By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-10-24 22:31:12
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。
大个子球员和膝伤似乎总是形影不离，但一位曾经的超级球星为如何应对这个问题铺平了道路，而现役的一位球星或许可以从中汲取经验。
蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)在巅峰时期是，现在仍然是全世界许多篮球运动员的楷模。他是基本功的化身，并向世人证明了，你不必成为一个行走的精彩集锦或是垃圾话高手，也能成为赢家。他在球场上以表现服人，为一支小球市球队带来了五座总冠军奖杯，却从未让自己的 ego 妨碍球队。
然而，在某些方面，邓肯最终可能会成为那些过了巅峰期的球员的更大楷模。他可能不像勒布朗·詹姆斯(LeBron James)那样天赋异禀，也不像 40 岁的詹姆斯现在看起来那样令人印象深刻，但邓肯以其漫长的职业生涯而闻名，他在大学效力了四年后进入联盟，尽管在职业生涯的最后阶段遭遇了严重的膝伤，但他仍然征战了 19 个赛季。
这一切都始于 2010-11 赛季之后，当时马刺队在经历了一个火热的常规赛后，却在季后赛首轮爆冷输给了 8 号种子孟菲斯灰熊队。人们很容易将那轮系列赛的失利归咎于马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili)新近骨折的肘部（但他依然带伤上阵），或是格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)令人费解地坚持让德胡安·布莱尔(Dejuan Blair)顶替新秀中锋蒂亚戈·斯普利特(Tiago Splitter)出战，去对位马克·加索尔(Marc Gasol)和扎克·兰多夫(Zach Randolph)的灰熊后场组合，但邓肯在那轮系列赛中的表现也不尽如人意。
他在那个季后赛期间年满 35 岁，随着年龄的增长，旧伤复发的风险也随之增加——邓肯的情况是，他在 2000 年遭遇的半月板撕裂。他没有因为这场惨败而指责他人，也没有 simply 接受自己即将走到职业生涯尽头的事实，而是重塑了自己。他改变了饮食，减轻了体重以减轻膝盖的压力，并接受了自己在职业生涯的剩余时间里都需要佩戴特殊的护膝。这一切都不容易，但他决心继续比赛，继续赢球，所以他做了所有必要的事情。最终他在 2014 年再次夺冠，并在两年后退役，其中包括为了马刺队得到拉马库斯·阿尔德里奇(LaMarcus Aldridge)而比计划多打了一个赛季。蒂米总是把球队放在自己之前。
十年过去了，新一代的内线球员开始统治联盟，尤其是尼古拉·约基奇(Nikola Jokic)和乔尔·恩比德(Joel Embiid)。他们都曾获得过 MVP，他们的对决也备受期待——当然，前提是他们真的能够相遇，因为前者似乎总是打打停停。恩比德的职业生涯一直饱受伤病困扰。在 2014-2016 年“相信过程”期间，他因为脚伤缺席了自己的前两个赛季，这个伤势在一年后并没有完全痊愈，需要手术才能修复。（题外话：这意味着他从未真正和邓肯交手过。）
他最终在 2016-17 赛季完成了自己的 NBA 首秀，但即使在那时，他也只打了 31 场比赛，因为他在赛季初遭遇了和年轻的邓肯一样的伤病：半月板撕裂。然而，尽管恩比德之后仍然成为了 perennial 全明星球员，但这也是他和邓肯的职业生涯轨迹开始偏离的地方。尽管早年遭遇了挫折，但邓肯是一位铁人，除非万不得已，否则他从不缺席比赛，当波波维奇在他职业生涯的暮年开始进行球员负荷管理时，他也尽可能地 resisted。
相比之下，恩比德即将年满 30 岁，进入自己的第 8 个赛季——这仍然是一个相对年轻的年纪，应该被认为是他的巅峰时期——但他场均只能出战 54 场比赛。2021-2023 年是他状态最好的时期，他连续两个赛季分别出战了 66 场和 68 场比赛，并在 2023 年获得了自己唯一一座 MVP 奖杯，但这两个赛季也是他唯二达到 NBA 为此类奖项设置的 65 场比赛新门槛的赛季，而这个新规的出台在很大程度上正是因为恩比德（以及其他球员）的比赛场次不足。
你不能过分苛责恩比德容易受伤——有些球员就是比其他人更不幸——但有一种说法是，他本可以做更多的事情来更好地照顾自己。他的体重经常达到 280 磅甚至更多，在他的职业生涯的大部分时间里，他都被认为 overweight 并且 out of shape，这导致他在常规赛缺席比赛，并在季后赛中——当他不得不每场比赛都出场时——显得精疲力尽。他的体重不仅给他的膝盖带来了更大的压力，而且他“松散”的打球风格——不断地 diving 或摔倒以博取犯规——也于事无补。
现在，新赛季开始了，恩比德已经面临着新的 scrutiny。不知何故，他没有做好准备参加 76 人队的赛季揭幕战——他们输给了密尔沃基雄鹿队——而且至少要到下周才能复出。这引发了许多疑问，甚至促使联盟展开了潜在的调查，以调查他是否违反了球员参赛政策。诚然，他上赛季再次遭遇了伤病，只打了 38 场比赛，但他在季后赛中复出，并代表美国队参加了奥运会。76 人队主教练尼克·纳斯(Nick Nurse)已经确认恩比德没有新伤；他只是单纯没有做好上场的准备。
