By August Bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-11-11 01:07:20
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。
马刺在主场未能战胜摆烂的犹他爵士。
如果要根据对个人奖项的兴趣程度将NBA球迷分层，从极度感兴趣、有点无感，到完全不在乎，你可能需要为我创建一个额外的层级——“为什么不干脆取消个人奖项？”层级。
我从未听到过一个合理的解释，说明个人奖项如何能让团队运动变得更好。就赢得总冠军而言，它们意义不大。它们反而可能扭曲人们的认知。
在最近十位NBA MVP中，只有一位在其获得MVP的年份带领球队夺冠——2015年的斯蒂芬·库里(Stephen Curry)。此后再也没有人做到过。有些人是为了MVP而打球，而不是为了赢得总冠军——威斯布鲁克和哈登就是典型的例子。字母哥和约基奇都是在MVP连胜中断后的赛季才赢得总冠军戒指。
MVP和其他奖项确实有一个作用。它们是有效的营销工具，而且不仅仅是对获奖者而言。很大一部分NBA报道都致力于这些奖项。即使是最书呆子气的NBA内容创作者也不会放弃“每月奖项更新”。可能是因为即使是最书呆子气的NBA内容消费者也深深地关心这些奖项以及围绕它们的奇怪讨论。我只是不在乎。
今年，我对个人奖项的失望甚至在赛季开始前就出现了。文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)被内定为最佳防守球员，唯一阻止他同时获得最快进步球员奖的因素是，这个奖项可能不应该颁给二年级球员。有些人甚至认为他有机会争夺MVP，前提是马刺能以某种方式进入季后赛。
十场比赛过后，现实已经追赶上了许多人，包括可能文班亚马自己，对他的期望。但至少他在主场输给犹他爵士的比赛中表现令人鼓舞。是这样吗？
要点
- 就文班而言，最快进步球员奖是否应该颁给二年级的超级新秀目前无关紧要。原因很悲伤但很简单：到目前为止，他呈现的是退步而不是进步——投篮命中率下降了四个百分点，三分球命中率下降了五个百分点，甚至场均出手次数也下降了，更不用说他的助攻失误比了。文班的主要问题是马刺允许他在进攻端主要扮演侧翼球员的角色。我们不要自欺欺人，联盟中29支球队都希望他这样做。
- 虽然文班昨晚的数据看起来更好，但这与我们之前看到的比赛并没有真正的区别。只是他投进了一些不可持续数量的远投。不幸的是，这不足以击败西部垫底的球队。文班需要明白他不是第二个凯文·杜兰特。他需要明白他现在身边有一位控球后卫，这位控卫曾将只会在篮下跑动的德安德烈·乔丹变成了全明星。文班和马刺并没有充分利用这个机会。
- 在防守端，如果没有意外发生，文班将赢得最快进步球员奖。七次盖帽不应该发生在一场比以往任何时候都更分散的比赛中。文班作为一名护框者所做的以及将继续做的事情绝对是荒谬的。但是，老实说，当每次盖帽都伴随着一次失误时——昨晚是七次盖帽六次失误，赛季平均是四次盖帽3.7次失误——他超凡脱俗的防守还剩下多少价值呢？
- 从更积极的方面来看，德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)复出，在21分钟的出场时间里每分钟得一分，这突显出他的自主进攻能力显然是所有球员中最强的。没有其他人能为球队带来他所带来的东西，而且他所带来的东西很难被替代。他能否在本赛季成为一名更好的防守者并更加稳定还有待观察，但他的复出表现非常出色，就是这样。
- 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)迎来了小爆发，在35分钟内高效地得到了23分。他昨晚投进的三分球与他NBA生涯至今投进的三分球一样多。投篮似乎是他目前唯一的重大弱点，但我相信他会变得更好。在我看来，他是一个认真的篮球运动员，一个务实的人。我不确定他在进攻端有什么突出的技能，但他能够在运球和速度都不是特别出色的情况下杀入篮下（并站上罚球线），我觉得这很了不起。让我这么说吧：他打球非常沉稳。
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Jazz
What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Jazz
The Spurs fail to get an edge over the tanking Utah Jazz on home court.
