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The Greatest Story Ever Trolled

史上最引戰的故事 - Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid has turned the Sixers' famed process into performance art, and
everyone is feeling merry and bright -- for now.

來看看 Joel Embiid 是怎麼將費城76人行之有年的坦克文化，轉變成一場表演藝術，而他
又是怎麼讓大家的心中都變成他暖暖的文字，洋溢著滿滿的幸福......至少現在是啦。

by Ramona Shelburne
12/12/17

Joel Embiid has a theory. It's a Game of Thrones theory. He doesn't know anyone
with the production team, hasn't read the books the show is based on and isn't
active in Reddit chat rooms with the other crazy fans and GoT theorists. But
"I've studied the whole show," he says, and it's clear to Embiid that Kit
Harington's character, Jon Snow, will not end up on the Iron Throne.





"That's what everybody thinks is going to happen," Embiid says. "But the whole
show has been that you don't know what's going to happen. Jon Snow will not be
the king."


Embiid:「大家都在想一定是 Jon Snow 登基，但整部故事線已經告訴你這不會發生，Jon
Snow 不會當王的。」


We've been in a car together for about 30 minutes, driving from San Francisco
to Sacramento, where the 76ers' irrepressible young star will meet his
teammates for a game the next night. Already Embiid has made predictions about
Game of Thrones, this year's NBA Finals-- "[The Warriors] will be ready to go
seven games with the Sixers in June!"-- and how his own ride on the fame cycle
might turn.






"People love you at the beginning," Embiid explains. "But at some point they're
gonna start hating you. LeBron. Russell Westbrook. All the superstars. Even
Steph. He's so likable. He does nothing wrong, but some people still hate him.
It just comes with the nature of it. I've seen it.






"I feel like I'm about to go through it. I think it's coming. People always
want something new."


Embiid:「我想我也將會經歷那些，我也覺得差不多了吧，喜新厭舊是人之常情。」


To be clear, no one appears anywhere close to turning on Embiid. After four
years of former general manager Sam Hinkie's YOLO tanking in pursuit of future
greatness, the Sixers have come to life in the first part of this NBA season,
with Embiid as their trash-talking, Dream Shaking leader. Social media adores
his blend of right-up-to-the-line trolling and self-deprecating humor. NBA
coaches and veterans marvel at his unique skill set-- low-post dominance like
Shaquille O'Neal, footwork like Hakeem Olajuwon, a shooting touch like Dirk
Nowitzki. "He's a problem," Lakers coach Luke Walton said on Nov. 15, after
Embiid torched his team for 46 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 blocks.
Even the hardened, cynical fans in Philadelphia seem smitten with Embiid.





The Process, the nickname Embiid gave himself last year as an homage to the
Hinkie era, has become a civic rallying cry. It can be heard at road games in
Boston and Washington, D.C. A viral video featured a Lyft driver who shouted it
as he followed Embiid on a Rocky Balboa-style run through the streets of
Philadelphia one night.

The Process，這個去年為致敬末Hinkie時代 Joel Embiid 為自己取的綽號，現在已變成
一種潮流的群眾號召。在76人前往波士頓和華盛頓特區都能聽到這個詞。在網路上流傳一個
影片是一個Lyft(敝人去西岸時覺得超好用)的司機，用類似洛基電影中邊開車邊鞭策洛基跑
步訓練的方式，鼓勵在費城晚上於巷弄間跑步的Embiid。
(請參考https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KMiCqx8wRs)


Embiid loves it. When Sixers fans chant it as he shoots free throws, he'll wave
his arms, imploring them to chant louder.


Embiid超愛這種親民的作風，當76人球迷在他罰球時叫囂，他會揮動他的雙臂，鼓勵他們
在大聲點聽不見。


"It's like Happy Gilmore out there," former teammate Nik Stauskas says. "Most
people like the place to be quiet when they're shooting. Jo's like, 'Come on,
man, make some noise!'"





And if they don't, he's not happy about it.


然而如果球迷不鳥他，他會不高興。


"Oh, he eggs the crowd on," Sixers swingman Robert Covington says. "He loves
it."


Robert Covington:「他根本就在慫恿群眾這樣做，他超愛這樣。」


All in all, it's clear that Philly-- not to mention NBA Twitter-- is still
firmly in the honeymoon phase with its young star. So why does he think the
world might be about to turn on him?


從各方面來說，先不要講這個NBA Twitter，單就費城來說，很明顯地還是沉浸在與自家年
輕明星的蜜月期。所以到底他為何會覺得大家要開始酸他了呢?


Is that what he's afraid of?


他是不是怕了?


Or what he wants?


