By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-07-09 10:58:08
2025年11月4日，星期二，在北卡罗来纳州夏洛特举行的一场NCAA大学篮球比赛上半场中，杜克大学前锋马利克·布朗 (Maliq Brown) 与德克萨斯大学后卫钱德尔·韦弗 (Chendall Weaver) 奋力争夺球权。
拉斯维加斯——职业橄榄球名人堂近端锋安东尼奥·盖茨 (Antonio Gates) 曾将自己在圣迭戈闪电队成为统治级红区威胁的本领，归功于他在肯特州立大学打篮球的岁月。
而对于马刺新秀马利克·布朗 (Maliq Brown) 来说，情况正好相反：橄榄球运动让他成为了一名更好的篮球运动员。
这位身高6英尺9英寸、体重215磅的次轮秀前锋将自己敏捷、活跃的双手归功于在弗吉尼亚州打高中橄榄球的时光。正是这双“快手”帮助他先后在锡拉丘兹大学和杜克大学成为了出色的防守球员，也预示着他在注重防守的马刺队将拥有光明的未来。
“在成长过程中，橄榄球曾是我的主项，”现年22岁的布朗说道。
他的母亲在2022年（当时布朗还在为锡拉丘兹橘子人队效力）接受Syracuse.com采访时透露，他对橄榄球的热爱甚至到了在童年卧室墙上贴满最喜欢球员海报的程度。其中，曾在附近的弗吉尼亚理工大学大放异彩的四分卫迈克尔·维克 (Michael Vick) 在他的最爱名单中名列前茅。
“哦，天哪，是的，那是他的初恋，”塔莎·布朗 (Tasha Brown) 在谈到儿子时说道，“他从五岁一直打橄榄球到高二。在他六七岁的时候，我们试着在角落里放个篮球。他却说：‘我不喜欢，太无聊了。’我觉得那是因为篮球对他来说太容易了。他总是场上跑得最快的孩子，总是能把每个人的球都抢走。因为橄榄球技术的熏陶，他在场上极具侵略性。”
在夏洛茨维尔附近的私立高中蓝岭学校（Blue Ridge School）效力期间，布朗担任外接手，同时也兼顾防守。他经历了一次又一次的训练，这些训练极大地提升了他的手眼协调能力和反应时间。
“有些训练要求快速反应，”他说道，“比如一个球飞速朝你飞来。这就是我‘快手’的由来。一个球全速向你飞来，你必须转过身去接住它。我把这种能力转化到了篮球场上。”
尽管热爱橄榄球，但在经历了一次伤病惊魂以及身高的暴涨之后，布朗最终还是将全部精力投入到了篮球上。
“直到高三之前，我一直在兼顾这两项运动，”他说道，“后来我一直在长高，所以就坚持打篮球了。”
作为一名三星高中生，布朗帮助男爵队（Barons）连续四年夺得州篮球冠军，并在高四赛季场均砍下两双。
在锡拉丘兹大学成长为大西洋沿岸联盟（ACC）最佳防守阵容成员后，布朗在大二赛季结束后转学至杜克大学。在大四赛季，他荣膺2025-26赛季ACC年度最佳防守球员和ACC年度最佳第六人。上个月，在布朗交出场均4.9分、5.2个篮板和1.8次抢断的数据后，马刺队在次轮总第44顺位选中了他。
“防守一直是我立足的根本，”拥有7英尺1英寸臂展、能够防守场上五个位置的布朗说道。
在旧金山举行的加州经典赛中，布朗展现了自己的实力。在周日马刺队以69-98不敌金州勇士队的比赛中，他在篮下对勇士队首轮秀雅克塞尔·伦德博格 (Yaxel Lendeborg) 完成了一记舒展的飞身封盖，成为比赛的一大亮点。
在23分钟的出场时间里，布朗贡献了2分、4个篮板、1次助攻、1次抢断，以及那记针对首轮第11顺位新秀的精彩盖帽。技术统计表往往无法完全体现布朗在防守端的破坏力，但他的教练们心里很清楚。
“他在防守端有很高的上限，他很有直觉，”马刺队助理教练科利斯·威廉姆森 (Corliss Williamson) 说道。作为夏季联赛马刺队的主帅，他将带领球队在周四对阵亚特兰大老鹰队，开启NBA夏季联赛的征程。
“他在进攻端还有需要提升的地方，但在防守端他确实很有直觉，”威廉姆森在周日的比赛后补充道，“今天在录像分析课上，我们和他讨论的其中一件事，就是让他继续学习在我们的战术体系和NBA防守方式中找到正确的防守位置。今晚他在站位方面做得更好了，能够沉下重心做好防守姿态并随时准备做出反应，他只会继续变得更好。”
“他具备无限换防和防守多个位置的能力，这对于他在我们球队的发展是非常有利的。”
那么，他那双经过橄榄球磨砺、极具破坏力的双手呢？
“噢，是的，他的手部防守非常活跃，”威廉姆森说道，“无论是协防盖帽，还是在传球路线上用活跃的双手进行干扰，他都做得非常好。他在顶防对方大个子、试图将他们的接球位置推离禁区方面做得很好。而一旦对方接球，他的手就会动起来，去破坏传球，频繁触及皮球。”
“所以，作为一名防守球员，这些都是非常棒的特质。”
在上周签署了一份双向合同后，布朗预计下赛季的大部分时间将在发展联盟的奥斯汀马刺队度过，但他决心通过做自己最擅长的事情——防守，来引起教练组的注意。
而这一切都将从夏季联赛开始，他表示自己正在从错误中吸取教训。
“就是做出更好的阅读，这就是我们在录像分析课上研究的内容，也就是我在过去几场比赛中所做的决定，”布朗说道，“做出更好的阅读，在防守端制造更多的混乱，通过破坏传球来干扰对手，并卡在传球路线上。”
“就是多做一些我力所能及的事情。”
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：Spurs rookie Maliq Brown credits football for his 'active hands'
Spurs rookie Maliq Brown credits football for his ‘active hands’
Duke forward Maliq Brown vies for the ball with Texas guard Chendall Weaver during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C.
