美国国家公共电台 NPR--The San Antonio Spurs win the first draft pick. Will they choose Wembanyama?

The San Antonio Spurs win the first draft pick. Will they choose Wembanyama?

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez talks to Will Leitch, contributing editor for New York Magazine, about French basketball phenom Victor Wembanyama, who is projected to go first in the NBA draft.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Nineteen-year-old French basketball player Victor Wembanyama is considered the best NBA prospect² since LeBron James was drafted in 2003. And as you can hear in this video from ESPN, one lucky team earned the right to pick him in last night's draft lottery³.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK A TATUM: The number one pick in the 2023...

PETER J HOLT: (Cheering).

TATUM: ...NBA draft goes to the San Antonio Spurs.

MART?NEZ: That's the Spurs' general manager you heard cheering there. So who exactly is Victor Wembanyama, and why is he so happy? For that answer, we're going to go to Will Leitch, contributing editor for New York Magazine. Will, when I watch video of Wembanyama, I still can't believe that someone that tall plays the way he does. Tell us why he's special.

WILL LEITCH: Yeah, he's 7-foot-5, which is kind of almost unprecedented⁴ in NBA history. But really what he is, is he is a center who plays like a point guard. He is a mix of sort of Magic Johnson, Steph Curry⁵ and Wilt⁶ Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with all that kind of comes with that - just a player with those kind of skills. On defense⁷, he changes the game just almost geometrically with the way he can defend. But the thing that really changes him is that he is an incredible offensive player who has court vision. He really is a combination of everything that every team in the NBA wants, as you could probably tell by the whoop⁸ that the guy gave when he learned his team was getting him.

MART?NEZ: Yeah, if you were putting them together in a video game, you'd take the best of everyone. And that's him. At least that's what it seems like. OK, so he sounds perfect, Will. But if you had to nitpick, if you had to do it, what would it be?

LEITCH: Well, he is only 19 years old, which is worth keeping in mind. Now, he has dominated the French league, but scouts⁹ - they think everything about him is great except for his frame and his size. Like, all the things that make him great are actually things in the long term are the red flags. Because he's such an unprecedented player, we've never seen anything like him. His frame is actually pretty light, and so he's going to have to put some weight on. He only plays one game a week in the French league. He'll have to play more of that with the NBA with bigger, stronger guys.

But the biggest thing really is just players this tall in NBA history tend to not play that many games. Yet we think of Yao Ming as one of these greatest players of all time, and he is a Hall of Famer. He only played roughly 800 or so games in the NBA. That is not very many. If you want someone like Wembanyama to be the center of your franchise¹⁰ for many years, you want him - to be able to count on him. And listen, he may be able to be so - we've just literally¹¹ never seen anyone that looks like him before. So that raises the only real red flags are kind of sustainability and his ability to stay on the court.

MART?NEZ: Now, the Spurs, I mean, look like they're going to take him. I can't imagine that they're not. But how much of a difference could he make?

LEITCH: After that whoop, they better take him, I'll put it that way. Certainly, yeah, he changes the entire - he would change any team in the NBA. But the Spurs are a particularly fascinating one because they, of course, have a history of this. They had one bad season in the '90s, finished, got the first overall pick and picked Tim Duncan and won multiple championships. They're almost kind of blessed, almost like the Green Bay Packers in football getting Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers after that.

They will - this changes their entire franchise, not just on the court, but - you know, Gregg Popovich, a Hall of Fame coach and one of the most well-known personalities¹² in the NBA, was widely thought to potentially be retiring in the next couple of years. Put it this way - not a lot of people in the NBA get someone like him, like Wembanyama, and say, oh, no, I'm ready to leave. They will build everything around him. He instantly becomes the most famous person in the city of San Antonio, probably for several years moving forward.

MART?NEZ: And the thing is, if he doesn't work out - right? - he's such the overall consensus¹³ number one pick that who could blame the Spurs if he doesn't work out?

LEITCH: Certainly. You know, we've seen debates in the past.

MART?NEZ: Yeah.

LEITCH: You think of Greg Oden versus¹⁴ Kevin Durant, or even LeBron James had a little bit of debate back in the day. There is no debate here. There are other good players in this draft, from Scoot Henderson - he's very good. But generally speaking, you have to take Wembanyama.

MART?NEZ: That's Will Leitch, contributing editor for New York Magazine. Will, thanks.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

3 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

6 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 whoop   

n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息

参考例句：

• He gave a whoop of joy when he saw his new bicycle.他看到自己的新自行车时，高兴得叫了起来。
• Everybody is planning to whoop it up this weekend.大家都打算在这个周末好好欢闹一番。

9 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

10 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

13 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

14 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。