還是他根本就想要大家開酸。


TO UNDERSTAND EMBIID, you must first understand the psychology of the troll. As
anyone who has ever checked his Twitter mentions knows, there are all sorts of
trolls. Mean ones, funny ones, bullies, racists, pranksters. They all have the
same goal: to get a reaction.





Embiid is a playful troll.


Embiid 屬於靠北酸。


"I don't go over the line, but I feel like I'm always right there," he says
with a grin. Of course he is aware it makes people within the organization
crazy that their budding superstar keeps giving shoutouts to the deposed
general manager who led the franchise to one of the worst stretches in NBA
history. That's kind of the point.





"I won't mention names, but a lot of people weren't happy" with his call-outs,
Embiid says. "I don't care. To me it was like, we've gone through so much, and
I get that Sam Hinkie wasn't the most loved in Philly, but that was the guy who
drafted me. I still like him. He did a lot for me."





So he calls himself The Process, over and over, mischievously defusing its bite
with humor and hashtags but still cutting right up close to the quick.


他一而再再而三的稱自己為 The Process，很調皮的用幽默+很多Hashtags在那玩弄大家的
底線，但弄一弄後又很快地停手


"I'm not doing it to hurt anybody's feelings or create a situation," Embiid
says. "I just think it's funny."


Embiid:「我做這些不是為了傷害任何人的感受，或是惹事生非，我單純覺得很好玩。」


This is the essence of Embiid. Always flexing. Kidding but not kidding.
Trolling on social media, trash-talking on the court, playfully tweaking people
to see what they'll do about it. But Embiid is pushing himself as much as he's
pushing buttons.





"I love that stuff. That gets me going," he says. "That makes me want to score
and block a shot and dive on the floor. That makes me want to make a great
play. I hate when we go on the road and other teams don't really have fans who
cheer. ... I feel like it makes me sleepy.





"I want to get into the fans, I want to hear their voices and hear people
talking s--- and hear people get into the game crazy and chanting 'Ref sucks'
or 'Trust the process' or 'Joel, you suck!'"


Embiid:「我會想跟球迷互動，我想要聽到他們的聲音、聽到他們講幹話、聽到他們在球賽
中狂幹『他媽爛裁判』或是『Trust the process』或是『Joel，你超廢!』之類的」


So he likes the pressure it puts on him?


所以他應該算是個享受壓力的人?


"I love the pressure."

「我愛壓力。」-Embiid


THIS FALL, THE Sixers gave Embiid a five-year, $146.5 million contract
extension after seeing him play just 31 games in his first three seasons. They
saw enough talent, star power and character to believe he can be the face of
their franchise for a long time.





But Embiid has felt like the star of this team for far longer than he's been
paid like one. Back in May 2015, Embiid spent the better part of a week
destroying people in three-on-three games at the 76ers' practice facility.
Young players, veterans, the wayward coach who jumped into one of the games to
get a closer look: Nobody could stop Embiid, including Nerlens Noel, whom the
Sixers had picked sixth overall in 2013 and had high hopes for.



沒有人可以阻止 Embiid，包含球隊在2013以第六順位選進來，並寄予厚望的 Nerlens Noel



"I played against him," Embiid says. "And actually, I killed it."


Embiid:「我當時跟Noel彼此較勁，但事實上，我把他打爆了。」


After sitting out his entire rookie season with a foot injury in 2014-15,
Embiid was finally back on the court, and he looked like some mythological
creature sent to destroy opponents and resurrect a basketball franchise. It
didn't take long for word to reach Hinkie, who was off scouting in California.





Hinkie texted Covington, wanting to make sure this was real and not just
sycophants trying to make him feel better about using a lottery pick on an
injured big man.



Hinkie傳了簡訊給Covington，想確認一下到底這些傳聞是不是認真的，還是只是一些跟風
的人，因為他用了樂透簽賭在一個有傷長人的身上，所以想讓他高興一下而已。


"[Embiid] literally almost ran all our bigs out of the gym," Covington says.
"It was the first time I'd seen him, and for him to dominate like that, it was
like, 'Well, damn.'"


Covington:「他可以說幾乎是輾壓眾長人，那應該是我第一次看到他可以那樣制霸球場，
當時我的心裡想的好像是那種『哇靠』」


A few weeks later, Embiid started playing against veterans at pickup games in
Los Angeles.


在那的幾周過後，Embiid開始跟老將們在洛杉磯打一些快速對戰。


"It was a joke how good he was," veteran NBA guard Jamal Crawford says. "I saw
then that the league had nothing for him."


Jamal Crawford:「他真的強到笑，在親眼目睹後那一切，我覺得要在聯盟中找到能擋住他
的人，已經沒希望了。」


Less than a week later, an MRI revealed that the bone in Embiid's foot wasn't
healing properly. Today, the foot, knee and back injuries that derailed
Embiid's first three seasons are as much a part of his story as his incredible
journey from Cameroon to NBA stardom. His health is the giant blinking asterisk
affixed to every prediction about his destiny and the great expectations for
the Sixers' future.





He was the first rookie to average at least 28.7 points per 36 minutes played
since Wilt Chamberlain. With Embiid and rookie point guard Ben Simmons on the
court, the Sixers, through Dec. 11, had outscored teams by 9.9 points per 100
possessions-- a net rating behind only the Warriors and Rockets.


當時他是唯一在Wilt Chamberlain後，可以平均在36分鐘的比賽中繳出28.7分的菜鳥。在
12/11這段期間，Embiid + 控球後衛 Ben Simmons 同時在場上時，76人可以在平均100次的
進攻回合裡，能夠比對方多拿9.9分，這樣的表現僅次於勇士與火箭隊。


Embiid's health hangs over all of these dreams.


然而Embiid的健康問題，壟罩著所有的這些美好的畫面。


He and the team are proactive: Embiid has gone to Aspetar, a state-of-the-art
sports medicine facility in Qatar, where experts study everything from his
sleep patterns to his gait, trying to build his body in the most sustainable
way possible. During interviews at his locker, a world-renowned physiotherapist
digs into the quadriceps muscle above his knee. He used to love rich, buttery
French food but gave up dairy because it causes too much inflammation. He sits
out the second night of back-to-backs on orders from the front office.



用最適合他的方式打造他的身體。在他的更衣室裡採訪時，一位世界知名的物理治療師，正




"I'm not OK with it," he says. "But it's best for the future. They know that
once I'm on the court, if you let me stay on the court, I'm going to lead."


Embiid:「我覺得不OK，但這對未來最好，他們知道只要我在場上，如果你讓我留在場上，
我就會去帶領球隊。」


EMBIID WAS A teenager in Cameroon when he first saw Kobe Bryant in all his
swaggering, gunslinging glory during the 2009 NBA Finals. Embiid didn't speak
English and had never played organized basketball, yet he knew he wanted to be
like Kobe someday.





"I just liked his mentality, the way he was playing. He just didn't care,"
Embiid says. "I think I needed to figure out a way to be like that more."



Embiid:「我就是喜歡他的心理特質，他打球的方式。他就是沒有顧忌地去打，我當時想
我應該想辦法變得像他那樣。」


In another life-- or another body-- Embiid would probably be out running sand
dunes like Bryant did at 4 a.m. as a way of channeling the restless id inside
him. But Embiid's body would never tolerate that, so the competitiveness
manifests elsewhere. It's why he trash-talks and taunts on the court right up
to the line where someone might swing at him. Why he plays video games deep
into the night, even bringing his PlayStation on road trips. "I just love
winning," he says. "When I play, I rarely lose, so it makes me feel good about
myself. And I keep winning, winning, winning."



其他地方上體現出來。這也是為何他的垃圾話和在場上開嘲諷開到底的方式，會讓人想直接




"I played [PlayStation] with him once and said I'll never do it again," Sixers
guard T.J. McConnell says. "He talks the most crap ever. ... I wanted to throw
the controller out of his apartment building."


76人的後衛T.J McConnelll:「我跟他玩過Play Station一次然後我說我絕對不在跟你玩，
他真的是史上最嘴....我玩到想把搖桿丟出他公寓外面。」


Embiid says he's reached out to Bryant on several occasions, drawn to Kobe's
supreme confidence. How do you shoot 30-plus times in a game and never feel
even the smallest twinge of guilt about it?


Embiid說他已經找過 Bryant 好幾次，被他超強的自信心所吸引。問他你到底是如何上場
30分鐘投給不停，也不會覺得一陣罪惡感襲來呢?


"After 15 to 20 shots, I feel like my teammates might be looking at me," Embiid
says. "I don't want that to be on me. But I feel like sometimes I need to."


Embiid:「我自己是大概投了15到20球後，我覺得隊友好像會看著我，我不喜歡變成這樣
但我覺得有時候，我應該需要這麼做。」


Bryant didn't take all those shots because he had no conscience. He took them,
Embiid says, because he knew he could make them. "He was always working on his
shot, so that's why he felt like he could.


Embiid:「Bryant不是昧著良心就不管三七二十一的給他投。他投是因為他覺得他可以投的
進，他總是專注在訓練他的投射能力，所以他當然會覺得他可以。」



"When everyone else was partying, he was working on his shot. I have to get a
little of that."


