Ayton, Suns say the right things with his re-signing, but the pressure is now on to prove it
艾顿和太阳队一致同意重新签署合同,但现在的压力是要证明这是正确的决定。
Lots of things can change for the Phoenix Suns, the only sure-things now are Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
对于菲尼克斯太阳队来说,很多事情都可以改变,现在唯一可以肯定的事情必定发生在德文-布克和德安德烈-艾顿身上。
Deandre Ayton, a restricted free agent of the Phoenix Suns, had not tweeted or grammed anything since the end of the season. He had not agreed to any interviews, and basically stayed out of public view entirely.
菲尼克斯太阳队的受限自由球员德安德烈-艾顿自赛季结束以来没有发过任何推文或文字性的宣告。他没有同意接受任何采访,基本上完全处于公众视线之外。
The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Draft was in big red-light-flashing danger of joining a short, ignominious list of not-good-enough No. 1 picks who’d failed to earn that max-level salary in their second contract.
In the last 25 years, only Markelle Fultz (2017), Anthony Bennett (2013), Greg Oden (2007), Andrea Bargnani (2006), Kwame Brown (2001) and Michael Olowokandi (1998) failed to secure a max-level salary beginning in year five.
这位前2018年选秀大会上的状元秀处于即将进入一个有缺点、可耻的名单中危机当中,即不够好的状元秀——他们未能在第二份合同中获得最高级别的薪水。
在过去的25年里,只有马克尔-富尔茨(2017)、安东尼-本内特(2013)、格雷格-奥登(2007)、安德里亚-巴尼亚尼(2006)、夸梅-布朗(2001)和迈克尔-奥洛沃坎迪(1998)未能从第五年开始获得最高工资水平。
Ayton’s entire NBA legacy was on the line. Would he have a Karl-Anthony Towns-like legacy, or an Andrea Bargnani-like legacy?
艾顿的整个NBA传承就在眼前。他将拥有卡尔-安东尼-唐斯那样的传承,还是安德烈-巴格纳尼那样的传承?
Ayton has easily had the best rookie-contract career of any of those six mentioned above. He’d been mostly healthy (unlike Oden and Fultz), quite productive and a major, starting-level contributor on a contender. Ayton’s 35 playoff starts in four years are more than those six, and many other max-contract former No. 1 picks, amassed altogether in their rookie contracts.
艾顿相比于上述六人中都轻松拥有最好的新秀合同生涯。他基本上是健康的(不像奥登和富尔茨),比较高的效率,并且是竞争者中的首发主力水平的。艾顿在四年中的35次季后赛首发,比这六个人以及其他许多有顶薪合同的状元球员在新秀合同中积累的总和还要多。
But the Suns didn’t see him as a max-max guy of the five-year-with-escalators variety, and now Ayton would have to hope another team would step up to the plate.
但太阳队并没有把他看作是一个5年内可以成长的最高水平的人,现在艾顿不得不希望另一支球队可以站出来。
Tensions rose, indeed.
紧张局面确实有所上升。
He went quiet after Suns lost to the Mavericks, where he and head coach Monty Williams erupted at one point on the sideline (after he’d failed to close out on a corner three point shooter). Williams later declined to discuss the altercation, saying simply “It’s internal”, and declined to mention Ayton in a post-season presser on who needs to get better in support of Devin Booker and Chris Paul next season.
在太阳队输给小牛队之后,他变得沉默下来,当时他和主教练蒙蒂-威廉姆斯(Monty Williams)在场边爆发了一次争吵(在他没能封住一个角落里的三分射手后)。威廉姆斯后来拒绝讨论这场争吵,只是说“这是队伍内部的事情”,并在季后赛新闻发布会上在关于下赛季谁需要去变得更好地帮助德文-布克和克里斯-保罗的事情上婉拒提及艾顿。
He stayed quiet when the Suns issued him a one-year $16.4 million qualifying offer but declined to offer even a four-year mini-max contract before free agency started that would have matched anything another team could offer (4 years, $133 million).
当太阳队向他发出为期一年的1640万美元合格报价时,他保持沉默,但在自由球员市场开始之前,他甚至拒绝提供一份为期四年的迷你最大合同,这本来可以与其他球队所能提供的任何一个合同,相匹配(4年,1.33亿美元)。
He stayed quiet when the Suns handed teammate Devin Booker a $224+ million extension the first second they could, two years before Book’s current contract was set to expire. Altogether, that locks Book up for six more years in the Valley while Ayton was left dangling in free agency.
当太阳队向队友德文-布克(Devin Booker)提供一份2.24亿美元以上的续约时,他也保持沉默,这是太阳队能够提供续约合同的最早时间,两年后,布克目前的合同即将到期。总而言之,这让布克在峡谷中又待上六年,而艾顿则被留在了自由市场。(峡谷:(菲尼克斯别称“太阳河谷(Valley of the Sun)”,因其位于亚利桑那州中部的盐河河谷(the Salt River Valley))
He stayed quiet when his name and contract situation dominated headlines for two weeks as one of the best available free agents. He declined to give a single on-record quote of his preference for how the process would play out.
