Former NBA star Tracy McGrady made his Chinese Basketball Association debut with the Qingdao Double Star Eagles over the weekend, losing a heartbreaker to the Fujian Sturgeons after Sundiata Gaines, formerly of the NBA's Utah Jazz, drained a three-pointer with no time left to put Fujian up 95-92. It was the sort finish -- dramatic, supremely marketable -- that CBA executives have been dreaming of ever since they started pushing hard to recruit former NBA players a couple of years ago.
前NBA球星麦蒂(Tracy McGrady)加盟青岛双星后在上周末进行了CBA联赛首秀，不料双星却在最后一刻输给福建浔兴。前NBA犹他爵士队球星盖恩斯(Sundiata Gaines)在终场前最后一刻投入三分球，青岛双星没有时间扳回比分，最终以92-95败北。这种充满戏剧性且推广性很强的比赛结局正是CBA高管多年前开始大力征召NBA前球星以来梦想出现的场面。
But if the presence of so many marquee names on CBA courts has given the league an immediate boost, it's not necessarily a good thing for Chinese basketball as a whole. Or so says China's biggest homegrown basketball star.
Reuters姚明但是，如果只要众多大牌球星出现在CBA球场上就能给中国篮球联赛带来迅速的提升，这对中国篮球整体而言未必是一件好事。一位中国本土培养出来的大牌篮球明星是这么认为的。
'We need to do something to help local basketball grow. You can't always rely on the foreign basketball players to come and help with your marketing and all that,' retired eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming told China Real Time in a recent interview. 'You need to have local people come in and have a deep impact, to make that link, that connection between the players and the fans.'
曾八次入选NBA全明星阵容的退役球员姚明最近在接受“中国实时报”栏目采访时说，我们需要做一些事情来帮助中国篮球成长，不能总是依靠国外球星到中国来帮助你推广篮球运动，你得要有能够产生深刻影响的国内球员，让他们充当连接球员和球迷的桥梁。
In a country hungry for global sports success that boasts hundreds of millions of basketball fans --- including Premier Wen Jiabao --- the state of Chinese basketball is a persistent source of consternation. Led by Yao, China's national men's team managed to finish eighth in the standings during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But it has struggled mightily since injuries forced Yao to retire and left the London Olympics this summer without winning a single game. The CBA, meanwhile, watched fans lose interest after Yao was picked first the 2002 NBA draft and left the league without any major stars.
作为一个拥有大量篮球迷（其中包括国务院总理温家宝）的国家，中国渴望在世界体坛取得成功，但中国篮球的现状却总是让人感到沮丧。在姚明的带领下，中国国家男子篮球队在2008年北京奥运会上最终取得第八名的成绩。但在姚明因伤退役之后中国男篮举步维艰，在今年夏天的伦敦奥运会上没有赢得一场比赛。与此同时，姚明在2002年NBA选秀大赛中被火箭队挑中之后，CBA眼睁睁地看着球迷对联赛失去了兴趣，篮球联赛也不再有任何一位重量级球星。
Things have picked up for the CBA in recent years, thanks largely to former NBA heavyweights like McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and Stephon Marbury. McGrady arrived in Qingdao in October while Arenas signed with the Shanghai Sharks earlier this month. Marbury, an eccentric former New York Knick, has been tearing up the CBA since 2010 in one of basketball's great career resurrection stories.
但近年来CBA的情况有所改善，这主要应归功于NBA前重量级球星麦蒂、阿里纳斯(Gilbert Arenas)和马布里(Stephon Marbury)的加盟。麦蒂今年10月抵达青岛，而阿里纳斯本月早些时候签约上海大鲨鱼。前纽约尼克斯队古怪球星马布里自2010年以来在CBA就一直很成功，他也因此书写了篮球史上一次伟大的在职业生涯中二次焕发青春的故事。
Visiting Beijing to promote his eponymous wine at a private dinner at the Ritz Carlton, Yao said he hadn't spoken with McGrady, his former teammate in Houston, about coming to China. As co-owner of the Sharks, however, he's helping pay Arenas's salary.