Embiid:「當大家都在玩樂時，他是在練習射籃，我也需要像他那樣努力。」


So Embiid doesn't drink alcohol or (spend much time at parties. He studies
classic NBA games like they're textbooks. He watches his contemporaries, like
Karl-Anthony Towns, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kristaps Porzingis, Anthony Davis
and Nikola Jokic, knowing he'll likely do battle with them in the playoffs
someday.

所以Embiid沒有喝酒，或是花時間在派對中，他鑽研著經典的NBA比賽像讀教科書一樣。
他會去看跟他同世代的球員影片像是 Karl-Anthony Towns,Giannis Antetokounmpo,
Kristaps Porzingis, Anthony Davis 和 Nikola Jokic，知道他們會有一天在季後賽相遇


He studies his own team and thinks there is still room to grow. Simmons' game
is limited by his lack of outside shooting, which collapses the space Embiid
has to work inside. There will also be an adjustment period when rookie point
guard Markelle Fultz returns from a shoulder injury and tries to find his place
in the offense.





"We're still working on our chemistry, especially with me and Ben on the
court," Embiid says.


Embiid:「我們還在努力打出自己的化學效應，特別是當我、Ben在場上的時候。」


"I think with everything, the main thing we have to do is just stay together,
because I feel like there's going to be some type of situation where people say
who is better between us three. And that's how it splits."




IT IS NOW Embiid's job to ensure that it doesn't. That's part of accepting the
$146.5 million contract and wanting to be the face of the franchise. You have a
responsibility to lead it.


現在讓雙方都能保持良好合作關係的責任在Embiid的身上。這也是當他簽下那紙1.46億美元
合約，接受擔任球隊未來門面的的一部分。他有這個責任去帶領大家。


In many ways, the 23-year-old is a natural-born leader. His infectious
personality is  like a gravitational force. Teammates flock to him after games
and on off-days. But if Embiid is the sun at the center of the Sixers' solar
system, Simmons is the moon. The young Australian mostly keeps to himself and
has a natural quietness to him.





"Night and day," Sixers wing Justin Anderson says of his teammates'
personalities.


當談到到這兩個隊友的個性時，Justin Anderson形容:「白天與黑夜。」


For Embiid to take this team to its full potential, he has to do it with
Simmons, which means they need to foster a relationship that has at times been
distant.


Embiid想把球隊的潛能發揮到極致的話，他必須要跟 Simmons 一起做到，換言之他們必須
要再像現在，有時候比較陌生時，建立起他們的關係。


"They have a role to play in each other's success," coach Brett Brown says.
"What interests me more than going out to dinner or being together off the
court all the time is respect on the court. And the respect is generated
because you look at somebody and know they care, know they work, know the team
is in their best interest."






Brown spent 12 years working under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, and he says
it took years for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the core of the
Spurs dynasty, to find out how to play-- and win-- together. Popovich was
always the strongest voice in the room, Duncan led by example, Parker was the
beating heart, Ginobili was the conscience. Brown says he used to get emails
from Duncan at all hours of the night, musing on how to address an issue the
team needed to work on.






"Everybody's got their own way to deliver a message," Brown says. "To try to
force a style of leadership on anybody is not what I'm interested in."



Brown:「大家都有自己表達一個訊息的方式，去嘗試迫使一個人用某一種領導方式，不是
我想要的。」


Of course, Embiid's style of leadership isn't always the most politically
correct.



當然，Embiid的領導方式也不一定會是最合時宜的作法。


"Having your teammates' backs-- that's what I feel being a leader is," Embiid
says.


Embiid:「你會挺你的隊友，這是我覺得身為領袖的意義。」


This year that's meant Brown and the Sixers have to bite their tongues when
Embiid criticizes the way they've handled situations with Fultz, whose
mysterious shoulder injury has kept him from any meaningful action, and former
lottery pick Jahlil Okafor, who was finally traded to the Nets on Dec. 7, more
than a month after requesting to leave.



舉個例，今年Brown和76人球團就得咬牙面對Embiid批評他們對於Fultz的作法，這位新秀
詭異的肩傷讓他並沒有接受有效的處理，還有樂透簽選進來的前隊友 Jahlil Okafor，他也
終於向球隊喊出Trade me後，在12/7被交易到紐澤西籃網。



"The whole thing with Markelle is messed up," Embiid says. "It should not have
happened. Obviously, it has something to do with his shoulder-- I saw that they
said it wasn't the shoulder, but I don't believe it.