当他的名字和合同情况作为最佳自由球员之一占据了两周的头条时,他同样保持沉默。他拒绝给出一个关于他对这个过程中更倾向于那个球队的单向公开报价。
He stayed quiet when he finally signed a $133 million offer sheet from the Pacers, only to see that offer sheet matched within seconds by the Suns. The same Suns who had never offered him a contract outright.
当他最终与步行者队签下一份1.33亿美元的报价单时,他保持沉默,结果却看到太阳队在几秒钟内就匹配了该报价。太阳队从未直接向他提供过合同。
He stayed quiet for four more days too. Despite knowing he’s back with his drafting team, $133 million richer, and his legacy as a successful former No. 1 overall pick still intact, with a floor no lower than Andrew Wiggins who took eight years to make an All-Star team.
他也沉默了四天。尽管他知道以1.33亿美元的合同,回到了新秀时被选中的球队当中,而且他作为成功的状元秀的传承仍然完好无损,他的下限不低于花了八年时间成为全明星的安德鲁-威金斯。
Ayton now becomes one of the 17 former No. 1 overall picks from the 1997-2019 Drafts who got max salaries coming off their rookie contracts.
艾顿现在成为1997-2019年选秀大会的前17名的状元秀之一,他们从新秀合同中获得最高薪水。
On Monday night, Ayton finally broke his silence.
周一晚上,艾顿终于不再沉默。
He posted to social media alongside the Phoenix Suns, after taking the required physical exam and finalizing the official max contract he’d agreed to (last week’s deal was just an offer sheet with terms in it).
在参加了必要的体检并最终确定了他同意的那份正式最高合同之后,他与菲尼克斯太阳队一起在社交媒体上发帖(上周的决议只是一份包含条款的报价单)。
In the formal press release, Ayton said simply: “I’m happy to put free agency behind me and ready to work and compete for a championship with my teammates.”
在正式的新闻稿中,艾顿简单地说:“我很高兴自己不再是自由球员,下一步就是准备好和队友一起打球和争夺冠军。
On social media, he recognized the fans, his American home town of Phoenix (he’s been in Arizona the last eight years, since moving from the Bahamas) and teammates he calls brothers.
在社交媒体上,他与球迷,他的美国家乡凤凰城(从巴哈马搬到这里以来,他在过去的八年里一直在亚利桑那州,艾顿也是来自亚利桑那州立大学)以及他称之为兄弟的队友相认。
— Deandre Ayton (@DeandreAyton) July 19, 2022
德安德烈-艾顿 7月19,2022
And then he shared with Marc Spears of ESPN a little more:
然后他与ESPN的马克-斯皮尔斯分享了一些信息。
“This is a blessing,” Ayton told ESPN’s Andscape in a phone conversation after signing his contract. “This contract not only has generational impact for my family, but also with the way we are able to work in the Phoenix community and home in the Bahamas. That is the things that we go by ...
“这是一个好消息,”艾顿在签署合同后在电话交谈中告诉ESPN的Andscape。“这份合同不仅对我的家庭产生了持续的影响,而且也是我们在凤凰城社区和巴哈马家庭的能够完成的工作方式。这就是我们所经历的事情...
“I’ve come to understand that this is a business. So, I was more anxious to know the end of the result so I could focus, move on and just get back to work. I just treated everything like a business. Just keep being professional, approach everything with professionalism and not looking too deep into it.”
"我已经了解到这是一个商业项目。所以,我更急于知道最后的结果,这样我就可以集中精力,重新开始工作,继续前进。我只是把一切都当作一门生意。只是保持专业性,以专业精神对待一切,不看得那么深刻。"
He says he’s ready to get back to work.
他说他已经准备好回去打球了。
If only the Suns had made it a little bit easier for him to get that contract done.
要是太阳队能让他更容易一点地完成这份合同就好了。
The closest comp I can find — a former No. 1 overall pick who was forced to use
restricted free agency to get that max contract starting in year five — is Kenyon Martin, who was taken No. 1 overall in 2000.
我能找到的最接近的球员——一位前状元秀,被迫使用受限自由球员来获得在第五年开始最高合同的人——是肯扬-马丁,他在2000年获得了总额度第一的合同。
Martin is actually a better comp than I’d expected. In his first four years, the 6’8” forward had been a vital cog on a two-time Eastern Conference champ with the New Jersey Nets. He did make an All-Star team in year four, but never averaged more than 16.7 points or 9.5 rebounds per game.
马丁实际上是一个比我预期的更好的球员。在他的前四年里,这位6尺8寸的前锋一直是新泽西篮网队两届东部联盟冠军的重要轮换。他在第四年也入选了全明星阵容,但场均得分从未超过16.7分或9.5个篮板。
The Nets did not extend him before that 4th season despite coming off a Finals appearance (their second in a row), and did not offer him a contract ahead of free agency after year four either. He finally got a max offer from the Denver Nuggets and — the only variation from the Suns here — worked out a sign-and-trade to get him out of Jersey.
