Marc Stein

Any mention of the Texas Triangle， in NBA circles， has always had a very specific meaning.

只要提到德州三角，在NBA圈子里，總有著非常明確的意思。

Until this past summer.

直到今年夏天。

No longer does the term exclusively reference the most dreaded three-stop road trip that the schedule can serve up， thanks to the Lone Star State① love triad that dribbled its way into the basketball lexicon in July.

多虧了孤星之州愛恨三角七月對籃球詞匯的擴(kuò)充，這個說法的意思不再僅限于最難熬的三個客場。

Cuban. Parsons. Morey.

庫班，帕森斯，莫雷。

Says Cuban： "Is it competitive？ Yes. Do I hate Daryl？ No. I have a lot of respect for Daryl. Daryls not one to hate at all. Thats not his mode. Hes very， very logical.

庫班說：“是否充滿競爭？當(dāng)然。我恨達(dá)雷爾？不。我非常尊敬他。他完全不是可恨的人，那不是他的方式，他非常非常有邏輯?！?/p>

Fans of trash talk neednt worry， though. If recent history is any guide， as retraced in depth below， things wont stay conciliatory between the Mavs and Rockets for long.

不過，喜歡噴垃圾話的球迷無需擔(dān)心。如果最近的歷史有任何指南意義的話，正如以下追溯記錄的內(nèi)容，小牛與火箭之間的和諧不會保持太久。

THE PARSONS PERSPECTIVE

帕森斯角度

The first week-plus of July found Parsons and agent Dan Fegan wondering when the phone would ring with a team on the other end of the line that believed it could really get Parsons away from the Rockets. Potential bidders either appeared spooked by Houstons well-chronicled vows to match any offer Parsons got， or they were operating like the Mavericks and， frankly， the Rockets themselves -- which is to say they made it clear they planned to take their time and see if they had any real hope of landing Carmelo Anthony or （gasp） LeBron James before seriously courting anyone else.

七月最初的一周多時間，帕森斯和經(jīng)紀(jì)人丹·費根一直在想，什么時候電話的另一頭會出現(xiàn)一支真的認(rèn)為自己有機(jī)會把帕森斯從火箭撬走的球隊。潛在的追逐者要么被火箭長久以來會匹配任何帕森斯報價合同的宣言嚇跑，要么他們就像小牛一樣。說實話，火箭也這樣——也就是說，他們明確表示，他們計劃慢慢來，在認(rèn)真追求其他人之前，看自己是否真的有機(jī)會簽下卡梅洛·安東尼或者（倒抽一口氣）勒布朗·詹姆斯，

"So it was a waiting game in the beginning，" Parsons said， "which I was OK with. But it was frustrating， too.”

“所以一開始就是等待?！迸辽拐f，“我對此沒什么意見，不過這也挺讓人失望的?！?/p>

Yet the most serious early interest in Parsons in 2014 free agency actually came from Cleveland. It was widely assumed in Mavericks circles that Dallas would turn its attentions to Parsons once formally eliminated as an option by Melo and LeBron， but sources told ESPN.com that Parsons found himself being recruited by another AllStar peer he regards as a friend： Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving.

不過2014年自由球員市場上最早地對帕森斯表現(xiàn)出興趣的卻是克利夫蘭人。但小牛圈子里的人普遍認(rèn)為，正式被卡梅洛和勒布朗剔出候選名單后，他們會立刻把興趣點轉(zhuǎn)移到帕森斯身上。不過消息源告訴ESPN. com，帕森斯收到了另一個被他視為朋友的全明星球員的招募：騎士后衛(wèi)凱里·歐文。

The Mavs， though， finally buckled on the ninth day of free agency. Anthony hadnt yet officially let his various suitors know he was staying with the New York Knicks. And Dallas was technically still on the fringes of the LeBron pursuit after Cuban had been granted a face-to-face meeting in Cleveland with LeBrons agent， Rich Paul， just a few days earlier. But Cuban decided he could no longer stomach waiting.

