東契奇 下一個獨行俠天之驕子?

A hotly-debated topic at the start of any year is the cream of the crop from the rookies heading into the league for the first time. And all eyes this time around are on Luka Doncic.

每年新賽季伊始的熱門話題就是剛剛進入聯盟的菜鳥中的精英球員。而今年，所有的目光都聚集在了盧卡-東契奇的身上。

The 19-year-old Slovenian undoubtedly has the potential to be by far the greatest player to come through this year. He has been tipped as the greatest international prospect of all time.

毫無疑問，這位19歲的斯洛文尼亞小夥有潛力成爲今年最傑出的一位球員。他已被視爲有史以來最具前景的國際球員。

Picked at No 3 in the draft by the Atlanta Hawks, he was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks – essentially swapped for fellow rookie Trae Young. The fortunes of the pair will be inextricably linked from now on.

在第三順位被亞特蘭大老鷹隊選中之後，東契奇立馬被交易至了達拉斯獨行俠——換得了同爲新秀的特雷楊。從那時起，兩者的命運勢必會有千絲萬縷的聯繫。

With some NBA executives wary of the quality of talent coming in from overseas, Doncic was seen as somewhat of a gamble. Dallas reckon they have a sure bet.

由於一些NBA高管對來自海外的球員質量持謹慎態度，東契奇在某種程度上就是一場賭博。達拉斯則相信他們手握正確的賭注。

Doncic was born in Ljubljana, with father Sasa a basketball player in the Slovenian league. His mother, former model and dancer Mirjam Poterbin, remembers her son preferring football before he got 'too tall'.

東契奇出生在盧布爾雅那，父親薩薩是斯洛文尼亞聯賽的一名籃球運動員。他的母親，前模特和舞蹈家米爾賈姆·波特賓，記得她兒子在身高猛長之前更喜歡踢足球 。

His natural aptitude was obvious from early forays into local youth leagues, often shining in age groups far beyond his years.

他的天資在早期進入當地青少年聯盟的時候就初露鋒芒了，這使得他在更高的年齡組中變身一顆亮眼的新星。

Aged just 13 he was signed up by the basketball arm of Real Madrid – who much like their football club have a mission to hoover up the continent's best talent.

年僅13歲的他就被皇家馬德里的籃球俱樂部簽下了-和他們的足球俱樂部一樣，都是爲了吸引歐洲大陸最優秀的人才。

He moved 1200 miles from his home country to live with fellow basketball and football prospects and straight away spent his time learning Spanish to mesh better with his peers.

他搬到了距離自己國家1200英里以外的地方，與籃球和足球未來精英們生活在一起。他花了大把的時間在學習西班牙語上，以便更好地與同伴交流。

Beginning to dominate any youth competition he entered to an embarrassing level, he became Real's senior team's youngest ever player at 16 years two months and two days.

在開始主宰所有的青年比賽之後，他進入了一個尷尬級別的比賽階段。東契奇以16歲兩個月零二天的年齡成爲了皇馬隊史上最年輕的球員。

The next three years he started dominating men's basketball to an unprecedented level for a teenager – he was nicknamed El Nino Maravilla (The Boy Wonder) by MARCA and became the youngest-ever winner of the EuroLeague's MVP award last season.

在接下來的三年裏，年輕的他開始以前所未有的水平統治男籃聯賽-他被馬卡稱作埃爾尼諾尼諾·馬拉維拉，併成爲上賽季歐洲聯盟MVP最年輕的獲獎者。

The football and basketball teams of Real Madrid often meet for club dinners. Aptly, for the team's superstar, he was on Cristiano Ronaldo's table

皇家馬德里的足球隊和籃球隊經常在俱樂部聚餐。碰巧的是，東契奇與C羅就坐在同一張桌子上。

'He was really nice – nothing like on the field! I really respected him for that,' Doncic said last month of meeting the Portuguese icon.

談到上個月見到的這位葡萄牙偶像時，東契奇說：“他人品很棒-一點都沒有球星架子！我爲此非常地敬佩他。”

While the vast majority of his peers have gone the traditional college route before entering the NBA draft, Doncic has been honing his skills against seasoned professionals and has been tipped as having a current game 'lightyears' ahead of anyone else in this crop of draft prospects.

儘管大多數同齡人在進入NBA選秀前都走了傳統的大學路線，東契奇卻通過與專業球員的較量來不斷打磨自己的技能，並被認爲擁有着足夠的賽場經驗而領先於這一輪選秀中的其他人。

At Dallas, he has the perfect mentor. Dirk Nowitzki is one of the biggest legends still playing his trade in the league. Having turned 40 this summer, the 7-foot German is entering his 20th season at the Texan club.

在達拉斯，他有一位完美的導師。德克·諾維茨基仍然是聯盟中最出色的傳奇人物之一。如今這位7英尺高的德國人在今年夏天步入40歲，並開啓了德克薩斯俱樂部的第二十個賽季。

As a man who knows exactly what it takes to make the journey from foreign prospect to NBA All-Star (12 times, no less), even Nowitzki has been taken aback by training with Doncic.

作爲一個很清楚從國外聯盟到NBA全明星（多達12次）需要付出什麼的人，就連諾維茨基都爲東契奇的訓練大吃一驚。

'I could shoot a little bit [at 19], but I never had the court vision, the savviness and the stuff that he brings to the game,' Nowitzki gushed last month.

諾維茨基上個月讚不絕口地說：“我在19歲的時候有那麼點投射能力，但我從來沒有如此的場上視野以及他所帶入比賽的智慧和其他一些東西。”

'Coming over from a different country, I went through the same thing about 20 years ago. It's tough to adjust to a lot of things: living in a different country, another culture, to a different game, different coaching, different play style. For me, that took a full year. My first year was really, really tough.

身處異國他鄉的我，在20年前經歷了同樣的事情。很多事情並沒有那麼容易去適應：生活在另一個國家，另一種文化，融入不同的比賽，不同的教練，不同的比賽風格。我花了整整一年去適應。我的第一年非常非常艱難。

'We're going to do everything we can to help this kid develop and have fun and learn so we can see the best Luka here hopefully in a couple more years. But he's an incredible talent.'

“我們將盡我們所能幫助這個孩子成長、獲得樂趣並學習，這樣我們就能在未來幾年看到最好的盧卡。他真是個令人難以置信的天才。”

The early signs have been promising. Doncic has slotted in well to his new team. He demands time on the ball, able to be a playmaker for his side and possesses a proficient shot from deep. His years playing senior basketball put him ahead of his peers coming into the NBA.

早期的跡象已經說明了許多。東契奇已經很好地融入了他的新球隊。他需要持球的時間，並能夠成爲球隊的一名核心球員，擁有着有深度的投射能力。高級別籃球的比賽經驗使他在一同進入NBA的同齡人中更高人一等。

The world will be watching. Without even having played a game in the NBA, he is one of the most famous athletes in Slovenia.

全世界都會關注。哪怕沒有在NBA打過一場比賽，他都會是斯洛文尼亞最出名的運動員之一。

Asked about Ronaldo's fame while at Real Madrid, Doncic said: 'He's too famous. He can't go out on the street.' If he live up to the hype in Dallas, the Slovenian superstar will find himself with the same problem.

當被問及羅納爾多在皇馬的名氣時，東契奇說：“他太出名了。他甚至不能上街散步。”如果他不辜負達拉斯的厚望，這位斯洛文尼亞巨星就會發現自己也面臨同樣的問題。

更多精彩內容請關注微信公衆號、新浪微博：籃球英文堂