By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-06-25 17:02:52
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
法国巴黎 - 12月30日：法国队球员扎卡里·里沙舍 (Zaccharie Risacher) 在 2023 年 12 月 30 日巴黎雅高酒店竞技场举行的全明星赛中带球奔跑。（图片由奥雷利安·梅尼耶/盖蒂图片社提供）
纽约——这次的酒店更加奢华。
穿过入口处的庭院，大理石雕像和镀金镜框包围着一座宏伟的楼梯。在记者等待 NBA 选秀状元签的宴会厅里，水晶吊灯从天花板垂下。
但与一年前不同，当时许多同样记者聚集在几个街区外的一个更大的宴会厅里，周二下午并没有一个单一的焦点。
一年前是一个巨大的平台，只有一个高得不可思议的孩子，而现在，有九张小桌子，分三轮轮流摆放九位身材矮小的新秀。
一年前是几十台相机向上指向一个不可错过的、扣篮巨星，而现在，镜头指向各个方向，几乎是随机的。
同样，也有一位法国青少年。事实上，这次有三名。但没有一个拥有维克多·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的身体天赋，也没有一个拥有他的魅力，也没有一个拥有他一年前拥有的东西。
具体来说，就是确定性。
“什么事情都可能发生，”扎卡里·里沙舍 (Zaccharie Risacher) 说。这位来自法国的天才侧翼球员可能会在周三的 NBA 选秀中被亚特兰大选中，也可能最终在圣安东尼奥效力，也可能在纽约市的酒店和月球之间迷路。“你可能在被选中后几分钟就被交易了。这种事情的运作方式真是太疯狂了。我没有任何猜测。”
在最近记忆中最开放的选秀到来之际，猜测是每个人拥有的唯一东西。这对文班亚马的马刺来说尤其如此，他们在进入这个休赛期时渴望并且迫切地想要提升，而且拥有不少可供选择的方式来实现这一点。
他们能够撼动整个选秀，并像一年前那样掌控这个夜晚吗？这仍然有可能。如果老鹰队想要交易状元签，很少有球队能够提供他们可能从马刺那里获得的那种资本。马刺至少已经考虑过将里沙舍与他的同胞配对的想法。
他们能做与之完全相反的事情，交易掉选秀权，甚至可能不止一次吗？在一场选秀中，状元签、前五顺位甚至前十顺位都没有明确的共识，这可能很有道理。毕竟，如果另一支球队真的想要康涅狄格大学的唐纳文·克林根 (Donovan Clingan) 在第四顺位，而你仍然可以稍后得到斯特凡·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)，为什么不促成一笔交易让这一切发生呢？如果可以在第 11顺位选中肯塔基大学的罗伯·迪林汉姆 (Rob Dillingham) 或普罗维登斯大学的德文·卡特 (Devin Carter)，为什么要在第 8顺位选中他们？为什么不在交易下滑的同时获得资产？
马刺肯定会考虑这样的举动，也许直到他们在周三晚上被点名时才会考虑。当然，最安全的赌注是他们会进行他们的两轮选秀，并希望他们在周二下午对二十多位走过那个奢华的酒店宴会厅的球员进行了更好的球探工作。
但与一年前不同，当时文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 在他的名字被叫出来之前 24 个多小时就自信地谈论着他与马刺的未来，这次没有一个新秀愿意对他们的目的地做出任何明确的表态。
“说实话，我根本不知道我要去哪里，”迪林汉姆 (Dillingham) 说。“这将是一个完全的惊喜。”
与周二在房间里的其他人一样，这位肯塔基大学后卫知道马刺是一个可能性。然而，迪林汉姆 (Dillingham) 是对马刺最热情的人。在过去的一个月里，他拜访了许多 NBA 球队，但他说，他与之进行了一对一谈话的唯一主教练是格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich)。
“从远处看，波波维奇教练 (Popovich) 看起来很疯狂，”迪林汉姆 (Dillingham) 说。“但我喜欢波波维奇教练。他更像是一个低声细语的人。”
显然，尽管如此，今年新秀中对马刺真正有吸引力的并不是他们的五届冠军教练，而是他们二年级的中锋。
克林根 (Clingan)，这位来自康涅狄格大学的 7 英尺 2 英寸的大个子，表示，想象圣安东尼奥的防守，他们俩一起镇守禁区，会是“疯狂”的。卡特 (Carter)，普罗维登斯大学的后卫，表示他很乐意将球传给文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 上空。而卡斯尔 (Castle)，来自康涅狄格大学的组合后卫，表示他希望打控球后卫，他明白在去年状元签旁边学习这些东西可能是很有益的。
“他吸引了很多注意力，”卡斯尔 (Castle) 谈到文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 说。“球场上的另外四个人，他为他们创造的空间，让比赛变得容易很多。”
里沙舍 (Risacher) 是一个已经从经验中知道这一点的潜在选秀球员。当他 16 岁，文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 17 岁时，他们都是法国 ASVEL 队的成员。在里沙舍 (Risacher) 的第一次职业训练中，文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 在那里。
从那以后呢？
“他所取得的一切成就……激励了我，也激励了许多人，”里沙舍 (Risacher) 说。
在一个装饰着水晶吊灯，摆放着九张小桌子的奢华房间里？
里沙舍 (Risacher) 和他的新秀同伴们别无选择。
没有人是稳稳当当的事。
但他们可以拥抱不确定性。以及一切皆有可能的想法。
点击查看原文：With no sure things, NBA draft possibilities are endless for Spurs
With no sure things, NBA draft possibilities are endless for Spurs
PARIS, FRANCE - DECEMBER 30: Zaccharie Risacher of Team France runs with the ball during the All Star Game at AccorHotels Arena on December 30, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images,)
NEW YORK — The hotel was a little fancier this time.
