回炉再造

C.L.Brown

Several College Coaches Have Made The Jump To The NBA， With Mixed Results. Now It Appears The Trend Has Reversed.

一些大学教练曾选择进入NBA，结果有喜有忧。现在，这个趋势好像反了过来。

Avery Johnson thumbed through a roster book at a recent recruiting stop， searching for a players biography while the nights final game began. Tipoff was close to 10 p.m.， a time when many of the players perform like theyre in a hurry to get it over with， and bleary-eyed coaches are only staying courtside for appearances sake.

最近一次招募球员时，艾弗里·约翰逊翻看着一本阵容手册，在当晚最后一场比赛开始前寻找着一名球员的介绍。比赛开始时间接近晚上10点，这个时间，很多球员表现得好像迫不及待地希望比赛结束，而睡眼惺忪的教练呆在场边，只是为了表明自己还在场。

Johnson knew very well there would be nights like this. He just sat through them two years ago while his son， Avery， auditioned for college coaches during the summers live recruiting periods. Now he sits through them as the new head coach at Alabama.

约翰逊清楚地知道会遇到这样的场景。两年前儿子艾弗里在夏天的现场招募阶段为大学教练试训时，他就经历过这些。现在，他以阿拉巴马大学新任主教练的身份再次参与到这个环节。

"People talk about the grind of being on the road for July with these AAU tournaments，" Johnson said. "Theres nothing like the grind of an NBA season when youre playing four games in five nights -- and thats consistently all during the season. Were up for the challenge， and were excited about it."

“人们谈过7月参加AAU比赛时打客场的艰辛。”约翰逊说，“但没有比NBA赛季里五天打四场比赛更辛苦的了——这会持续整个赛季。我们要迎接挑战，对此我们很兴奋。”

Fred Hoiberg continued the flow of college coaches trying their hand in the NBA when he left Iowa State for the Chicago Bulls. But theres been a bit of a reversal in the pipeline.

当弗雷德·霍伊博格离开艾奥瓦大学前往公牛时，他延续了大学教练跳槽到NBA的风潮。但现实中也存在一股逆向的潮流。

Eric Musselman （Nevada）， Mark Price （Charlotte） and Chris Mullin（St. Johns）， like Johnson， returned to campuses as first-time college head coaches after long careers in various NBA roles.

埃里克·穆瑟尔曼（内华达）、迈克·普莱斯（夏洛特）和克里斯·穆林（圣约翰）和约翰逊一样，在漫长的NBA生涯及多份相关工作之后，返回大学，第一次担任大学主教练。

"In the past， at least in my experience， colleges have been a little reluctant to hire NBA guys simply because its such a different deal，" Price said. "Im excited to see more schools are starting to look because I think youre getting really quality basketball people."

“过去，至少在我看来，大学不太愿意聘请NBA的人，仅仅因为两者存在很大差异。”普莱斯说，“我很高兴看到更多的学校开始向这方面考虑，因为我觉得你能得到非常优秀的篮球人才。”

Price， who had his No. 25 jersey retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers， served most of his time as a shooting coach in the NBA before becoming an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets last season. Price has never been a head coach， and spent all of one season in the college ranks -- as an assistant coach for his alma mater Georgia Tech in 1999-2000.

25号球衣被克利夫兰骑士退役的普莱斯上赛季成为夏洛特黄蜂助理教练前，绝大多数时候在NBA担任投篮教练。普莱斯从未做过主教练，他只在大学工作过一年——也就是1999-2000赛季在母校乔治亚理工大学担任助理教练。

Mullen answered the call of his alma mater having never been on the sidelines. He spent all of his post-playing career in front offices， in stints with the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.

穆林在接受母校的邀请前从未做过教练工作。退役后他大部分时间做的都是球队管理工作，他曾分别为金州勇士和萨克拉门托国王工作过。

These coaches got an authentic college welcome when they had to take and pass the NCAA compliance test before they were cleared to recruit. And as Price would attest， the recruiting experience is far different from what he remembered when he went through the process.

大学先给了这些教练一个下马威，开始招募球员前，他们必须接受并通过NCAA的符合性测试。普莱斯可以证明，现在招募球员和他记忆中自己经历过的那套程序有着很大区别。

"It used to be call the parents， call the high school coach，" Price said."A couple of kids that weve called， they give you this list of like five guys to call."

“过去是打电话给父母，给高中教练。”普莱斯说，“我们给几个孩子打过电话，他们给了我们一份名单，我们差不多要给五个人打电话。”

The list can include AAU coaches， personal trainers and other advisers， many of whom are cultivating players NBA dreams. That brought Price to another big difference in recruiting.

这份名单包括AAU教练、个人训练师和其他顾问，其中很多人培育了球员的NBA梦。这让普莱斯想到了招募环节的另一个区别。

"Everybody thinks theyre going to be a pro now，" he said. "It doesnt matter who they are."