最重要的是，恩比德本人似乎也并不太在意自己是否能够为球队效力，上周他 nonchalantly 地承认，他可能永远不会再打背靠背比赛了。背靠背比赛是否应该继续存在是另一回事，但同样，他只有 30 岁，联盟里的其他球员也都必须面对背靠背的赛程安排。不仅如此，在缺席了这么多比赛的情况下，他依然会告诉你，他是联盟中最好的球员，如果他没有获得 MVP，他就会抱怨。
考虑到所有因素，感觉上他似乎更希望联盟来适应他，而不是反过来。虽然据报道他在这个休赛期减掉了“20-30”磅，但这意味着他在过去的几个月里一直在刻苦训练，应该已经做好了打球的准备，不是吗？他的计划似乎是在常规赛中轮休一半的比赛，然后希望自己能有足够的“能量”在季后赛中冲击总冠军，但这又引出了一个问题：不打那么多比赛真的能让他 achieving that feat 吗？更有可能的情况是，他会更加不适应季后赛的强度。
恩比德是联盟中薪水第三高的球员，所以他不仅在复出和休战方面浪费时间，没有对得起他的队友，而且他也没有 fulfilling 他签下的合同，这可能就是 NBA 要调查他缺席比赛的原因。现实情况是，如果恩比德真的想这样做，他完全可以让自己保持更好的状态，为整个 NBA 赛季做好准备。
如果他决定要为此付出努力，他的第一个电话就应该打给历史上最伟大的内线球员之一，这位传奇球星向世人证明了，只要训练、准备和保养得当，长久的职业生涯是可以实现的。蒂姆·邓肯有一种 winning 的、无私的精神，他愿意为帮助他的球队、城市和队友赢球做任何事情。如果恩比德也能有这样的心态，他就应该知道该给谁打电话了。
点击查看原文：What Joel Embiid can learn from Tim Duncan
What Joel Embiid can learn from Tim Duncan
Big men and knees don’t always go well together, but one former star paved the way for how to deal with it that a current one could learn from.
Prime Tim Duncan was and still is a role model for many basketball players around the world. He was the epitome of fundamentals and showed that you didn’t have to be a walking highlight real or trash-talker to be a winner. He led with his play on the court and brought five championships to a small-market team while never letting his ego get in the way.
However, in some ways, Duncan may end up being an even bigger role model for players who are past their primes. He may not have been as gifted of an athlete or as impressive as 40-year-old LeBron James looks right now, but Duncan is known for his career longevity, playing in 19 seasons despite coming into the league after four years in college and having notable knee issues in the last quarter of his career.
It all started after the 2010-11 season, when after a red-hot regular season, the top seeded Spurs hobbled through a first round upset to the 8th seed Memphis Grizzlies. It’s easy to point a lot of the blame of that series towards Manu Ginobili’s freshly-broken elbow (which he admirably played through) or Gregg Popovich’s confounding decision to stick with Dejuan Blair over rookie center Tiago Splitter against Memphis’ backcourt of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, but Duncan wasn’t himself either.