尽管篮网队在第四个赛季前刚刚打完总决赛(连续第二次),但他们并没有与他续约,也没有在第四年后的自由市场开启之前向他提供合同。他终于从丹佛掘金队得到了一个最大的报价,并且 - 这里唯一与太阳队不同的是 - 最终达成了一个先签后换的交易,使得他离开了新泽西。
Here’s an article where Martin talks about it:
这是马丁谈论这个问题的一篇文章:
Kenyon Martin, who was drafted first overall by the Nets in 2000, became a restricted free agent in the summer of 2004 and told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on Scoop B Radio on Thursday that New Jersey never made an attempt to keep the All-Star power forward.
肯扬-马丁在2000年的状元被篮网队选中,他在2004年夏天成为一名受限制的自由球员,并于周四在Scoop B电台上告诉Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson(知名记者),新泽西州从未试图保留这位全明星大前锋。
Martin wound up signing a seven-year, $92.5 million max deal with the Nets as part of a sign-and-trade arrangement with the Denver Nuggets.
马丁最终与篮网队签署了一份7年,最高价值9250万美元的球员合同,这也成为了与丹佛掘金队签约和交易计划的一部分。
Martin said the Nets sort of made the decision for him:
马丁说在一定程度上来讲是篮网队为他做出了这个决定:
“Yeah, it wasn’t up to me, man. They didn’t offer me a contract and that is what people don’t know. Like those people didn’t offer me a contract, you know what I’m saying? They didn’t even call me to offer me a contract. So I waited around and I waited around and they never called.
“是的,这不是取决于我的,伙计。他们没有提供给我一份合同,这是人们不知道的。就像那些人没有给我合同一样,你知道我在说什么吗?他们甚至没有打电话给我提供合同。所以我都在等待,我等啊等啊,他们从来没有打电话给我。
“I had to do what we best for me and my family.”
“我不得不为我和我的家人做出对我们来说最有利的事情。
Martin made only that one All-Star appearance in his career. He wasn’t big enough to be a true power forward, he couldn’t shoot from any distance, and he couldn’t create his own shot too well either. He was very effective on both ends, but would never be any team’s No. 1 option on offense.
马丁在他的职业生涯中只入选了一次全明星赛。他不够高大,不能成为一名真正的大前锋,他不能从任何距离处将球投进,他也不能更好地创造自己的投篮机会。他在两端都非常有效率,但永远不会成为任何球队中在进攻方面的首要选择。
Sounds familiar, huh?
听起来很熟悉,对吧?
Ayton ended up doing the same thing Martin did: got that max contract from another team. But the Suns matched it, and now Ayton will stay with the Suns for at least six more months but possibly for the next four full years.
艾顿最终做了和马丁同样的事情:从另一支球队拿到了那份最大额度的合同。但太阳队与它相匹配,现在艾顿将在太阳队至少再呆六个月,但也可能是接下来的四年。
In the press release announcing the re-signing, the Suns said more definitively positive things about Ayton in one quote than they’d said in the prior four years put together (or so it seems, at least).
在宣布重新签约的新闻发布会中,太阳队在一句话中说的关于艾顿的非常积极的东西比他们在之前的四年里说的加起来还要多(或许,至少是看起来是这样的)。
“Deandre is a force on both ends of the floor, who has elevated his game every year and will continue to do so,” said General Manager James Jones. “DA is so important to what we do and without him we could not have reached our recent levels of success. We are excited to keep Deandre at home in the Valley where he belongs.”
“艾顿在攻防两端都具有巨大的力量,他每年都在提升自己的竞技水平,并将继续这样做下去,”总经理詹姆斯-琼斯说。“艾顿对我们的工作非常重要,没有他,我们不可能达到近期的高度。我们很高兴能让艾顿留在他所属的菲尼克斯。
Jones was later even more emphatic, when talking with Marc Spears:
琼斯后来在与马克-斯皮尔斯交谈时更加强调:
“We wanted Deandre here,” Jones said in a phone interview. “He’s vital to what we do, at the core of everything that we do. And throughout this whole process it was, it rang true. We wanted to keep him here, and the moment we can come to an agreement, we would. So, waiting 24 hours, 48 hours, that wasn’t something we needed to do because going into it, we knew this is where he wanted to be and where we wanted him to be.
“我们希望艾顿在这里,”琼斯在电话采访中说。“他对我们所做的工作来说至关重要,是我们所做的一切的核心。这贯穿整个过程当中,它听起来很真实。我们想把他留在这里,只要我们能在协议达成一致,我们就会这样做的。所以,等待24小时,48小时,不是我们需要做的事情,因为我们全力以赴过了,我们知道这是他想去的地方,也是我们想要他去的地方。
“I’m one to just be direct. And if you’re convicted, if you know what you want to do, you do it. But if there’s any doubt from anyone that we wanted him, I think that the matching did that. It was urgent for us. It was important. It was critical for us. So, we just wanted to make sure that we handled our business quickly.”
“我是一个直率的人。如果你被人们的框架约束了,如果你知道你想做什么,你就会去做。但是,如果对我们想要的他存在怀疑。但是我们确实匹配了报价。这对我们来说迫在眉睫的事。这很重要。这对我们来说至关重要。因此,我们只是想确定我们可以快速地处理我们的事务。
Whatever the reality behind the scenes, considering if it was really that critical then why force the offer sheet from another team, now is the time to move forward.
