Happy in Houston, Francis eyeing bounce-back year
『美刊快译』在休斯敦真好――弗朗西斯回顾漂泊的日子
转自“学英语，看NBA”，网址
http://en4ch.tianya.cn，译者：bdmrg
Steve Francis, shown here in 2000, chose to return to the Rockets over offers from the Heat, Clippers and Mavericks.
斯蒂夫-弗朗西斯拒绝了热火、快船和小牛的邀请回到休斯敦，他第一次来到这里是2000年。
Steve Francis had a good reason for delaying an interview.
他完全有充分的理由让记者们再等一会。
"Can you hold on a minute, man?" Francis asked politely. "I need to get in this hot tub. My whole body is killing me."
“请再等等，”弗朗西斯客气地说，“我要洗个热水澡，难受死了。”
Since signing a one-year, $2.4 million contract (with a player option for a second season) last month to return to Houston, the 30-year-old Francis has tortured his body at Tulane University with one clear, concise goal in mind: to reclaim his status as one of the league's premier point guards.
上个月他回到休斯敦，和火箭签下一年240万的年薪（第二年球员选项），从那以后，30岁的弗朗西斯就一直在杜兰大学进行艰苦的训练，他的目标很清楚，很明确，他要重温往日联盟最佳控卫的梦想。
"I was never 100 percent last season," said Francis, who suffered from knee and ankle injuries and played only 44 games with the Knicks. "There was no significant damage, but there was a lot of wear and tear."
“上赛季我打得并非百分之百的好，”他说。受困于膝伤和踝伤，他只打了44场比赛。“受伤并不严重，但很折磨人。”
Francis rises at 8 a.m., five mornings a week, for 2½ hours of rehab on his left leg. At 10:30, he moves into conditioning drills, and at 2 p.m., he finally starts his basketball workout. "It's a grind," Francis said. On weekends he flies back to Houston, where he visits with his wife and daughter in the house that he built shortly after signing his first NBA contract.
弗朗西斯早上8点开始训练，每周5天，上午进行2.5小时左腿恢复性训练，10:30开始体能训练，下午2点开始篮球训练。“很艰苦，”他说。周末飞回休斯敦和妻女团聚。签下第一份NBA合同时，他就在休斯敦买下了现在的豪宅。
For Francis, a return to Houston can't be considered a homecoming, because to him, he never really left after playing there from 1999 to 2004. He spends offseasons in Texas and returns for visits during regular-season breaks. When it came time to rehab his injured knee last season, Francis returned to Houston and worked with another player trying to come back from injury: Rockets center Yao Ming.
对他来说，重回休斯敦并不意味着回家。2004年离开火箭后，家并没有搬走。每到赛季结束或赛季中的节假日，他都会回得克萨斯。上赛季他在休斯敦恢复膝伤，和火箭中锋姚明在一起，他也在恢复受伤。
Yao's presence played a significant role in Francis' decision to return to Texas. Even after his divorce from the Rockets, Francis remained in contact with Yao, his teammate for two seasons. Before he rejoined Houston, Francis spoke at length with Yao as well as Tracy McGrady.
弗朗西斯的回归姚明至关重要。在他被火箭送走后，姚明和他保持了2个赛季的密切关系。重回火箭之前，他和姚明、麦迪进行了细致的沟通。
"I wanted to know where they stood," said Francis, who earned the nickname "Stevie Franchise" during his first stint in Houston. "Yao and I talk all the time, but I wanted to talk to both of them about joining what they had started."
“我想知道他们的想法，”他说。当年在火箭的时候，他的绰号是“特权”。“姚明和我一直有交流，但现在我想告诉他们，他们开创的事业我要加入进来。”
Suffice it to say, the Rockets' All-Stars were on board. "Both guys wanted Steve," general manager Daryl Morey said. "I try to keep them updated on every major move, and the reaction from them was, 'We didn't think we had a chance at Steve.' But once they did, they both wanted to get him here."
完全可以这样说，现在火箭队的全明星都已经上路了。“他们俩都想斯蒂夫回来，”穆雷说。“签约的每一步我都及时告诉他们，但他们的反应是：‘斯蒂夫可能不会回来。’但一旦知道斯蒂夫真的会回来，他们都伸出了欢迎的双手。”
Francis, a three-time All-Star, has seen his career slowly decline since his stormy departure from the Rockets in June 2004, when he was dealt to Orlando for McGrady after a season spent clashing with coach Jeff Van Gundy. Though Francis initially welcomed the trade, the relief he felt quickly turned to anger when the Magic shipped Cuttino Mobley, Francis's best friend and backcourt mate in Houston, to Sacramento in January 2005. When word of the trade came down, a distraught Francis wept openly in the visiting locker room in Boston.
弗朗西斯曾3次入选全明星，但自从2004年闹得不可开交而被交易之后，状态就开始慢慢下滑。在火箭他和范甘迪矛盾不断，结果被送到奥兰多换来麦迪。一开始弗朗西斯也欢迎这桩交易，但没等多久，高兴就变成了愤怒，因为2005年魔术把他的挚友莫布利送去了国王，莫布利在休斯敦是后卫线上弗朗西斯的搭档。当交易的消息传来时，弗朗西斯简直发疯了，他在[屏蔽]室里面对众多记者嚎啕大哭。
The following season, Francis began to rebel. In a game against Seattle, he refused Magic coach Brian Hill's request to re-enter the game with time winding down and Orlando trailing by 16 points. His defiance earned him a three-game suspension, and although he would later apologize, the damage had already been done. Seventeen games later, Francis was traded to the Knicks.
