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原標題：Inside the decade-long plan to bring Victor Wembanyama to NBA glory
        (在把 Victor Wembanyama 帶進 NBA 榮光的十年大計之幕後)

來源：https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37651212/

作者：Brian Windhorst, Jonathan Givony




PARIS -- IN A SMALL park in Rive Gauche, the Parisian district known for its
art and culture, is one of the highest murals in Europe, an 88-foot old
stairwell that has been turned into a colorful collection of squiggly figures
designed to cheer up patients in the nearby children's hospital.



Located just a mile southeast of the Eiffel Tower, Victor Wembanyama has
enjoyed this little corner of the city since he was a child, a beacon of
color and happiness in an area that is otherwise drab and melancholy. The
mural's artist, the late American pop art icon Keith Haring, picked it for
this very reason, wanting to lift spirits. Haring was Wembanyama's favorite
artist as he was growing up and falling in love with art and basketball.



The title of the work is "Tower." Wembanyama, a 7-foot-5 teenager who has
been riding an international hype train over the past five years,
understandably relates.

該幅畫的主題是「塔」。七尺五寸高的少年文班亞馬，過去五年乘著國際發燒列車，對此
感同身受。

Basketball prospects and art are both subjective -- beauty is often in the
eye of the beholder -- but the rarest are those in which there's universal
agreement.

籃球界的潛力和藝術都是很主觀的——美與不美，全在觀者——但最難得的，是有著普遍
共識的。

Wembanyama is the most anticipated prospect in a generation, making Tuesday's
NBA draft lottery (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) an event with potentially historic
consequences.

文班亞馬是近一世代中最令人期待的潛力股，使星期二（美國時間）的選秀抽籤成為可能
具有歷史性的大事件。

His games and practices in France are packed with NBA scouts and executives,
even from teams with no hope of drafting him as the No. 1 pick in June.
LeBron James called him "an alien." Stephen Curry said he gave off
"cheat-code-type vibes." Giannis Antetokounmpo said, "I think he's going to
be one of the best to play this game."



But as all this has been raging around him -- the brands that are calling
incessantly, wooing him with endorsement deals; the demand for his team's
tickets forcing games into larger venues; the exploding public and
international profile -- Wembanyama has remained steady. Getting here, those
around him say, has been deliberate, focused and deeply considered. All of
this is part of a plan years in the making.



Whichever NBA team wins the right to draft Wembanyama on Tuesday night won't
just be getting his talent, it will be getting someone with a vision of how
he wants his emerging career to unfold.

成功在星期二夜晚中得到抽選文班亞馬資格的任何球隊，不僅會得到他的天賦，更將得到
一位對本身新興事業的發展有遠見的人。

"I was probably born with that will to do things differently and do things my
way," Wembanyama says. "I'm really glad I kept that willpower, to not [let]
sometimes coaches put me in a box. That's really an everyday fight."

文班亞馬說：

「我可能天生就有這種意願，以不同的方式做事，用自己的方式做事。我真的很高興我保
  持住這種意志力，不讓教練把我放在一個盒子裡。這真的是一場日常的對決。」


第二部分：

BURIED DEEP ON YouTube is a youth basketball game played at a recreation
center in the western suburbs of Paris in 2012.

深藏在YouTube 底下的，是一場於二零一二年在巴黎西部郊外一座休閒中心進行的少年籃
球比賽。

＊連結在網站原文中有附上

The raw footage is filled with gym echoes and erratic play, though the boys
have clearly been well coached as they run backdoor cuts and execute inbounds
plays. But then, six minutes into the highlight, the tallest player out
there, two years younger than the rest, with feet so disproportionately big
that he has to compensate by lifting his knees high just to run like the
others, swipes a pass and takes off for a fast break.



He covers 30-some feet into a layup in just two dribbles, picking the ball up
outside the free throw line before taking two giant steps and scooping it
into the basket.

他僅用兩次運球就覆蓋了三十多尺的距離，在罰球線外撿起球，然後邁出兩大步，將球打
進籃筐。

Wembanyama was 8.

He grew up in Le Chesnay, a suburb in the shadow of the Palace of Versailles,
about a 40-minute drive from Paris.

當年的文班亞馬，年僅八歲。他在勒謝奈（位於凡爾賽宮影子下的郊外、距離巴黎需四十
分鐘的車程）長大。

His mom, Elodie, is 6-foot-3 and had her own pro basketball career in France
before becoming a coach who mostly taught the game to young children. His
dad, Felix, a 6-foot-6 former competitive long jumper who worked with young
track athletes, taught his own children proper running techniques. Height has
run in the family for generations. Wembanyama's great-great-grandfather, who
was Congolese, stood taller than 7 feet.



"His mother, she's a basketball addict. She was always in the gym and training
all these kids every day," says Bouna Ndiaye, Wembanyama's Dallas-based agent
who has known his family since before he was born.

對他的家族非常熟悉、位於達拉斯的經紀 Bouna Ndiaye 說：「他的媽媽，是一位迷上籃
球的人，總是在體育館裡每天訓練這些孩子。」

"Victor was basically training his body just living there. When he was going
up the stairs his father was telling him how to finish his climb. And with
his size, I think, his parents have been very important in his development."

