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今日，马刺球员凯尔登-约翰逊在球员论坛Player’s Tribune上发表长文，写下了他为马刺效力的这些年来与马刺的故事，以及对即将到来的季后赛的展望。

全文如下：

I remember a couple years ago, I had a hard conversation with Pop. One morning, we were getting ready to play Dallas, and he pulled me to the side and told me that he thought it would be best for the team if I started coming off the bench. I said, “Yeah, of course. Whatever’s best for the team, I’ll do it.” And I truly meant that, too.

我还记得几年前，我和波波教练有过一次艰难的谈话。一天早上，我们正准备对阵达拉斯独行侠，他把我拉到一边，他认为，如果我打替补，对球队会是最好的选择。我说：“好，当然。只要对球队最好，我就去做。”我当时也是真心的。

But I’m also just human, man. And I was like 24 years old. If I said that I fully bought into this role from the jump, I’d be lying. I had averaged 22 points in the NBA. I’d won a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics. So I just didn’t understand. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. And ultimately, I didn’t take it well. I sulked. I let the outside noise affect my play. I didn’t present the best version of myself as I was coming off the bench for the rest of that season. And I knew that I was much better than that.

但是，兄弟，我也是人啊。那时我才24岁左右。如果我说自己一开始就完全接受替补这个角色，那是在撒谎。我在NBA场均拿过22分。我和美国队在奥运会上拿过金牌。所以我就是无法理解。我脑子转不过来。最终，我也没能很好地接受。我生闷气。我让外界的噪音影响了我的表现。在那个赛季余下的时间里，作为替补，我没有展现出最好的自己。而且我知道，我本可以做得比那好得多。

I’ve been reflecting on that part of my journey a lot lately, with the position we’re in right now.

考虑到我们现在所处的位置，我最近经常反思这段经历。

To backtrack a little bit…. When I was drafted in 2019, that was probably one of the most stressful nights of my life. I’d had a great year at Kentucky, and I thought I was going 9 or 10. In my mind, my floor was 15 to Detroit. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even work out for San Antonio. We talked a little bit on FaceTime, but I honestly didn’t think I’d still be on the board at 19 when the Spurs picked. Definitely not at 29, where I ended up going. I don’t know why I slipped so much, but thank God I did, because I landed at a proven organization with vets who could mold me. 

稍微回溯一下……当我2019年被选中时，那可能是我人生中压力最大的夜晚之一。我在肯塔基大学打出了一个出色的赛季，我以为自己会在第9或第10顺位被选中。我内心的最低顺位是第15顺位去底特律。疯狂的是，我甚至都没为圣安东尼奥试训过。我们只在FaceTime上聊过一点，但说实话，我没想到在马刺用19号签选人时，我还会留在榜单上。绝对没想到是第29顺位，那是我最终被选中的地方。我不知道为什么我顺位滑落那么多，但谢天谢地，我滑落到这里了，因为我来到了一家久经考验的俱乐部，这里还有能塑造我的老将。

That situation could have gone one of two ways. Thankfully, it went the good way.

当时的情况可能有两种发展方向。谢天谢地，它走向了好的那一面。

Dejounte was young, too, but he knew the ropes better than me, and he made sure that I did everything the right way. I can’t thank him enough to this day for how much he’s helped my career. Same thing with DeMar DeRozan. Those guys really embraced me and took me under their wing as a young guy, and showed me how it was done. I feel like I had such a great group of vets, whether it was LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay — all those guys went out their way to make sure I was solid. I feel like they knew how good I could be before I even knew how good I could be. They didn’t let me skip any steps, which was huge for my career early on.

德章泰-默里那时也年轻，但他比我更懂行，他确保我每件事都按正确的方式做。直到今天，我对他给我职业生涯带来的帮助都感激不尽。德马尔-德罗赞也一样。这些家伙真的接纳了我，把我这个年轻人护在羽翼之下，向我展示了该怎么做。我感觉我遇到了多么棒的一群老将，无论是拉马库斯-阿尔德里奇、帕蒂-米尔斯还是鲁迪-盖伊——所有这些人都特意确保我站稳脚跟。在我自己都不知道自己有多么出色之前，他们就已经知道我会有多么出色了。他们不让我跳过任何步骤，这对我职业生涯早期至关重要。

And yeah, fast-forward to summer 2024, and I got to thinking back on my first couple years here in San Antonio, and how I could get that spark back, get back to being me. That’s when I started to see the bigger picture. We had picks. There were all these signs that we were building something that was gonna be special, all these bright green flags.

