By Tim Bontemps, Brian Windhorst | ESPN, 2025-10-24 23:22:00
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。
NBA新赛季的激情开局，却在周四因一则惊人消息而戛然而止：迈阿密热火队后卫特里·罗齐尔 (Terry Rozier)、波特兰开拓者队主教练昌西·比卢普斯 (Chauncey Billups) 以及前球员兼教练达蒙·琼斯 (Damon Jones) 在FBI针对非法体育博彩和牌局作弊的调查中被捕。
这些调查的后续进展仍是未知数。尽管这些指控给NBA第80个赛季的开幕周蒙上了一层阴影，但最初的几场比赛已经向我们充分展示了球场上可能发生的一切。
带着这些观察，我们与联盟的教练、球探和高管们进行了交流，探讨了常规赛第一周的亮点。然而，没有什么能比得上维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在周三晚上摧毁达拉斯独行侠队后在联盟中引发的轰动——那场表现，仿佛是向整个NBA发出的警告。
文班的比赛风格已然不同
Bontemps: 文班亚马因被诊断出深静脉血栓而错过了上赛季的后半段，他在休赛期的场外生活十分忙碌。但当他在训练营开始时面对媒体时，他特意强调，无论人们在社交媒体上看到了什么，他都没有在夏天虚度光阴。
“我可以向你们保证，这个夏天没有人练得比我更苦，”文班亚马说。“这是我迄今为止最棒的一个夏天。我能感觉到进步是难以置信的。我感觉更好了，看起来更强壮了，体重秤上的数字也显示我变重了。所以，一切都亮起了绿灯。”
在文班亚马于达拉斯上演了令人印象深刻的40分表演之后，他季前赛的这番评论现在看来，就像是对本赛季即将发生的一切所作的提前宣告。这番话或许会被解读为文班亚马的傲慢，但他只是用一种简单而实事求是的语气说出，这既是因为他对此深信不疑，也是因为他有能力做到一些几乎无人曾设想过、更不用说能够实现的事情。
在目睹了他戏耍达拉斯之后，联盟中有一种清晰的共识：如果他继续这样打下去，想要减慢他的脚步将需要极大的运气。
“他明显变得更高大、更强壮、更具侵略性，打得更有压迫感了，”一位西部联盟的球探说道。“如果他能保持健康，他将会接管整个该死的联盟。”
Windhorst: 在季前赛中，球探们开始注意到文班亚马的一些变化：他不再热衷于远投，而是开始打起了“霸王球”。
去年，文班亚马场均出手高达8.8次三分球，几乎占到他场均19次出手的一半，也比他新秀赛季每晚多出近4次。而如今，文班亚马正朝着相反的方向发展。他开始冲击篮筐，寻求建立位置，甚至主动寻找身体对抗。
上个赛季，他只有40%的出手来自禁区。而在季前赛，尽管样本量很小，这个数字飙升到了75%。上赛季他每百回合能获得6次罚球，而在季前赛，这个数据跃升至每百回合11.8次。
因此，当文班亚马在达拉斯的赛季揭幕战中砍下40分，用一系列大师级的篮下猛攻抢走了状元秀库珀·弗拉格 (Cooper Flagg) 首秀的风头时，这印证了他已经开始向联盟亮出的底牌。
文班亚马全场仅出手两次三分球，这是他自新秀赛季以来单场最低纪录。（上赛季他只有一场比赛三分出手少于5次。）对阵独行侠，他获得了11次罚球。而在去年，这种情况在常规时间内只发生过一次。
一位球队内部人士表示：“他正享受着打‘霸王球’的乐趣。”
揭幕战前景光明，但休斯顿火箭面临重大疑问
Windhorst: 在阿门·汤普森 (Amen Thompson) 因抽筋在揭幕战加时赛中离场后，火箭队主教练伊梅·乌度卡 (Ime Udoka) 让大个子球员阿尔佩伦·申京 (Alperen Sengun) 担任了事实上的控球后卫。在失去了弗雷德·范弗利特 (Fred VanVleet) 并且承诺让仍显稚嫩的汤普森担任球队主控之后，联盟高管们之间存在一种争论：火箭队最终是否需要引进一位经验丰富的控卫作为一个可靠的选择。
“他们的答案就在阵容中，我相信里德·谢泼德 (Reed Sheppard)，他会（与汤普森一起）进入那个角色，”一位资深高管说。“你可以专注于他做不到的事情，但我从他十几岁起就一直关注他，他所做的就是不断克服质疑。只需要给他时间。”
但是，重申一遍，这其中存在争议。
“谢泼德在防守端太容易被针对了，有时候很难让他上场，”一位联盟球探说。“他没有很好的防守意识，没有展现出良好的比赛感觉，而且经常失位。不过他的手很快。”
