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How Much Will Isaiah Thomas Improve the Cavaliers?
小刺客托马斯能帮助骑士提升多少？
The Cleveland Cavaliers have tried to take their divorce from Kyrie Irving in stride, and have stayed near the top of the standings without their longtime point guard. The team has had its share of hiccups but will finally get a chance to move on when Isaiah Thomas, the guard who headlined the trade for Irving this off-season, makes his season debut last week in Cleveland.
克利夫兰骑士尝试淡化凯里-欧文出走的负面影响，他们在长时间没有控球后卫的情况下保持着接近榜首的战绩。球队着实遇到了些许难题，但终将突破重重阻挠。就在上周，休赛期时与欧文交易重磅的主人公以赛亚-托马斯就将迎来他在骑士队的首次亮相。
Thomas, who has endured a lengthy rehabilitation from a hip injury that nearly scuttled the blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics, participated in a full-court scrimmage on Friday against his teammates and will play against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, Cleveland Coach Tyronn Lue said on Monday. Thomas will not, however, face his former teammates in Boston on Wednesday, as it will be a while before he is allowed to participate in back-to-back games.
小托马斯的臀部伤势让骑士与波士顿凯尔特人的惊天交易几近搁浅，而他在忍受了一个漫长而又煎熬的康复过程后，终于可以在周五的对抗训练和周二对阵波特兰开拓者的比赛中登场，这在周一时得到了骑士队主帅泰伦-卢的确认。在被允许出战背靠背比赛之前，小托马斯不会在周三面对老东家凯尔特人的比赛中登场。
A frequent user of social media, Thomas had been hinting heavily that a return was imminent, and on Monday he seemed enthusiastic for what was ahead of him.
作为一个社交媒体达人，小托马斯已经暗示多时他将重返赛场。并且星期一的时候，他对于即将到来的事显得满腔热情。
The excitement for Thomas's return, both from players and fans, is palpable, especially after he finished last season with a career-high average of 28.9 points a game. But it will be an even bigger lift for the Cavaliers as a whole, as they have thus far been forced to use a rotating cast of players at point guard, including diminished veterans like Jose Calderon and Derrick Rose.
对于小托马斯的回归，无论是球员还是球迷都怀有热切的期待，特别是他曾在上个赛季以场均28.9分创下职业生涯新高。但更重要的是，他的回归对于骑士整体来说，将是一个极大的提升。骑士一直以来不得不用轮换角色球员充当得分后卫，包括老将何塞-卡尔德隆和德里克-罗斯。
LeBron James handles the ball a great deal, but play-by-play data compiled by Basketball-Reference.com does not have him logging any minutes at guard this season. Instead it has been Dwyane Wade, at 36, playing primarily at point guard for the first time since his rookie season — a significant downgrade from Irving last season.
勒布朗-詹姆斯在球权分配上占据主导，但是根据Basketball-Reference.com的数据显示他并没有出任后卫。而是36岁高龄的德维恩-韦德，自他新秀赛季起第一次主要担任控球后卫，这对比欧文时代的骑士来说无疑是明显的下滑。
There is no doubt that Thomas, once he gets back to full speed, will be a tremendous upgrade on offense from any of those options, but there is at least some ambiguity as to how much he can help the team because, to put it bluntly, the offense is not the problem in Cleveland.
毋庸置疑，小托马斯一朝恢复到最佳的速度与状态，将给骑士的进攻带来极大的提升和更丰富的选择，但总有人质疑他真正能为骑士提升多少，因为坦白来说，骑士的真正短板并不在进攻上面。
Losers of three consecutive games, the Cavaliers have allowed 108.7 points per 100 possessions this season, tied for the second-worst mark in the league, according to NBA.com. Their offense, the third-most efficient in the league, has made up for most of that deficiency.
根据NBA.com的数据，前段时间的三连败后骑士本赛季每100回合的失分达到108.7分，并列联盟倒数第二。而他们的进攻效率，是全联盟第三高，这足以弥补他们防守上的缺憾。
And there was even some noise about defensive improvement during a winning streak in November — but that fell apart in December as Cleveland went 9-5 and had their defense to blame.
在他们十一月取得骄人战绩的同时，对于提升防守的呼声从未消失——当他们在十二月仅获得9-5的战绩时，防守的缺陷首当其冲。
Thomas, one of the NBA's most gifted scorers, has historically been a liability on defense. At 5 feet 9 inches, his size puts him at a disadvantage against nearly any opposing player, and at 28 years old it is unlikely that he will change his style any time soon.
作为联盟最具天赋的得分手，小托马斯的防守一直以来遭人诟病。尽管小托马斯是地表最强175，他的身材还是让他在面对任何进攻球员的时候都处于劣势地位，而且28岁的他也不可能改变什么。
But as he pointed out after practice on Monday, the Cavaliers knew what they were getting when they traded for him.
不过，在周一的训练后小托马斯指出，骑士队在交易得到他之前，对于他的优劣势早已烂熟于心。
"I'm a scoring guard, so I know how to put the ball in the basket," he told reporters. "They traded for me for a reason, and that was to play the game that I know how to play and that's make plays, try to make the right play each and every time down and score the ball."
“我是一名得分后卫，我知道如何将球送进篮筐，”他告诉记者，“他们交易得到我的目的，就是让我在我能够掌控的比赛登场，让我做出每一个行之有效的尝试，在进攻时间消耗殆尽之前将球送进篮筐。”
Provided Thomas's offensive contributions continue to outweigh his defensive shortcomings, he will make the team appreciably better. But if the Cavaliers want to get into the conversation of best team in the N.B.A. alongside the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and, gulp, Boston, they will need to figure out how to slow their opponents down.
小托马斯在进攻上的贡献足以弥补他防守上的短板，他可以让球队有明显的提升。但如果克利夫兰想要跻身联盟最佳球队，与金州勇士，休斯顿火箭，以及凯尔特人平起平坐，他们需要知道如何能让阻遏对手的进攻。
And that answer is unlikely to come from Thomas regardless of how excited they all are for his return.
显而易见，这个答案不可能来自小托马斯，无论大家对他的回归有多大的期待。
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