然后，快进到2024年夏天，我开始回想，我在圣安东尼奥的头几年，以及我如何能找回那股劲头，做回我自己。正是在那时，我开始看到大局：我们手握选秀权。有种种迹象表明，我们正在建立一些特别的东西，所有这些鲜明的积极信号。

But there was this one red flag.

但有一个红色的警示信号。

Me.

那就是我自己。

In that moment, I had to take a hard look in the mirror. And man, I just got embarrassed. I hated that feeling — the feeling that I had let my vets down, and especially let my younger teammates down. 

那一刻，我必须好好审视自己。说真的，我感到羞愧。我痛恨那种感觉——我让老将们失望了，尤其是，让我的年轻队友们失望了。

This organization believed in me since day one, when Pop and our GM at the time R.C. Buford took a leap of faith on a player who was sliding in the draft and didn’t even have a workout at their facility. They had a plan, and I was a big piece of that plan. I just needed to get out of my own way. Period. 

马刺这个团体从第一天起就相信我，当时波波和总经理R.C.布福德对一个选秀顺位下滑、甚至没在他们训练馆试训过的球员寄予了信任。他们有一个计划，而我是那个计划的重要一环。我需要做的只是别再自我设障。就这样。

I knew that I could either be the person who tries to fight the change, who makes it about them and their ego, and tries to do everything their way (which never really works). Or, I could trust the process. And the Spurs never gave me a reason not to trust it. So I bought into my role, and I put my best foot forward each and every night. Whatever I had to do to be the best version of myself, I did it. And I feel like this season has been a testament to that. 

我知道，我要么成为那个试图对抗改变、以自我和自尊为中心、一切都按自己方式行事的人（这从来都行不通）。要么，我可以信任这个过程。而马刺从未给过我任何理由不去信任它。所以我接受了自己的角色，每个夜晚都全力以赴。为了成为最好的自己，无论需要做什么，我都去做了。我感觉这个赛季就是最好的证明。

I’m just really athome here. I think that’s probably obvious, right? The cowboy hat isn’t a gimmick. San Antonio is all me. Being a country boy, that’s just a part of who I am. From Huntington Prep to Oak Hill Academy to Kentucky, I feel like I just carried that country boy vibe with me everywhere I went.

我在这里真的感觉很自在。我想这可能很明显，对吧？那顶牛仔帽不是噱头。圣安东尼奥就是完全适合我的地方。做个乡村男孩，这就是我的一部分。从亨廷顿预备学校到橡树山学院再到肯塔基大学，我感觉无论我去哪里，我都带着那股乡村男孩的劲头。

Ain’t no way you ever heard of Brodnax, Virginia. Hahah. When I say I come from a small town, I don’t mean like 1,000 people ... I’m talking small like, less than 300. Small like, we don’t have a stoplight at all. Not one. Growing up, everybody knew everybody. Nobody was a stranger.

你肯定从来没听说过弗吉尼亚州的布罗德纳克斯吧，哈哈！当我说我来自这个小镇时，说的可不是那种上千人的小镇……而是不到300人的那种小。小到连红绿灯都没有，一个都没有。从小到大，小镇上的每个人都认识彼此。没有陌生人。

I’ve always been really close with my family. I have two older brothers and a younger sister. My mom is a registered nurse, and my dad is a truck driver. I remember in the summertime I used to go to work with my dad in his big truck, and we’d ride around together. As a kid, you feel so high above the ground in those things. Like you’re riding around in a Transformer or something. Haha. It was dope as hell. I thought my dad was the coolest guy in the world. Those easy summer days with him, riding down country roads with the windows down…… just one of those things in life you can’t put a price tag on, you know what I mean?