LAS VEGAS — Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates credited his days as a basketball player at Kent State with helping him become a dominant red zone threat with the San Diego Chargers.
For Spurs rookie Maliq Brown, it’s been the other way around: Football has made him a better basketball player.
The 6-foot-9, 215-pound second-round forward points to his days playing high school football in Virginia for the quick, active hands that helped make him an outstanding defensive player at Syracuse and then Duke and bode well for his future with the defensive-minded Spurs.
“Football was my main sport coming up,” Brown, 22, said.
So much so, he plastered the walls of his childhood bedroom with posters of his favorite players, his mother told Syracuse.com in 2022, when Brown played for the Orange. Quarterback Michael Vick, who starred at nearby Virginia Tech, ranked high on his list.
“Oh, my goodness, yes, that was his first love,” Tasha Brown said of her son. “He played football from the age of five until his sophomore year of high school. We tried to put a basketball in his corner at the age of 6 or 7. He was like, ‘I don’t like it. It’s boring.’ I think it was just too easy for him. He was always the fastest kid out there. He would just take the ball away from everybody. He was so aggressive because of his football techniques.”
As a wide receiver who also played defense at Blue Ridge School, a private high school near Charlottesville, Brown went through drill after drill that enhanced his eye-hand coordination and reaction time.
“Some drills (called for) quick reactions,” he said. “A quick ball coming at you, something like that. That’s where the quick hands came from. You have a ball coming at you at full speed, and then you turn around and catch it. That’s something I transitioned to basketball.”
Despite his love for football, Brown eventually focused solely on basketball after an injury scare and a major growth spurt.
“I played both all the way up until my junior year in high school,” he said. "I kept growing, so I just stuck with basketball.”
Brown helped the Barons capture four straight state championships in basketball, averaging a double-double his senior year as a three-star recruit.
After developing into an All-Atlantic Coast Conference Defense Team choice at Syracuse, Brown transferred after his sophomore season to Duke, where he was named the 2025-26 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and the ACC Sixth Man of the Year as a senior. The Spurs selected him 44th overall last month after he averaged 4.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 2025-26.
“Defense is always where I would hang my hat,” said Brown, who can guard all five positions and has a 7-1 wingspan.
Brown showed off his skills at the California Classic in San Francisco, where his graceful, soaring block at the rim against Golden State first-round pick Yaxel Lendeborg stood out in the Spurs’ 98-69 loss to the Warriors on Sunday.
In 23 minutes, Brown finished with two points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal and his highlight reel block against the 11th overall pick. The box score often doesn’t do justice to how disruptive Brown was on the defensive end, but his coaches always know.
“He’s got a high upside defensively. He has some instincts,” said Spurs assistant Corliss Williamson, coach of the Summer Spurs, who began play at the NBA Summer League with a game against Atlanta on Thursday.
“There are still places he can work on offensively, but defensively he has some instincts,” Williamson added after Sunday’s game. "One of the things we talked about in the film session with him today was him continuing to learn to be in the right spots with our schemes and the way we play NBA defense. He did a better job tonight being in those right spots, being down in the stance ready to react, and he’s just going to continue to get better.
“His ability to be able to switch and play and guard multiple positions is a good thing for him in our organization.”
And those football-honed disruptive hands?
“Oh, yeah, he’s got active hands,” Williamson said. "He does a really good job of coming over whether it’s blocking a shot or having active hands in the passing lane. He does a good job of pressing the bigs, trying to push the catch out. And then when they do catch it, he’s got active hands, gets deflections, touches the ball a lot.
“So those are some good strengths to have as a defensive player.”
Brown is expected to spend much of next season in the G League with the Austin Spurs after signing a two-way contract last week, but he’s determined to make the coaches notice him by doing what he’s always done best: defend.
And it all begins at Summer League, where he said he’s learning from his mistakes.
“Just making better reads, that’s what we’re looking at in my film sessions, the decisions I made in the past couple games," Brown said. "Making better reads and causing more confusion on the defensive end, getting my hands on deflections, being in the passing lanes.
"Just doing more of the things I can do.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News