NBA未來第一人不是美國人？他們的終極目標是顛覆夢之隊
新一波的國際明星們都在這。
The next wave of international stars is here.
Giannis Antetokounmpo"s awareness isn"t limited to what happens on the court. He knows when to perform, whether he"s windmill dunking to the delight of about 20,000 fans or charming a crew from China"s main sports broadcast provider.
揚尼斯·阿德托昆博不僅僅知道場上應該做什麼。他還知道何時應該表現自己，不管是在20000名球迷面前表演大風車扣籃還是在中國主流體育電視媒體上發散自己的魅力。
Following a recent practice at the Milwaukee Bucks" facility, Antetokounmpo was, as usual, the last player still hanging around when he decided to make some time for an interview with CCTV-5. When the hosts, Weiping Zhang and Manyuan Zhang, informed him that this conversation would be seen by nearly 100 million people, Antetokounmpo knew exactly what to say the moment the cameraman started recording.
在密爾沃基雄鹿隊的訓練館訓練後，和往常一樣留到了最後的阿德托昆博依然留著，準備接受CCTV-5的採訪。主持人張衛平和張曼源告訴他，接下來的採訪將會有將近1億人觀看。阿德托昆博很清楚在開始錄像後他要說些什麼。
"Follow me on Weibo,"Antetokounmpo shouted with a grin into the camera before a question could be asked, citing China"s most popular social-media platform.
「在微博上關注我吧。」阿德托昆博在被問問題之前就咧著嘴笑道，微博是中國最流行的社交媒體平台。
Antetokounmpo cracked some jokes over the next few minutes about how he"s his favorite player, that he once tried chicken feet in China and took a liking to them, and even dropped a few phrases in Mandarin. Not willing to waste an opportunity, Antetokounmpo closed the interview with another request for more followers while setting up some anticipation for his next move. "Stay tuned for the Greek Freak Ones," said Antetokounmpo, who just agreed to a signature shoe deal with Nike.
阿德托昆博在接下來的幾分鐘里講了好幾個笑話，他講了自己最喜歡的球員，還提到了在中國嘗試雞爪並大讚其口味，甚至還說了幾句普通話。在談話的最後，他提到了自己接下來的計劃，剛剛與耐克達成簽名鞋合同的他表示：「敬請期待希臘怪物第一代。」不願意浪費任何一個機會的他還在最後讓大家在社交媒體上都去關注他。
Antetokounmpo"s star has never been brighter, with his game and profile extending beyond the seemingly endless bounds of his zip-code-covering strides. He had more All-Star votes than any player in the first ballot release, a surprising turn for an international player who doesn"t hail from a nation with more than two billion inhabitants. Yao Ming is the only non-American to get the most All-Star votes and he"s been retired from the NBA since 2011. But what might have been even more startling than Antetokounmpo leading LeBron James in voting is that two players born outside the United States — Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis — are third and fourth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players. These new young talents not only represent their respective franchises but also stand to serve as the face of the league for years to come.
阿德托昆博正處於生涯最意氣風發的時刻，他受到了全球各地球迷的喜愛。在全明星投票的第一輪，他榮膺票王。這對於一個來自沒有擁有二十億人口的國家的國際球員來說讓人十分驚訝。姚明是唯一一個榮獲全明星票王的非美國人，他在2011年就已經退役。而比起阿德托昆博在全明星投票中領先勒布朗·詹姆斯更讓人吃驚的是，兩名非美國出生的球員：喬爾·恩比德和克里斯塔普斯·波爾津吉斯在東部前場球員投票中分別排名第三和第四。這些年輕的天才球員們不僅僅代表著自己的球隊，也代表著聯盟的未來。
"We believe we can do it," Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports. "It"s not that bad of a responsibility. I love it."
「我們都相信我們能做到，」阿德托昆博在接受雅虎體育的採訪時說道，「這種責任不壞，我很喜歡。」
The beginning of this millennium proved to be the moment when the NBA had to take notice of the dream fulfilled by the Dream Team, as Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and a slew of international players came on the scene and knocked down barriers and myths, one by one, year by year, MVP by Finals MVP. Eventually, the craving for more skilled international players resulted in some ambitious swings and misses or, eventually, the acceptance that the next "fill in the blank" wasn"t going to be found. That dynamic wave — which confirmed that franchise building blocks and foundational pieces of championship contenders could be found globally — is either gone, or gone gray.
在這個千禧年的開端，國際球員們紛紛登上了NBA的舞台大放光芒。德克·諾維茨基，史蒂夫·納什，姚明，保羅·加索爾，托尼·帕克，馬努·吉諾比利等等國際球員來到了NBA，打破了原有的隔閡與神秘。他們一個接一個大顯身手，從MVP到FMVP。但人們對於再來幾個這樣技術嫻熟的國際球員的渴望最終也導致了各種錯誤的交易和選擇。再難找到一個國際球員的超級巨星，這種國際球員浪潮——已經證明國際球員能夠擔當球隊基石和冠軍拼圖——逐漸消失或者說沒落了。
But the next international wave appears to finally be here. Young players have arrived, possessing no fear of what can"t be done and walking down roads that have already been paved and beautified with manicured accompaniments. They have flashy games, catchy nicknames, and aspirations for worldwide, household fame. LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant might be the current faces of the league, but it might not be long before they are sharing or ceding that popularity to an eager, determined bunch that includes Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Porzingis, Ben Simmons and Nikola Jokic.
但下一次的國際球員浪潮已經再一次來到。年輕球員們來到了NBA，他們無所畏懼，沿著前輩的道路繼續前進。他們有著高光比賽，好聽的昵稱以及全世界的欣賞，家喻戶曉的名聲。勒布朗·詹姆斯，斯蒂芬·庫里和凱文·杜蘭特也許是當下聯盟的臉面，但也許不需要太久，國際球員們如阿德托昆博，恩比德，波爾津吉斯，本·西蒙斯和尼古拉·約基奇就將與他們共享榮光。
"These kids. Ridiculous," Ginobili told Yahoo Sports. "They are so extraordinary in their talent, size, athleticism and abilities that we didn"t used to see overseas. Overseas, you see more shooters and maybe guys with more basketball IQ but slower. We are talking about [some] of the top athletes in the league right now, which is unusual."
「這些孩子們，太不可思議了。」吉諾比利在接受雅虎體育採訪時說，「我們過去在海外從沒見過像他們這樣的天賦，體格，運動能力。在海外聯賽，你一般看到的都是射手，或者是擁有高球商但速度會慢些的球員。但他們現在是聯盟中最頂尖的球員之一，這非常罕見。」
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