Re: [花邊] Adam Silver談Kawhi與快艇事件

阿銀實際的回應 其實跟這篇立場差蠻多的 https://reurl.cc/LnLZq9 As Adam Silver flexes go, this was about as bold as it gets. 就 Adam Silver 的強硬程度來說，這已經算是非常大膽的一次了。 The 63-year-old NBA commissioner who came up under the fire-breathing David Stern, and who has chosen diplomacy over dictatorship since taking over in 2014, doesn’t typically stick his chest out when discussing such matters of governance. 這位63歲的 NBA 總裁，是在烈火般嚴厲的David Stern底下成長起來的，但自2014年接任 以來，他選擇的多是外交手腕，而不是獨裁手段。通常在談到治理相關議題時，他並不會 擺出強硬姿態。 But during the Wednesday news conference in which he addressed the LA Clippers saga for the first time, discussing the salary cap circumvention accusations that were revealed a week before by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast,” he was asked to explain the scope of his power as it related to the penalties that might ultimately be levied here. 但在週三的記者會上，當他首次公開談及洛杉磯快艇的事件時，卻被問到對於可能最終祭 出的懲罰，他手上究竟掌握多大權力。 Silver’s skeptics within the league, the ones who surely doubt whether he’ ll bring the hammer here if it’s warranted, might have assumed that he would duck the question entirely. And they would have been wrong. 在聯盟內部，那些懷疑Silver是否會真的"重拳出擊"的人，或許原本以為他會迴避這個問 題，但他並沒有。 “My powers are very broad,” Silver said in response to the question from Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo! Sports. “The full range of financial penalties: Draft picks (seized), suspensions, etc. I have very broad powers in these situations.” "我的權力非常廣泛，"Silver 回應Yahoo Sports的Vincent Goodwill問題時說道。"包括 全面的財務懲罰：沒收選秀權、禁賽等等。我在這些情況下擁有非常廣泛的權力。" In terms of setting a tough tone at the start of this process, and making it crystal clear that he’ll do what’s necessary if the evidence demands it, this was the sort of signal that needed to be sent. While Silver made it clear throughout that he’s “a big believer in due process and fairness,” all while referencing the importance of the independent investigation that will be conducted by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, it was still something to see him highlight the reach of his role in such an unapologetic way. And considering the mixed-emotions response that is so prevalent around the league, with some owners already pushing for severe punishments and others advocating for more restraint, this is the line he’ll have to walk in these coming weeks and (likely) months. 就樹立強硬基調而言，Silver的這番話是必要的訊號，表明若有證據，他會採取行動。當 然，他同時也強調自己"非常相信正當程序與公平"，並提及由Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz所進行的獨立調查的重要性。但即便如此，他仍不避諱強調自己權力的廣度。這一點 尤其關鍵，因為目前聯盟內的反應分歧，有些老闆呼籲嚴懲，有些則希望保守，Silver必 須在接下來這幾個禮拜甚至數月中在這條路上拿捏平衡。 As Silver knows better than anyone, this sticky situation poses a serious risk to consumer faith in the Association. That was surely the message that came his way from the long line of owners who, according to league sources, called him to express their concerns in the days after all these sordid facts were revealed. Silver非常清楚，這場風波對球迷對聯盟的信任構成了嚴重風險。據消息人士透露，他在 事件曝光後接到多位球隊老闆來電，表達憂慮。 “What’s being said to me (by owners) is a reservation of judgment,” Silver insisted when asked about the mood of the Board of Governors’ room on this topic. “People recognize that that’s what you have a league office for. That ’s what you have a commissioner for, someone who is independent of the teams. "(老闆們)對我說的態度是保留判斷，"Silver在談到董事會氛圍時說道。"大家認為這正是 聯盟辦公室存在的意義，這正是總裁的角色，要獨立於各隊之外。" “On one hand, of course, I work collectively for the 30 governors, but I have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league. …I cut off any further conversations (with owners) and said, you know, let’s all withhold judgment. Let’s do this investigation, and then we’ll come back to you in terms of our findings.” "一方面，當然我與 30 位球隊老闆是共同合作的。