根据ESPN Research的数据，在火箭队输给雷霆队的揭幕战中，谢泼德防守了11次突破，其中有5次被对手一步过掉。
Bontemps: 尽管休斯顿没能赢下比赛，并且在上个月遭遇前十字韧带撕裂后，范弗利特本赛季可能也无法回归，但火箭队在周二的失利后赢得了NBA业内专家们的大量尊重。
这主要归功于申京的表现。他不仅得到39分，而且他在周二投中的5记三分球与他上赛季总共只投进21记三分形成了鲜明对比。
“如果他能做到这一点，”一位助理教练谈到申京的投射时说，“这对他们来说将是颠覆性的改变。”
虽然对手球队并不指望申京每晚都能投进好几个三分球，但这位大个子球员看起来足够自如，以至于对手的球探和高管们确实相信这是一个真实的技术进步。
申京的视野和创造投篮机会的能力也赢得了赞誉。无论汤普森、谢泼德还是其他球员是休斯顿在控卫位置上的答案，申京都将作为火箭队的进攻枢纽度过大量时间。在周二晚对阵联盟最佳球队时，他交出了顶级的表现。
“他比我以往想象的要好得多，而且他令人印象深刻的地方在于，他在梳理进攻方面对比赛有非常强的掌控力，”一位球探说。“他在更高的层面上思考比赛，超过了他许多队友。”
“他们也知道这一点，并且正在跟随他的领导。”
混乱的休赛期过后，乔纳森·库明加迎来强势开局
Bontemps: 库明加作为受限制自由球员的合同谈判，在整个夏天为湾区带来了不少戏剧性事件。但抛开谈判带来的所有噪音，如果乔纳森·库明加 (Jonathan Kuminga) 能像周二对阵洛杉矶湖人队那样打球——充满能量和努力，分享球权并致力于防守——那么他对金州勇士队而言将远不止“有用”那么简单。
“他做了他需要做的事，”一位西部联盟的助理教练说。
但库明加表现中脱颖而出的，远不止他17分、9个篮板、6次助攻和1次失误的基础数据统计。至少在一位高管眼中，他看到的是库明加作为一个在自己的角色中茁壮成长的人在打球。
“别管投篮了。忘掉他得分的那几个回合，也忘掉他防守卢卡的时候，”他们说。“但他脸上带着微笑在打球。我很少在他身上看到这一点。他总是带着一种愤愤不平、想要证明自己的样子。现在他能防守多个位置，打得也很努力。”
“我认为你会看到更多这样的比赛，而不是像季后赛那样更多的DNP（未出场）。”
Windhorst: 周五勇士队在波特兰比赛时，你不会看到艾尔·霍福德 (Al Horford)；他不会打背靠背比赛，而且按照计划，他在常规赛的上场时间会受到限制。但是，当库明加的合同状况在夏天主导了围绕勇士队的讨论时，霍福德的加盟有时被忽视了。但圈内人不会。
“霍福德是联盟夏天最好的签约之一，这让我们心碎，因为我们非常想要他，”一位东部联盟的高管说。“而他们只花了500万美元就得到了他。”
好吧，是560万美元，但重点不变。对于一支需要体型，同时又渴望投射和多功能性的球队来说，霍福德是理想的人选。
虽然只是一场比赛，但此前对湖人队的担忧得到了印证
Bontemps: 是的，这只是一场比赛。是的，这是在没有勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 的情况下打的一场比赛。
但是，对于本赛季围绕卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic) 和詹姆斯的角色球员阵容，以及他们是否有能力将这支球队提升到争冠级别的担忧，周二的失利几乎没有起到任何平息作用。
德安德烈·艾顿 (Deandre Ayton) 在34分钟内得到毫无影响力的10分和6个篮板，除了东契奇和奥斯汀·里夫斯 (Austin Reaves) 之外，没有其他球员得分上双。马库斯·斯玛特 (Marcus Smart) 在替补席上表现挣扎。角色球员们的三分球合计17投仅5中，在防守端也几乎没有任何希望能减缓金州勇士队的攻势。
“卢卡太棒了，”一位球探说，“而球队的其他人，就是‘我们印象中的那个样子’。”
“（里夫斯）在体力耗尽之前打得很好，因为他承担了太多任务，但除了他们俩，我说不出谁是他们的第三号球员。”
随着ESPN的沙姆斯·查拉尼亚 (Shams Charania) 报道称詹姆斯的目标是在11月中旬复出，湖人队将在赛季初的大约15场比赛中缺少这位联盟历史得分王。在残酷的西部，湖人队能否在詹姆斯回归前挺过来，而不给自己挖下太大的坑？