不過小牛最終在自由球員市場開啟后的第九天開始了行動?？仿瀹?dāng)時還沒有正式告知幾支追求他的球隊，他會留在紐約尼克斯。而幾天前庫班得到了在克利夫蘭和勒布朗經(jīng)紀(jì)人里奇·保羅面對面交流的機(jī)會，這讓小牛仍有得到勒布朗的機(jī)會。不過庫班決定，他不愿意再等下去了。

Cuban hopped on a plane soon after Parsons gave his "yes" to the Mavs. "It wasnt planned to go and sign this contract at some bar，" Parsons said. "Cubans flight was delayed， so he hit me when he landed and asked where I was. Twenty minutes later， he just showed up with the contract.

帕森斯同意小牛的報價后不久，庫班就登上了飛機(jī)?！拔覀儧]計劃在酒吧里簽合同?！迸辽拐f，“庫班的飛機(jī)誤點了，所以他下飛機(jī)后聯(lián)系我，問我在哪里。20分鐘后，他就帶著合同出現(xiàn)了?！?/p>

"Dan was trying to negotiate something with them early， and， to be perfectly honest， I would have accepted a lot less money early in the process to stay in Houston. But they told me they wanted to wait for the whole LeBron and Melo situation [to play out]， which I understood. I just listened to them. I signed the best deal I could for my own career.

“丹原本試圖早些和他們（火箭）協(xié)商出合同，說實話，想在這個過程開始前留在休斯敦，我得接受少拿一大筆錢的事實。不過他們告訴我，他們想等勒布朗和安東尼的情況再說，這我能理解。之后我只是聽了他們的意見，為自己的生涯簽下了最好的合同?！?/p>

THE DALLAS DROUGHT

達(dá)拉斯干旱

The Mavs had quietly made the decision at seasons end that they would likely not be re-signing the versatile and dependable Shawn Marion， so they knew they needed a new small forward.

賽季結(jié)束時，小牛悄悄做了決定，他們不太可能續(xù)簽全能且可靠的肖恩·馬里昂，所以他們知道，自己需要一個小前鋒。

They also badly wanted to get younger.

他們同時迫切地希望年輕化。

"LeBron and Melo， those are long shots，" Cuban concedes. "But you do em because you have to run things out. People give you a hard time when you dont get this person or that person， but you never win any games you dont play. And in the worst case you develop a relationship for the next time something comes up. Its as much about trying to develop relationships as it is about trying to hit the home run.”

“勒布朗和梅洛，那些可能性都不高?！睅彀嗵拐\道，“可你還是要追求他們，因為你必須嘗試。當(dāng)你沒能得到這個人或這那個人時，人們總會指責(zé)你。可如果你不打球，你永遠(yuǎn)也不會贏得任何比賽。最差的情況不過是，你為下一次機(jī)會出現(xiàn)時培養(yǎng)好了關(guān)系，在試圖一擊中，盡量培養(yǎng)關(guān)系同樣重要?！?/p>

And that， Cuban revealed， led to a series of internal meetings to let various key members of the Mavericks know that Parsons -- if Dallas could get him-- would likely make more money in the coming season than anyone except Tyson Chandler， who is playing out the final season of a four-year， $55.4 million contract he got from the Knicks when the Mavs initially decided they wouldnt be keeping their title team together after the 201 1 lockout and the new labor agreement it spawned.

據(jù)庫班透露，這引發(fā)了一系列內(nèi)部會議，也讓小牛的關(guān)鍵成員知道，帕森斯——如果小牛能得到他——將在未來的賽季掙得只比泰森·錢德勒少。錢德勒處于他四年5540萬美元合同的最后一年，這是201 1年停擺、新勞資協(xié)議達(dá)成后，小牛決定不保留他們奪冠陣容時，錢德勒從尼克斯那里簽到的合同。

THE ROCKETS DICE ROLL

輪到火箭了

The Rockets dream scenario， cemented on July 11 once LeBron reinvented himself as a Cav， was creating enough salary-cap space to sign Bosh to a four-year max deal and then， with all of their flexibility happily spent on a HardenHoward-Bosh triumvirate， going the very pricey route of matching Dallas offer sheet to Parsons to create a full-fledged superteam.

