備要來買東西了

看板UTAH-JAZZ (猶他爵士)作者nobody (飛龍在天大人造也)時間19年前 (2006/07/02 19:24)推噓5(6推 1噓 1→)

留言8則, 8人參與討論串1/2 (看更多)

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640191618,00.html Jazz prepared to do sales job They're aware that Utah is not a preferred NBA destination 他們也知道猶他是個沒什麼人要來的地方 By Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News Twenty-seven percent of 248 players questioned by Sports Illustrated earlier this year identified the Jazz as the NBA team for which they'd least like to play. 在 248個 NBA球員裡面，有百分之 27 的球員認為爵士隊是他們最不想要去的球隊。 One need not remind Kevin O'Connor of precise poll results before he offers a response. "I'll take that," the Jazz's basketball operations senior vice president said, "and say, 'OK, you know what? I'm going to go after the other 73 percent of the guys.' "That's how I approach it." He has little other choice. 這是一個不需要在 KOC做出回應之前，他就會知道的問答結果。「我會這樣講，」 KOC說，「喔好，那你知道怎樣嗎？我會去追那其他 73%的人。」「我就是這樣做事。」他沒有什麼其他的選項可以選。 It was a year-and-a-half before O'Connor was hired in 1999 that Rony Seikaly wormed his way out of coming to Utah in a trade. It was in 1997 that Ron Harper, before later apologizing if he offended anyone, told ESPN, "There was a Utah deal, but you go live in Utah. Nothing against Utah or their team, but I don't want to live there." And it was back in 1994 that Brian Williams, a k a Bison Dele, said Salt Lake "smelled like brine shrimp" and added he would rather play in the CBA than come to Utah. 在 KOC被聘來當 GM 之前一年半的 1999 年，有個叫做 Seikaly的人死都不要被交易來猶他。同樣有個人叫作 Ron Harper ，後來為了他可能會冒犯到某些人而道歉，他告訴 ESPN ：「有個猶他爵士的交易，不過你去他看啊。不是針對猶他會其他球隊，不過我不想要住在那裡。」另外還有一個 1994 年得 Brian Williams，同樣也被叫做 Bison Dele，說猶他「聞起來像是海水蝦。」然後還補了一句他寧願去打 CBA也不要來猶他。 The attitude, in other words, is nothing new. So be it, O'Connor suggests. "I think there's a grouping of guys that would say, 'You know what, I don't want to go to Utah,'" he said. "That's fine — as long as there's enough of a grouping that we can go out and sign to make us a very competitive team. "That's what we look for." With NBA's summer free-agency market having opened late Friday night, and Utah shopping for both a shot-blocking center and a sharp-shooting guard, that's how the Jazz will try to fight the perception problems stacked against them. 這樣的態度，換言之，並不是什麼新鮮事。所以 KOC說，就這樣吧。「我想會有一群人們會說，『你知道的，我不想要去猶他，』他說。『這沒關係 ---- 只要還是有一群足夠的人可以來這裡然後簽下合約，然後讓我們變成一個有競爭力的隊伍。」「這就是我們所尋找的。」禮拜五晚上 NBA的夏天球員市場就要開始了，而爵士隊想要買一些會打火鍋的中鋒還有會投籃的後衛，這是爵士隊發現他們想要的人。 They do so, though, thinking it was a battle they already had won once. "I think we've proven that there are a number of very good NBA players who would want to come to Utah," team president Denny Haslam said, "and Corey Maggette is a good example of that, and Jason Terry is another good example." The Jazz got Maggette and Terry, both restricted free agents at the time, to sign contract offer sheets in 2003 — and both would have voluntarily come to Utah had their own teams at the time not matched proposal terms. The SI poll, however, proves the Utah stigma lives on. Next-closest in the survey was Toronto at just 16 percent, and the next-closest United States-based team was Atlanta with 10 percent. Jazz franchise officials can't pinpoint why the numbers went that way, but they have some suspicions. 雖然他們這樣作，想像這是一個他們已經贏過一次的戰爭。「我想我們已經證明了我們有一些不錯的 NBA球員，而且他們想要住在來猶他，」球隊總裁 Haslam 說，譬如說 Corey Magette和 Jason Terry 都是不錯的例子。爵士隊之前曾經得到都是限制性自由球員的 Magette和 Terry過，讓他們在 2003 年簽下合同意向書，然後兩個都希望可以來猶他，並且希望他們本來的球隊不要同意這樣的合約。 SI的問答，證明了猶他的污名仍然存在著。調查中最近的球隊是只有 16%的多倫多，然後在美國境內最接近的是那個亞特蘭大的 10%。爵士隊當局不能指出到底為什麼會這樣，不過他們有一些猜測。 "You might recall the Karl Malone comment," Haslam said, "that (indicated) he wasn't sure if Utah was a city or a state." That was in 1985, when Malone — who played 18 seasons in Utah, and retired in 2004 as the NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer — was drafted by the Jazz. Twenty-plus years later, Malone — who lives now in his native Louisiana but recently was here to watch the Jazz work out NBA draft prospects — is one of the state's biggest cheerleaders. "He had commented to some of the kids that Utah is a good place to live, and he and his family were treated very well during his stay in Utah," Haslam said. "I think that's a pretty good report card from the best power forward to play the game — without any prompting on our part." 「你可能會想起 Malone 的說法，」 Haslam說，「他不太確定猶他是個州還是個城市。」這是當年 1985 當在猶他打了 18 個球季，並且在 2004 年以有史以來得分第二名退休的馬龍被選到的時候所說的話。二十多年後， Malone 現在住在他老家路易斯安那，不過最近回來這裡看了一下爵士隊測試新秀，他是這個州最大的啦啦隊員之一。「他有跟一些孩子說碩猶他是個居住的好地方，而且他的家人們在這裡打球的時候有被好好的對待，」 Haslam 說。「我想這是個從一個有使以來最棒的強力前鋒說過出來的報導 ---- 沒有在任何我們的部份被提昇。」 Still, little has changed. "I don't believe that many players," Haslam said, "are well-educated about the state of Utah." Nightlife. Religion. Racial diversity. Weather. Geographic isolation. Politics. Unconventional alcohol-consumption rules. A longtime coach, Jerry Sloan, with old-school demands like tucked-in shirts, no headbands and no sass back. Some of the aforementioned issues are precisely as outsiders imagine. Others are far from it. Some are attractive to those drawn to Utah from any lot in life. But any, perhaps even many, may also play a significant role in scaring so many NBA players away. 還是一樣，沒什麼改變。「我不相信有很多球員，」 Haslam 說，「對於猶他州（的印象）是有被好好教育的。」夜生活、區域、種族多樣性，天氣，地理上的孤立，政治，不常見的酒類購買規則。一個老教練，有老學究的只會就像個盛裝打扮的襯衫一樣，不能有頭帶也不能頂嘴。有些前面講到的東西是就像外界想的一樣。有些就差很遠了。有些是對於那些想要的猶他是很有吸引力的。不過有一些，也許很多，會在嚇走球員的這件事上扮演很重要的角色。 "I'm not sure I know what the biggest misperception is — because guys are guarded about telling," O'Connor said. Whatever it is, O'Connor also knows he can do nothing to change reality. "We're not going to move Salt Lake any closer to the beach," he said. "We're not going to get it any warmer (in the winter)." Yet the Jazz's basketball boss also believes something as simple as a first-hand visit can dispel myths. For that reason, the franchise often brings both draft prospects and free-agent targets to town. "They get a chance," O'Connor said, "to see what it is and what it isn't — that it's not at the end of the world, and that it is cosmopolitan to the point where there are good restaurants and there are great hotels and there are nice places to live." Once here, O'Connor also presents the free agents with a pitch that goes something like this: Utah is the place for you . . . "if you're interested in coming to a team that is competitive, that's had one losing season in 20 years, that's been in a situation where they've got a coach that's stable and they've got an owner that has owned the team for a number of years and is a single owner and is stable." Sometimes it works. Sometimes it does not. 「我不確定在這裡什麼是最讓人不想來的，因為人們總是對於告訴我這件事情有我防衛，」 KOC說。不管那是什麼， KOC也知道他不能改變現況。「我們不能讓這裡（在冬天）變得熱一點。」喔另外一個爵士籃球的老闆也相信有些時候來看一下就可以打破那些迷思了。為了達到這樣的目的，這隻球隊常會帶選秀新秀和自由球員來市區看看。「他們有機會，」 KOC說，「來看看那些是真的哪些是假的 ---- 這不是在世界的盡頭，而這是個四海為家的人會指出哪裡有好餐廳，哪裡有好好地方可以住。」只要來了這裡， KOC也會告訴自由球員們一件事：猶他對你來說會是個好地方，『如果你想要在一個有競爭力的球隊，這是一個二十年內只有一個敗多於勝球季的隊伍，這就是在一個教練很穩定，而且這是一個老闆有這隻球隊很久了，而且只有一個老闆而且很穩定。」有些時候有用啦。有些時候沒用。 "It you look at all those things, I think they look at it from a basketball point favorably," O'Connor said. "If they look at it after they come here and say, 'That's not the place I want to be,' that's OK. We'll go after the other 73 percent." 「這整個要花上所有的努力，我想他們從一個籃球的角度來看，」 KOC說如果他們看了，然後在他們來這裡然後說，「這不是個我想要待的地方。」這沒關係，我們會去追其他的 73 %的人。 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 219.68.72.204