别不当回事

Tim+Bontemps

More than a month has passed since the NBAs last competitive game， but a funny thing is taking place： The league is as relevant in July as it was when the Warriors were cutting down the Cavaliers in June.

距离NBA最后一场高强度对抗的比赛已经过去了许久，可有趣的事情正在上演：和勇士砍瓜切菜般战胜骑士相比，联盟在长草期同样得到了不小的关注度。

The NBA offseason has taken over the slowest month on the sports calendar， the one that falls between the end of the leagues championship round and the start of NFL training camp. And its happened in a way that， only a few years ago， wouldve seemed impossible to just about everyone within the sport.

NBA休赛期恰好碰上了体育日历中最难熬的一个月，在总决赛和NFL训练营开营之间恰好出现了空窗。而现在发生的事情，仅仅几年前也是任何人都认为不可能发生的。

"I am a little surprised by the growth in interest， specifically in free agency and the Las Vegas Summer League， but its really just an extension of the remarkable growth in interest in the NBA weve seen over the last decade，" NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote in an email interview on Wednesday. "The whole game experience has never been more compelling or entertaining， and each summer a fresh set of story lines emerge that keep our fans engaged."

“人们兴趣的增长让我有点惊讶，特别是对自由球员市场和拉斯维加斯夏季联赛的兴趣，不过这只是过去十年人们对NBA兴趣大幅提高的一种延伸。”联盟总裁亚当·肖华周四在邮件采访中回答道，“比赛的整体体验从来没有像现在一样引人入胜且具有娱乐性，每年夏天都会有一系列新的新闻点让我们的球迷保持投入。”

That never-ending search for new story lines has fueled the NBAs surge in popularity during a time it once would disappear. With an ever-increasing appetite for coverage of the leagues offseason transactions - from the NBA draft in late June to free agency in July - and its annual summer leagues that showcase future stars， the NBA has taken hold during a period long dominated by another sport.

对新爆点的不断寻找，促使NBA的熱度在一个本该消失的时间段反而出现了上涨。随着人们对联盟休赛期交易的兴趣越来越高——从六月底的NBA选秀到七月的自由球员市场——以及联盟未来新星在一年一度的夏季联赛上展现各自实力，NBA已经掌控了一个曾长期被其他运动项目霸占的时间段。

"For the most part， the NBA had conceded the summer - not for the most part， all of it - to baseball，" said Warren LeGarie， a longtime NBA agent and co-founder of the Las Vegas Summer League. "For them， once the draft was finished， they went dark until the October camps started.

“很大程度上说，NBA放弃了夏天——不是大部分，而是全部交给了棒球。”长年担任NBA经纪人，也是拉斯维加斯夏季联赛联合创始人的沃伦·勒加里表示，“对他们来说，一旦选秀结束，他们就彻底陷入沉默，直到10月训练营开营。”

"And that just didnt make any sense to me."

“在我看来这完全没有道理。”

Now， the NBA not only doesnt cede ground during the offseason， it gains it. From the moment the NBA Finals end， the focus immediately shifts to the NBA draft （and a new NBA Awards show）， followed by breathless coverage of free agency that coincides with summer league - first with smaller events featuring a handful of teams in Orlando and Salt Lake City， followed by its showcase event in Las Vegas - with one flowing into another to keep interest in the sport at a fever pitch for weeks after the season ends.endprint

如今，NBA不仅不会放弃休赛期，他们还赢得了更多观众。NBA总决赛结束的那一刻起，人们关注的焦点立刻转移到了NBA选秀（还有全新的NBA颁奖典礼），紧接着就是对自由球员铺天盖地的报道，时间恰好与夏季联赛重合——首先是在奥兰多和盐湖城举办的小型赛事，接着就是拉斯维加斯的比赛——人们的兴趣从一个事件转向另一个事件，即便赛季结束，人们的狂热也能延续好几周。

Its a combination thats become irresistible both to fans and the leagues television partners， who see it as another avenue to seek returns on the massive investments they made this past season when a new TV deal kicked in.

