By Jeph Duarte | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-06-30 19:00:00
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
篮球世界有时真的很小
在昨天介绍今年 NBA 选秀 第四顺位新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 的新闻发布会上，这位 康涅狄格大学 后卫被问到一个有趣的问题：
“斯蒂芬，关于你爸爸当年如何完爆蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 的故事，你从小到大听过多少？”
卡斯尔的回答让他的父亲露出了微笑，也让现场观众爆发出阵阵笑声：
“我听到的是他曾和蒂姆·邓肯一起打球，没听说过‘完爆’这回事。当然，我听到过一些故事，很多精彩的故事，但‘完爆’的说法，我还真没听过。”
斯蒂芬的父亲斯泰西 (Stacey) 是纽约皇后区远洛克威高中一名出色的篮球运动员，二年级时场均得分接近 25 分，三年级时场均得分高达 34 分。
1992 年，他进入 维克森林大学 打了两个赛季的大学篮球。1993 年，蒂姆·邓肯也加入了这支球队。当时斯泰西场均得分只有 1.9 分，只能坐在替补席上，这让他感到很失落，于是他转学到了中佛罗里达大学。
“我觉得自己失败了。那是我第一次经历这种事情，第一次遭遇逆境。我第一次没有首发出场，第一次没有得到想要的出场时间，就是在维克森林大学。我没有很好地处理这件事。我没有去弄清楚自己为什么打不上比赛，没有更加努力地训练，而是觉得自己理所应当得到更多，开始自怨自艾，结果只能在替补席上越坐越远。”
大学毕业后，卡斯尔本打算加入哈林篮球队。但他最终选择了几支大学巡回球队，之后开始了他的教练和美国业余体育联合会 (AAU) 职业生涯。
在斯蒂芬七年级的时候，他的父亲成为了他的教练。
“我对他很严格，他不明白我为什么总是对他这么苛刻。他有些抵触，也会发脾气。但他那时还小，很快就克服了这些问题。那时我就知道，他有机会成为一名优秀的球员，因为他不会逃避教练的指导。也是从那时起，我确信他能够适应任何教练的执教风格。”
基马尼·杨 (Kimani Young) 是斯泰西以前在 AAU 的队友，碰巧在斯蒂芬崭露头角的时候成为了康涅狄格大学的助理教练。他知道斯蒂芬的天赋，于是联系了这位年轻的球员，对他进行考察。
这对双方来说都是理想的选择。
正如斯蒂芬的母亲昆内特 (Quannette) 所说：
“我们不可能为他找到比这更好的学校了。他身边的教练传递的理念和我们是一样的。我告诉赫尔利教练 (Coach Hurley) 和基马尼教练：‘尽你们所能地去逼迫他，我不会给你们打电话抱怨的。’”
最终，曾被马刺队关注的斯蒂芬在 NBA 选秀大会上被马刺队以第四顺位选中。现在，他将参加夏季联赛，然后开启他的新秀赛季。这将是马刺队近年来最令人期待的赛季之一。
点击查看原文：Open Thread: Stephon Castle’s curious tie to Tim Duncan
Open Thread: Stephon Castle’s curious tie to Tim Duncan
Sometimes the basketball world can seem so small
At yesterday’s press conference introducing Stephon Castle, the fourth pick in this year’s NBA Draft, a curious question was tossed at the UConn guard:
“Stephon, you’re family, so I am just wondering how many stories you heard growing up about your daddy clearly outplaying Tim Duncan?”
Castle’s response brought a smile from his father and laughter from the crowd:
“I heard that he played with Tim Duncan, I didn’t hear the outplayed part. I heard a few, of course there were a lot of good one, but the ‘outplaying’ part, that didn’t get to me yet.”
Stephon’s father, Stacey, a standout basketball player at Far Rockaway High in Queens, N.Y., averaged nearly 25 points per game as a sophomore and 34 as a junior.
He went on to play college ball at Wake Forest for two season starting in 1992. In 1993, the Demon Deacons brought in Tim Duncan. He was averaging 1.9 points coming of the bench and didn’t;t feel fulfilled, so he transferred to Central Florida.
“I felt like I had failed. It was the first time going through certain things and adversity. The first time I didn’t start or didn’t play as much as I wanted to was at Wake Forest. And I didn’t handle it well. Instead of finding out why I’m not playing and working harder at those things, you feel entitled, you pout, and that just gets you further down the bench.”
After college, Castle was set to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. Instead he played on a few college touring teams before starting a coaching and AAU career.
By the time Stephon was in the seventh grade, his father was his coach.
“I was hard on him, and he didn’t quite understand why I was always on him. He had some resistance, some pouting. But he was still young, and he grew out of it quickly. That’s when I knew that he had a chance to be okay, because I knew he wasn’t going to run from being coached. That’s when I said he’ll be able to play for just about anybody.”
Kimani Young, one of Stacey’s former AAU teammates, just happened to be an associate head coach for UConn at the time Stephon was beginning to shine. He was aware of Stephon’s talent and made contact to scout the young Castle.
The pairing was ideal for both sides.
As Stephon’s mom, Quannette, shared:
“We could not have picked a better school for him. The coaches he has around him give him the same messages that we do. I tell Coach Hurley, Coach Kimani: ‘Push him as hard as you can. You’re not going to receive a phone call from me.’ “
As a result, Stephon, who had been on the Spurs radar, was ultimately chosen fourth in the NBA Draft and now heads into Summer League before kicking off his rookie campaign, one of the most anticipated Spurs seasons in recent history.
By Jeph Duarte, via Pounding The Rock