He turned 35 during those playoffs, and with age comes flair-ups from old injuries — in this case, a torn meniscus from 2000. Instead of pointing fingers for the massive upset or just accepting he was approaching the end, Duncan reformed himself. He changed his diet, lost weight to take pressure off his knees, and accepted that he would need to wear a special brace for the rest of his career. None of it was fun, but he was determined enough to keep playing and keep winning that he did what was necessary. The reward was another championship in 2014 before retiring two years later, which included toughing it out for one more season than he planned since it meant the Spurs got LaMarcus Aldridge. Timmy always put his team ahead of himself.
Fast forward ten years, and there’s a new era of big men dominating, especially Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. They both have MVP’s to their name, and their match-ups are highly anticipated — when they actually happen which isn’t often enough because the former never seems to be available. Embiid’s career has always been injury-riddled. He ended up missing his first two seasons from 2014-2016 during “The Process” with a foot injury that didn’t heal right after one year and required surgery to fix. (Random fact: this means he never actually matched up against Duncan.)
He finally made his NBA debut in the 2016-17 season, but even then he only played in 31 games after suffering the same injury as young Duncan did early in his career: a torn meniscus. However, despite still going on to become a perineal All Star himself, this is where Embiid and Duncan’s career paths deviate. Despite the early setback, Duncan was an iron man and never missed games unless absolutely necessary, and when Pop brought player management along in his twilight years, he fought it the best he could.
By contrast, Embiid is entering his 8th season at just 30 years old — still relatively young and what should be considered his prime — having only appeared in an average of 54 games per season. 2021-2023 was his best stretch, where he appeared in 66 and 68 games in consecutive seasons while winning his only MVP title in 2023, but those are also the only seasons he would have met the new 65-game threshold that the NBA set for such awards in no small part thanks to Embiid’s (among others) lack of games played.
You can’t blame Embiid too much for being injury prone — some players are just more unfortunate than others — but there’s an argument to be made that he could do more to take better care of himself. Often clocking in at 280 pounds or more, he has been considered overweight and out of shape most of his career, leading to missed games in the regular season and exhaustion in the playoffs, when he had to play in every game. Not only does his weight put more pressure on his knees, but his “floppy” style of play — constantly diving or falling to draw foul calls — doesn’t help either.
Now, it’s a new season, and Embiid is already facing new scrutiny. He somehow wasn’t ready to play in the 76ers season opener last night, which they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, and won’t be ready until at least next week. This has led to many questions and even a potential investigation by the league to see if he’s breaking any player participation policies. Yes, he suffered yet another injury last season and only appeared in 38 games, but he returned for the playoffs and played for Team USA at the Olympics. Sixers coach Nick Nurse has confirmed Embiid doesn’t have a new injury; he just flat out isn’t ready to go.
On top of that, Embiid himself also doesn’t seem too concerned about being there for his team, nonchalantly admitting last week he may never play in a back-to-back again. Whether back-to-backs should still be a thing is another story, but again, he’s only 30, and every other player in the league has to deal with them as well. Not only that, but amidst all the lack of participation, he will still tell you he’s the best player in the league and will complain if he doesn’t win MVP.
All things considered, it feels like he would prefer the league conform to him instead of the other way around. While he has reportedly lost “20-30” pounds this offseason, that means he has been exercising hard in the last couple of months and should be in good enough shape to play, right? His plan seems to be to just sit out half of the regular season games and hope he has enough “energy” left to make a championship run in the playoffs, but then that begs the question: will not playing in many games actually accomplish that feat? It seems more likely he will just be even less prepared for the grind of the playoffs.
Embiid is the third highest paid player in the league, so not only is he doing a disservice to his teammates by taking his time coming back and taking games off, but he’s not living up to the contract he signed, and that is likely why the NBA is investigating his lack of participation. The reality is if Embiid truly wanted to, he could get himself in better shape and ready for the full grind of an NBA season.
If he ever decides he’s ready to put in that work, his first phone call should be to one of the greatest big men of all time, who showed that longevity can be achieved with the proper training, preparation and care. Tim Duncan had that winning, unselfish mindset that he would do anything to help his team, city and teammates win. If Embiid ever reaches that mindset too, he should know who to call.
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock