德州三角恩仇记

Marc Stein

Any mention of the Texas Triangle， in NBA circles， has always had a very specific meaning.

只要提到德州三角，在NBA圈子里，总有着非常明确的意思。

Until this past summer.

直到今年夏天。

No longer does the term exclusively reference the most dreaded three-stop road trip that the schedule can serve up， thanks to the Lone Star State① love triad that dribbled its way into the basketball lexicon in July.

多亏了孤星之州爱恨三角七月对篮球词汇的扩充，这个说法的意思不再仅限于最难熬的三个客场。

Cuban. Parsons. Morey.

库班，帕森斯，莫雷。

Says Cuban： "Is it competitive？ Yes. Do I hate Daryl？ No. I have a lot of respect for Daryl. Daryls not one to hate at all. Thats not his mode. Hes very， very logical.

库班说：“是否充满竞争？当然。我恨达雷尔？不。我非常尊敬他。他完全不是可恨的人，那不是他的方式，他非常非常有逻辑。”

Fans of trash talk neednt worry， though. If recent history is any guide， as retraced in depth below， things wont stay conciliatory between the Mavs and Rockets for long.

不过，喜欢喷垃圾话的球迷无需担心。如果最近的历史有任何指南意义的话，正如以下追溯记录的内容，小牛与火箭之间的和谐不会保持太久。

THE PARSONS PERSPECTIVE

帕森斯角度

The first week-plus of July found Parsons and agent Dan Fegan wondering when the phone would ring with a team on the other end of the line that believed it could really get Parsons away from the Rockets. Potential bidders either appeared spooked by Houstons well-chronicled vows to match any offer Parsons got， or they were operating like the Mavericks and， frankly， the Rockets themselves -- which is to say they made it clear they planned to take their time and see if they had any real hope of landing Carmelo Anthony or （gasp） LeBron James before seriously courting anyone else.

七月最初的一周多时间，帕森斯和经纪人丹·费根一直在想，什么时候电话的另一头会出现一支真的认为自己有机会把帕森斯从火箭撬走的球队。潜在的追逐者要么被火箭长久以来会匹配任何帕森斯报价合同的宣言吓跑，要么他们就像小牛一样。说实话，火箭也这样——也就是说，他们明确表示，他们计划慢慢来，在认真追求其他人之前，看自己是否真的有机会签下卡梅洛·安东尼或者（倒抽一口气）勒布朗·詹姆斯，

"So it was a waiting game in the beginning，" Parsons said， "which I was OK with. But it was frustrating， too.”

“所以一开始就是等待。”帕森斯说，“我对此没什么意见，不过这也挺让人失望的。”

Yet the most serious early interest in Parsons in 2014 free agency actually came from Cleveland. It was widely assumed in Mavericks circles that Dallas would turn its attentions to Parsons once formally eliminated as an option by Melo and LeBron， but sources told ESPN.com that Parsons found himself being recruited by another AllStar peer he regards as a friend： Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving.

不过2014年自由球员市场上最早地对帕森斯表现出兴趣的却是克利夫兰人。但小牛圈子里的人普遍认为，正式被卡梅洛和勒布朗剔出候选名单后，他们会立刻把兴趣点转移到帕森斯身上。不过消息源告诉ESPN. com，帕森斯收到了另一个被他视为朋友的全明星球员的招募：骑士后卫凯里·欧文。

The Mavs， though， finally buckled on the ninth day of free agency. Anthony hadnt yet officially let his various suitors know he was staying with the New York Knicks. And Dallas was technically still on the fringes of the LeBron pursuit after Cuban had been granted a face-to-face meeting in Cleveland with LeBrons agent， Rich Paul， just a few days earlier. But Cuban decided he could no longer stomach waiting.

不过小牛最终在自由球员市场开启后的第九天开始了行动。卡梅洛当时还没有正式告知几支追求他的球队，他会留在纽约尼克斯。而几天前库班得到了在克利夫兰和勒布朗经纪人里奇·保罗面对面交流的机会，这让小牛仍有得到勒布朗的机会。不过库班决定，他不愿意再等下去了。

Cuban hopped on a plane soon after Parsons gave his "yes" to the Mavs. "It wasnt planned to go and sign this contract at some bar，" Parsons said. "Cubans flight was delayed， so he hit me when he landed and asked where I was. Twenty minutes later， he just showed up with the contract.

帕森斯同意小牛的报价后不久，库班就登上了飞机。“我们没计划在酒吧里签合同。”帕森斯说，“库班的飞机误点了，所以他下飞机后联系我，问我在哪里。20分钟后，他就带着合同出现了。”

"Dan was trying to negotiate something with them early， and， to be perfectly honest， I would have accepted a lot less money early in the process to stay in Houston. But they told me they wanted to wait for the whole LeBron and Melo situation [to play out]， which I understood. I just listened to them. I signed the best deal I could for my own career.