Embiid:「整件對於Markelle的事情真的是亂搞，這根本不應該發生，很明顯的，他的肩膀
一定有問題，他們竟然說這跟他肩膀無關，但我根本不相信。」


"With Jahlil, I really appreciate that he didn't want to cause a scene," he
says. "If it was me, I feel like I would have lost it. I don't know if I could
have handled it."


Embiid:「而對於Jahili，我真的只有感謝，他沒有讓事情變成肥皂劇。如果我是他，我會
覺得我已經失控了，我不知道我可以處理得像他一樣。」


Embiid makes headlines and ruffles feathers when he talks like this. Same as he
did when he co-opted "The Process" as his nickname. Teammates mostly are amused
by it. "He loves to poke the bear-- he thrives on it," Stauskas says. "I've
never really seen anything like it. It's different, but it works."


Embiid這麼講話常常會讓他上頭條或是令人髮指。就向他用他的綽號直接指名"The Process


In the end, trusting the process really means trusting Embiid.


話講到頭，其實相信過程 = 相信 Embiid。


"We encourage him to explore and be a little bit unfiltered," Brown says with a
smile. "That's how he lives. And that's how he plays."


Brown笑著說:「我們鼓勵他去嘗試探索，然後可以有一點點的過頭都可以，這是他的生活
方式，他也是這麼打球的。」


EMBIID HAS DONE so much in his young career-- through 50 games, he scored more
points than Olajuwon, grabbed more rebounds than Patrick Ewing, had more
assists and 3-pointers than Olajuwon, Ewing, O'Neal, Dwight Howard and David
Robinson-- that it's easy to forget how quickly this has all happened.





Seven years ago, the man didn't speak English, let alone play basketball, and
now he's wickedly funny in another language and one of the most skilled big men
in the sport. He jokes that he learned English by listening to rap music and
how to shoot by "watching [videos] of white people." But clearly there's more
to it.





"I look like I'm not listening, but I'm actually listening," Embiid explains.
"I like listening to everything, observing everybody, just taking everything in
and then in my mind, figuring out what's good for me and what's bad for me."


Embiid:「我看起來裝做我聽不懂，但其實我都會聽，我喜歡聽一切事物、跟所有人學習，
反正就是吸收所有東西，然後再去消化什麼是對我好的，而什麼不是。」


So far he's figured it out pretty well. For every testy Twitter exchange that
goes right up to the line, Embiid does 10 more playful, irreverent things that
seem solely motivated by a boyish sense of adventure.


看來到目前為止他吸收得不錯。每一則直接酸到靠北的推特除外，Embiid還做了其他看起來
更好玩、更沒關聯看起來純粹就像他體內還住個一個小男孩似的行為。


He's out shagging fly balls during the Home Run Derby at the MLB All-Star Game.
He's at the World Series, tweeting "Let's Go Astros!" while wearing a Dodgers
jersey. He's playing tennis on a public court at night with strangers who
challenge him to a game.





On the one hand, Embiid is an anthropologist, using what is obviously a
brilliant mind to study our culture with fresh eyes. On the other, he's Tom
Hanks in the movie Big, testing out games meant for children while in the body
of a man.





Before the NBA draft, his first agent, Arn Tellem, hired a social media coach
for Embiid. At first, Embiid followed his instructions to post unassuming,
sports-focused updates. "But unfortunately I got hurt and I didn't have
anything to do," Embiid says. "I found social media was a way for me to open up
and show the world who I was and also keep my name out there."





Pretty soon he was asking Rihanna out on a date and recruiting LeBron James via
Twitter.


隨即，他馬上在Twitter上問了Rihanna願不願意跟他約會交往，還有招募LeBron James。


"On social media, I can hide behind the computer or the iPhone," Embiid says.
"Internet courage."


Embiid:「在社交媒體上，我可以躲在電腦或是iPhone後面，我有所謂的網路勇氣」


There's the playful troll again. The kidding-not-kidding wink that masks why
Embiid likes to play so close to the fire.


他那靠北酸的個性又跑出來了。好笑又靠北的眨眼表情，完全體現了為何他不喜歡隔岸觀火
反而喜歡自己去玩火的個性。



He doesn't want to get burned. He just needs to feel the heat. All this
trolling, this button-pushing, it's just a warm-up-- his way of summoning the
greatness to back it up.


他不是想引火自焚。而是想感受火焰所帶來的熱。那些他的酸、他的調皮搗蛋，都只是在
點綴，裝飾著他那通往偉大的道路。





http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/21741498/philadelphia-76ers-joel-emb

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 標題  [外絮] 林的市場價值越 美金12m -14m


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