“他们有机会，因为卢卡那样的表现不是一次性的，”这位球探在谈到东契奇对阵勇士的43分之夜时说。“他们需要其他一些人站出来。所以他们能挺过去吗？是的。他们总会有一些比赛，角色球员们能投进球。但你看看他们的阵容，就是1号、2号、3号——而且2号还伤了——然后是一个巨大的差距。”
一位助理教练简单地总结道：
“卢卡每晚都必须打出那样的表现，才能给他们一个赢球的机会。”
Windhorst: 湖人队主教练JJ·雷迪克 (JJ Redick) 试图将詹姆斯身体语言是个问题的说法扼杀在摇篮里。他在揭幕战后一天表示，詹姆斯在湖人队输球后的全队复盘中非常积极且乐于助人。即便这完全是事实，此举也明显是为了平息事态。尽管如此，湖人队在场上显然非常想念詹姆斯。
“我知道这么说很疯狂，但他们那个40岁的球员可能仍然是他们最好的转换进攻球员，”一位西部球探说。“当他不在场上时，他们的活力就差了很多。”
东契奇可能是他们的核心和进攻领袖，里夫斯可能会在上赛季场均20分的基础上有所提高。但詹姆斯仍然是一个进攻引擎——他的缺席已经能被感受到了。
“有一件事你可以用来形容勒布朗，并且在过去20多年里一直如此，”这位球探说，“那就是他总能为自己和队友创造轻松得分的机会。”
点击查看原文：NBA intel: Wemby domination and more first-week findings
NBA intel: Wemby domination and more first-week findings
A thrilling start to the NBA season came to a screeching halt on Thursday, when Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player and coach Damon Jones were arrested as part of FBI investigations into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
Questions remain on the status of those investigations. And while those indictments overshadowed the opening days of the NBA’s 80th season, its first handful of games showed us plenty about what could be next on the court.
With that in mind, we checked in with league coaches, scouts and executives on what stood out across the opening week of the regular season. Nothing, though, matched the buzz around the league after Victor Wembanyama’s evisceration of the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night – a performance that felt like a warning to the rest of the NBA.
There’s something different about Wemby’s game
Bontemps: Wembanyama, who missed the back half of last season after a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis, had a busy summer off the court. But when he spoke to the media at the start of training camp, he made sure to emphasize that for whatever people saw on social media, he wasn’t spending the summer relaxing.