「Victor基本上都是在練著他的身體。當他上樓梯時，他的爸爸會告訴他要怎樣爬。我覺
  得以他的情況來講，父母在他的（人格）發展中非常重要。」

He's a middle child. His older sister, Eve, is 6-foot-1 and a professional
basketball player in France, where she has also played on the national team.
His younger brother, Oscar, is 6-foot-6 and also plays basketball.

他在兄弟姐妹中排中間。年齡較大的姐姐Eve 高六尺一寸，是一位效力國家隊的職業籃球
員；弟弟Oscar 則高六尺六寸，也愛打籃球。

Elodie prided herself on giving her children natural and organic food, and
proclaims she has never made the same dish for them twice. "She may have
overstated that one," Victor says with a smile.

Elodie自誇給孩子吃的是自然、有機食物，還聲稱從不重複準備相同的料理。文班亞馬笑
著表示，「她可能誇大了一點」。

Wembanyama loved drawing, particularly sketching with pencils. He loved to
read, especially fantasy novels. But when he would dream of his future, his
thoughts always went one direction.

文班亞馬喜歡畫畫，尤其是用鉛筆描繪；也喜歡閱讀，尤其是奇幻小說。但當他想到未來
時，想法總是朝著單一方向走。

"I've always wanted to be a pro basketball player, but when did I realize
it?" Wembanyama pauses. His eyes turn upward. "Probably when I was 11 or 12,
because it was the first glimpse I got of the professional expectations."

「我一直都在想著成為職業籃球員，但在什麼時候才意識到這一點？」他停頓了一下，眼
睛往上眨。「大概在十一、二歲吧，因為當時是對進入職業的第一瞥。」

It was then when Wembanyama met a man by the name of Karim Boubekri. Boubekri
grew up a huge fan of Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas and his dribbling,
so when Boubekri became a coach, and was developing strategies and lessons to
impart, he was taken by two seemingly opposite ends of the basketball spec-
trum: "Pistol" Pete Maravich, the Hall of Fame former Jazz guard who revolu-
tionized the game with his ball skills and VHS instructional videos in the
1980s, and the AND1 Mixtape Tour stars of the early 2000s.


Maravich，一位在二十世紀八十年代以其球技和VHS 教學影片革新比賽的名人堂級前爵士
後衛，以及廿一世紀初的 AND1 Mixtape Tour明星。

"I can only imagine being a 17- or 18-year-old playing against professionals.
You're literally playing against guys who could be your dad. I think it
definitely prepared him for the next level."

David Lighty, a former star at Ohio State who was a teammate of Wembanyama's
at ASVEL

前俄亥俄州立大學球星、如今和文班亞馬同處艾斯維爾隊的球員 David Lighty：

「我只能想像作為一個十七或十八歲的孩子與職業球員競賽。你實際上是在與那些可能是
  你爸爸的人比賽。我認為這肯定是為他的下一個挑戰做準備。」

"Players want to express themselves offensively, that's what they prefer,"
Boubekri says. "And for them to be able to express themselves offensively,
you have to make sure that the ball is not a constraint."

Boubekri說：

「球員們想在進攻中展現自己，那是他們喜歡的，為了讓他們能夠在進攻中表現自己，你
  必須確保球不是一個限制的因素。」

Bouberki's use of nontraditional techniques filtered down to his young
prodigy. Wembanyama learned to handle the ball working with soccer goaltender
gloves to help with feel and dexterity. Wembanyama learned that, despite his
height, he had to dribble the ball low so he could control it and make it
harder for it to be taken from him.



Wembanyama loved it all, devouring the egalitarian instruction: Not being
treated differently because of his size opened up a world to him that
traditional coaches might not have shown him.

文班亞馬喜歡這一切，吞噬了平等主義的主導：不會因為他的體型而受到差別待遇，這為
他打開了一個傳統教練可能不會向他展示的世界。

"I probably didn't know who Pete Maravich was at that time, but I know Karim
made everyone do the same drills," Wembanyama says. "He didn't expect me to
be worse than any other players just because I was taller. It helped for
development. It helped us challenge ourselves."

文班亞馬說：



The coaches would soon learn that Wembanyama had a serious work ethic about
such things. When he was 12, he played in a well-known junior tournament with
15-year-olds in Lille, the northern part of the country. Despite being
younger, he was one of the best players in the event, and he led his team to
the cup over a team from Moscow.



"It was my first time playing in front of people, and I really loved the
experience," Wembanyama says. "But I've got maybe one regret. I didn't end up
being the MVP, even though my team won, and I think I deserved it."

文班亞馬說：

「這是我第一次在人們面前進行比賽，我真的很喜歡這種經歷。但我也許有一個遺憾。雖
  然球隊贏了，但我最終沒能成為 MVP，不過我認為這是自己應得的。」

It was time to move on from the Maravich tapes.

是時候要從 Maravich 的錄影帶繼續往前進了。

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※ 作者: laptic 2023-05-17 02:37:13
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