For the first time since the Allen Iverson era ended, Sixers fans finally have an exciting, up-and-coming basketball team.
自从阿伦-艾佛森的时代结束之后，76人队的球迷们终于再一次拥有了一支振奋人心，积极向上的球队。
There's a future superstar in the middle, a No. 1 overall pick about to return, and a supporting cast starting to settle into their roles. It's unlikely for the Sixers to win 80 percent of their games, as they have since the start of 2017, but improvement is here.
未来的巨星已然在阵中，状元郎也即将回归，其余诸将各司其职。虽然目前76人队不大可能将80%的胜率保持到赛季结束，不过他们的进步也是显而易见的。
So let's get something straight — stop concerning yourself with where the Sixers are in the lottery, and take a moment to soak this in.
因此，咱们不妨有话直说：别再担心76人队手中的乐透签了，敞开胸怀去感受追逐胜利的快感吧。
After three years of obsessively following top college prospects, I understand it might be hard to break the mindset. Markelle Fultz looks like a future star, and adding another stud to this mix could make the Sixers' rebuild nearly idiot-proof.
在接连执行了三年的“选秀策略”之后，我知道要想打破这个思维定势还真不容易。马克尔-富尔茨看上去就像是个未来之星，如果把他再纳入帐下，那么76人的阵容可真就是傻子带队也能赢球了。
A lot of you never openly rooted for losses — they were mostly just an expected result — but came to accept the benefits of stripping down the team.
可能大多数人都没有奔着失败去尝试一个赛季。可这对于过去的76人队而言，这不过是他们过去所期盼的结果。76人队过去已经习惯于接受摆烂所带来的福利了。
But Joel Embiid is here now. He has been a two-way force, a possible All-Star, good enough on his own to carry the team to new heights. Embiid is the star fans have been waiting for and hoping the team might find in the draft.
但是现在我们拥有了乔尔-恩比德。他在攻防两端都颇具统治力，甚至有可能今年就进入全明星。他完全可以以一己之力将球队带上一个新的高度。恩比德就是那个球迷们一直在等的球星，也是76人队一直在选秀大会上所找寻的真相。
Now that he's in the picture, alongside the other interesting players and mega-prospects they have on board, the lottery should be approached as a bonus, not the No. 1 priority.
既然他已经来到了现实之中，身边还有一堆实力的悍将和亟待证明自己的新秀球员，或许乐透秀只能算是对他们努力的褒奖而不再是他们追求的主要目标了。
Think about how last night's game unfolded. Embiid was off for a lot of the night, failing to cash in on open jumpers and struggling to get into a rhythm on offense.
想一想那晚的比赛吧。恩比德大部分时间都不在状态，空位跳投不进，进攻中也找不到节奏。
The game looked out of reach with a few minutes to play, and then he pulled out a Euro-step and-one, banked in a three, and made one of the defensive plays of the season to contest Carmelo Anthony on a weak-side block. It was the type of sequence only special players can make. Suddenly, the dust had settled and Embiid finished with a 21-14 line in a game where he didn't really "have it".
比赛看上去就要失控了，可这时他祭出一记欧洲步，打成2+1，三分进账，接着在弱侧盖掉了卡梅罗-安东尼的进攻。这一球甚至算得上是年度最佳盖帽了。这些可不是平常人就能打出的表现。最终尘埃落定，在不经意间，恩比德就得到了21分14篮板。
When you find a player who can do that even on his off nights, you need to treasure every moment you get with him on the court. Given Embiid's health history, it's even more pressing to hold onto every minute the Sixers get with him on the court, and to root for he and the team's success unrelentingly.
如果一位球员在他状态不佳的时候都能打出这样的表现，那你真应该珍惜和他并肩作战的每一分钟了。考虑到恩比德过去的健康史，人们更应该好好的利用他的上场时间并不假思索的以他为核心去争取每一场胜利。
In the mid-80s, the Houston Rockets looked like they'd be a dynasty. Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, in their second and third years respectively, blitzed the Lakers in the 1986 Western Conference Finals.
上世纪80年代中期，休斯顿火箭队看上去就像是一座旭日东升的王朝球队。哈基姆-奥拉朱旺和拉尔夫-桑普森分才处于他们职业生涯的第二年和第三年，初生牛犊不怕虎的双塔在1986年西部决赛中干净利落的将湖人斩于马下。
They looked like a duo who could rule the league for the next decade. Sampson's body started giving out on him the very next season, the Rockets' supporting cast fell apart, and Olajuwon wouldn't climb the summit again until a completely different team rose in the Micheal Jordan-less stretch in the mid-90s. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a modern parallel to this, minus the injuries.
这对双子星看上去就像是未来十年内联盟的霸主。不过在接下来的一个赛季里，桑普森的身体状况却骤然滑坡，火箭队诸将也逐渐分崩离析。直到10年后，90年代中期奥拉朱旺才和另一帮全然不同的队友们重返巅峰。雷霆队的双子星更像是火箭队的现代版本，然而比现实更残酷的是，摧毁他们的甚至都不是伤病。

Philadelphia might be a long way from the trajectory of those teams, but the principle is the same. You never know when the good times are going to stop. It's a lot easier to focus on the long view than the day-to-day grind of following an NBA team.
