《10到25岁》介绍(4)：传奇篮球教练奇普·恩格兰的故事
说明：我正在连载《10到25岁》这本书的原文和翻译。本文是介绍部分的第4篇。
之前的部分：
When an NBA team selects a nineteen-year-old rookie in the first round of the amateur draft, the rookie usually feels confident and proud—not to mention flush with millions in cash. This confidence can be threatened when, soon after the player is picked, the team’s shooting coach tells the player that they need to change their shot—the very thing that got them drafted in the first place. It leads to serious questions, such as: Does the team think I’m not good enough after all? Or even: What if messing with my shot makes my shot worse—causing me to get benched or cut from the team? The answers to these questions have huge implications, ranging from public humiliation to going broke. NBA coaches, therefore, face a version of the mentor’s dilemma. If they critique a player’s shot, it could cause the player to get defensive and refuse to change. If they don’t critique the shot, the player may not live up to their potential—possibly causing both the player and the coach to get fired.
当一支NBA球队在选秀大会首轮选中一名19岁的新秀时，这位新秀通常会感到自信和骄傲——更不用说手握数百万美元的现金了。然而，这种自信可能会在球员被选中后不久受到威胁，因为球队的投篮教练告诉球员他们需要改变投篮方式——而这正是他们最初被选中的原因。这引发了一些严肃的问题，比如：球队是否认为我其实不够好？或者甚至：如果乱改我的投篮方式，会不会让我的投篮变得更糟——导致我被替补或被球队裁掉？这些问题的答案影响巨大，从公开羞辱到破产都有可能。因此，NBA教练面临着一个导师的困境。如果他们批评球员的投篮，可能会引起球员的防御心理并拒绝改变。如果他们不批评，球员可能无法发挥出潜力——可能导致球员和教练都被解雇。
I was surprised at first when I discovered that a professional sports coach, of all people, had a satisfying solution to this mentor’s dilemma. Many people think that the stereotype of a high-performing coach is a yelling, foaming-at-the-mouth chair thrower who enforces impossibly high standards, scares the daylights out of players, and breaks their wills, only to build them back up to be more obedient. After all, in the cutthroat world of the NBA, with enormous sums of money on the line, professional coaches don’t have time to suffer fools. The NBA coach with perhaps the strongest reputation for being “heart-stopping” and “terrifying” is the legendary Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. But did you know that Coach Popovich’s Spurs organization is nothing like that stereotype? Although it’s true that the Spurs maintain exceptionally high expectations, Popovich’s coaching staff also supports players. They’re like a family that quarrels but never doubts their mutual love. Over the decade and a half when the Spurs dominated the NBA, winning two championships, one of Popovich’s assistant coaches was the walking, talking embodiment of the wise-feedback note. His name is Chip Engelland.
最初发现一位职业体育教练竟然从众人中脱颖而出，有针对导师困境的满意解决方案时，我感到很惊讶。许多人认为，高绩效教练的典型形象是一个大喊大叫、口吐白沫、扔椅子的家伙，他执行着高得离谱的标准，把球员吓得魂飞魄散，打碎他们的意志，然后再重建，使他们更加顺从。毕竟，在NBA这个残酷的世界里，巨额合同薪水命悬一线，职业教练可没有时间容忍傻瓜。NBA中或许最有“令人心惊胆战”和“恐怖”名声的教练是圣安东尼奥马刺队的传奇教练格雷格·波波维奇。但你知道吗？波波维奇所在的马刺队这个机构与刻板印象截然不同。虽然马刺队确实对球员保持着极高的期望，但波波维奇的教练团队同时也会支持球员。他们就像一个会争吵但从不怀疑彼此相爱的家庭。马刺队在统治NBA的十五年里，赢得了两次总冠军，波波维奇的助理教练中有一位是运用智慧反馈的鲜活代表。他的名字叫奇普·恩格兰。
Chip Engelland just might be the best coach you’ve never heard of. Players and beat writers have described him as a “genius,” a “master at what he does,” a “guru,” a “shot doctor,” and a “legend” who’s “recognizable by first name alone.” Chip was the captain of Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski’s first conference-championship-winning team. At the end of his international professional career, Chip broke into coaching by hosting popular—but demanding—youth shooting camps. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, word of mouth got him gigs working with NBA stars Grant Hill, Steve Kerr, and Shane Battier. After two years on staff at a few NBA teams, Chip was hired by Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs as their full-time shooting coach. During his seventeen-year tenure with the Spurs, Chip improved dozens of players’ shots, including those of NBA legends Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard. Before Parker worked with Chip, Popovich used to think That’s a turnover every time Parker shot. Now, with years of Chip’s coaching, Parker is a Hall of Famer. “He’s the best,” Grant Hill said of Chip. “And that’s why the best team has him on their bench.” These days, Chip works for a rival team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who, after two years under Chip, have boosted three-point shooting by twenty percent and doubled their win total. Chip is a one-man Moneyball strategy. General managers can acquire undervalued players with mediocre jump shots, and after a year or so with Chip, they become all-stars or trade assets. Wherever Chip goes, team success follows.