我和家人一直非常亲密。我有两个哥哥和一个妹妹。我妈妈是注册护士，我爸爸是卡车司机。我记得夏天的时候，我常和爸爸一起开着他的大卡车去工作，我们会一起开车到处跑。作为孩子，你在那种车里感觉离地面好高。就像开着变形金刚之类的东西到处跑。哈哈。简直太酷了。那时我觉得，爸爸是世界上最酷的人。那些和他一起度过的轻松夏日，摇下车窗沿着乡村道路行驶……正是生活中那些无法用金钱衡量的东西之一，你懂我的意思吗？

That’s always been my vibe. So coming up in the Spurs organization has been a blessing. You really walk into a warm family environment, a brotherly atmosphere. They have a culture built on growing and developing the younger guys. And that’s exactly what I needed when I got here.

那一直很有感觉。所以，能在马刺成长是一种福气。你真的走进了一个温暖的家庭环境，一种兄弟般的氛围。他们有一种建立在培养和发展年轻球员基础上的文化。而这正是我来到这里时所需要的。

Every season, I’ve just tried to be better than the year before. And that’s kind of the story behind our team, too. Like, even when we weren’t winning, we still had a certain standard that we tried to uphold. We were still focused on playing good basketball. So the foundation was always there. But seeing the guys that come through the facility, whether it’s Tim, Manu, Boris Diaw, Tony Parker……… On the one hand, that’s a huge part of what makes this club what it is. That’s the history that you’re stepping into when you wear the silver and black. And it’s an honor and a blessing to play for an organization like this one. But also, you see them and you’re thinking like, Twenty-two years?? You went to the playoffs for two decades straight??? 

每个赛季，我都努力比前一年更好。这也正是我们球队故事的核心。就像，即使在我们没赢球的时候，我们仍然努力坚持某种标准、仍然专注于打好篮球，所以基础一直都在。但是，看到那些来到训练馆的家伙，邓肯、马努、迪奥、帕克……他们是这家俱乐部如此特别的重要部分，是你穿上银黑战袍时所走进的历史。能为这样的球队效力，是一种荣誉和福气。另一方面，你看到他们，你会想，二十二年？你们连续二十年打进季后赛？

I’ll be honest, ending that streak didn’t feel good. That didn’t sit right with me. Something that I love about our group, we don’t sugarcoat that kind of stuff. We don’t talk around our expectations for ourselves, and what our goals are.

老实说，终结那个季后赛纪录的感觉并不好。而我喜欢我们团队的一点是：不会粉饰这类事情，对自己的期望和目标直言不讳。

And something else I love is that I feel like our team this year has created our own way of doing things and accepted that it’s OK to have our own identity. The best way to honor the Spurs legacy, in my opinion, is to just take the baton and run with it. 

我喜欢的另一点是，我们今年创造了自己的做事方式，并且认同拥有自己的特色。在我看来，尊重马刺传统的最好方式，就是接过接力棒，然后带着它继续奔跑。

The best way I can describe our group is like a rodeo. Everybody on the team has their own unique vibe and personality, and when it all comes together it’s just wild. And we thrive off that. We thrive off that chaotic energy of yelling and screaming, and laughing and joking 24/7. And on the floor, that turns into something special. 

描述我们团队的最好方式，就像一场牛仔竞技。队里的每个人都有自己独特的风格和个性，当所有人聚在一起时，场面就会很狂野。而我们从中茁壮成长。我们从那种24/7的、大喊大叫、大笑大闹的混乱能量中汲取力量。而在球场上，这就会转化成一些特别的东西。

Our young guys come out yelling and turning up, and you got the older guys right behind them, supporting them all the way, whatever and however they want to do things. Coming into the league, you can be nervous at times, and a little awkward. For one, you’re achieving a dream. And you’re also coming into a new situation where you’re one of the youngest guys. So I feel like our main thing from the jump was just: Let our rookies be themselves. Let the young guys be young. And when you have an atmosphere and a culture like that where everyone feels comfortable, it just puts everybody at ease and creates a different level of chemistry. You can be a little weird around here and not feel like you’re being judged in any way.