这种结合已经到了无论球迷还是联盟的电视转播伙伴都无法抵抗的地步，电视转播商视之为增加收入的另一种手段，作为对上个赛季生效的新电视转播合同这笔巨额投入的回报。

"The NBA summer league is closely aligned with NBA free agency， which has become hugely popular，" said Julie Sobieski， ESPNs vice president of programming， "and July is becoming just another hot popular month for the NBA."

“NBA夏季聯赛与自由球员市场紧密结合，变得异常流行。”ESPN节目制作部门副总裁朱莉·索比斯基表示，“七月已经成为NBA的另一个热门月份。”

In an attempt to capitalize on that， ESPN has doubled down on its NBA programming. The network increased its coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League this year with 25 games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 and saw massive gains in viewership - largely thanks to the presence of this years summer league champion Los Angeles Lakers and the No. 2 overall pick， Lonzo Ball， which drew huge crowds.

为了抓住这一商机，ESPN的NBA节目数量已经增加了一倍。今年，ESPN加强了对夏季联赛的报道力度，他们在ESPN和ESPN2上直播了25场比赛，获得了非常高的收视率——很大程度上这要感谢本年度夏季联赛冠军洛杉矶湖人和他们的二号秀郎佐·鲍尔，他们吸引了大量观众。

Meanwhile， ESPN also expanded its schedule for daily studio show "The Jump" Hosted by longtime NBA reporter Rachel Nichols， who is joined daily by an array of ESPN NBA reporters and former players， the show was initially supposed to take a break during the summer. Yet the increasing interest not only led ESPN to keep the show on the air year-round， but also to have Nichols host a pair of free agency specials on the opening two nights and some shows from Las Vegas during summer league.

与此同时，ESPN还增加了每日节目“The Jump”的安排。这档节目由长年担任NBA记者的瑞秋·尼克尔斯主持，众多ESPN的NBA记者和前球员会加入讨论，这档节目原本夏天时是停播的。但观众越来越浓厚的兴趣使得ESPN不仅让这档节目变成了全年播出，还让尼克尔斯在最初两晚主持了两次自由球员特别节目，也在拉斯维加斯做了几次夏季联赛的节目。

"Well， we knew we were jumping on a moving train； I just dont think we knew how fast it would be going，" Nichols said. "Turns out， really fast. Offseason player transactions that used to barely rate a line at the end of a newspaper notes column have become the subject of hours of endless and breathless speculation， and even then， people still seem to want more."

“我们知道自己跳上了一列正在前进的火车；我只是不觉得我们知道车到底开得有多快。”尼克尔斯表示，“事实证明，非常快。曾经最多在报纸最后一版消息栏里有一小条的休赛期球员交易，如今已经变成几小时没完没了争论的主题，会引起无数猜测。即便如此，人们还是不满足。”endprint

"The Jump was an hour long during the playoffs， but we shifted back to our usual halfhour format for the offseason. I get emails or tweets almost daily now asking me when were going back to an hour — I keep saying， Um， you know its July， right？”

“The Jump季后赛期间是一档一小时的节目，不过我们在休赛期换回了常规的半小时。现在我每天都能收到推特和邮件，询问什么时候才能恢复成一小时。我一直在说，呃，你知道现在是7月，对吧？”

Summer league exhibitions used to be an afterthought. What was once a loosely organized collection of teams convening for games in a variety of locations across the country with little or no fanfare has now become a massive marketing vehicle across nearly two weeks every summer in Las Vegas， where the league now also holds its annual meetings.

夏季联赛过去只是冷门比赛。过去几支球队松散地组织在一起，在全美不同地区进行比赛，几乎没有观众的联赛，如今已经成为庞大营销工具，每年夏天在拉斯维加斯举办接近两周时间，联盟也在那里举办每年的定期会议。

The behemoth the Vegas Summer League has become was the brainchild of LeGarie， the longtime NBA agent who represents many of the leagues top coaches and executives - including Washington Wizards Coach Scott Brooks and Houston Rockets Coach Mike DAntoni- and his business partner Albert Hall， who saw an opportunity to capitalize on the lack of organization they saw in the leagues previous summer iterations which launched in 2004.

