By Nick Moyle, Longhorns Insider | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-04-22 11:06:48

由Gemini Pro人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。


圣安东尼奥马刺中锋文班亚马（1 号）在 2024 年 4 月 12 日星期五对阵丹佛掘金队的 NBA 比赛上半场从丹佛掘金队中锋尼古拉·约基奇的头顶投篮。文班亚马带领马刺以 121-120 战胜丹佛，他以 34 分领跑马刺。

NBA 球员曾经对文班亚马在美国职业篮球场上的表现力持怀疑态度，但显然这些疑虑已被消除，就像这位 7 英尺 3 英寸的法国人在整个非凡的新秀赛季中让对手投出的很多球都被盖掉了一样。

The Athletic 属于纽约时报所有并由其运营，该报于 3 月 5 日至 4 月 11 日对 142 名球员进行了匿名民意调查，以了解他们对 MVP 竞赛、GOAT（史上最伟大的）争论等的看法。年轻的文班亚马在两个类别中位列榜首：“谁是最佳防守球员”和“你将首先签约哪位球员（作为建队核心）”。

文班亚马在 132 张最佳防守球员的选票中获得了 15.2% 的选票，击败了凯尔特人后卫朱·霍勒迪 (12.9%) 和雷霆前锋卢根茨·多尔特 (9.8%)。值得注意的是，这位新秀在年度最佳防守球员的竞争中，鲁迪·戈贝尔只获得了 6% 的选票，而他被评为联盟“最被高估的”球星（在 81 张选票中获得了 13.6%）。

一位球员告诉 The Athletic：“他在改变比赛。球员——你不能说‘害怕’——但他正在改变他们的投篮方式。他应得。”

另一个问题突显了文班亚马蓬勃发展的声誉，这是一个有趣且有分歧的水吧假设。当被问及如果要从头开始建立球队阵容，他们将首先签约谁时，27.9% 的选民选择了文班亚马。掘金中锋尼古拉·约基奇——一位 29 岁的两届 MVP 和现任总决赛 MVP——获得了第二多的选票 (27.2%)，森林狼后卫安东尼·爱德华兹 (10.3%)、小牛后卫卢卡·东契奇 (8.8%) 和雷霆后卫谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (4.4%) 跻身前五。

一位球员在解释自己投票时告诉 The Athletic：“他的潜力很大，而且年仅 20 岁，你可以看到如果他保持健康并继续进步，他可以成为一名真正伟大的球员。我不想给他设定上限。”

球员们也对格雷格·波波维奇表现出了喜爱。这位 75 岁的五届 NBA 冠军是迈阿密热火的埃里克·斯波尔斯特拉的提名者，他被认为是“你最想为之效力的现任教练”，以 18.8% 的得票率落后于斯波尔斯特拉的 20.3%。

“波波，”一位球员告诉 The Athletic，“很简单。我热爱波波和斯波这样的教练。与其对我微笑，我宁愿你‘他妈的’对我。”

原文如下：

NBA players name Wembanyama top defender, best to build a team around

[Image] San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the first half of their NBA game with the Denver Nuggets at the Frost Bank Center on Friday, April 12, 2024. Wembanyama led the Spurs with 34 poina to help them beat Denver 121-120.

Whatever doubts NBA players once held about Victor Wembanyama’s ability to thrive stateside have apparently been erased, just like so many of the shots opponents hoisted against the 7-foot-3 Frenchman throughout a transcendent rookie season.

The Athletic, which is owned and operated by the New York Times, conducted an anonymous poll of 142 players from March 5 through April 11 to get their opinions on the MVP race, GOAT (greatest of all time) debate and more. Young Wembanyama came out on top in two categories: “Who’s the best defender” and “Who are you going to sign first (to build a team around).”

READ MORE: As expected, Spurs' Victor Wembanyama a finalist for two of NBA's annual awards

Wembanyama collected 15.2% of the 132 votes cast for top defender, edging out Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (12.9%) and Thunder wing Lugentz Dort (9.8%). Notably, the rookie’s primary competition for Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, received only 6% of the votes while being named the league’s “most overrated” star (13.6% of 81 votes).

“He’s changing the game,” one player told The Athletic. “Players — you can’t say ‘scared’ — but he’s changing their shots. He deserves it.”

The other question highlighting Wembanyama’s flourishing reputation is one of those entertaining – and divisive – water-cooler hypotheticals. Asked who they would sign first if tasked with building a roster from scratch, 27.9% of the voters went with Wemby. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic – a 29-year-old two-time MVP and reigning Finals MVP – collected the second-most votes (27.2%), with Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (10.3%) Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (8.8%) and Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (4.4%) rounding out the top five.

“The upside and at 20 years old, you can see that if he stays healthy and continues to get better, he can be a truly great player,” one player told The Athletic in explaining his vote. “I don’t want to put a ceiling on him.”

Players also showed Gregg Popovich some love. The 75-year-old five-time NBA champion was the runner-up to Miami’s Erik Spoelstra for “current coach you would most like to play for,” finishing with 18.8% of the vote to Spoelstra’s 20.3%.

“Pop,” one player told The Athletic. “Easy. I love those types of coaches, like Pop and Spo. I would rather you ‘mother—’ me than smile in my face.”

By Nick Moyle, Longhorns Insider, via San Antonio Express-News