无论背后的现实情况如何,考虑到它是否真的那么重要,那么为什么要从另一支球队那里强行提出资格的报价,现在是时候向前迈进了。
Arizona has been Ayton’s home since moving from the Bahamas as a high school aged teen.
自从艾顿在高中时期从巴哈马搬来后,亚利桑那州一直都是他的家。
DA is a solid four-year starter for a Suns team that rocketed from NBA’s worst to one of its best by his third season, helping the Suns make their first NBA Finals appearance in almost 30 years.
艾顿是太阳队四年的首发球员,这支球队在他的第三个赛季从NBA最差的球队摇身一变成为最好的球队之一,帮助太阳队在近30年内首次打进NBA总决赛。
A good player but not a great one.
是一个优秀球员,但还不是一个伟大的球员。
At least now Ayton is being paid like he should. He’s better than those six mentioned earlier in the article, and could be better than several of the others by the time he’s done. Here’s a full list of No. 1 picks since 1997.
至少现在艾顿得到了他应该得到的报酬。他比本文前面提到的那六个人更好,到他履行完合同后,他或许比其他几个人还会更好。以下是自1997年以来状元的完整名单。
*Note: I just arbitrarily stopped at 1997. The further you go back into the 90s the crazier the contracts were for rookies. Going back to 1997 makes the point of the article enough.
*注意:我只是选取到1997年就停止了。你越往90年代追溯,新秀的合同就越疯狂。回到1997年,这篇文章的观点已经足够了。
Ayton is not a perennial All-Star, but he is definitely one of the best 40 players in the NBA — top 10% in the league — and now will be paid the 34th-highest contract in 2022-23, tied with two other classmates from the 2018 Draft.
艾顿不是常驻的全明星球员,但他绝对是NBA最好的40名球员之一 - 联盟前10% - 现在将在2022-23赛季获得第34高的薪资合同,与2018年选秀中的另外两名同级人并列。
Contract and performance are now in-line.
合同和场上的表现是一致的。
The Suns can mend the fences on hard feeling around the business side of basketball, but the question is whether they can mend the fences around Ayton’s sense of belonging with the team. And whether they can get the most out of Ayton going forward.
太阳队围绕篮球的商业周边方面可以弥补场上风格硬度的偏见,但问题是他们能否修补艾顿对球队的归属感的隔阂。以及他们是否能在未来从艾顿身上得到最大的好处。
His commitment to the Suns franchise certainly diminished a bit in the wake of these difficult negotiations. If the Suns truly believed their own quote above, why was this so hard to get done?
在这些艰难的谈判之后,他对太阳队的球队承诺肯定减少了一些。如果太阳队真的相信他们自己上面的那句话,为什么这件事的过程会如此艰难?
Now Ayton has the rest of the summer — two months or so — to get his mind right. And the Suns coaching staff has that same time to figure out how important Ayton really is to their small window of contention.
现在,艾顿有剩下的夏天--两个月左右的时间--来让心态回到正轨。而太阳队的教练组也有同样的时间来搞清楚艾顿对于他们小小的夺冠竞争窗口到底有多么的重要。
Lots of things could change for the Suns — incoming Kevin Durant? worsening Chris Paul? Six expiring contracts playing for their stats? — but Ayton is one of only two guaranteed constants, along with Book, sure to remain in purple and orange for the next year.
对于太阳队来说,很多事情可能会改变——即将到来的的凯文·杜兰特?克里斯·保罗的退化?以及数据统计的六份即将到期的合同?但布克是仅有的两个保障的不变因素之一,另外一个是布克,肯定会在下一年继续穿着紫色和橙色的衣服。
Since the Ayton re-signing, DraftKings Sportsbook gives the Suns the 4th-best odds to win the title next June — behind only the Celtics, Clippers and Warriors. That may be assuming Kevin Durant ends up with the Suns, but the same DraftKings has the Suns with only the 2nd best chance to have Durant in their uniform next season, behind the Nets.
自从艾顿重新签约后,DraftKings体育博彩公司对于明年6月赢得冠军的赔率,给太阳队第4好的赔率, - 仅次于凯尔特人队,快船队和勇士队。这可能是假设凯文-杜兰特最终加入了太阳队,但同样的DraftKings认为太阳队在下赛季能够拥有杜兰特的机会仅次于网队。
The Suns will need the very best of Booker and Ayton to reach that goal. No matter what happens on the trade front around them, DA and Book will need to be leaders on and off the court to help the team overcome that 2022 playoff collapse.
太阳队将需要布克和艾顿的做到最好的自己来实现这一目标。无论在他们周围的交易会怎样发生,艾顿和布克将需要在球场内外都成为领导者,以帮助球队克服2022年季后赛的崩盘。
Those two pillars are the key to the Suns returning to that hardworking contender mentality they lost since early April.