奇普·恩格兰可能是你从未听说过的最佳教练。球员和跟队记者形容他为“天才”、“行业大师”、“导师”、“投篮医生”和“传奇”，甚至“仅凭名字就能被认出”。奇普是杜克大学教练迈克·沙舍夫斯基执教的首个分区冠军球队的队长。在他世界各地参加比赛的职业生涯结束时，奇普通过开办受欢迎但要求严格的青少年投篮训练营开始了教练生涯。到了20世纪90年代末和21世纪初，口碑让他得到了与NBA球星格兰特·希尔、史蒂夫·科尔和肖恩·巴蒂尔合作的机会。在几支NBA球队担任了两年教练后，奇普被格雷格·波波维奇和圣安东尼奥马刺队聘为全职投篮教练。在马刺队的十七年里，奇普改进了数十名球员的投篮，包括NBA传奇人物托尼·帕克和科怀·伦纳德的投篮。在帕克与奇普合作之前，波波维奇曾认为帕克每次投篮都会失误。现在，经过多年的奇普指导，帕克成为了名人堂成员。“他是最好的，”格兰特·希尔这样评价奇普，“这就是为什么最好的球队让他坐在（通常是球员坐的）替补席上。”如今，奇普为竞争对手俄克拉荷马城雷霆队效力，在奇普的指导下两年后，雷霆队的三分球命中率提高了20%，胜场数翻了一番。奇普是一个单人版的点球成金战略家。总经理可以收购被低估的、跳投一般的球员，经过一年左右的奇普指导，他们就能成为全明星或交易资产。无论奇普走到哪里，球队的成功都会随之而来。
Does Chip only ruthlessly focus on shooters’ flaws? Does he try to break down a player’s shot and rebuild it from the ground up? Is he all business, impossible to please? Not in the slightest. Here’s how one Thunder player, whose free-throw percentage jumped from the mid-60-percent range to the lower-80-percent range, described him:
奇普是否仅仅无情地关注投篮者的缺点？他是否试图拆解球员的投篮并从头开始重建？他是否只顾工作，难以取悦？一点也不。以下是雷霆队一名球员对奇普的描述，他的罚球命中率从60%多提高到80%左右：
Chip’s hard to explain. He’s a wizard with what he does. It’s not unorthodox, > but it’s different to every other coach that I’ve had, who’s said, “Shoot this > way.”… He’s not trying to change my whole shot or make one big difference. It’s just little things. In the late 1990s, Steve Kerr was the sharpshooting veteran on Michael Jordan’s Bulls, but his accuracy was falling. Chip helped him realize that he was releasing the ball off his middle finger, not his pointer finger. That was causing a wobble that made his shot unreliable. Soon, Kerr was back to his three-point-splashing ways.
奇普很难解释。他是工作中的魔法师。这并不非正统，但与我有过的其他教练都不同，他们会说，“这样投篮。”……他不是试图改变我的整个投篮方式或做出大的改变。只是些小细节。在20世纪90年代末，史蒂夫·科尔是迈克尔·乔丹领导的公牛队的神投手，但他的准确性在下降。奇普帮助他意识到他是用中指而不是食指释放球，导致了投篮不稳定。很快，科尔就恢复了三分手感。
When Chip turned Kawhi Leonard into a superstar by fixing his shot’s release point, Chip said, “I felt his shot didn’t need a full makeover. With just a tune-up, he could become a very good shooter, if not great shooter.” When Leonard was drafted, nobody thought he needed a tune-up. They thought he needed a whole new shot (or a spot on the bench). But Chip saw it differently. Although he was demanding—forcing Leonard to stop slinging the ball over his shoulder—he was careful to support Leonard psychologically by never disrespecting him. Leonard is now a future Hall of Famer.