我们的年轻人出场时大喊大叫，情绪高涨，而老将们就在他们身后支持他们，无论他们想做什么、想怎么做，都一路支持。刚进联盟时，你有时会紧张，有点不自在。一方面，你在实现一个梦想。另一方面，你进入了一个新环境，你是最年轻的人之一。所以我们从一开始的主要任务就是：让我们的新秀做自己。让年轻人保持年轻。当你拥有那样一种氛围和文化，让每个人都感到舒适，这会让每个人都放松下来，并创造出不同层次的化学反应。在球队里你可以有点古怪，而不会因此而受到任何评判。

And maybe I benefit from it the most because the guys will probably tell you that I’m the craziest one. Hahah. The guy you guys see screaming and yelling, I’ll be honest: That’s me 24/7!!! It’s never hard for me to go out and be energetic. That’s been me since I was a young kid. That’s me around my family. I’m just a live wire all the time. So when I go out there and I’m yelling and I’m singing Miley Cyrus, that’s just me being myself. And my teammates have embraced it. When I tell you everybody gets to be themselves, that’s the 100% truth. I get to go out there and be loud, be weird. I get to go to work and be Kel.

也许我是从中受益最多的，因为伙计们可能会告诉你，我是最疯的那个。哈哈。你们看到的那个大喊大叫的家伙，老实说：那就是24/7的我！！！对我来说，出去打球充满活力从来不是难事。这是我从小到大的样子，也是我在家人身边的样子，我一直就是个活宝。所以当我在场上大喊大叫、唱着麦莉-赛勒斯的歌时，那就是真实的我。我的队友们接受了这一点。我告诉你们每个人都可以做自己，这是百分百的事实。我可以去那里大声喊叫，表现得古怪。我可以去工作，做凯尔登。

Being here has been a journey — one that I’m extremely proud of. I’m telling you, when you can take ego out of it, and genuinely buy into something bigger than yourself, you can be a part of something special. And when a whole team does that?? You never know what could happen. But at the end of the day, the main thing for me is that the organization’s belief in me never wavered at all. That gave me the confidence to keep going. Basically,  to anyone who needs to hear this, development is its own kind of journey. It takes time. And I just stayed at it, stayed at it, stayed at it. 

待在这里是一段旅程——我无比自豪的旅程。我告诉你们，当你能放下自我，真正投入到比你自己更伟大的事业中时，你就能成为特别的一部分。而当整个团队都这样做时？你永远不知道会发生什么。但归根结底，对我来说最重要的是，球队对我的信念从未动摇。这给了我继续前进的信心。基本上，对任何需要听到这句话的人来说，成长本身就是一段旅程。它需要时间。我只是坚持，坚持，再坚持。

Same thing with Vic, same thing with Devin, and all our guys. We just kept raising our ceiling as a team. We didn’t point any fingers at anybody. We just continued to work. And nothing happened overnight. We had some rough patches and tough moments where we learned that we can take a punch. But no matter what, we didn’t look for an easy way out. And that’s really it. That’s the big secret: giving everything you got, every single day. Not looking for shortcuts. Every day trying to be better than the one before. You can’t skip those steps. You have to face those hardships and let them bring the team even closer.

文班也一样，瓦塞尔也一样，我们所有人都一样。我们只是不断地提高我们团队的上限。我们没有指责过任何人。我们只是不断地努力。没有什么是能一蹴而就的。我们经历过一些艰难时期和艰难时刻，从中我们学会了我们可以承受打击。但无论如何，我们没有寻找简单的出路。就是这样。这就是最大的秘诀：每一天都付出你的一切。不找捷径。每一天都努力比前一天更好。你无法跳过那些步骤。你必须面对那些困难，并让它们使团队更加紧密。

And this team is super tight, and so good. 

这支团队超级团结，而且非常出色。

As a matter of fact, I don’t even mind saying it, because we truly believe it.… We think we’re the best team in the NBA.

事实上，我甚至不介意说出来，因为我们真心相信……我们认为自己是NBA最好的球队。

Let’s go down the list.