这两大支柱是太阳队拾起自4月初以来失去的有力竞争者心态的关键。
Ayton, Suns say the right things with his re-signing, but the pressure is now on to prove it
艾顿和太阳队一致同意重新签署合同,但现在的压力是要证明这是正确的决定。
Lots of things can change for the Phoenix Suns, the only sure-things now are Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
对于菲尼克斯太阳队来说,很多事情都可以改变,现在唯一可以肯定的事情必定发生在德文-布克和德安德烈-艾顿身上。
Deandre Ayton, a restricted free agent of the Phoenix Suns, had not tweeted or grammed anything since the end of the season. He had not agreed to any interviews, and basically stayed out of public view entirely.
菲尼克斯太阳队的受限自由球员德安德烈-艾顿自赛季结束以来没有发过任何推文或文字性的宣告。他没有同意接受任何采访,基本上完全处于公众视线之外。
The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Draft was in big red-light-flashing danger of joining a short, ignominious list of not-good-enough No. 1 picks who’d failed to earn that max-level salary in their second contract.
In the last 25 years, only Markelle Fultz (2017), Anthony Bennett (2013), Greg Oden (2007), Andrea Bargnani (2006), Kwame Brown (2001) and Michael Olowokandi (1998) failed to secure a max-level salary beginning in year five.
这位前2018年选秀大会上的状元秀处于即将进入一个有缺点、可耻的名单中危机当中,即不够好的状元秀——他们未能在第二份合同中获得最高级别的薪水。
在过去的25年里,只有马克尔-富尔茨(2017)、安东尼-本内特(2013)、格雷格-奥登(2007)、安德里亚-巴尼亚尼(2006)、夸梅-布朗(2001)和迈克尔-奥洛沃坎迪(1998)未能从第五年开始获得最高工资水平。
Ayton’s entire NBA legacy was on the line. Would he have a Karl-Anthony Towns-like legacy, or an Andrea Bargnani-like legacy?
艾顿的整个NBA传承就在眼前。他将拥有卡尔-安东尼-唐斯那样的传承,还是安德烈-巴格纳尼那样的传承?
Ayton has easily had the best rookie-contract career of any of those six mentioned above. He’d been mostly healthy (unlike Oden and Fultz), quite productive and a major, starting-level contributor on a contender. Ayton’s 35 playoff starts in four years are more than those six, and many other max-contract former No. 1 picks, amassed altogether in their rookie contracts.
艾顿相比于上述六人中都轻松拥有最好的新秀合同生涯。他基本上是健康的(不像奥登和富尔茨),比较高的效率,并且是竞争者中的首发主力水平的。艾顿在四年中的35次季后赛首发,比这六个人以及其他许多有顶薪合同的状元球员在新秀合同中积累的总和还要多。
But the Suns didn’t see him as a max-max guy of the five-year-with-escalators variety, and now Ayton would have to hope another team would step up to the plate.
但太阳队并没有把他看作是一个5年内可以成长的最高水平的人,现在艾顿不得不希望另一支球队可以站出来。
Tensions rose, indeed.
紧张局面确实有所上升。
He went quiet after Suns lost to the Mavericks, where he and head coach Monty Williams erupted at one point on the sideline (after he’d failed to close out on a corner three point shooter). Williams later declined to discuss the altercation, saying simply “It’s internal”, and declined to mention Ayton in a post-season presser on who needs to get better in support of Devin Booker and Chris Paul next season.
在太阳队输给小牛队之后,他变得沉默下来,当时他和主教练蒙蒂-威廉姆斯(Monty Williams)在场边爆发了一次争吵(在他没能封住一个角落里的三分射手后)。威廉姆斯后来拒绝讨论这场争吵,只是说“这是队伍内部的事情”,并在季后赛新闻发布会上在关于下赛季谁需要去变得更好地帮助德文-布克和克里斯-保罗的事情上婉拒提及艾顿。
He stayed quiet when the Suns issued him a one-year $16.4 million qualifying offer but declined to offer even a four-year mini-max contract before free agency started that would have matched anything another team could offer (4 years, $133 million).
当太阳队向他发出为期一年的1640万美元合格报价时,他保持沉默,但在自由球员市场开始之前,他甚至拒绝提供一份为期四年的迷你最大合同,这本来可以与其他球队所能提供的任何一个合同,相匹配(4年,1.33亿美元)。
He stayed quiet when the Suns handed teammate Devin Booker a $224+ million extension the first second they could, two years before Book’s current contract was set to expire. Altogether, that locks Book up for six more years in the Valley while Ayton was left dangling in free agency.
当太阳队向队友德文-布克(Devin Booker)提供一份2.24亿美元以上的续约时,他也保持沉默,这是太阳队能够提供续约合同的最早时间,两年后,布克目前的合同即将到期。总而言之,这让布克在峡谷中又待上六年,而艾顿则被留在了自由市场。(峡谷:(菲尼克斯别称“太阳河谷(Valley of the Sun)”,因其位于亚利桑那州中部的盐河河谷(the Salt River Valley))
He stayed quiet when his name and contract situation dominated headlines for two weeks as one of the best available free agents. He declined to give a single on-record quote of his preference for how the process would play out.
