Kevin Durant Defends LeBron James' Decision to Opt out of Contract with Heat
By Jim Cavan , Featured Columnist Jun 25, 2014
http://tinyurl.com/kadulg4
It seems like just about everyone has an opinion on LeBron James' decision,
per USA Today's Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt, to exercise his early
termination option (ETO) with the Miami Heat—some of them astute, others…
well, not so much.
(最近似乎大家都對LBJ的Decision有很多意見)
For his part, Kevin Durant isn’t quite sure what all the fuss is about. From
a recent interview with the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg:
(對KD來說，他不太了解這些小題大作是怎麼回事，以下是記者訪談內容)
I don't know what the big deal is. As a player, I think that's the best way
to go about it. You can have all your options. It's better for you as a
player to opt-out, because you can get a market deal. You can get more years.
You never know what will happen if you pass up on that. So I didn't know what
the big deal was. I'm sure it was a decision he made, something he was
thinking about, for him and his family.
(我不認為這有甚麼大不了的，身為一個球員做出那樣的決定是最好的，你本來就可以有
你自己的選擇權，跳脫合約到自由球員市場是很好的事這樣你才能得到自己的市場價值。
你還有多年，一但錯過這次你永遠不會知道將來會如何。所以我不知道這件事有甚麼大不
了的，我相信這是他再為他自己以及家人著想後，經過深思熟慮之後的決定。)
While Durant could be misreading James' motivations—because, you know, we don
’t really know what they are yet—his underlying point still holds: This was
what was going to happen all along, so why is everyone acting so surprised?
(KD也有可能誤判LBJ的動機，當然，我們也不知道LBJ的動機到底是甚麼。KD的立場一直
堅持在 "這些本來就是會發生的事，你們到底在驚訝甚麼？")
Durant then went on to discuss what he sees as something of a double standard
levied to the detriment of the game's greatest star:
(KD接著提出針對大家雙重標準所造成LBJ傷害的一些看法)
I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think anything that you guys criticize
LeBron [about] is fair. He switched teams; he’s not the first guy to do it.
He decided to opt out; he’s not the first guy to do it. Sometimes a lot of
people criticize him a little bit too much for doing normal things, doing
stuff that everybody has done. [Even] Tim Duncan went into free agency
before. He got courted by quite a few teams. We’ll see what happens with me,
but everybody’s done the same thing. He’s not the first.
(我不認為這很公平，也不認為大家批判LBJ是公平的。他改變的球隊、他也不是第一個這
樣做的人，有些時候大家對他做的一些再正常不過的事都有點太嚴厲，石佛他也曾跳出來
過而且有也有一些球隊對他很有興趣。你們將會看到將來會發生在我身上的事、一個大家
都會做的事。LBJ，並不是第一個。
Much has been made of the motivations behind James' decision. On the one
hand, opting out could potentially give the Heat more financial flexibility
this summer—assuming Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh follow suit, of course.
One such scenario, first posed by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, involves Miami’s
Big Three signing new, reduced deals in order to make room for Carmelo
Anthony, who exercised his own ETO on Sunday:
(之前就傳出個腳本是三王協議降低薪資以挪出空間吸引甜瓜加入熱火。)
The mere concept would require the star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and
Chris Bosh to all opt out of their current contracts by the end of the month
and likely take further salary reductions in new deals that start next season
to give Miami the ability to offer Anthony a representative first-year
salary. The Heat also are prevented from making any formal contact with
Anthony until July 1 and can do so then only if he opts out of the final year
of his current contract.
(三王本季結束後一起降低薪資，才會有足夠空間給甜瓜第一年的薪資，不過熱火也會觀望
直到甜瓜結束他的合約且7月1號後，才可能給他正式的合約)
So that’s one option—one of many, of course.
(當然，這只是故事發展之一)
Another ancillary theory involves James opting out ahead of Wade and Bosh in
order to exert as much control as possible over how Pat Riley, the team’s
longtime president, augments a roster that saw its three-peat bid throttled
by the San Antonio Spurs.
(另一個揣測是LBJ藉著比wade跟bosh更早跳出以發揮比Pat Riley更大的影響力。)
Whatever James' motive, the ultimate decision was nothing if not a sensible
one.
(不管動機如何，LBJ做出明智的決定才是一切。)
For Thunder fans looking to read into LeBron’s move as a bellwether for what
Durant might do come the summer of 2016, a friendly reminder: Durant’s deal
doesn’t include a player option.
(雷霆球迷引以為鑑，但是不同的是，即使2016年到了，KD本身沒有球員選擇權。)
However, when KD does enter free agency, you can expect just as big of a buzz
—and just as much incessant hearsay—as we’ve seen with James.
(但是只要KD進入自由市場，大家對LBJ的批判同樣也會發生在KD身上。)
One can quibble all day with the timing of James' gambit, coming as it did
right before one of the most hotly anticipated drafts in recent memory.
As for the underlying strategy, it’s probably best to see how it all plays
out before we start accusing him of orchestrating The Decision Part II.
(不管如何，就讓我們繼續看下去 THE DECISION二部曲究竟會怎麼上演。)
心得：看來KD是在打預防針？