CNN深度好文：是什么让詹姆斯变得伟大？

How LeBron James stacks up against basketball's greats

(CNN) It's the perennial question. Who is better, Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Larry Bird? Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan?

LeBron James has been in that conversation for some time. With his fourth NBA championship now in the record books, has the Los Angeles Lakers star secured his seat among the greats on basketball's Olympus?

Where to begin? Arguably not enough is said of James' remarkable consistency, given he's made the NBA Finals in nine of the last 10 seasons, and 10 of the last 13.

perennial: adj.不断出现的; 长期存在的 (问题、困难)；(植物) 多年生的

arguably: adv.可以说

consistency: n.连贯性; 一致性

谁更强？——这是一个永恒的问题。威尔特·张伯伦（Wilt Chamberlain）还是比尔·拉塞尔（Bill Russell）？卡里姆·阿布杜尔-贾巴尔（Kareem Abdul-Jabbar）还是拉里·伯德（Larry Bird）？埃尔文·约翰逊（Magic Johnson）还是迈克尔·乔丹（Michael Jordan）？

好长一段时间以来，勒布朗·詹姆斯（LeBron James）也是这类比较话题的中心，如今他4次NBA总冠军在手，这名湖人队之星可以入座篮球届众神行列了吗？

从何说起呢？过去10个赛季，他有9个赛季打进了总决赛，13个赛季有10个赛季打进总决赛，仅仅评价他发挥异常稳定是不够的。

True, if you'd ask anyone whether they'd take Michael Jordan's six NBA titles in six Finals or James' four in 10, they would take the Chicago Bulls star's record.

Yet there is something seriously impressive about James' record in itself.

Of those who have reached nine or more NBA Finals, alongside James, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it with more than one team.

Abdul-Jabbar reached two with the Milwaukee Bucks and eight with the Lakers.

当然，你问任何一个人哪个更强，是乔丹的6次总决赛6次获冠，还是詹姆斯10次总决赛４次获冠，估计大家都会选前者。

但是，詹姆斯这个成绩本身就已经非常亮眼了。

进入总决赛的九次及以上的，除了詹姆斯，只有卡里姆·阿布杜尔-贾巴尔了，他曾率不同球队达成过此成就。

两次与密尔沃基雄鹿队，八次与湖人队。

James is the only player to have gone to nine or more Finals across three different teams: five with the Cleveland Cavaliers, four with the Miami Heat and one with the Lakers. Wherever he goes, greatness follows.

Other greats of the modern era like Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal reached multiple finals, but none can match the consistent success that James has.

Yes, Bryant and Duncan have five titles to James' four but the Lakers star is 35 and plays like he's 25.

詹姆斯是唯一一名与三支不同球队进入总决赛九次以上的球员：与克利夫兰骑士队五次，与迈阿密热火队四次，与湖人队一次。他去哪里，便在哪里创就辉煌。

同时代还有一些其他伟大的球员，科比·布莱恩特（Kobe Bryant）、蒂姆·邓肯（Tim Duncan）、沙奎尔·奥尼尔（Shaquille O'Neal）都曾多次进入总决赛，但都没有像詹姆斯这样成绩如此稳定。

是的，科比和邓肯获五次总冠军，而詹姆斯只有四次，但是35岁的他，球场上仿佛只有25岁。

After securing his fourth NBA Finals MVP award this year, James is now the first player in NBA history to win the accolade with three different teams. Only Michael Jordan has more with six.

James could play for much longer. He could launch another Lakers dynasty. And he still has time on his side to break even more records.

accolade: n.荣誉

今年获得第四次总决赛MVP后，詹姆斯成为NBA历史上第一个在三支不同球队获此荣誉的球员，只有乔丹更多，有六支。

詹姆斯还可以打很长时间，他可以开创再一个湖人王朝，他还有时间打破更多的记录。

Measuring greatness

Basketball is a team sport where statistics reign. Metrics like points scored, percentage of shots made, accumulated rebounds and assists, and games won are where the sport and its players are judged.

But surely players shouldn't be measured on statistics alone. And greats of the game should not be measured on play alone, but how they impact the sport, too.

The great Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles with the Boston Celtics between 1956-69. That's a championship in all but two seasons of his playing career.

reign: v.主宰

衡量伟大

篮球是一项数据为王的团队竞技运动，诸如比分、投篮命中率、累计篮板球和助攻，以及获胜场次是评价这项运动和球员的指标。

当然不应该仅仅依靠数据来衡量球员，衡量优秀球员也不应该仅仅依靠比赛表现，还应该看看他们对这项运动带来了什么影响。

1956-69年间，比尔·拉塞尔率波士顿凯尔特人赢得了11次总冠军，职业生涯仅两次未能获此殊荣。

Yet basketball in the 50s and 60s was a completely different game to what we see today. The three-point shots that are so crucial to differentiating teams now didn't even exist in the rulebook back then.

Likewise, "The Last Dance" was a reminder that basketball in the 80s and 90s appears brutally violent compared with the expressive and scoring-heavy version of the game played today.

Soccer manager Pep Guardiola has often advocated that a coach's value or worth shouldn't depend on how many titles or prizes they've won.

differentiate v.区分

但是，五六十年代的篮球与现在的大有不同，三分球对于拉开球队差距而言至关重要，但在当时，甚至还没有出现在规则手册里。

同样，正如《最后之舞》中所记录的那样，与现在更富有表现力和得分为王的比赛形式相比，八九十年代的篮球要更加野蛮暴力。

足球教练何塞普·瓜迪奥拉（Pep Guardiola）经常宣扬，教练的价值不在于赢得了多少头衔和奖章。

That's an idea that is also true of players and might resonate with James Harden, who has led the league in points scored in the past three years, but despite that personal accolade, has zero titles to show for it.