“I can assure you, nobody has trained like I did this summer,” Wembanyama said. “And this is my best summer so far. I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better, I look stronger and the scale says I’m heavier. So, everything is a green light.”
In the wake of Wembanyama’s impressive 40-point showing in Dallas, those preseason comments now feel like an early declaration of what was to come this season. It could have been taken as Wembanyama being arrogant, but he said it in a simple, matter-of-fact tone, both because it is just what he truly believes, and because he is capable of doing things virtually no one else has ever contemplated, let alone been able to achieve.
After watching him toy with Dallas, there was a clear recognition that if he keeps going like this it’s going to take a lot of luck to slow him down.
“He’s clearly gotten bigger, stronger, more aggressive, playing with more force,” a Western Conference scout said. “And he’s going to take over the whole f—ing league if he stays healthy.”
Windhorst: In the preseason, scouts started to notice something about Wembanyama: In lieu of launching from deep, he was playing bully ball.
After hoisting a whopping 8.8 3-pointers per game last year, nearly half of the 19 shots he was averaging per game and nearly four more per night than during his rookie season, Wembanyama was going the opposite way. He was driving to the basket, looking to establish position and even seeking contact.
Last season only 40% of his shots were in the paint. In the preseason, albeit a small sample size, that number soared to 75%. After averaging six free throws per 100 possessions last season, it leapt to 11.8 per 100 in the preseason.
So when Wembanyama dropped 40 in the season opener in Dallas, stealing the show from No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg’s debut with a tour de force of basket attacks, it verified the hand he started to show the league.
Wembanyama took just two 3-pointers, his fewest in a game since his rookie season. (He took fewer than five 3s once all season.) He had 11 free throws against the Mavericks. That happened once in a regulation game last year.
Said one team source: “He’s relishing playing bully ball.”
After a promising opener, a major question faces the Houston Rockets
Windhorst: After Amen Thompson left the season opener in overtime with cramps, Rockets coach Ime Udoka went with big man Alperen Sengun as the de facto point guard. In the wake of losing Fred VanVleet and the commitment for the still raw Thompson to be the team’s primary point guard, there’s a debate among league executives about whether the Rockets will eventually need to acquire a veteran point guard as a trusty option.
“Their answer is on the roster, I’m a believer in Reed Sheppard and he will step into that role [alongside Thompson],” a veteran executive said. “You can focus on what he can’t do, but I’ve followed him since he was a teenager and all he’s done is overcome doubters. Just give him time.”
But, again, there’s a debate.
“Sheppard is such a target on defense, it’ll be tough to play him at times,” a league scout said. “He doesn’t have good awareness, he doesn’t show good feel and he’s often out of position. He does have good hands.”
Sheppard defended 11 drives in the Rockets’ opening loss to the Thunder, and he was blown by five times, according to ESPN Research.
Bontemps: Although Houston didn’t win the game, and likely won’t have VanVleet back at any point this season after he tore his ACL last month, the Rockets came out of Tuesday’s loss having earned a ton of respect from the NBA cognoscenti.
That was led by the performance Sengun had. Not only did he have 39 points, but his five 3-pointers on Tuesday were a remarkable contrast to the 21 triples he made all of last season.
“If he does that,” an assistant coach said of Sengun’s shooting, “It’s a game changer for them.”
And while rival teams are not expecting Sengun to make several 3-pointers every night, the big man looked comfortable enough that opposing scouts and executives did buy it as a real development.
Sengun also earned plaudits for his vision and shot creation. And whether Thompson, Sheppard or another player is Houston’s answer at point guard, Sengun will spend plenty of time as the Rockets’ offensive hub. Going up against the best team in the league Tuesday night, it produced big-time results.