7月1 1日勒布朗決定重返騎士后，火箭理想中的狀態(tài)，就是創(chuàng)造出足夠的薪金空間用四年頂薪簽下波什。當(dāng)他們愉快地把所有可用的空間都用在“哈登—霍華德—波什”身上后，然后花大價錢匹配小牛給帕森斯的報價，從而打造出一支超級球隊。

"Given our understanding of where things were，" Morey said recently， "we felt like we were 95 percent-plus to potentially having the best team in the league.”

“鑒于我們的理解，”莫雷最近表示，“我們覺得自己有95%的可能擁有全聯(lián)盟最好的球隊。”

And thats why， shortly after LeBron announced to the world he was rejoining the Cavs， Houston agreed to trade guard Jeremy Lin to the Lakers. The Rockets were still only negotiating with Bosh at that point but， having already struck a deal on draft night to trade Omer Asik to the New Orleans Pelicans， went ahead with the Lin trade before securing Boshs commitment because （A） L.A. wouldnt wait any longer and （B） sources say that trading Lin to the Philadelphia 76ers would have cost Houston multiple future first-round picks as opposed to the solitary first-rounder the Lakers were seeking in return for absorbing Lins contract. The Rockets， in other words， couldnt afford to let the Lakers move on without Lin if they wanted to create enough cap space to sign Bosh.

這就是為什么當(dāng)勒布朗向全世界宣布自己重新加入騎士隊后不久，火箭就同意將后衛(wèi)林書豪交易到湖人。那時火箭和波什仍然只處于協(xié)商狀態(tài)，不過他們在選秀時就和鵜鶘達(dá)成了協(xié)議交易阿西克。他們在得到波什的承諾前，就完成了阿西克和林書豪的交易，原因在于，（A）洛杉磯不會等待太久，（B）消息源說和76人交易林書豪將讓火箭付出多個未來首輪選秀權(quán)，而湖人吸收林書豪合同的代價只需要一個首輪選秀權(quán)。換句話說，如果想創(chuàng)造足夠的空間簽波什，火箭不能讓和湖人關(guān)于林書豪的這筆交易失敗。

That other scenario， after missing out on Bosh， called for signing Trevor Ariza to a four-year， $32 million deal to take Parsons place and as the Rockets quietly hope， offset Hardens defensive deficiencies with his own stellar D. The comparison whispered in Houstons hallways is that Ariza will do for Harden what Shane Battier used to do for Tracy McGrady.

另一種情況是，在錯過波什后，用四年3200萬美元簽下阿里扎，取代帕森斯?；鸺诖⒗镌苡庙敿壍姆朗厝趸堑姆朗亓觿?。火箭內(nèi)部有一種說法，阿里扎愿意為哈登做當(dāng)年巴蒂爾為麥迪做的事。

From there， Houston plans to resume its pursuit for that third star with assets such as a tasty Pelicans lottery pick obtained in the Asik trade ... and an $8.3 million trade exception created in the same deal ... and potential trade chips such as young power forward Terrence Jones and well-regarded international prospects Kostas Papanikolaou and Sergio Llull.

在這基礎(chǔ)上，火箭計劃繼續(xù)執(zhí)行他們追逐第三個球星的行動，他們手里有阿西克交易中得到的令人眼饞的鵜鶘樂透簽，還有在同一筆交易中獲得的830萬美元交易特例，他們還有潛在的交易甜頭，比如年輕的大前鋒泰倫斯·瓊斯和廣受好評的國際信任科斯塔斯·帕帕尼古拉烏以及塞爾吉奧·魯爾。

In one of his first interviews after Houston elected not to match the Mavericks offer sheet to Parsons， Morey told SportsTalk 790 AM in Houston： "That structure of that [contract] is literally one of the most untradeable structures that Ive ever seen.”