So how do we measure a player's impact on their team? And what importance should we give to a player's impact on the game of basketball as a whole and the world around them?

Jordan and James both turned around losing franchises and made them winners. James even brought the city of Cleveland its first major sport title in 52 years.

这一点同样也适用于球员，或许詹姆斯·哈登（James Harden）也是如此，过去三年，他一直全联盟得分最高的球员，但是尽管他获得了个人荣誉，却没有获得任何头衔。

所以我们应该如何衡量一名球员的影响力呢？一个球员对篮球运动甚至对其周围世界的影响力究竟有多重要呢？

乔丹和詹姆斯都曾扭转球队颓势，率领球队成为赢家，詹姆斯甚至为克利夫兰市赢得了52年来的第一个主要体育赛事冠军。

Jordan also changed basketball and the NBA for the better financially and culturally. He popularized the game globally. Without Jordan, the game wouldn't have the platform it does today.

Jordan's playing career and the business career born out of that has given him a reported net worth of $1.6 billion. James has also reportedly signed a $1 billion lifetime deal with Nike.

But James' career hasn't been about solely being great at basketball or making money.

乔丹让篮球和NBA在经济上、文化上都有了更好的发展，他让这项运动火热全球。没有乔丹，篮球不会有现在这样大的平台。

乔丹的职业生涯，以及由此衍生的商业生涯帮助他净资产达到16亿美元，据报道，詹姆斯与耐克签订了一项价值10亿美元的终身合同。

但是詹姆斯的生涯并不仅仅是为了打好篮球或是挣钱。

Part of James' greatness then comes from his influence over what the NBA and its players do with that platform.

In 2018, James set up the I Promise school that aims to provide an education for at-risk children in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. Guaranteed tuition to the University of Akron is also provided for all graduates of the school.

James' "More Than An Athlete" slogan and campaigns have aimed to inspire others to strive for greatness in life.

詹姆斯的伟大，有一部分来源于他与NBA以及其他球员所做的事情带来的影响。

2018年，詹姆斯创办了I Promise学校，为俄亥俄州阿克伦频临退学或处于困境的儿童提供教育，阿克伦大学承担这所学校小孩的全部学费。

詹姆斯打出”不仅是运动员“的口号和活动，旨在激励大家为生活中的伟大而奋斗。

James has repeatedly involved himself in political discourse, even though he knows it could harm his image to sections of society. After he criticized Donald Trump, Fox News host Laura Ingraham famously said "shut up and dribble the ball."

Jordan, on the other hand, reportedly stayed out of politics while playing because "Republicans buy sneakers, too." Though he later said this was a comment made in jest, the point stands.

It should also be noted that in June, Jordan and the Jordan Brand announced a $100 million, 10-year pledge to "impact the fight against systemic racism."

Speaking on Thursday of the social justice movement with players inside the NBA bubble, James said: "We know that being here has given us the strength and the numbers ... That's a byproduct of us being here, of being able to use this platform to be able to talk about everything that's going on outside of the court.

詹姆斯多次卷入政治风波，尽管他知道这样会有损于她的社会形象。在批评特朗普后，福克斯新闻主持人劳拉·英格拉汉姆（Laura Ingraham）说：”闭嘴，运你的球去。“

另一方面，据报道，乔丹在职业生涯里则尽可能远离政治因为”共和党人也买球鞋“，当然后来他解释道这只是个玩笑。

值得一提的是，今年6月，乔丹及其品牌宣布了将10年内捐赠1亿美元的承诺宣言，旨在为”打击系统性种族主义“带来影响。

周四，詹姆斯谈到NBA泡沫中他与球员发起的社会公正运动时，他说：”我们知道，身处NBA带给了我们力量和数量……这是一个副产品，让我们能够借这个平台，谈谈球场外的一切。“

"All the social injustice and the voter suppression and so many other things that are just going on. The police brutality and so on and so on and so on. Us being here and having the opportunity to talk about these issues and continuing to understand that this world is not just about basketball.

"Even though we live in a small piece of the game of basketball, there are so many bigger things and so many greater things going on. If you can make an impact or you can make a change or you can have a vision, it just helps out so much, not only in your community but all over the world."

“谈谈社会不公、选民压制，还有很多其他正在发生的问题，如警察暴行等等、我们在这里，有机会谈谈这些问题，认识到这个世界不是只关乎于篮球。”

“尽管我们身处小小的篮球世界里，但是在这个世界外，有许许多多更重要、更伟大的事情正在发生，如果我们能够产生影响，做出改变，作出愿想，就能起到很大的帮助，不仅仅是对身边的社会，更是对这整个世界。”

James' commitment to correcting societal injustices is such that following the shooting of Jacob Blake in August, the Lakers were reportedly among two teams -- along with the Clippers -- to vote to end the NBA season early in protest. That would not have happened without James' approval.

Going into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, with an injury-plagued Golden State team nowhere near contention this year, James will have known this was his best chance in years to win a fourth NBA championship. Yet he jeopardized that for what he felt was a bigger issue.

That might not make James a better basketball player, but it certainly makes him great.

詹姆斯将改变社会不公的承诺看得十分重要，以至于在8月雅各布·布莱克（Jacob Blake）遭枪击后，湖人和快船都投票请求提前终止NBA赛季以示抗议，这必然是获得了詹姆斯的同意的。

今年，在勇士队因伤病无缘赛场的情况下，作为冠军的种子选手进入季后赛的詹姆斯应该清楚，这是获得第四个总冠军的绝佳时机，但是，他因为更重要的一个问题而选择了放弃。

这可能会没法让他成为一个更优秀的篮球运动员，但却让他变得更加伟大。

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