Past the courtyard at the entrance, marble statues and gold-framed mirrors flanked a grand staircase. In the ballroom where reporters awaited the top pick in the NBA draft, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
But unlike a year ago, when many of those same reporters filled a different, larger ballroom a few blocks away, there was no single focal point on Tuesday afternoon.
Instead of one giant platform for one impossibly tall kid, there were nine smaller tables for three shifts of nine shorter prospects.
Instead of dozens of cameras pointing up at one can’t-miss, slam-dunk superstar, the lenses aimed everywhere, almost randomly.
Again, there was a French teenager. This time there were three, in fact. But none had Victor Wembanyama’s physical gifts, and none had his charm, and none had anything resembling what he had a year ago.
Specifically, certainty.
“Everything can happen,” said Zaccharie Risacher, the talented wing from France who might be taken No. 1 by Atlanta in Wednesday’s NBA draft, or who might end up in San Antonio, or who might get caught between his New York City hotel and the moon. “You could be drafted and traded a couple of minutes later. It’s kind of crazy how things work. I don’t have any guesses.”
Heading into the day of the most wide-open draft in recent memory, guesses are all anybody has. That’s especially true of Wembanyama’s Spurs, who entered this offseason with the desire and the urgency to improve, and with no shortage of options to accomplish that.
Could they shake the whole draft up and control the evening the way they did a year ago? That’s still a possibility. If the Hawks are looking to trade the top pick, few teams can offer them the type of capital that might be offered by the Spurs, who have at least pondered the idea of pairing Risacher with his countryman.
Could they do the exact opposite and trade down, perhaps even more than once? In a draft with no clear consensus on the top pick, or on the Top 5, or on the Top 10, that might make a whole lot of sense. After all, if another team really wants Connecticut’s Donovan Clingan at No. 4, and you still can get Stephon Castle a little lower, why not facilitate a deal to make that happen? Why reach for Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham or Providence’s Devin Carter at No. 8 if you can trade down and get him at No. 11, while picking up assets in the process?
The Spurs surely will consider moves like that, maybe as late as when they’re on the clock Wednesday night. The safest bet, of course, is that they’ll just make both of their picks, and hope they did a better job scouting the two dozen-plus players who made their way through that fancy hotel ballroom on Tuesday afternoon.
But unlike a year ago, when Wembanyama was able to talk confidently about his future with the Spurs more than 24 hours before his name was called, not a single prospect this time was ready to say anything definitive about their destinations.
“Honestly, I don’t know where I’m going at all,” Dillingham said. “It will be a complete surprise.”
Like others in the room Tuesday, the Kentucky guard knows the Spurs are a possibility. Dillingham, though, was the most enthusiastic about it. He made visits to lots of NBA teams over the past month, but he said the only head coach he had a one-on-one conversation with was Gregg Popovich.
“From afar, coach (Popovich) looks crazy,” Dillingham said. “But I love coach. He’s more like a soft-spoken dude.”
Clearly, though, the real selling-point for the Spurs among this year’s class isn’t their five-time champion coach — it’s their second-year center.
Clingan, the 7-foot-2 UConn big man, said it would be “crazy” to imagine San Antonio’s defense with the two of them patrolling the paint together. Carter, the Providence guard, said he’s relished the idea of throwing lobs to Wembanyama. And Castle, the UConn combo guard who’s expressed a desire to play the point, can see why it might be beneficial to learn those ropes alongside last year’s No. 1 pick.
“He attracts a lot of attention,” Castle said of Wembanyama. “The other four guys on the court, the spacing he creates for them makes it a lot easier.”
Risacher is one potential pick who already knows that from experience. When he was 16 and Wembanyama was 17, they were part of the same ASVEL program in France. During Risacher’s first pro practice, Wembanyama was there.
Since then?
“Everything that he accomplished … it’s inspired me and inspired a lot of people,” Risacher said.
And in a fancy room with crystal chandeliers and nine small tables?
Risacher and his fellow prospects had no choice.
Nobody was a sure thing.
But they could embrace the uncertainty. And the idea that everything could happen.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News