忘了樂透區吧,跟着大帝往前走

For the first time since the Allen Iverson era ended, Sixers fans finally have an exciting, up-and-coming basketball team.

自從阿倫-艾佛森的時代結束之後，76人隊的球迷們終於再一次擁有了一支振奮人心，積極向上的球隊。

There's a future superstar in the middle, a No. 1 overall pick about to return, and a supporting cast stArting to settle into their roles. It's unlikely for the Sixers to win 80 percent of their games, as they have since the start of 2017, but improvement is here.

未來的巨星已然在陣中，狀元郎也即將回歸，其餘諸將各司其職。雖然目前76人隊不大可能將80%的勝率保持到賽季結束，不過他們的進步也是顯而易見的。

So let's get something straight — stop concerning yourself with where the Sixers are in the lottery, and take a moment to soak this in.

因此，咱們不妨有話直說：別再擔心76人隊手中的樂透簽了，敞開胸懷去感受追逐勝利的快感吧。

After three years of obsessively following top college prospects, I understand it might be hard to break the mindset. Markelle Fultz looks like a future star, and adding another stud to this mix could make the Sixers' rebuild nearly idiot-proof.

在接連執行了三年的“選秀策略”之後，我知道要想打破這個思維定勢還真不容易。馬克爾-富爾茨看上去就像是個未來之星，如果把他再納入帳下，那麼76人的陣容可真就是傻子帶隊也能贏球了。

A lot of you never openly rooted for losses — they were mostly just an expected result — but came to accept the benefits of stripping down the team.

可能大多數人都沒有奔着失敗去嘗試一個賽季。可這對於過去的76人隊而言，這不過是他們過去所期盼的結果。76人隊過去已經習慣於接受擺爛所帶來的福利了。

But Joel Embiid is here now. He has been a two-way force, a possible All-Star, good enough on his own to carry the team to new heights. Embiid is the star fans have been waiting for and hoping the team might find in the draft.

但是現在我們擁有了喬爾-恩比德。他在攻防兩端都頗具統治力，甚至有可能今年就進入全明星。他完全可以以一己之力將球隊帶上一個新的高度。恩比德就是那個球迷們一直在等的球星，也是76人隊一直在選秀大會上所找尋的真相。

Now that he's in the picture, alongside the other interesting players and mega-prospects they have on board, the lottery should be approached as a bonus, not the No. 1 priority.

既然他已經來到了現實之中，身邊還有一堆實力的悍將和亟待證明自己的新秀球員，或許樂透秀只能算是對他們努力的褒獎而不再是他們追求的主要目標了。

Think about how last night's game unfolded. Embiid was off for a lot of the night, failing to cash in on open jumpers and struggling to get into a rhythm on offense.

想一想那晚的比賽吧。恩比德大部分時間都不在狀態，空位跳投不進，進攻中也找不到節奏。

The game looked out of reach with a few minutes to play, and then he pulled out a Euro-step and-one, banked in a three, and made one of the defensive plays of the season to contest Carmelo Anthony on a weak-side block. It was the type of sequence only special players can make. Suddenly, the dust had settled and Embiid finished with a 21-14 line in a game where he didn't really "have it".

比賽看上去就要失控了，可這時他祭出一記歐洲步，打成2+1，三分進賬，接着在弱側蓋掉了卡梅羅-安東尼的進攻。這一球甚至算得上是年度最佳蓋帽了。這些可不是平常人就能打出的表現。最終塵埃落定，在不經意間，恩比德就得到了21分14籃板。

When you find a player who can do that even on his off nights, you need to treasure every moment you get with him on the court. Given Embiid's health history, it's even more pressing to hold onto every minute the Sixers get with him on the court, and to root for he and the team's success unrelentingly.

如果一位球員在他狀態不佳的時候都能打出這樣的表現，那你真應該珍惜和他並肩作戰的每一分鐘了。考慮到恩比德過去的健康史，人們更應該好好的利用他的上場時間並不假思索的以他爲核心去爭取每一場勝利。

In the mid-80s, the Houston Rockets looked like they'd be a dynasty. Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, in their second and third years respectively, blitzed the Lakers in the 1986 Western Conference Finals.

上世紀80年代中期，休斯頓火箭隊看上去就像是一座旭日東昇的王朝球隊。哈基姆-奧拉朱旺和拉爾夫-桑普森分才處於他們職業生涯的第二年和第三年，初生牛犢不怕虎的雙塔在1986年西部決賽中乾淨利落的將湖人斬於馬下。

They looked like a duo who could rule the league for the next decade. Sampson's body started giving out on him the very next season, the Rockets' supporting cast fell apart, and Olajuwon wouldn't climb the summit again until a completely different team rose in the Micheal Jordan-less stretch in the mid-90s. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a modern parallel to this, minus the injuries.

這對雙子星看上去就像是未來十年內聯盟的霸主。不過在接下來的一個賽季裏，桑普森的身體狀況卻驟然滑坡，火箭隊諸將也逐漸分崩離析。直到10年後，90年代中期奧拉朱旺才和另一幫全然不同的隊友們重返巔峯。雷霆隊的雙子星更像是火箭隊的現代版本，然而比現實更殘酷的是，摧毀他們的甚至都不是傷病。

Philadelphia might be a long way from the trajectory of those teams, but the principle is the same. You never know when the good times are going to stop. It's a lot easier to focus on the long view than the day-to-day grind of following an NBA team.