If you were to put NBA fans into tiers in terms of their interest in individual awards from extremely interested, kinda indifferent to completely oblivious, you’d probably have to create an extra tier for me – the “Why not abolish individual awards?” tier.
I just have never heard one reasonable explanation how individual awards make a team sport better. They don’t mean much in terms of winning a championship. They might rather have a tendency to distort perception.
Among the most recent ten NBA MVPs only one has managed to lead his team to a championship the year they won MVP – Stephen Curry in 2015. No one has done that ever since. Some played for MVP rather than to win a championship – Westbrook and Harden spring to mind. And both Giannis and Jokic won their ring in the season after their MVP steaks snapped.
There’s one thing that the MVP and the other awards help. They’re effective marketing tool, and not just in the sense of the guys who win them. A significant portion of NBA coverage is dedicated to these awards. Even the nerdiest of NBA content creators won’t do without “Monthly Awards Updates”. Probably because even the nerdiest of NBA content consumers deeply care about the awards and the strange discussions around them. I just don’t.
This year, my dismay at individual awards had popped up even before the start of the season. Wemby was penciled in as DPOY, the only thing that stood between him and also winning MIP was the notion the award maybe shouldn’t go to second-year players. Some even saw him in the MVP conversation, in case the Spurs somehow can make the playoffs.
Ten games into the season, reality has caught up with the expectations many, including probably himself, put on Wemby. But at least he had an encouraging game in the home loss to the Utah Jazz. Or did he?
Takeaways
- Whether or not the MIP award should go to a blue chipper in his second year is currently irrelevant when it comes Wemby. The reason is sad but simple: So far, there’s regression rather than improvement – down four percentage points in field goal percentage, down five percentage points in three-point percentage, down even in field goal attempts per game, and the less said about his assist-to-turnover ratio the better. The main problem with Wemby is that the Spurs allow him to apply himself mostly as a wing player on offense. Let’s not kid ourselves here, that’s what 29 teams in the league want him to do.
- Though Wemby’s performance from last night looked better on the stat sheet, it wasn’t really that different from what we had seen in the games before. It’s just that an unsustainable number of his shots from deep went in. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to beat the Western Conference bottom dwellers. Wemby needs to understand he’s not the second coming of Kevin Durant. He needs to understand he’s got a point guard next to him now who turned rim-runs-only DeAndre Jordan into a Allstar. Wemby and the Spurs aren’t taking nearly enough advantage of that opportunity.
- On the defensive end, Wemby is going to win the MIP award if nothing unforeseen happens. Seven blocked shots isn’t something that’s supposed to happen in a game that’s more spread out than ever before. It is absolutely ridiculous what Wemby does and will continue to do as a rim protector. But, honestly, how much value is left from his otherworldly defense when for every blocked shot there’s a turnover – seven for six last night, and four for 3.7 on the season.
- On a more positive note, Devin Vassell returned, scoring a point a minute in 21 full minutes of play, underlining that his self-creation capabilities are quite clearly the most advanced of any player on the roster. No one else brings to the team what he does, and what he brings is hard to replace. Whether he can become a better defender and more consistent this year remains to be seen, but his comeback performance was excellent, period.
- Stephon Castle had a bit of a breakout, scoring 23 points with good efficiency in 35 minutes. He made as many threes last night as in his NBA career up to that point. Shooting appears to be his only major weakness so far, but I trust him to get better. He strikes me as a serious basketball player, a no-nonsense guy. I’m not sure he has an outstanding skill on offense, but the fact that he’s able to get to the basket (and to the line) despite being particularly skilled as a handler nor particularly quick I find remarkable. Let me put it this way: He plays with great composure.
By August Bembel, via Pounding The Rock