让我们来盘点一下。

We’ll start with the big fella. He’s the focal point of everything we do, offensively and defensively. I’m not a big analytics guy, so I can’t tell you the exact plus-minus, but I have eyes. There’s not a single night when he’s on the floor that he’s not affecting the game of basketball. He’s the league’s MVP this season — no question. We got Stephon Castle, one of the best two-way players in the league at such a young age, and he’s only getting better, which should scare you. We got De’Aaron Fox, a huge piece of what we have here in San Antonio. He brings that poise, that leadership. He’s that calmness in the storm that a young team like us needs. And I feel like sometimes that’s overlooked. Listen, I could do this all day, we could go down the line. Devin Vassell is one of my best friends. He came in a year after me, so having gone through all the struggles together, watching his success this year has been personally fulfilling. Julian Champagnie has been one of the best shooters in the NBA this year. Harrison Barnes, one of our OGs, has kept us anchored. Our rookies, Dylan and Carter, the sky is the limit for those guys. Calling this group exceptional feels like an understatement.

从那个大个子开始，他是我们所做一切的焦点，无论进攻防守。我不是个数据分析迷，所以没法告诉你具体的正负值，但我长了眼睛。他上场的每一晚都影响着篮球比赛。他是本赛季联盟的MVP——毫无疑问。我们有斯蒂芬-卡斯尔，联盟中最年轻优秀的攻防一体球员之一，而且他还在变得更好，这应该会让你害怕。我们有达龙-福克斯，他是我们在圣安东尼奥拥有的重要成员。他带来了那种沉稳，那种领导力。他是我们这样一支年轻球队需要的、暴风雨中的平静力量。这方面有时被忽视了。听着，我可以这样列一整天，我们可以一个个说下去。德文-瓦塞尔是我最好的朋友之一。他比我晚一年进来，所以一起经历了所有的挣扎，看到他今年的成功让我个人感到满足。朱利安-尚帕尼是今年NBA最好的射手之一。哈里森-巴恩斯，我们的元老之一，稳住了我们。我们的新秀：哈珀、卡布，天空才是他们的极限。称这支队伍为优秀都是一种保守的说法。

And none of what we’ve accomplished this season would be possible if we didn’t have the supporting cast that we have around us. That’s our coaches, our video room, our medical staff — they sacrifice so much for us to be in the situation that we’re in today. Without them, it’s hard to go and perform every night at a high level. I don’t want to overlook that. I feel like they’re a huge part of what makes us who we are.

另外，如果没有围绕在我们身边的后援团队，我们本赛季所取得的任何成就都不可能实现。包括我们的教练组、录像分析团队、医疗团队——他们为我们能处于今天的位置牺牲了太多。没有他们，很难每晚都打出高水平的比赛，我不想忽视这一点，这是成就我们的重要组成部分。

It feels good to look back on everything and be able to say it was all worth it. Every L. Going through the things I did here, and our fans being able to experience all the success we have now, it’s just confirmation that tough times don’t last. We were down for a little bit, but now we’re rockin’ and rollin’, and having a good time. And it means the world to me to be one small piece of it.

回顾一切，能说这一切都值得，这种感觉真好。每一次失利。经历我在这里经历的一切，而我们的球迷能够体验我们现在的所有成功，这恰恰证明了，艰难的时刻不会永远持续。我们曾经沉沦了一小段时间，但现在我们正在摇滚，经历一段美妙的时刻。能成为其中的一小部分，这对我意味着全世界。

I said our group is like a rodeo, right? Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a real one, but it’s not for the weak. You gotta be fearless. You gotta get up on that bull knowing that you might fall off. Matter of fact, you’re almost guaranteed to fall off.

我说过我们这群人就像牛仔竞技，对吧？嗯，我不知道你看没看过真正的牛仔竞技，那不适合弱者，你必须无所畏惧。你必须骑上那头公牛，心里知道自己可能会摔下来。而且事实是：你注定会摔下来。

You might get dragged through the mud a little bit. You might bust your a**.

你可能在泥地里被拖拽一阵，摔得很惨。

Just gotta have the courage to get back up.

你只需要有勇气再爬起来。

We’re in the ring now. Let’s go.

我们已在竞技场内。让我们大展身手吧。

—Kel

——凯尔登