76人隊看上去與上述球隊還有着不小的差距，不過道理卻是完全類似的。你永遠也不知道厄運什麼時候將會突然降臨。當然，放眼未來肯定比整天在聯盟中球隊鏖戰要輕鬆得多。

Debating Embiid's long-term upside vs. the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns is more fun than dissecting a mid-season loss to the Charlotte Hornets. For teams at the top, a la the Cavs and Warriors, the overanalysis of each stumble can be exhausting.

跟別人扯扯未來究竟是唐斯的還是恩比德的也比分析76人隊到底是怎麼戰勝黃蜂隊要來得有趣。而對於那些屹立於巔峯的球隊，比如騎士和勇士，似乎怎麼過分的分析兩隊交鋒的一舉一動也都毫不爲過吧。

When the Sixers were winning with a cast of perpetual role players, even those of Andre Iguodala's overqualified caliber, rooting for draft position was a different story. The franchise was locked in an endless cycle back then.

當76人隊只能用一幫十足的角色球員去爭取比賽勝利的時候，奔着選秀去打球，可就是完全另一回事兒了。那會兒，球隊就像是在一個無休止的擺爛-選秀的循環之中。

Today's bunch are a totally different story, if only because of Embiid's presence. He is putting up borderline unprecedented numbers after a two-year layoff. He is good enough on both ends of the court to power them to bigger and better things; the Sixers don't need to draft a savior this year, they need to find players who help push him (and Ben Simmons) to their ceilings.

但如今只要恩比德在，76人隊就是一支全然不同的球隊。在因傷休戰兩年之後，他的場上數據出乎所有人的預料。他在攻防兩端的出色發揮完全完全值得球隊去追求一個更好的結果；76人隊也不再需要在選秀大會上尋找另一個救世主了，他們需要的只是幫他（和西蒙斯）起飛的助力而已。

The lottery is exactly what it's labeled as — a lottery. It would be wonderful to win it every time the Sixers don't make the playoffs, but thanks to planning from the last regime, they are not dependent on it to push forward into the future.

選秀的樂透區實際上就如同它的命名一般，是一場豪賭。雖然76人隊每次都會因爲沒打進季後賽而得到一個高順位的選秀權，但受制於規則的限制，他們不可能年復一年的依靠這種方式打出未來。

They have currency to make the team better; the Lakers pick, Kings pick swap (and future first), other bigs, and boundless cap space are all avenues through which the Sixers can build the program.

他們手中的籌碼已經足以讓球隊變得更好了，來自湖人隊的選秀權，來自國王隊的選秀權，以及一堆大個子和大把的薪金空間，這些都是組建球隊的重要資源。

The maneuvering that got them here was to make sure they are not reliant on one rebuilding tool or method. The Process is about having outs, about flexibility and the ability to switch gears on the fly.

我們之所以會在這裏討論，是因爲我想確保他們真的不是爲了選秀這個工具才走到今天這裏。恩比德有的是能力，有的是把這幫傢伙們變成一支強隊的本事。

At its core, it was never about tanking or losing intentionally or having to win the lottery, as critics might claim. It was undertaken with the knowledge everything is not always going to fall neatly into place.

因此，這支球隊的核心價值絕對不是爲了擺爛，也不是爲了故意輸球，更不是爲了贏得樂透選秀。儘管有人也會對此提出批評，然而事情不可能總是面面俱到。

It feels impossible to see the joy Embiid plays with and fixate on what the wins and losses mean for lottery position. Think of what he's gone through to get here — two years of arduous rehab, assimilating in a foreign country and hoping his dreams haven't been flushed down the tubes by the failure of his own body.

如果球隊不論輸贏都是衝着樂透選秀去的，那麼很難想象恩比德此時還能懷着愉悅的心情去比賽。想象一下他復出了多少努力才走到了今天這一步，兩年的復健，努力融入異國他鄉的生活，並滿懷期望自己的籃球夢不要因爲身軀的拖累而提早破滅。

Consider his personal tragedy, the loss of his younger brother Arthur, and how hard it must have been to cope with as he tried to find his way as a professional.

考慮到他自身所遭遇的苦難，以及失去弟弟所遭受的悲痛，還有他需要克服多大的困難才能走上這條職業道路。

As worrywarts liked to remind Sixers fans about the lottery for three years and counting, "there are no guarantees". But there is a budding superstar already on the team. There is another potential star gearing up for his debut, a growing aura of positivity that will help attract free agents, and a pipeline of picks to help fill in around the core guys.

自然也有杞人憂天者對76人隊在過去三年裏的收穫有所不滿，“這可不保準。”但一位冉冉升起的巨星已然在陣中，還有一位潛力球星蓄勢待發，隊內一片欣欣向榮的氛圍也非常有利於吸引自由球員，而且他們手中還握有不少選秀權，足夠他們在選秀大會上填補陣容的空缺了。

Philadelphia has waited a long time for the Sixers to find "the guy". Now that he's here, it's time to let lottery concerns go and get behind him.

費城已經爲這個“大人物”等待了足夠長的時間。現在既然已經等到了這個人，是該甩掉所謂的樂透思維，跟着他大幹一場的時候了。

更多精彩內容請關注微信公衆號、新浪微博：籃球英文堂