Before he enters the Basketball Hall of Fame, Tracy McGrady's impeccable sneaker game earns him an induction into the KICKS HOF.
在进入篮球名人堂之前,特雷西-麦克格雷迪用他在sneaker game上无可置疑的表现帮助自己加入了球鞋名人堂。
Twenty years ago, high school hoop mixtapes weren't a thing. Neither was Twitter, nor Instagram. Hell, back then logging onto the internet was a long, arduous process, the thrilling result of which was at best a creepy computer voice announcing "You've got mail!"
20年前,那时还没有高中生的篮球集锦,也没有推特和Instagram。在进入梦寐以求的NBA之前,必须经过一段地狱一般的艰巨过程,而所获得的最好的结果莫过于从电脑里传出的那个令人激动不已的声音“你被选中了!”
So when the Toronto Raptors drafted a kid from Mount Zion Christian Academy in North Carolina with the ninth overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, nobody—outside of true hoop heads—knew a goddamn thing about him.
当多伦多猛龙队在1997年的选秀大会上用第九顺位选中了来自于北卡罗来纳州蒙特锡安山基督学院的麦迪时,除了那些真正具有篮球头脑的人之外,几乎没有人知道他有哪些优劣势。
Sure, he was a McDonald's All-American and USA Today's National Player of the Year. But back then, that didn't carry as much weight. See, the crown jewel of the '97 Draft Class was a four-year college starter who played high-level ACC ball in the same state—No. 1 overall pick Tim Duncan.
当然,麦迪是那一年麦当劳高中全明星赛的MVP,还是《今日美国》“年度最佳高中球员”。但在那个时候,这些都没被那么看重。想想看,那一年选秀中的状元是一个打了四年高水平ACC联赛的全明星——蒂姆-邓肯。
And after riding the bench during a rookie season that he'd later describe as "hell" and a second year shortened by a lockout, the kid's Q rating wasn't exactly skyrocketing. That is, until All-Star Weekend in 2000.
在他的新秀赛季坐了一赛季板凳后,他被形容为“地狱”,第二年又遇上了停摆导致的缩水赛季,他的人气也没有飞涨。这一切直到2000的全明星周末。
There, on a Saturday night in Oakland, McGrady's distant cousin and then-teammate Vince Carter put on perhaps the greatest Slam Dunk performance in the contest's history. It was such a spectacular show that it's easy to forget it was Tracy who threw him a perfect pass on one of VC's 50s, earned a perfect score on one of his own dunks and reached the final round, too.
在奥克兰的周六晚,麦迪的那个远方表哥也是他的队友文斯-卡特贡献了可能是扣篮大赛中最伟大的一记重扣。这个表演太过于让人惊叹,以至于人们大多忘记了是麦迪的完美一传成就了卡特的满分表演,帮助他完成了自己生涯里最精彩的扣篮之一,进入了大赛最后一轮。
Tracy McGrady was, that summer, a 21-year-old who'd shown flashes of greatness but had never even been a starter in the League. And yet, the Orlando Magic backed up the Brink's truck to make him their franchise player.
那个夏天21岁的麦迪,虽然已经偶尔能展现出作为伟大球员的闪光表现,但是还称不上是一名明星球员。不过转折到来了,猛龙队与奥兰多魔术队的交易让他成为了魔术队的一员。
Out from under his bouncy cousin's shadow, over the next seven seasons T-Mac earned seven straight All-NBA nods and won a pair of scoring titles over time split in Orlando and Houston. McGrady joined the likes of Kobe, AI, Shaq, Jason Kidd, KG and Duncan as one of the unquestioned top-10 players in the NBA.
在摆脱了远房表哥卡特的阴影后,接下来在魔术和火箭的七个赛季麦迪都成为了全明星,拿到了两次得分王,成为了和科比、艾弗森、奥尼尔、基德、加内特以及邓肯一样的毫无疑问的联盟前十球员。
Meanwhile, adidas, too, banked on T-Mac becoming a bona fide superstar. Since his days alongside Kobe at ABCD Camp, McGrady was a Three Stripes lifer. In high school, he rocked the Top Ten, and early in his pro career, T-Mac laced up a myriad of adi models, including the Real Deal, the Silk, the Mad Handle, the KB8 II and the KB8 III.
与此同时,阿迪达斯也希望麦迪成为一名真正的超级巨星。当年麦迪和科比在ABCD训练营时,他就是“三条纹”的信徒。在高中时,他成为了前十,在职业生涯前期,他尝试了阿迪达斯的很多鞋型,包括了Real Deal、Silk、Mad Handle、KB8 II和KB8 III。
In 2002, adidas introduced the T-Mac 1. It was a silhouette no one had ever really seen before: low-cut with a durable rubber shell toe, and perforated leather on either side of the toe box. McGrady slipped on a silver and black pair of his 1s for the NBA All-Star Game that season, during which he threw himself an alley-oop pass off the backboard in traffic and flushed it.
在2002年,阿迪达斯推出了T-Mac 1,这双鞋的鞋型之前还从没人见过:低帮配上橡胶贝壳鞋头,并在鞋头两侧皮革处穿孔。在这个赛季的全明星赛上,麦迪穿上了那双银黑色战靴,并在比赛中上演了打板空接扣篮。
The iconic All-Star Game moment helped propel the popularity of the T-Mac 1 to the masses. adidas made dozens of different colorways for specific teams and players—including the next HS phenom, a do-it-all kid from Akron, OH, named LeBron James.
这场极具个人标志的全明星赛让T-Mac 1一战成名,迅速流行起来。阿迪达斯为不同的球队和球员制作了很多色彩设计,这其中就包括了下一个超级巨星,来自俄亥俄州阿克伦的的勒布朗-詹姆斯。
For the '04 All-Star Game, McGrady rocked a mismatched pair of T-Mac 3s—one red, one blue—and threw himself another of his signature self-assisted alley-oops. T-Mac graced the cover of KICKS 6, 8 and 9, and considering the amount of ink we've devoted to him in this magazine over the years, it's about time he got the sneaker HOF recognition here, to go with the Naismith HOF honors he'll be earning this September.
在2004年的全明星赛上,麦迪混搭了T-Mac 3,一只红色,一只蓝色,并再次上演了极具其个人特色的打板空接扣篮。T-Mac曾三次等上KICKS的封面,并考虑到我们多年来在这本杂志上为他投入的心血,他理应在这获得球鞋名人堂的认可,同时更应该获得九月份进入奈史密斯名人堂的荣耀。
Before debilitating knee and back injuries took away McGrady's explosiveness late in his career (which ended with brief stints in New York, Detroit, Atlanta and San Antonio), adidas made six signature shoes to his name, and his on-court dominance led to massive sneaker culture influence.
在脆弱的膝盖和背伤带走麦迪职业生涯高光时期后(他的生涯晚期在纽约,底特律,亚特兰大和圣安东尼奥度过),阿迪达斯为他制作了六双签名球鞋,以此向他在球场上的伟大表现和因此为球鞋文化做出的巨大影响致敬。
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