“现在所有人都觉得自己能成为职业球员了。”他说，“不管他们到底是谁。”

Despite being inexperienced in the college game， theres a noted advantage for the former pros in college coaching： instant credibility and recognition. Most of the players theyre recruiting werent born when Mullin played on the Dream Team in 1992 or when Price was still in uniform， but their parents know their credentials， and the players respect their NBA resumes.

尽管没有执教大学比赛的经验，但是前职业球员担任大学教练却有着一个明显的优势：他们立刻就能得到信誉和认可。当穆林1992年参加梦之队或者普莱斯还在现役打球时，很多被他们招募的球员还没出生，但他们的父母知道这些人的名气，而球员则尊重他们在NBA的经历。

"Having an NBA background is impactful to high school players， to transfers -- its been a huge benefit，" Musselman said. "The big thing for guys like Avery and guys that have been NBA head coaches -- that completely separates you from someone who has just spent time in the NBA."

“有NBA的背景，对高中球员或者转校生来说是有影响力的——是特别大的利好。”穆林说，“对于像艾弗里以及其他有NBA主教练背景的人，最重要的、让你脱颖而出的，就是你在NBA的那段工作经历。”

Johnson and Musselman increased the list to 12 current college head coaches who are former NBA head coaches. The majority of that list --including Louisvilles Rick Pitino， Kentuckys John Calipari and Florida States Leonard Hamilton -- established themselves at the college level before taking an NBA opportunity.

约翰逊和穆瑟尔曼让担任过NBA主教练的大学教练人数增加到12人。这份名单中的大多数——包括路易斯维尔的里克·皮蒂诺、肯塔基的约翰·卡利帕里和佛罗里达州大的莱纳德·汉密尔顿——进入NBA前已经在大学成名。

Musclemans approach was a bit different from his peers. From 1989 to 2012 he coached in an assortment of pro leagues， including the Continental Basketball Association and the NBA Development League. Rather than jump right into the college head coaching ranks， the former Warriors（2002-04） and Kings （2006-07） head coach first returned to campus as an assistant in 2012 with Arizona State. He spent last season at LSU before being hired at Nevada in March.

穆瑟尔曼和他的同行有些不同。1989年到2012年，他在各类职业联赛担任过教练工作，包括大洲篮球联赛和NBA发展联盟。他没有直接成为大学的主教练，这位前勇士（2002-04）及国王（2006-07）主帅先是在2012年前往亚利桑那州大担任了助理教练。上个赛季他又前往路易斯维尔，直到三月被内华达大学聘为主教练。

"Without having been an assistant coach， I think it would be really， really difficult -- at least for me -- to have gone from the pro game to the college game，" Musselman said.

“如果没做过助理教练，至少对我来说，我觉得从职业联赛转到大学会非常非常困难。”穆瑟尔曼说。

For starters， paperwork is almost a daily part of being a head coach in college. So is compliance， a word rarely heard in NBA front offices. Some coaches who have spent the majority of their careers on NBA sidelines might not be up for that challenge.

首先，对大学主教练来说，文书几乎是日常工作的一部分。还有“服从”，这是一个在NBA管理层几乎听不到的说法。很多职业生涯大部分时间在NBA做教练的人，也许无法应对在大学球队里的这些挑战。

The NBA is about business. Nowhere is that more evident than in the relationships between players and management.

NBA的重心是商业，没有比球员和管理层的关系更能说明这个问题的证据了。

"Obviously in the NBA I think some coaches can get close with the players， but oftentimes you land in a city， everyone goes into their own hotel room in the Ritz-Carlton，" Musselman said. "You see guys at practice， you see guys at games and then they go home. So the personal relationship is so much different in college when a person is going from a young man to an adult."

“显然在NBA，我认为一些教练能够和球员关系变得更好，但一般来说，你到了一个城市，每个人都躲进自己在利兹卡尔顿的酒店房间。”穆瑟尔曼说，“你能在训练中见到球员，在比赛里见到球员，然后他们就各回各家了。在大学，当一个人从年轻人成长为成年人时，人和人之间的关系非常不同。”

Thats why Johnson figured the trend of professional coaches returning to the college ranks can only get so big. He said the supervision and guidance unrelated to basketball is a challenge not everyone wants.

这也是约翰逊认为职业联赛教练返回大学的趋势不会继续增长的原因。他说并不是每个人都愿意接受与篮球无关的监管和指导。

"Not everyone wants the responsibility of having to recruit and check up on the academic side of things. Thats why going from the NBA to college is all about finding the right fit."

“并不是所有人想要承担招募球员、检查他们学业成绩这方面的责任。这就是从NBA到大学的教练规模恰到好处的原因。”