但另一方面，我也有獨立的責任，要作 為這個聯盟品牌與誠信的守護者。......我已經中止了與老闆們的進一步對話，並告訴他 們，大家暫時保留判斷。我們先完成這項調查，之後再回來向你們彙報我們的發現。" The notion of a man of Ballmer’s wealth — $153 billion; most in professional sports and top 10 on the planet — being able to procure and retain elite talent through surreptitious ways is the worst nightmare for fans of the league’s other 29 teams. More specifically, it undermines the very ethos of the strict salary-cap system that is, in essence, a hard cap intended to level the playing field and get the NBA that much closer to the NFL’s competitive model that has worked so well. 對於其他29隊球迷而言，身價高達153B、星球上前十有錢的人、是體育界最富有的老闆 Steve Ballmer若能以暗箱操作方式挖角並留住頂尖球星，那就是最糟糕的夢魘。這不僅破 壞了嚴格薪資上限制度的公平性，也動搖了NBA想要仿效NFL競爭模式的核心精神。 So no, it’s not a crucial consideration that Ballmer is the anti-Donald Sterling: Widely respected among his peers, willing to help build the league’ s brand all along the way, and known to be among the owners that Silver leaned on the most from a leadership standpoint. Case in point, Ballmer has long held a position as the league’s audit committee chair on the Board of Governors and, per a source with knowledge of the situation, remains in that role. 所以，不，Ballmer是不是Donald Sterling的對立面這件事情並不應該被考慮到:受同行尊 敬、願意協助推動聯盟品牌且擔任Silver作為領導者最仰仗的人之一。Ballmer長期在董事 會審計委員會中扮演關鍵角色且現在仍在那個位置上。 “They love Ballmer,” one high-ranking team executive said. "他們很愛Ballmer，"一名球隊高管表示。 It also shouldn’t matter that All-Star weekend is at Ballmer’s personally-financed building, the Clippers’ Intuit Dome, in February, inconvenient and uncomfortable though that might be (among those who believe Silver won’t come down hard on the Clippers, this political factor is popular to highlight). The only thing that truly matters, and which simply must be established by the time the investigation is done, is whether Ballmer or any Clippers officials knowingly played a part in these deals that filled Leonard’s pockets. 全明星週末在Ballmer親自出資的快艇主場Intuit Dome舉辦，這件事也不應該成為被考量 的因素，雖然這可能會讓情況變得尷尬(在那些認為Silver不會嚴厲懲處快艇的人當中，這 種政治性因素常被拿來強調)。唯一真正重要的，並且必須在調查結束前釐清的問題，是 Ballmer或任何快艇高層是否明知並參與了那些讓Leonard荷包滿滿的交易。 Is Ballmer’s claim that he was “conned” by the Aspiration company that he invested $50 million with, did a 23-year, $300 million arena sponsorship deal with, and which turned out to be fraudulent, true? Was Leonard’s infamous uncle and lead representative, Dennis Robertson, possibly acting on his own when he orchestrated the two no-show endorsement agreements with Aspiration that combined for a total ($48 million, which is curiously close to the amount of Ballmer’s investment)? It could certainly help the Clippers’ cause if Robertson decided to back Ballmer’s defense with a public statement of his own, but he is proving to be just as quiet publicly as his understated nephew during this tumultuous time. Ballmer聲稱自己被Aspiration欺騙，他自己回頭投資50M至與快艇簽下23年300M贊助合約 的Aspiration而最終這成了一樁詐騙這是否屬實?Leonard惡名昭彰的舅舅同時也是他的頭 號代表Dennis Robertson可能自己與Aspiration簽下了2份不用出席的贊助合約(48M並巧合 地與Ballmer的投資金額相當接近)?如果Robertson決定以公開聲明支持Ballmer的說法，確 實可能有助於快艇方面的立場；但在這段動盪時期，他在公開場合依舊和他那位一向低調 的外甥一樣沉默。 Even beyond the defiant public statements from the Clippers, including the initial messaging that these allegations were “provably false,” the private messaging has also been one of innocence and confidence. They already have all their papers in order, so to speak, because of the Department of Justice investigation that preceded this one and led to co-founder Joe Sanberg agreeing to plead guilty of defrauding investors of $248 million. If the focus of the investigation was solely on the Aspiration accusations — as opposed to the broader business relationship with Leonard that has caused backlash among stakeholders and fans alike — there has been a sense from the Clippers’ side that they should be in the clear. 