By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-01 13:20:25
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。
科里·约瑟夫（10号），效力于奥兰多魔术队，在2025年3月16日于俄亥俄州克利夫兰市的火箭贷款球馆对阵克利夫兰骑士队的比赛中，在第二节投篮。
奥兰多魔术队在2月6日，NBA交易截止日当天，身处丹佛。
交易季的最终铃声在数小时前敲响，魔术队选择保持阵容不变。当松了一口气的球员们抵达球馆外的球队大巴时，其中一位球员站在外面迎接其他人。
“很高兴见到你，”笑容满面的科里·约瑟夫(Cory Joseph)对每一位路过的队友说道。
这样做，奥兰多队中最资深的球员为这支年轻的球队提供了一个非常需要的轻松时刻，他们仍在学习如何应对每年交易截止日带来的紧张情绪。
“他关心人，他关心比赛，”奥兰多队教练贾马尔·莫斯利(Jamahl Mosely)这样评价这位33岁的替补控卫。“他明白，要成为一名伟大的职业球员，你必须投入到他人身上。他比我见过的很多人更能体现这一点。”
这是一种让约瑟夫在NBA效力14个赛季的品质，也是他表示自己最初在圣安东尼奥的20多岁时学到的。
“如果我职业生涯的前四年没有去圣安东尼奥，”约瑟夫说，“我不知道我会在哪里。”
马刺队在2011年选秀大会上用第29顺位选中了来自德克萨斯大学的约瑟夫，在同一轮中，他们也选中了科怀·伦纳德(Kawhi Leonard)。
在为马刺效力的四个赛季中，约瑟夫师从名人堂成员——从托尼·帕克(Tony Parker)那里学习了打控卫的艺术，从蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)那里学习了职业精神，从马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili)那里学习了竞争精神，从格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)那里学习了新的脏话。
对于一位只打了一个平淡无奇大学赛季的20岁新秀来说，这简直是一所完美的篮球研究生院。
“每个人都有如此高的智商，以我们打球的那种美妙方式，我学到了很多，”约瑟夫说，他周二回到霜冻银行中心（Frost Bank Center）与魔术队比赛。“我从那些家伙那里学到的一些东西，我现在试图回馈给这些年轻球员。”
约瑟夫是2014年马刺队夺冠的一员，并在俱乐部又效力了一个赛季，之后开始了NBA流浪者的生活。
回到家乡多伦多两个赛季。在印第安纳两个赛季。在萨克拉门托一年半后被交易到底特律，在那里度过了2年半的时间。在金州勇士队效力了一个赛季，现在在奥兰多。
2024年10月9日，在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的霜冻银行中心举行的一场季前赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)（1号）和克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)（3号）向奥兰多魔术队的科里·约瑟夫（10号）施压。
约瑟夫的职业生涯场均得到6.3分和2.9次助攻。他从未成为明星，也极少担任首发。
然而，14个赛季以来，约瑟夫从未缺少过一份NBA工作。
那些了解他的人都知道为什么。
“这充分说明了他，以及他所做的事情和他在联盟中的地位，”莫斯利说。“他总是情绪高涨，积极乐观，鼓励队员们，试图让队员们继续努力。你希望身边有这样的人。”
马刺队前锋哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)在2019年至2021年期间与约瑟夫在萨克拉门托一起打球。他钦佩这位顽强控卫始终为被要求承担的任何任务做好准备，经常克服恼人的伤病来做到这一点。
这是魔术队最近开始欣赏的一种品质。在大部分时间被埋在奥兰多板凳席上之后，由于科尔·安东尼(Cole Anthony)受伤，约瑟夫已经连续九场比赛首发，直至周二重返圣安东尼奥。
“如果不能提供价值，人们不会在这个联盟中待那么久，”巴恩斯说。“每支球队只能有一两个20分的得分手。每支球队只会有一两个全明星。所以，这为球员们以其他方式带来价值留下了很多机会，科里在他的整个职业生涯中都做到了这一点。”
毫不奇怪，约瑟夫以蓝领的方式看待自己像工兵一样的职业生涯。
“我认为只是能够适应，保持现实，不被其他人得到或没有得到的东西所困扰，”约瑟夫说。“有点像建造建筑物但不获得荣誉的建筑工人。那个人可以长时间工作，而公司里的人都知道他带来的价值。”
这并不是说约瑟夫职业生涯的所有14个赛季都没有亮点。
他在2014年西部决赛第四场比赛中，在马刺队惨败给俄克拉荷马城雷霆队接近尾声时，对塞尔吉·伊巴卡(Serge Ibaka)的一次垃圾时间扣篮，被誉为激励球队最终夺冠的鼓舞人心的时刻。
当被问及他目前的奥兰多队队友——他们中的一些人在他完成那次令人震惊的扣篮时还在上小学——是否记得那个特殊的亮点时，约瑟夫笑了。
“他们中的一些人知道，但不是所有人，”约瑟夫说。“没有应该知道的那么多。”
多年来，马刺队一直在伊巴卡在篮筐附近的防守面前挣扎。在一次扣篮的瞬间，马刺队默默无闻的第三替补控卫破解了密码。
马刺队继续在六场比赛中结束了与雷霆队的系列赛，然后在NBA总决赛中摧毁了迈阿密热火队。
“它给了我们一些动力，至少我想是这样，”约瑟夫谈到他的扣篮时说。“我试图无所畏惧，试图去竞争。”
手拿安全帽和午餐盒，这就是约瑟夫试图对待他职业生涯每一天的方式，他的职业生涯已经远远超过了十年，这也是他拥有超过十年职业生涯的重要原因。
以及为什么魔术队也很高兴在本赛季的每一天见到他。
“我认为你只需要做一些事情来为组织带来价值，”约瑟夫说。“即使不是数据爆炸或做一些让人眼前一亮的事情，只是不自负，能够非常努力地工作，在你的名字被叫到时做好准备，同时也回馈给年轻球员。这真的就是全部。”
点击查看原文：How former Spur Cory Joseph has built a blue-collar NBA career
How former Spur Cory Joseph has built a blue-collar NBA career
Cory Joseph (10) of the Orlando Magic shoots during the second quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena on March 16, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Orlando Magic were in Denver on Feb. 6, the night of the NBA trade deadline.