現在体量庞大的拉斯维加斯夏季联赛是勒加里的创意，多年以来，他是联盟很多顶级教练和管理层的经纪人——包括华盛顿奇才主教练斯科特·布鲁克斯和休斯敦火箭主教练迈克·德安东尼——和勒加里一同构思的还有他的商业伙伴阿尔伯特·豪尔，他发现了商机，在2004年创办了夏季联赛。

Virtually every important decision-maker in the sport now makes an appearance in Las Vegas each summer and 24 of the leagues 30 teams took part this year — a number that will likely increase by at least one next season， when the New York Knicks are expected to return after the departure of Phil Jackson as team president.

每年夏天，体育界几乎所有大佬都会在拉斯维加斯现身，30支球队中有24支参加了今年的比赛——下赛季这个数字至少还会再增加一个，菲尔·杰克逊离任后，纽约尼克斯预计会重新参加夏季联赛。

"Nothing extraordinary happens without a harmonic convergence of a lot of things out there， and usually its how you harness those different areas，" LeGarie said of the event， which set a record in attendance of 127，843 this month."Dont forget， when summer leagues started， it was mostly seen as a necessary evil， and most players saw it as some kind of a punishment when you played in them. There was some stigma in being a summer-league player."

“没有众多因素和谐地聚合在一起，就不会有好事发生，通常重要的是如何协调不同的领域。”勒加里这样评价夏季联赛，这个月，观众人数达到了创纪录的127843人，“不要忘了，在夏季联赛初创时，大多数人认为那是必要之恶，大部分球员认为参加这个联赛是惩罚。成为夏季联赛球员是一种污点。”endprint

That isnt the case anymore. The next generation of NBA stars takes the stage for an opportunity to prove themselves in front of fans， often with a parade of NBA stars courtside， looking on. Thats how LeBron James， on the night of the ESPYs - the night after baseballs All-Star Game， and traditionally the slowest day of the yearly sports calendar - became a national story when he sat on the baseline to watch Ball and the Lakers play in an exhibition game.

这种情况不复存在了。下一代的NBA明星把这里看作在球迷面前展现个人实力的舞台，场边通常还有众多NBA明星坐镇。这也正是勒布朗·詹姆斯在ESPY颁奖典礼当晚坐在场边观看鲍尔和湖人比赛成为全美大新闻的原因——那天恰逢职棒全明星赛后第一天，传统上也是体育赛事最少的时候。

It was the latest example of how the NBA has managed to do something only the NFL has been able to previously： maintain interest virtually year-round in its sport. And given the momentum the sport has seemingly gathered， it seems unlikely that will change anytime soon.

這是NBA做到了曾经只有NFL才能做到的事情的最新例子：让人们在全年时间都能保持对这项运动的兴趣。考虑到现在的势头，这种情况短期内不太可能出现改变。

"I dont think weve maxed out at all，" Nichols said. "The fan base for the NBA is so young and diverse； it really is a sport thats pointed forward. And there isnt a barrier to entry in being a basketball fan.

“我不觉得我们已经达到最佳状态了。”尼克尔斯说，“NBA的球迷基础非常年轻和多元化；这就是一个面向未来的运动。成为篮球迷也不存在任何障碍。”

"If you want to have a complex understanding of the Xs and Os， theres certainly an endless amount for you to nerd out over， but you dont need to see the sport that way to know that a Steph Curry three-pointer， or a LeBron James chase-down block， is exciting."

“如果你想深入理解战术，当然需要无休止的学习。可不需那样的学习，你也能知道库里的三分或者勒布朗的追身大帽能让人兴奋。”endprint