当奇普通过调整科怀·伦纳德的投篮放手点将他变成超级巨星时，奇普说：“我觉得他的投篮不需要全面改造。只需稍作调整，他就能成为一个非常好的投手，甚至伟大的投手。”当伦纳德被选中时，没人认为他需要调整。他们认为他需要一个全新的投篮方式（或一个板凳位置）。但奇普的看法不同。虽然他要求严格——强迫伦纳德停止从肩膀上扔球——但他小心翼翼地通过从不冒犯伦纳德来支持他。伦纳德现在是一位未来的名人堂成员。
Shane Battier, former NBA and NCAA champion and Duke basketball player, explained to me what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Chip’s wise feedback. One summer Battier was working at Duke’s youth basketball camp and Chip was in town. Chip offered to put Battier through a workout. At the end, Chip said, “Your shot is good. You’re a great shooter.” That made an impression because at the time NBA draft experts were doubting whether Battier’s shot would translate to the NBA. Although Chip saw Battier’s potential, he also thought Battier could be better with a few tweaks. An instant bond was formed. “He made me believe I could become an all-NBA shooter. That gave me the confidence to work on my shot,” he told me. How so? Chip didn’t puff up Battier with a compliment sandwich. Chip did it with high standards. He crafted sessions that gradually increased the level of challenge while requiring Battier to maintain the exact same form, whether he was coming off a pick or receiving a pass or shooting off the dribble. Chip’s main goal was to strip away unnecessary motions that made Battier’s shot unpredictable from one opportunity to the next. He was ruthless in changing small details, such as the position of the pointer finger on the ball or the spread of the thumb to control the ball throughout the shot. He was unrelenting in the need to practice new mechanics in increasingly difficult gamelike situations.
前NBA和NCAA冠军、杜克大学篮球运动员肖恩·巴蒂尔向我解释了获得奇普智慧反馈时的感受。有一年夏天，巴蒂尔在杜克的青少年篮球训练营工作，奇普恰好在城里。奇普提出让巴蒂尔进行一次训练。结束时，奇普说：“你的投篮很好。你是一个伟大的投手。”这给他留下了深刻印象，因为当时NBA选秀专家们怀疑巴蒂尔的投篮能否在NBA奏效。虽然奇普看到了巴蒂尔的潜力，但他也认为巴蒂尔可以通过一些调整变得更好。瞬间建立了一种默契。“他让我相信我可以成为全职NBA的投手。这给了我信心去练习我的投篮，”他告诉我。怎么会这样？奇普没有用赞美三明治来吹捧巴蒂尔。他是用高标准做到的。他设计了逐渐增加挑战水平的训练，同时要求巴蒂尔保持相同的投篮姿势，无论是绕过挡拆、接球还是运球后投篮。奇普的主要目标，是消除巴蒂尔在不同机会下投篮时不可预测的、不必要的动作。他在改变小细节方面毫不留情，比如球上食指的位置或投篮过程中拇指的展开。他在练习新动作机制方面毫不松懈，即使在越来越困难的类似比赛情境中也是如此。
While doing so, Chip was exceedingly supportive. After Battier took a shot that Chip knew wasn’t great, he didn’t yell, Stop, what are you doing? Do it this way! Instead he asked, “How did that feel?” Chip respected his players’ autonomy and wanted them to do the thinking because they would compete in the game, not him. Often, Chip says to his players, “Hey, it’s your script, not mine; you write it. I’m just helping you see how you want to tweak it.”
在这样做的同时，奇普极为支持球员。当巴蒂尔投出一个奇普知道不太好的球时，他不会大喊：“停，你在干什么？这样做！”相反，他会问：“感觉怎么样？”奇普尊重球员的自主性，希望他们自己思考，因为参加比赛的是他们，而不是他。奇普经常对球员说：“嘿，这是你的剧本，不是我的；你来写。我只是帮你看看你想怎么调整。”
Sometimes, changing a shot was a stressful, nonlinear, frustrating process. Chip didn’t let players quit. He assured them of his support. When Chip first started working with the Spurs’ Tony Parker, he said, “I’m with you for the ups, downs, and all-arounds. I won’t ditch you if it doesn’t work right away.” Then he critiqued Parker’s shot for the next decade, and it got better. Chip takes his players seriously by expecting a lot, but he’s there to support them through the process. That’s why his players trust him enough to take the terrifying leap of faith needed to change their shots.