即使撇開快艇隊那些強硬的公開聲明(包括最初強調這些指控"可被證明為虛假"的說法)， 其內部傳達的訊息依然是無辜與充滿信心的。他們之所以顯得有備而來，部分原因在於這 起案件之前就已經有司法部的調查，而該調查最終導致共同創辦人Joe Sanberg承認詐騙投 資人248M。若這次聯盟的調查焦點僅限於Aspiration的相關指控--而不是與 Leonard 更廣 泛的商業關係(這一點已引發利益相關者和球迷的反彈)--那麼快艇方面普遍認為，他們應 該可以全身而退。 Alas, it’s not. 但事實不是這樣。 Like it or not, the Clippers know that the scope of this story goes much wider than that. It dates back to the summer of 2019, when those lavish requests from Robertson during the free agency process (and the subsequent league investigation) laid the groundwork for suspicions that never truly died. This subplot reared its head again this week, when the Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur revealed even more details about Robertson’s requests of the Raptors that summer. 不管快艇願不願意承認，他們很清楚這件事的範圍遠遠超過Aspiration一案。這個問題可 以追溯到2019年夏天，當時Robertson在自由球員談判過程中提出過許多奢侈的要求(隨後 聯盟也進行過調查)，這些要求為外界的懷疑埋下了種子，而那些懷疑從來沒有真正消失。 這個支線故事在本週再度浮出水面，因為Toronto Star的Bruce Arthur披露了更多關於 Robertson當年向暴龍提出要求的細節。 The most problematic detail, among many, was that Robertson not only told the Raptors “they needed to match at least $10 million per year in extra sponsorships income,” which would be a clear violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement if granted, but that Leonard “didn’t want to do anything for the money.” The fact that Robertson reportedly asked for team assistance to pursue no-show endorsement deals at that time, only to find them later with Aspiration during Leonard’s Clippers tenure, sets the kind of backdrop that only hurts their case at the moment. As an aside, a Lakers team source said Robertson did not request no-show endorsement deals in his free agency discussions with their team (he did, among other audacious things, ask for a specific amount of off-court endorsement money that could be promised in advance). 在眾多細節當中，最具爭議的一點是Robertson不僅告訴暴龍"他們必須至少每年額外提供 10M的贊助收入"，而且還補充說Leonard"並不想為了這些錢做任何事"。如果這種要求真的 被滿足，將會是對聯盟勞資協議的明顯違反。更糟的是，據報導Robertson當時甚至要求球 隊協助尋找"掛名卻不用實際履行"的代言合約，而這樣的情況最終真的在Leonard效力快艇 期間透過Aspiration出現。這種前後呼應的背景，只會讓快艇眼下的處境更不利。作為補 充，有一位Lakers的消息人士表示，在Robertson與他們的自由球員談判中，並沒有提出 過"掛名代言"的要求（雖然他確實提出過其他大膽的條件，例如事先承諾一定數額的場外 代言收入）。 So, will Silver wind up exercising all that power he has in his employ? We won ’t know for quite some time now, more than likely. But he was the one who deemed salary cap circumvention the “cardinal sin” when complaints like these first arose six summers ago, and who has gone to such great lengths to ensure that these sorts of improprieties are litigated out of his league. He had no problem acknowledging the hammer that’s sitting right there. It’s just a matter of whether he’ll need it. “To suggest that there is a stigma around (cheating) would almost be an understatement,” Silver said. “I mean, the amount of attention that this has commanded, certainly no one out there is saying, ‘Oh, this is just business as usual in the NBA; What’s the big deal?’ …In fact, their suggestion is (that) this is highly aberrant behavior, and which is why, in response to a podcast and some additional media reports, we brought in the big guns on the investigation.” 所以，Silver會不會真的動用他手中擁有的所有權力?這點我們可能還需要相當長的一段時 間才能知道。但可以肯定的是，當六年前第一次出現類似的投訴時，他就已經把規避薪資 上限視為"最嚴重的原罪"，並竭盡全力確保這類不當行為能被清除出NBA。 他完全不避諱承認"大錘子"就擺在那裡，問題只是他是否需要動用。 Silver說："要說（作弊）存在污名化，這麼說甚至還算輕描淡寫。我是說，這件事所引發 的關注程度，沒有任何人會說:'喔，這在 NBA 就只是照常營業，有什麼大不了的?'...... 事實上，大家的看法是這是極度反常的行為，這也是為什麼在一個podcast以及一些額外的 媒體報導之後，我們才會出動重量級力量來展開調查。"