The final bell on swap season had been rung hours earlier with the Magic opting to keep their roster intact. As relieved players arrived at the team bus to Ball Arena for the game, one in particular stood outside to greet the others.
“It’s good to see you,” a smiling Cory Joseph told each teammate who passed.
In doing so, Orlando’s most veteran player provided a much-needed moment of levity for a young team still learning to deal with the annual bout of wracked nerves that accompanies the trade deadline.
“He cares about people, he cares about the game,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosely said of the 33-year-old backup point guard. “He understands that to be a great professional, you’ve got to pour into others. He exemplifies that more than a lot of people I’ve been around.”
It is a quality that has kept Joseph employed in the NBA for 14 seasons, and one he says he first learned as a wide-eyed 20-something in San Antonio.
“If I didn’t go to San Antonio the first four years of my career,” Joseph said, “I don’t know where I’d be.”
The Spurs selected Joseph out of Texas with the 29th pick in the 2011 draft, in the same first round that also brought them Kawhi Leonard.
In his four seasons with the Spurs, Joseph learned at the feet of Hall of Famers – the art of playing point guard from Tony Parker, professionalism from Tim Duncan, competitiveness from Manu Ginobili, new curse words from Gregg Popovich.
It turned out to be the perfect basketball grad school for a 20-year-old rookie who had played one nondescript college season.
“Everybody there having such a high IQ, playing that beautiful basketball the way that we did, I learned a lot,” said Joseph, who was back at the Frost Bank Center on Tuesday with the Magic. “Some of the things I’ve learned from those guys I try to give back now to these young pups now.”
Joseph was a part of the 2014 Spurs team that won a championship, and spent one more campaign with the club before commencing on the nomad’s life of an NBA journeyman.
Two seasons back in his hometown of Toronto. Two in Indiana. One and a half in Sacramento before being dealt to Detroit, where he spent 2 ½ seasons. One with Golden State and now one in Orlando.
Victor Wembanyama (1) and Chris Paul (3) of the San Antonio Spurs pressure Cory Joseph (10) of the Orlando Magic in the second half of a preseason game at Frost Bank Center on October 9, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas.
Joseph owns career averages of 6.3 points and 2.9 assists per game. He has never been a star and has rarely been a starter.
And yet for 14 seasons now and counting, Joseph has never lacked for an NBA job.
Those who know him know why.
“It says a lot about him and what he’s done and who he’s been throughout this league,” Mosely said. “He’s always in an upbeat mood, a positive mood, encouraging guys, trying to get guys to continue to work. You want those guys around.”
Spurs forward Harrison Barnes played with Joseph in Sacramento from 2019 to 2021. He admired the plucky point guard’s consistent preparedness for whatever task he was asked to do on a given night, often warding off nagging injuries to do so.
It is an attribute the Magic have come to appreciate of late. After spending most of the season buried on Orlando’s bench, Joseph has started nine consecutive games heading into Tuesday’s return to San Antonio due to an injury to Cole Anthony.
“People don’t stay in this league that long without providing value,” Barnes said. “There can only be one or two 20-point scorers on every team. There’s only going to be one or two All-Stars on every team. So that leaves a lot of opportunity for guys to bring value in other ways, and Cory has done that throughout his career.”
Not surprisingly, Joseph views his yeoman-like career in blue-collar terms.
“I think just being able to adapt, being realistic, not being consumed with what other people are getting or not getting,” Joseph said. “Kind of like being that construction worker that puts up the building but doesn’t get the credit. That guy gets to work for a long time, and the people who are in the company, they know the value he brings.”
That’s not to say all 14 seasons of Joseph’s career have been sizzle-free.
His garbage-time dunk over Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka near the end of the Spurs’ blowout loss in Game 4 of the 2014 Western Conference finals has been immortalized as an inspirational moment that fueled the team’s eventual title run.
Asked if his current Orlando teammates – some of whom were in grade school when he unleashed his record-scratch slam – remembered that particular highlight, Joseph laughed.
“A couple of them know, but not all of them,” Joseph said. “Not as much of them as should know about it.”
The Spurs had struggled for years against Ibaka’s defensive presence near the rim. In an instant of dunking defiance, the Spurs’ anonymous third-string point guard had cracked the code.
The Spurs went on to finish the series against the Thunder in six games, then annihilated Miami in the NBA Finals.
“It gave us some juice, at least I would like to think so,” Joseph said of his dunk. “I tried to be fearless, tried to just compete.”
Hard hat and lunch pail in hand, that is how Joseph has attempted to approach every day of a career that reached well past a decade, which is a big reason he has a career that has reached well past a decade.
And why the Magic have been glad to see him every day this season, too.
“I think you just have to do things to bring value to an organization,” Joseph said. “Even if it’s not stat stuffing or doing things that are popping eyes out, just not having an ego, being able to work really hard, being ready when your name is called but also giving back to the young guys. That’s really all it takes.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News