76人队看上去与上述球队还有着不小的差距，不过道理却是完全类似的。你永远也不知道厄运什么时候将会突然降临。当然，放眼未来肯定比整天在联盟中球队鏖战要轻松得多。
Debating Embiid's long-term upside vs. the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns is more fun than dissecting a mid-season loss to the Charlotte Hornets. For teams at the top, a la the Cavs and Warriors, the overanalysis of each stumble can be exhausting.
跟别人扯扯未来究竟是唐斯的还是恩比德的也比分析76人队到底是怎么战胜黄蜂队要来得有趣。而对于那些屹立于巅峰的球队，比如骑士和勇士，似乎怎么过分的分析两队交锋的一举一动也都毫不为过吧。
When the Sixers were winning with a cast of perpetual role players, even those of Andre Iguodala's overqualified caliber, rooting for draft position was a different story. The franchise was locked in an endless cycle back then.
当76人队只能用一帮十足的角色球员去争取比赛胜利的时候，奔着选秀去打球，可就是完全另一回事儿了。那会儿，球队就像是在一个无休止的摆烂-选秀的循环之中。
Today's bunch are a totally different story, if only because of Embiid's presence. He is putting up borderline unprecedented numbers after a two-year layoff. He is good enough on both ends of the court to power them to bigger and better things; the Sixers don't need to draft a savior this year, they need to find players who help push him (and Ben Simmons) to their ceilings.
但如今只要恩比德在，76人队就是一支全然不同的球队。在因伤休战两年之后，他的场上数据出乎所有人的预料。他在攻防两端的出色发挥完全完全值得球队去追求一个更好的结果；76人队也不再需要在选秀大会上寻找另一个救世主了，他们需要的只是帮他（和西蒙斯）起飞的助力而已。
The lottery is exactly what it's labeled as — a lottery. It would be wonderful to win it every time the Sixers don't make the playoffs, but thanks to planning from the last regime, they are not dependent on it to push forward into the future.
选秀的乐透区实际上就如同它的命名一般，是一场豪赌。虽然76人队每次都会因为没打进季后赛而得到一个高顺位的选秀权，但受制于规则的限制，他们不可能年复一年的依靠这种方式打出未来。
They have currency to make the team better; the Lakers pick, Kings pick swap (and future first), other bigs, and boundless cap space are all avenues through which the Sixers can build the program.
他们手中的筹码已经足以让球队变得更好了，来自湖人队的选秀权，来自国王队的选秀权，以及一堆大个子和大把的薪金空间，这些都是组建球队的重要资源。
The maneuvering that got them here was to make sure they are not reliant on one rebuilding tool or method. The Process is about having outs, about flexibility and the ability to switch gears on the fly.
我们之所以会在这里讨论，是因为我想确保他们真的不是为了选秀这个工具才走到今天这里。恩比德有的是能力，有的是把这帮家伙们变成一支强队的本事。
At its core, it was never about tanking or losing intentionally or having to win the lottery, as critics might claim. It was undertaken with the knowledge everything is not always going to fall neatly into place.
因此，这支球队的核心价值绝对不是为了摆烂，也不是为了故意输球，更不是为了赢得乐透选秀。尽管有人也会对此提出批评，然而事情不可能总是面面俱到。
It feels impossible to see the joy Embiid plays with and fixate on what the wins and losses mean for lottery position. Think of what he's gone through to get here — two years of arduous rehab, assimilating in a foreign country and hoping his dreams haven't been flushed down the tubes by the failure of his own body.
如果球队不论输赢都是冲着乐透选秀去的，那么很难想象恩比德此时还能怀着愉悦的心情去比赛。想象一下他复出了多少努力才走到了今天这一步，两年的复健，努力融入异国他乡的生活，并满怀期望自己的篮球梦不要因为身躯的拖累而提早破灭。
Consider his personal tragedy, the loss of his younger brother Arthur, and how hard it must have been to cope with as he tried to find his way as a professional.
考虑到他自身所遭遇的苦难，以及失去弟弟所遭受的悲痛，还有他需要克服多大的困难才能走上这条职业道路。
As worrywarts liked to remind Sixers fans about the lottery for three years and counting, "there are no guarantees". But there is a budding superstar already on the team. There is another potential star gearing up for his debut, a growing aura of positivity that will help attract free agents, and a pipeline of picks to help fill in around the core guys.
自然也有杞人忧天者对76人队在过去三年里的收获有所不满，“这可不保准。”但一位冉冉升起的巨星已然在阵中，还有一位潜力球星蓄势待发，队内一片欣欣向荣的氛围也非常有利于吸引自由球员，而且他们手中还握有不少选秀权，足够他们在选秀大会上填补阵容的空缺了。
Philadelphia has waited a long time for the Sixers to find "the guy". Now that he's here, it's time to let lottery concerns go and get behind him.
费城已经为这个“大人物”等待了足够长的时间。现在既然已经等到了这个人，是该甩掉所谓的乐透思维，跟着他大干一场的时候了。

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