当他的名字和合同情况作为最佳自由球员之一占据了两周的头条时,他同样保持沉默。他拒绝给出一个关于他对这个过程中更倾向于那个球队的单向公开报价。
He stayed quiet when he finally signed a $133 million offer sheet from the Pacers, only to see that offer sheet matched within seconds by the Suns. The same Suns who had never offered him a contract outright.
当他最终与步行者队签下一份1.33亿美元的报价单时,他保持沉默,结果却看到太阳队在几秒钟内就匹配了该报价。太阳队从未直接向他提供过合同。
He stayed quiet for four more days too. Despite knowing he’s back with his drafting team, $133 million richer, and his legacy as a successful former No. 1 overall pick still intact, with a floor no lower than Andrew Wiggins who took eight years to make an All-Star team.
他也沉默了四天。尽管他知道以1.33亿美元的合同,回到了新秀时被选中的球队当中,而且他作为成功的状元秀的传承仍然完好无损,他的下限不低于花了八年时间成为全明星的安德鲁-威金斯。
Ayton now becomes one of the 17 former No. 1 overall picks from the 1997-2019 Drafts who got max salaries coming off their rookie contracts.
艾顿现在成为1997-2019年选秀大会的前17名的状元秀之一,他们从新秀合同中获得最高薪水。
On Monday night, Ayton finally broke his silence.
周一晚上,艾顿终于不再沉默。
He posted to social media alongside the Phoenix Suns, after taking the required physical exam and finalizing the official max contract he’d agreed to (last week’s deal was just an offer sheet with terms in it).
在参加了必要的体检并最终确定了他同意的那份正式最高合同之后,他与菲尼克斯太阳队一起在社交媒体上发帖(上周的决议只是一份包含条款的报价单)。
In the formal press release, Ayton said simply: “I’m happy to put free agency behind me and ready to work and compete for a championship with my teammates.”
在正式的新闻稿中,艾顿简单地说:“我很高兴自己不再是自由球员,下一步就是准备好和队友一起打球和争夺冠军。
On social media, he recognized the fans, his American home town of Phoenix (he’s been in Arizona the last eight years, since moving from the Bahamas) and teammates he calls brothers.
在社交媒体上,他与球迷,他的美国家乡凤凰城(从巴哈马搬到这里以来,他在过去的八年里一直在亚利桑那州,艾顿也是来自亚利桑那州立大学)以及他称之为兄弟的队友相认。
— Deandre Ayton (@DeandreAyton) July 19, 2022
德安德烈-艾顿 7月19,2022
And then he shared with Marc Spears of ESPN a little more:
然后他与ESPN的马克-斯皮尔斯分享了一些信息。
“This is a blessing,” Ayton told ESPN’s Andscape in a phone conversation after signing his contract. “This contract not only has generational impact for my family, but also with the way we are able to work in the Phoenix community and home in the Bahamas. That is the things that we go by ...
“这是一个好消息,”艾顿在签署合同后在电话交谈中告诉ESPN的Andscape。“这份合同不仅对我的家庭产生了持续的影响,而且也是我们在凤凰城社区和巴哈马家庭的能够完成的工作方式。这就是我们所经历的事情...
“I’ve come to understand that this is a business. So, I was more anxious to know the end of the result so I could focus, move on and just get back to work. I just treated everything like a business. Just keep being professional, approach everything with professionalism and not looking too deep into it.”
"我已经了解到这是一个商业项目。所以,我更急于知道最后的结果,这样我就可以集中精力,重新开始工作,继续前进。我只是把一切都当作一门生意。只是保持专业性,以专业精神对待一切,不看得那么深刻。"
He says he’s ready to get back to work.
他说他已经准备好回去打球了。
If only the Suns had made it a little bit easier for him to get that contract done.
要是太阳队能让他更容易一点地完成这份合同就好了。
The closest comp I can find — a former No. 1 overall pick who was forced to use
restricted free agency to get that max contract starting in year five — is Kenyon Martin, who was taken No. 1 overall in 2000.
我能找到的最接近的球员——一位前状元秀,被迫使用受限自由球员来获得在第五年开始最高合同的人——是肯扬-马丁,他在2000年获得了总额度第一的合同。
Martin is actually a better comp than I’d expected. In his first four years, the 6’8” forward had been a vital cog on a two-time Eastern Conference champ with the New Jersey Nets. He did make an All-Star team in year four, but never averaged more than 16.7 points or 9.5 rebounds per game.
马丁实际上是一个比我预期的更好的球员。在他的前四年里,这位6尺8寸的前锋一直是新泽西篮网队两届东部联盟冠军的重要轮换。他在第四年也入选了全明星阵容,但场均得分从未超过16.7分或9.5个篮板。
The Nets did not extend him before that 4th season despite coming off a Finals appearance (their second in a row), and did not offer him a contract ahead of free agency after year four either. He finally got a max offer from the Denver Nuggets and — the only variation from the Suns here — worked out a sign-and-trade to get him out of Jersey.