“He’s way better than I ever thought he would be, and the thing that’s impressive about him is he’s got a really strong command of the game as far as directing traffic,” a scout said. "He’s thinking the game at a higher level than a lot of his teammates.
“They know it, and they’re following his lead.”
A messy offseason gives way to a strong start for Jonathan Kuminga
Bontemps: Kuminga’s contract negotiations as a restricted free agent provided drama all summer long in the Bay Area. But for all the noise that came along with those negotiations, if Kuminga can play like he did Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers – playing with energy and effort, sharing the ball and working on defense – he can be more than useful for Golden State.
“He did what he needed to do,” a Western Conference assistant coach said.
But what stood out about Kuminga’s performance went beyond his box score statistics: 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 turnover. At least in the eyes of one executive, it was seeing Kuminga playing like someone thriving in his role.
“Forget the shooting. Forget the couple plays where he scored, forget when he guarded Luka,” they said. "But he was playing with a smile on his face. I just haven’t seen much of that from him. It’s always been him having a chip on his shoulder and looking like he’s proving himself. He’s guarding a couple positions, playing hard.
“I think you’ll see more games like that than more DNPs like in the playoffs.”
Windhorst: You won’t see Al Horford Friday night when the Warriors play in Portland; he won’t play back-to-backs and he’s going to have limited minutes by design in the regular season. But while Kuminga’s contract situation dominated the conversation around the Warriors over the summer, Horford’s addition was sometimes overlooked. But not by those in the know.
“Horford was one of the best signings in the league over the summer, it broke our hearts because we wanted him badly,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “And they got him for $5 million.”
Well, $5.6 million, but the point remains. For a team that needs size but craves shooting and versatility, Horford is an ideal fit.
It was one game, but prior Lakers concerns were confirmed
Bontemps: Yes, it was one game. Yes, it was one game being played without LeBron James.
But for the concerns about the supporting cast around Luka Doncic and James this season and its viability to lift this team into contention status, Tuesday’s loss did little to quell them.
Deandre Ayton had an ineffectual 10 points and six rebounds in 34 minutes, and no other player reached double figures outside of Doncic and Austin Reaves. Marcus Smart struggled mightily off the bench. The supporting cast was a combined 5-for-17 from 3-point range and had little hope of doing anything to slow Golden State down defensively.
“Luka is awesome,” one scout said, "and the rest of the team is, ‘who we thought they were.’
“[Reaves] was good until he ran out of gas because he had to do so much, but outside of them I couldn’t tell you who their third best player was.”
With ESPN’s Shams Charania reporting that James is targeting a mid-November return, the Lakers will be without the league’s all-time leading scorer for around 15 games to start the season. Can the Lakers survive in the brutal West until James returns without digging themselves too big of a hole?
“They have a chance because Luka doing that isn’t a one-off performance,” the scout said of Doncic’s 43-point night against the Warriors. “They need some of these other guys to step up. So can they survive it? Yes. They’ll have games where some of these guys hit shots. But you look at their roster, and it’s 1-2-3 – and 2 is out – and then a huge gap.”
An assistant coach put it simply:
“Luka is going to have to do what he did every night just to give them a chance.”
Windhorst: Lakers coach JJ Redick tried to nip the idea that James’ body language was an issue in the bud. He said the day after the opener that James was very active and helpful in the Lakers’ full study after the loss. It was a clear “nothing to see here” maneuver even if it was totally true. Be that as it may, the Lakers clearly miss James on the floor.
“I know it’s crazy to say, but their 40-year-old is maybe still their best transition player,” one West scout said. “When he’s not out there they are less dynamic.”
Doncic might be their centerpiece and offensive leader, and Reaves might improve on his 20 points per game average from last year. But James is still an offensive engine – and his absence is already felt.
“One thing you can say for LeBron that’s been true for more than 20 years,” the scout said, “is he always generates easy baskets for himself and his teammates.”
By Tim Bontemps, Brian Windhorst | ESPN, via ESPN