“丹原本试图早些和他们（火箭）协商出合同，说实话，想在这个过程开始前留在休斯敦，我得接受少拿一大笔钱的事实。不过他们告诉我，他们想等勒布朗和安东尼的情况再说，这我能理解。之后我只是听了他们的意见，为自己的生涯签下了最好的合同。”

THE DALLAS DROUGHT

达拉斯干旱

The Mavs had quietly made the decision at seasons end that they would likely not be re-signing the versatile and dependable Shawn Marion， so they knew they needed a new small forward.

赛季结束时，小牛悄悄做了决定，他们不太可能续签全能且可靠的肖恩·马里昂，所以他们知道，自己需要一个小前锋。

They also badly wanted to get younger.

他们同时迫切地希望年轻化。

"LeBron and Melo， those are long shots，" Cuban concedes. "But you do em because you have to run things out. People give you a hard time when you dont get this person or that person， but you never win any games you dont play. And in the worst case you develop a relationship for the next time something comes up. Its as much about trying to develop relationships as it is about trying to hit the home run.”

“勒布朗和梅洛，那些可能性都不高。”库班坦诚道，“可你还是要追求他们，因为你必须尝试。当你没能得到这个人或这那个人时，人们总会指责你。可如果你不打球，你永远也不会赢得任何比赛。最差的情况不过是，你为下一次机会出现时培养好了关系，在试图一击中，尽量培养关系同样重要。”

And that， Cuban revealed， led to a series of internal meetings to let various key members of the Mavericks know that Parsons -- if Dallas could get him-- would likely make more money in the coming season than anyone except Tyson Chandler， who is playing out the final season of a four-year， $55.4 million contract he got from the Knicks when the Mavs initially decided they wouldnt be keeping their title team together after the 201 1 lockout and the new labor agreement it spawned.

据库班透露，这引发了一系列内部会议，也让小牛的关键成员知道，帕森斯——如果小牛能得到他——将在未来的赛季挣得只比泰森·钱德勒少。钱德勒处于他四年5540万美元合同的最后一年，这是201 1年停摆、新劳资协议达成后，小牛决定不保留他们夺冠阵容时，钱德勒从尼克斯那里签到的合同。

THE ROCKETS DICE ROLL

轮到火箭了

The Rockets dream scenario， cemented on July 11 once LeBron reinvented himself as a Cav， was creating enough salary-cap space to sign Bosh to a four-year max deal and then， with all of their flexibility happily spent on a HardenHoward-Bosh triumvirate， going the very pricey route of matching Dallas offer sheet to Parsons to create a full-fledged superteam.

7月1 1日勒布朗决定重返骑士后，火箭理想中的状态，就是创造出足够的薪金空间用四年顶薪签下波什。当他们愉快地把所有可用的空间都用在“哈登—霍华德—波什”身上后，然后花大价钱匹配小牛给帕森斯的报价，从而打造出一支超级球队。

"Given our understanding of where things were，" Morey said recently， "we felt like we were 95 percent-plus to potentially having the best team in the league.”

“鉴于我们的理解，”莫雷最近表示，“我们觉得自己有95%的可能拥有全联盟最好的球队。”

And thats why， shortly after LeBron announced to the world he was rejoining the Cavs， Houston agreed to trade guard Jeremy Lin to the Lakers. The Rockets were still only negotiating with Bosh at that point but， having already struck a deal on draft night to trade Omer Asik to the New Orleans Pelicans， went ahead with the Lin trade before securing Boshs commitment because （A） L.A. wouldnt wait any longer and （B） sources say that trading Lin to the Philadelphia 76ers would have cost Houston multiple future first-round picks as opposed to the solitary first-rounder the Lakers were seeking in return for absorbing Lins contract. The Rockets， in other words， couldnt afford to let the Lakers move on without Lin if they wanted to create enough cap space to sign Bosh.

这就是为什么当勒布朗向全世界宣布自己重新加入骑士队后不久，火箭就同意将后卫林书豪交易到湖人。那时火箭和波什仍然只处于协商状态，不过他们在选秀时就和鹈鹕达成了协议交易阿西克。他们在得到波什的承诺前，就完成了阿西克和林书豪的交易，原因在于，（A）洛杉矶不会等待太久，（B）消息源说和76人交易林书豪将让火箭付出多个未来首轮选秀权，而湖人吸收林书豪合同的代价只需要一个首轮选秀权。换句话说，如果想创造足够的空间签波什，火箭不能让和湖人关于林书豪的这笔交易失败。

That other scenario， after missing out on Bosh， called for signing Trevor Ariza to a four-year， $32 million deal to take Parsons place and as the Rockets quietly hope， offset Hardens defensive deficiencies with his own stellar D. The comparison whispered in Houstons hallways is that Ariza will do for Harden what Shane Battier used to do for Tracy McGrady.