尽管篮网队在第四个赛季前刚刚打完总决赛(连续第二次),但他们并没有与他续约,也没有在第四年后的自由市场开启之前向他提供合同。他终于从丹佛掘金队得到了一个最大的报价,并且 - 这里唯一与太阳队不同的是 - 最终达成了一个先签后换的交易,使得他离开了新泽西。
Here’s an article where Martin talks about it:
这是马丁谈论这个问题的一篇文章:
Kenyon Martin, who was drafted first overall by the Nets in 2000, became a restricted free agent in the summer of 2004 and told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on Scoop B Radio on Thursday that New Jersey never made an attempt to keep the All-Star power forward.
肯扬-马丁在2000年的状元被篮网队选中,他在2004年夏天成为一名受限制的自由球员,并于周四在Scoop B电台上告诉Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson(知名记者),新泽西州从未试图保留这位全明星大前锋。
Martin wound up signing a seven-year, $92.5 million max deal with the Nets as part of a sign-and-trade arrangement with the Denver Nuggets.
马丁最终与篮网队签署了一份7年,最高价值9250万美元的球员合同,这也成为了与丹佛掘金队签约和交易计划的一部分。
Martin said the Nets sort of made the decision for him:
马丁说在一定程度上来讲是篮网队为他做出了这个决定:
“Yeah, it wasn’t up to me, man. They didn’t offer me a contract and that is what people don’t know. Like those people didn’t offer me a contract, you know what I’m saying? They didn’t even call me to offer me a contract. So I waited around and I waited around and they never called.
“是的,这不是取决于我的,伙计。他们没有提供给我一份合同,这是人们不知道的。就像那些人没有给我合同一样,你知道我在说什么吗?他们甚至没有打电话给我提供合同。所以我都在等待,我等啊等啊,他们从来没有打电话给我。
“I had to do what we best for me and my family.”
“我不得不为我和我的家人做出对我们来说最有利的事情。
Martin made only that one All-Star appearance in his career. He wasn’t big enough to be a true power forward, he couldn’t shoot from any distance, and he couldn’t create his own shot too well either. He was very effective on both ends, but would never be any team’s No. 1 option on offense.
马丁在他的职业生涯中只入选了一次全明星赛。他不够高大,不能成为一名真正的大前锋,他不能从任何距离处将球投进,他也不能更好地创造自己的投篮机会。他在两端都非常有效率,但永远不会成为任何球队中在进攻方面的首要选择。
Sounds familiar, huh?
听起来很熟悉,对吧?
Ayton ended up doing the same thing Martin did: got that max contract from another team. But the Suns matched it, and now Ayton will stay with the Suns for at least six more months but possibly for the next four full years.
艾顿最终做了和马丁同样的事情:从另一支球队拿到了那份最大额度的合同。但太阳队与它相匹配,现在艾顿将在太阳队至少再呆六个月,但也可能是接下来的四年。
In the press release announcing the re-signing, the Suns said more definitively positive things about Ayton in one quote than they’d said in the prior four years put together (or so it seems, at least).
在宣布重新签约的新闻发布会中,太阳队在一句话中说的关于艾顿的非常积极的东西比他们在之前的四年里说的加起来还要多(或许,至少是看起来是这样的)。
“Deandre is a force on both ends of the floor, who has elevated his game every year and will continue to do so,” said General Manager James Jones. “DA is so important to what we do and without him we could not have reached our recent levels of success. We are excited to keep Deandre at home in the Valley where he belongs.”
“艾顿在攻防两端都具有巨大的力量,他每年都在提升自己的竞技水平,并将继续这样做下去,”总经理詹姆斯-琼斯说。“艾顿对我们的工作非常重要,没有他,我们不可能达到近期的高度。我们很高兴能让艾顿留在他所属的菲尼克斯。
Jones was later even more emphatic, when talking with Marc Spears:
琼斯后来在与马克-斯皮尔斯交谈时更加强调:
“We wanted Deandre here,” Jones said in a phone interview. “He’s vital to what we do, at the core of everything that we do. And throughout this whole process it was, it rang true. We wanted to keep him here, and the moment we can come to an agreement, we would. So, waiting 24 hours, 48 hours, that wasn’t something we needed to do because going into it, we knew this is where he wanted to be and where we wanted him to be.
“我们希望艾顿在这里,”琼斯在电话采访中说。“他对我们所做的工作来说至关重要,是我们所做的一切的核心。这贯穿整个过程当中,它听起来很真实。我们想把他留在这里,只要我们能在协议达成一致,我们就会这样做的。所以,等待24小时,48小时,不是我们需要做的事情,因为我们全力以赴过了,我们知道这是他想去的地方,也是我们想要他去的地方。
“I’m one to just be direct. And if you’re convicted, if you know what you want to do, you do it. But if there’s any doubt from anyone that we wanted him, I think that the matching did that. It was urgent for us. It was important. It was critical for us. So, we just wanted to make sure that we handled our business quickly.”
“我是一个直率的人。如果你被人们的框架约束了,如果你知道你想做什么,你就会去做。但是,如果对我们想要的他存在怀疑。但是我们确实匹配了报价。这对我们来说迫在眉睫的事。这很重要。这对我们来说至关重要。因此,我们只是想确定我们可以快速地处理我们的事务。
Whatever the reality behind the scenes, considering if it was really that critical then why force the offer sheet from another team, now is the time to move forward.