姚明此次访问北京是为了宣传以自己名字命名的葡萄酒。在丽思卡尔顿酒店(Ritz Carlton)的一个私人晚宴上，姚明说他不曾就到中国打球一事和麦蒂谈过话。麦蒂曾是姚明在休斯顿火箭队的队友。不过作为上海大鲨鱼球队的共同所有者，姚明得支付阿里纳斯的薪水。
Yao was careful to avoid portraying the presence of foreign stars in the CBA as a bad thing, and he lauded Marbury in particular for embracing the second chance he was given in China. Still, he argued, the league needs something else to succeed in the long run. 'I don't mean to say foreigners are hurting basketball here. They come here to play, the fans love them, but still, long-term, you need local stars turning out,' he said. 'We need to think about the second step.'
姚明说话很谨慎，他避免将国外球星到CBA打球这种现象说成一件坏事。他尤为称赞马布里，认为他把握住了在中国得到的第二次机会。尽管如此，他还是认为CBA想要在长期取得成功不能止步于此。姚明说，我的意思不是说外国球员给中国篮球带来了负面影响；他们到中国来打球，球迷也喜欢他们；但从长期看中国篮球还是需要本土球星的崛起；我们必须想想下一步该怎么办。
So what's the solution? With millions of kids playing basketball on courts from Beijing to Baotou, China already has the necessary raw materials, according to Yao. The key is convincing the country's schools and parents to give students a break from their relentless study schedules.
那么，有什么解决办法吗？姚明说，从北京到包头，数以百万计的孩子在操场打篮球，中国已经拥有了所需的“原材料”，关键是要说服学校和家长能让学生从排得满满当当的课程表里挤出一些打球的时间。
'We just need to give them more time to play,' he said. 'I'm not saying education is not important, but we have to have balance...More and more people are starting to realize that education is not only about homework and examinations. Physical education is important, too.'
姚明说，我们只是要给他们更多的时间来打球，我不是说学习不重要，但我们必须平衡了两者间的关系；越来越多的人开始认识到，学习不仅是作业和考试，体育锻炼也很重要。
In that sense, Yao said, one of the great things to happen to Chinese basketball is the emergence of Harvard graduate and Houston Rockets ball handler Jeremy Lin, who stunned the world last year with a torrid stretch as an emergency fill-in point guard for the Knicks.
姚明说，从这个意义上讲，对中国篮球来说，近来发生的最重要的一件事情就是从哈佛毕业、现为休斯顿火箭队控球后卫的林书豪(Jeremy Lin)的蹿红。去年，作为纽约尼克斯队替补控球后卫临时上场的林书豪以一连串优异的表现令世界震惊。
'He proved that it's not necessary to give up education to become a great athlete,' Yao said of Lin, a Taiwanese American who has a massive following in China.
Getty ImagesJeremy Lin姚明谈到林书豪时说，他证明了想要成为一名伟大的运动员不一定要放弃学习。林书豪是台裔美国人，在中国有大批粉丝。
The other reason Lin could have a big impact on China's basketball future, according to the towering Yao: 'He's just normal sized, 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 maybe. A lot of people can be that. Not everyone can be 7-foot-3.'
在身材高大的姚明看来，林书豪能够对中国篮球的未来产生重大影响的另一个原因是他的身高在1.9米左右，这一身高算是正常，很多人都能长到，不是每个人都能长到2.2米。
Lin has struggled so far to reproduce the success he experienced last year and said in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports that he felt he was a target on the court because of his race. Yao, who was a target himself when he first got to the NBA, said he thought it was wrong to think about it in terms of skin color.
到目前为止林书豪一直在努力复制他在去年取得的成功，在最近接受雅虎体育(Yahoo Sports)采访时他说，他觉得自己在球场被针对都是因为他是亚裔。刚到NBA时也曾被针对的姚明说，用肤色来解释这一问题是不对的。
'He's a target because he got so famous last year, not because of race,' he said. 'That what the NBA is like. You have to beat your opponent to earn the credit, and that's a process that will be with you through your entire career.'
姚明说，林书豪成为被针对的目标是因为他在去年太出名了，这与他的种族无关，NBA就是这个样子，你必须击败对手来赢得自己的荣誉，这一过程会伴随你的整个职业生涯。