另一种情况是，在错过波什后，用四年3200万美元签下阿里扎，取代帕森斯。火箭默默期待，阿里扎能用顶级的防守弱化哈登的防守劣势。火箭内部有一种说法，阿里扎愿意为哈登做当年巴蒂尔为麦迪做的事。

From there， Houston plans to resume its pursuit for that third star with assets such as a tasty Pelicans lottery pick obtained in the Asik trade ... and an $8.3 million trade exception created in the same deal ... and potential trade chips such as young power forward Terrence Jones and well-regarded international prospects Kostas Papanikolaou and Sergio Llull.

在这基础上，火箭计划继续执行他们追逐第三个球星的行动，他们手里有阿西克交易中得到的令人眼馋的鹈鹕乐透签，还有在同一笔交易中获得的830万美元交易特例，他们还有潜在的交易甜头，比如年轻的大前锋泰伦斯·琼斯和广受好评的国际信任科斯塔斯·帕帕尼古拉乌以及塞尔吉奥·鲁尔。

In one of his first interviews after Houston elected not to match the Mavericks offer sheet to Parsons， Morey told SportsTalk 790 AM in Houston： "That structure of that [contract] is literally one of the most untradeable structures that Ive ever seen.”

火箭拒绝匹配小牛给帕森斯的报价后，第一次接受采访时，莫雷对休斯敦的SportsTalk 790 AM电台表示：“那份合同的结构，是我见过的最无法交易的合同之一。”

Parsons and his agent， Dan Fegan， were convinced theyd receive a meaty offer sheet as early as July 1 or， by the latest， July 5. But the four-year pitches being presented in those early days of free agency were all coming in well shy of max territory， thanks to Houstons effective campaign to convince the outside world the Rockets were going to match whatever came their way.

帕森斯和他的经纪人丹·费根相信，他们最早在7月1日、最晚在7月5日会收到大量报价合同。不过在自由球员市场早期，这位四年前球员获得的报价远远低于顶薪合同的范围，这得归功于火箭有效的宣传策略，他们让外界相信，火箭会匹配任何摆在桌面上的合同。

About a week into the process， Fegan decided it was time to try to propose something different. And that led him to the three-year construction， featuring the Year 2 player option and a maximum 15 percent trade kicker. He then took to it Cuban， convinced that the new formula would put the most pressure on Houston to let Parsons go if the Rockets hoped to maintain the utmost flexibility.

这样过了一周，费根觉得该试些其他方式。这让他想出了那份三年合同的框架，其中包括第二年球员选择，以及最高的15%交易补偿金。他把这份合同拿给了库班，说服对方，如果火箭希望保持最大的薪金灵活，这份新合同会给火箭造成最大压力，迫使他们放弃帕森斯。

"It created the most amount of problems for them，" Cuban said. "The trade kicker not only made [the contract] more expensive， but the opt out [after Year 2] could create a Kevin Love-type situation for any teams interested in trading for him， where you dont know if hes gonna opt in or opt out.”

“这为他们创造了最多的问题。”库班说，“交易保证金不止让合同变得更贵，而且（第二年后）的跳出选择对于任何有兴趣交易他的球队都会造成凯文·勒夫式的难题，你不知道他到底会不会跳出合同。”

The Rockets， though， told Bosh they were nonetheless prepared to match the offer sheet to Parsons in spite of all those booby traps had he been willing to join them. They told the same thing to Howard and Harden. But when the Heat slapped a fiveyear max offer down to the native Texan

-- something NBA rules allowed only

Miami， as the incumbent team， to do --Bosh elected to stick with South Beach. This led the Rockets， with their tantalizing dreams of constructing a superteam derailed， to conclude that signing Ariza for nearly $7 million less annually and keeping so many more options open to continue upgrading the roster was the next-best course.

不过火箭告诉波什，如果他愿意加入，尽管有这么多陷阱，他们仍然愿意匹配帕森斯的报价。他们对霍华德和哈登也说了同样的话。可当热火给土生土长的德州人拍下一纸五年的合同时——NBA只允许热火、也就是母队这么做——波什选择留在了南海滩。这导致组建超级球队梦碎的火箭做出结论，每年少花700万签下阿里扎、为未来继续升级阵容留下很多选择，是最好的办法。

But Morey， in that same interview with SportsTalk 790， insisted "we feel strongly that turning down Chandlers option [gave] us a better chance to win a championship than not turning it down.”

不过莫雷在对SportsTalk 790的同一段采访中表示：“我们强烈地认为，相比不拒绝，拒绝帕森斯的合同让我们有了更大的赢得总冠军的机会。”

"First of all， I love Dwight and James，" Parsons said. "They were great teammates. Ive said a million times that Dwight is the best teammate Ive ever had. Those guys are proven superstars. I havent gotten to that level yet. Ive got nothing but love for those guys off the court.

“首先，我爱德怀特和詹姆斯。”帕森斯说，“他们是非常好的队友。我说过无数次了，德怀特是我遇到过的最好的队友。那些人都是证明过自己是超级巨星。我还没到那个程度。在场外，我对他们只有爱。”