有时，改变投篮方式是一个压力重重、非线性、令人沮丧的过程。奇普不让球员放弃。他向他们保证他的支持。当奇普刚开始与马刺队的托尼·帕克合作时，他说：“我在你身边，无论是高潮、低谷还是各种情况。如果一开始不顺利，我不会抛弃你。”然后他在接下来的十年里不断批评帕克的投篮，投篮变得更好了。奇普对球员要求很高，但他会在整个过程中支持他们。这就是为什么他的球员信任他，愿意冒改变投篮的可怕风险。
In the end, Battier developed his shot and carved out a decade-long career in the NBA, capped by a transcendent performance in the decisive game seven of the 2013 NBA finals, during which Battier made six three-pointers, handing the Miami Heat an NBA championship—against Chip’s Spurs. (The Spurs got revenge the next year.) “He’s much more than a shooting coach,” Battier told me. “He’s a basketball psychologist.”
最终，巴蒂尔发展出自己的投篮技巧，在NBA打出了十年的职业生涯，并在2013年NBA总决赛的决胜局第七场比赛中表现出色，投中六个三分球，帮助迈阿密热火队夺得NBA冠军——对阵奇普的马刺队。（马刺队第二年复仇成功。）“他不仅仅是一个投篮教练，”巴蒂尔告诉我，“他是一个篮球心理学家。”
After meeting Chip, I had to agree. “The mentor’s dilemma resonated with me,” Chip told me. “As a coach, I’m constantly trying to get young players to take feedback without feeling threatened.” Chip explained that “it’s fundamentally about the balance between challenge and safety.” Challenge (higher standards) helps players grow in their areas of weakness, while safety (support) helps them trust that they won’t be harmed, emotionally or physically, by stretching out of their comfort zones.
见过奇普后，我不得不同意这个说法。“导师的困境与我产生了共鸣，”奇普告诉我，“作为一名教练，我一直在努力让年轻球员接受反馈而不感到受威胁。”奇普解释说，“这本质上是在挑战和安全之间的平衡。”挑战（更高的标准）帮助球员在弱点领域成长，而安全（支持）帮助他们相信，他们在走出舒适区时不会在情感或身体上受到伤害。
Chip even took the same approach—high standards, high support—with youth players. This reveals the similarities in optimal strategies from ten to twenty-five. At his youth summer basketball camp, Chip didn’t just expect kids to do the drills. He expected them to lead the drills. By Tuesday of the second week of Chip’s youth camp, the players led the drills, not the coaches. They upheld the camp standards for precision and timeliness, they provided critical feedback, and they held each other accountable. Chip did this because he was trying to give them more than a jump shot. He wanted them to have their own “coaches in their heads” that could keep helping them improve long after they left the camp.
奇普甚至对青少年球员也采取了同样的方法——高标准、高支持。这揭示了从10岁到25岁最佳策略的相似性。在他的青少年夏季篮球训练营中，奇普不仅期望孩子们做训练，还期望他们指导训练。到奇普青少年训练营的第二个星期二，球员们已经取代教练来指导训练了。他们维护训练营的精确性和及时性标准，提供关键反馈，并相互负责。奇普这样做是因为他想给他们的不仅仅是一个跳投方法。他希望他们有自己的“头脑中的教练”，在他们离开训练营后还能继续帮助他们提高。
Chip showed me that practices aligned with wise feedback can work even in high-pressure situations with serious constraints on our time. Of course, it took a bit of planning for Chip to teach the players how to run the camp, but the second week was a lot easier on Chip and his coleaders. In fact, when reporting for this book, I repeatedly saw that expert managers, educators, and parents tended to have independent, resilient, proactive young people who didn’t need constant redirection to stay on task. That saved the adults’ time (and frustration) in the long run. When leaders used the science and art of motivating the next generation, they felt effective and they got the satisfaction of helping others, making their lives both easier and more fulfilling. Furthermore, they could look back on a lifetime of personal success and meaningful contributions to others. It’s a win-win proposition.
奇普向我展示了即使在时间紧迫的高压情况下，与智慧反馈相一致的做法也能奏效。当然，奇普教球员如何运行训练营需要一些规划，但第二周对奇普和他的共同领导者来说就容易多了。事实上，在为这本书做记录时，我反复看到，专家级的管理者、教育者和父母往往伴随着独立、坚韧、主动的年轻人，他们不需要不断的引导就能完成任务。这从长远来看节省了成年人的时间（以及减少了挫败感）。当领导者运用激励下一代的科学和艺术时，他们会感到有效，并从帮助他人中获得满足感，使他们的生活变得更轻松、更有意义。此外，他们可以回顾自己一生的个人成功和对他人有意义的贡献。这是一个双赢的局面。