接下来的赛季，弗朗西斯开始和球队对着干。在打超音速时，他甚至拒绝教练希尔的要求上场比赛，尽管当时比赛时间已非常紧张，结果魔术输了16分。这一闹让他吃了3场比赛的暂停，虽说后来道歉，但这对他的伤害已不可避免。17场比赛后，他被送到了尼克斯。
Things didn't improve in the bright lights of Manhattan, where Francis paired with Stephon Marbury to form a backcourt tandem of players with similar games. Despite being billed as coach Larry Brown's hand-selected pick, Francis finished the 2005-06 season averaging only 10.8 points in 24 games with the Knicks and quickly found himself entrenched in Brown's doghouse. Then came the injury-plagued '06-07 season, in which Francis averaged a career-low 11.3 points.
在曼哈顿明媚的阳光下，事态并没有好转。他和马布里搭档一前一后组成后卫线，这是他习惯的打法。尽管被誉为名教练拉里-布朗亲手挑中的人物，但05－06赛季弗朗西斯在尼克斯只拿下场均10.8分的成绩，打了24场球，很快他发现自己并不适应布朗的战术。06－07赛季的受伤使他创下11.3分的赛季新底。
"You know, besides the injuries, I think the timing was bad in New York," Francis said. "There was no bickering between myself and players and coaches. I was just never totally comfortable in the offense. Stephon and I, we probably tried to defer to each other too much. We never played our games."
“你知道，除了受伤，我去的时机似乎也不好。”弗朗西斯说。“我和队友，教练之间没有矛盾，但不知道为什么进攻总是很别扭。马布里和我，也许我们互相都太让了。让来让去结果谁也没有打出气势来。”
Francis chooses his words carefully when discussing his Knicks tenure, likely because he prefers to look at his time away as a sabbatical in the career of a lifelong Rocket. When the Knicks dealt him to Portland for Zach Randolph on draft night, Francis immediately began thinking of a possible return to Houston.
谈起尼克斯的日子，弗朗西斯的口气明显小心起来，好像他更愿意把自己的职业生涯看作休斯敦，而在外的漂流只是安息日，休息而已。选秀之夜尼克斯把他交易到开拓者，换来兰多夫，弗朗西斯马上就想到回归休斯敦。
"I never wanted to play in Portland," Francis said. "I never even thought about it. Portland has a young nucleus and a lot of talent, but I wanted to be in a veteran situation."
“从来就不想去波特兰打球，”弗朗西斯说。“想都没想过。波特兰有一个年轻的核心和不少很有才华的球员，但我想到一支成熟的球队打球。”
When the Trail Blazers bought out the remainder of Francis' contract for $30 million, the suitors began to line up: Miami (which offered more money), the Clippers (who offered Mobley --"he must have called me 1,000 times," Francis said) and Dallas (which offered the best chance at a championship). But Francis' heart was in Houston.
当开拓者[屏蔽]他3000万的剩余合同时，追求他的球队立马排成了长队。迈阿密提供了更为丰厚的薪金，快船有莫布利（他至少给我打了1000个电话，弗朗西斯说），而达拉斯有最好的总冠军机会。但弗朗西斯的心在休斯敦。
"Sure, there were other options," Francis said. "It was a tough decision. But this is where I want to be."
“当然，还有其他的选择，”弗朗西斯说。“做这个决定很难，但休斯敦是我想来的地方。”
"Players have a short window to make their money," Morey said. "And after we signed Luis Scola, we didn't have much. Steve turned down a lot more money to play with us."
“其实，球员挣钱的时间并不长，”穆雷说。“签下斯科拉后，我们薪水空间所剩无几。但斯蒂夫放弃了大合同来和我们打球。”
The Rockets are hoping Francis will play 70-80 games next season and blend seamlessly into new coach Rick Adelman's pass-and-cut offense. "The goal is to get all our guys playing together by the playoffs," Morey said. "We are really making a one-year bet on Steve. But we hope he can play in all 82.
火箭希望弗朗西斯下赛季能打70－80场，能百分百地融入阿德尔曼的传切进攻体系。“我们的目标是，到季后赛我们能打成一个整体，”穆雷说。“我们要在斯蒂夫身上赌一年，我们希望他能打82场。”
"We felt there was still a bit of a gap between us and the top teams. Steve gets us closer."
“原来我们觉得和[屏蔽]球队有差距，但斯蒂夫的到来把差距缩小了。”
Though he will have to learn to adjust to life as Houston's third-tier star, Francis is eager for a chance to become the missing link in the team's championship quest. "I can contribute at any position," he said. "Once training camp comes around, I'll be ready to go out there and ball."
虽然弗朗西斯还需要调整心态，学习做火箭三驾马车中的老三，但他期盼着能在火箭追逐总冠军的征途上，补上曾经失去的那一块板子。“我什么位置都可以得分，”他说。“就等着训练营开营了，我会全力以赴的，打个痛快淋漓。”
转自“学英语，看NBA”，网址
http://en4ch.tianya.cn，译者：bdmrg
