大嘴巴球爹的心思湖人猜得透嗎?
Nobody, not even the Los Angeles Lakers, can act surprised that LaVar Ball told ESPN's Jeff Goodman that head coach Luke Walton has lost the team, all but calling for Walton to be fired amid a nine-game losing streak. Nobody.
球爹告訴ESPN記者傑夫·古德曼，他認爲主教練已經失去對球隊的掌控，一波九連敗，他呼籲讓沃頓下課。但鑑於球爹無話不談的特點，沒有人對他的言論感到意外。沒有人。The Lakers may have gone into this relationship wearing rose-colored glasses, but their eyes were wide-open. They scouted Lonzo Ball extensively at UCLA. They had the Bruins' coaching staff over to their offices before the draft. They even drove to the Ball house in Chino Hills, California, to look LaVar in the eye and get a sense of who he was beyond the headlines and television interviews.
湖人隊可能樂觀地看待鮑爾家族這種關係，但是他們可是在仔細考察球哥。他們在加州大學洛杉磯分校認真仔細地考察球哥。在選秀之前，他們把布魯金斯的教練班子請到到他們的辦公室。他們甚至開車去加州奇諾山的球館，看着球爹的眼睛，瞭解他是誰，看是不是新聞頭條和電視採訪所說的。In that meeting, Ball again told the Lakers what they wanted to hear. But this time, he left himself a very public out, telling ESPN, "I am going to say, to plant a seed, 'Let's look for this now.' They may not want to hear that, but it's going to be successful if you listen to what I'm saying on that fact, that I know what it takes for my son to run like this."
在那次見面的過程中，鮑爾再次告訴湖人他們想聽到的。但這次，他給自己留下了一個非常公開的印象，告訴ESPN:“我要說，播下一顆種子，讓我們看看這個事實。”“你們可能不想聽到這些，事情會成功的，如果你們聽聽我將要說的事實。我兒子會成功的，我知道我兒子成功需要付出什麼。”
Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka met privately with LaVar Ball on Nov. 29, asking him to tone down his criticisms of Walton or, at the very least, to come to them before teeing off on the second-year coach.
11月29日，約翰遜和總經理羅布·佩林卡在私下會見了球爹，要求他減少對沃頓的批評，或者至少在他對二年級教練進行批評之前，讓他們先知道。All of those quotes were on the record, which means Johnson and LaVar Ball must both be held accountable for them. Johnson for not calling Ball out publicly once he began to break his promise and for not defending his coach. And Ball for not upholding his word, which puts his son Lonzo in the position of having to choose between defying his father or selling out his coach.
所有的言論都記錄在案，這意味着約翰遜和拉瓦爾·鮑爾必須對他們言論負責。當約翰遜開始違背自己的諾言，沒有讓球爹在公開場合有所收斂，同時也沒有保護自己的教練。而球爹沒有信守約定，這讓他的兒子球哥不得不在挑戰父親或出賣教練之間做出選擇。Ball confirmed Johnson's recollection, adding: "As far as training my boy, this is as far as I can take him. I'll leave it up to you to take him further. You can get him better with the film time and the coaching. You can take him to another level. I trust you with my boy."
鮑爾證實了約翰遜的回憶，並補充道:“就訓練我的孩子而言，這是我所能接受的。我將把託付給你，讓你帶他走得更遠。你可以通過電影和教導讓他變得更好。你可以把他提升到另一個層次。我相信你，並把孩子託付給你。”Ball looked back at them and said he wouldn't upstage the Lakers or their staff if they drafted his son. As Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson told ESPN in July, Ball told him, "Earvin, look, I'm not following my son. I'm not going to be hanging out in L.A."
球爹說如果湖人隊簽下他的兒子，他就不會搶他們的風頭。今年7月，湖人隊總裁魔術師約翰遜告訴ESPN，鮑爾對他說:“聽着，我沒有一直跟着我兒子，我不會在洛杉磯閒逛。”
LaVar Ball's current target is Walton. Next it could be Johnson or Buss or Pelinka or any of Lonzo's teammates. There will always be a microphone or television camera around to capture him saying it, whether it's ESPN or any other media entity.
球爹目前的目標是沃頓。接下來可能是約翰遜，巴斯，佩林卡或者朗佐的隊友。無論是ESPN還是其他媒體機構，總會有一個麥克風或電視攝像機圍在球爹身邊來記錄他的發言。The story now is how the Lakers react. Appeasement hasn't worked. Neither has deference. Silence only makes his voice louder and helps grow the seeds he's trying to plant.
現在的關鍵是看湖人隊的反應。綏靖政策並未奏效。都不尊重。沉默只會讓他的聲音更響亮，幫助他種下他想要種植的種子。One Lakers player said the situation has become a distraction for the team at times. But his frustration was directed mostly at the media for fueling the hype around it, and he was annoyed that Walton, whom he strongly supports, had been dragged into the toxicity.
一名湖人球員說，這種情況有時會分散球隊的注意力。但他的挫敗感主要集中在媒體的炒作上，他對他強烈支持的沃頓被拖進負面新聞中受影響而感到惱火。Walton, for his part, has continued to preach to his team that the only opinions that matter are the ones in his locker room, a classic Phil Jackson approach of letting chaos outside the bubble of the team bring the group closer together. Privately, sources close to Walton said he's more annoyed by the distraction than concerned about his job security.
就沃頓而言，他繼續向他的球隊傳遞，唯一重要的是更衣室裏的觀點，一個典型的菲爾傑克遜式的方法，讓球隊的泡沫之外的混亂使團隊更緊密地聯繫在一起。私下裏，接近沃頓的消息人士說，他更擔心的是分心，而不是擔心他的工作安全。Sunday night, Walton even tried to defuse the situation with a bit of humor. Asked why he substituted Lonzo early in the first quarter, Walton deadpanned, "His dad was talking s---, so I took him out early." Two seconds later he smiled and said, "Just kidding."
週日晚上，沃頓甚至試圖用一點幽默來緩和局勢。當被問到爲什麼他在第一節替換球哥的時候，沃頓說:“他的爸爸在說話，所以我提前讓他下場。”兩秒鐘後，他笑着說:“開個玩笑。”But instead of publicly standing behind their coach, or at least admonishing Ball privately, the organization has stuck with a policy of not giving him any oxygen. It was a nice way of handling it. A classy way of letting him promote his business, Big Baller Brand, without standing in his way.
但是，湖人並沒有公開支持他們的教練，或者至少是在私下勸誡他們，而是堅持一個政策，不給他任何炒作的元素。這是一種很好的處理方法。這是一種優雅的方式，不妨礙他，可以讓他推廣自己的生意、Big Baller 品牌。It was also a bit naive in this era of instant hot takes, cable news and social media.
在有線新聞和社交媒體等新聞即時引爆的時代，這樣做也有點幼稚。Those quotes were all on the record, too. That should have been enough for the Lakers to know that Ball would never stop his criticism of Walton or anyone who doesn't bend to his will.
這些言論也都記錄在案。這也應該足夠讓湖人知道，球爹永遠不會停止他對沃頓的批評，或者任何一個不屈服於他意志的人。更多精彩內容請關注微信公衆號、新浪微博：籃球英文堂