无论背后的现实情况如何,考虑到它是否真的那么重要,那么为什么要从另一支球队那里强行提出资格的报价,现在是时候向前迈进了。
Arizona has been Ayton’s home since moving from the Bahamas as a high school aged teen.
自从艾顿在高中时期从巴哈马搬来后,亚利桑那州一直都是他的家。
DA is a solid four-year starter for a Suns team that rocketed from NBA’s worst to one of its best by his third season, helping the Suns make their first NBA Finals appearance in almost 30 years.
艾顿是太阳队四年的首发球员,这支球队在他的第三个赛季从NBA最差的球队摇身一变成为最好的球队之一,帮助太阳队在近30年内首次打进NBA总决赛。
A good player but not a great one.
是一个优秀球员,但还不是一个伟大的球员。
At least now Ayton is being paid like he should. He’s better than those six mentioned earlier in the article, and could be better than several of the others by the time he’s done. Here’s a full list of No. 1 picks since 1997.
至少现在艾顿得到了他应该得到的报酬。他比本文前面提到的那六个人更好,到他履行完合同后,他或许比其他几个人还会更好。以下是自1997年以来状元的完整名单。
*Note: I just arbitrarily stopped at 1997. The further you go back into the 90s the crazier the contracts were for rookies. Going back to 1997 makes the point of the article enough.
*注意:我只是选取到1997年就停止了。你越往90年代追溯,新秀的合同就越疯狂。回到1997年,这篇文章的观点已经足够了。
Ayton is not a perennial All-Star, but he is definitely one of the best 40 players in the NBA — top 10% in the league — and now will be paid the 34th-highest contract in 2022-23, tied with two other classmates from the 2018 Draft.
艾顿不是常驻的全明星球员,但他绝对是NBA最好的40名球员之一 - 联盟前10% - 现在将在2022-23赛季获得第34高的薪资合同,与2018年选秀中的另外两名同级人并列。
Contract and performance are now in-line.
合同和场上的表现是一致的。
The Suns can mend the fences on hard feeling around the business side of basketball, but the question is whether they can mend the fences around Ayton’s sense of belonging with the team. And whether they can get the most out of Ayton going forward.
太阳队围绕篮球的商业周边方面可以弥补场上风格硬度的偏见,但问题是他们能否修补艾顿对球队的归属感的隔阂。以及他们是否能在未来从艾顿身上得到最大的好处。
His commitment to the Suns franchise certainly diminished a bit in the wake of these difficult negotiations. If the Suns truly believed their own quote above, why was this so hard to get done?
在这些艰难的谈判之后,他对太阳队的球队承诺肯定减少了一些。如果太阳队真的相信他们自己上面的那句话,为什么这件事的过程会如此艰难?
Now Ayton has the rest of the summer — two months or so — to get his mind right. And the Suns coaching staff has that same time to figure out how important Ayton really is to their small window of contention.
现在,艾顿有剩下的夏天--两个月左右的时间--来让心态回到正轨。而太阳队的教练组也有同样的时间来搞清楚艾顿对于他们小小的夺冠竞争窗口到底有多么的重要。
Lots of things could change for the Suns — incoming Kevin Durant? worsening Chris Paul? Six expiring contracts playing for their stats? — but Ayton is one of only two guaranteed constants, along with Book, sure to remain in purple and orange for the next year.
对于太阳队来说,很多事情可能会改变——即将到来的的凯文·杜兰特?克里斯·保罗的退化?以及数据统计的六份即将到期的合同?但布克是仅有的两个保障的不变因素之一,另外一个是布克,肯定会在下一年继续穿着紫色和橙色的衣服。
Since the Ayton re-signing, DraftKings Sportsbook gives the Suns the 4th-best odds to win the title next June — behind only the Celtics, Clippers and Warriors. That may be assuming Kevin Durant ends up with the Suns, but the same DraftKings has the Suns with only the 2nd best chance to have Durant in their uniform next season, behind the Nets.
自从艾顿重新签约后,DraftKings体育博彩公司对于明年6月赢得冠军的赔率,给太阳队第4好的赔率, - 仅次于凯尔特人队,快船队和勇士队。这可能是假设凯文-杜兰特最终加入了太阳队,但同样的DraftKings认为太阳队在下赛季能够拥有杜兰特的机会仅次于网队。
The Suns will need the very best of Booker and Ayton to reach that goal. No matter what happens on the trade front around them, DA and Book will need to be leaders on and off the court to help the team overcome that 2022 playoff collapse.
太阳队将需要布克和艾顿的做到最好的自己来实现这一目标。无论在他们周围的交易会怎样发生,艾顿和布克将需要在球场内外都成为领导者,以帮助球队克服2022年季后赛的崩盘。
Those two pillars are the key to the Suns returning to that hardworking contender mentality they lost since early April.
这两大支柱是太阳队拾起自4月初以来失去的有力竞争者心态的关键。