火箭拒絕匹配小牛給帕森斯的報價后，第一次接受采訪時，莫雷對休斯敦的SportsTalk 790 AM電臺表示：“那份合同的結(jié)構(gòu)，是我見過的最無法交易的合同之一?！?/p>

Parsons and his agent， Dan Fegan， were convinced theyd receive a meaty offer sheet as early as July 1 or， by the latest， July 5. But the four-year pitches being presented in those early days of free agency were all coming in well shy of max territory， thanks to Houstons effective campaign to convince the outside world the Rockets were going to match whatever came their way.

帕森斯和他的經(jīng)紀(jì)人丹·費根相信，他們最早在7月1日、最晚在7月5日會收到大量報價合同。不過在自由球員市場早期，這位四年前球員獲得的報價遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于頂薪合同的范圍，這得歸功于火箭有效的宣傳策略，他們讓外界相信，火箭會匹配任何擺在桌面上的合同。

About a week into the process， Fegan decided it was time to try to propose something different. And that led him to the three-year construction， featuring the Year 2 player option and a maximum 15 percent trade kicker. He then took to it Cuban， convinced that the new formula would put the most pressure on Houston to let Parsons go if the Rockets hoped to maintain the utmost flexibility.

這樣過了一周，費根覺得該試些其他方式。這讓他想出了那份三年合同的框架，其中包括第二年球員選擇，以及最高的15%交易補(bǔ)償金。他把這份合同拿給了庫班，說服對方，如果火箭希望保持最大的薪金靈活，這份新合同會給火箭造成最大壓力，迫使他們放棄帕森斯。

"It created the most amount of problems for them，" Cuban said. "The trade kicker not only made [the contract] more expensive， but the opt out [after Year 2] could create a Kevin Love-type situation for any teams interested in trading for him， where you dont know if hes gonna opt in or opt out.”

“這為他們創(chuàng)造了最多的問題?！睅彀嗾f，“交易保證金不止讓合同變得更貴，而且（第二年后）的跳出選擇對于任何有興趣交易他的球隊都會造成凱文·勒夫式的難題，你不知道他到底會不會跳出合同?！?/p>

The Rockets， though， told Bosh they were nonetheless prepared to match the offer sheet to Parsons in spite of all those booby traps had he been willing to join them. They told the same thing to Howard and Harden. But when the Heat slapped a fiveyear max offer down to the native Texan

-- something NBA rules allowed only

Miami， as the incumbent team， to do --Bosh elected to stick with South Beach. This led the Rockets， with their tantalizing dreams of constructing a superteam derailed， to conclude that signing Ariza for nearly $7 million less annually and keeping so many more options open to continue upgrading the roster was the next-best course.

不過火箭告訴波什，如果他愿意加入，盡管有這么多陷阱，他們?nèi)匀辉敢馄ヅ渑辽沟膱髢r。他們對霍華德和哈登也說了同樣的話?？僧?dāng)熱火給土生土長的德州人拍下一紙五年的合同時——NBA只允許熱火、也就是母隊這么做——波什選擇留在了南海灘。這導(dǎo)致組建超級球隊夢碎的火箭做出結(jié)論，每年少花700萬簽下阿里扎、為未來繼續(xù)升級陣容留下很多選擇，是最好的辦法。

But Morey， in that same interview with SportsTalk 790， insisted "we feel strongly that turning down Chandlers option [gave] us a better chance to win a championship than not turning it down.”

不過莫雷在對SportsTalk 790的同一段采訪中表示：“我們強(qiáng)烈地認(rèn)為，相比不拒絕，拒絕帕森斯的合同讓我們有了更大的贏得總冠軍的機(jī)會。”

"First of all， I love Dwight and James，" Parsons said. "They were great teammates. Ive said a million times that Dwight is the best teammate Ive ever had. Those guys are proven superstars. I havent gotten to that level yet. Ive got nothing but love for those guys off the court.

“首先，我愛德懷特和詹姆斯?！迸辽拐f，“他們是非常好的隊友。我說過無數(shù)次了，德懷特是我遇到過的最好的隊友。那些人都是證明過自己是超級巨星。我還沒到那個程度。在場外，我對他們只有愛?！?/p>