If you can’t beat them……｜仙道彬
(文題為編輯另擬，原載於作者facebook)
究竟應該留在母會打拚，還是應該轉會「抱團」組強隊，逐漸演變成世代之爭的矛盾。快艇老將皮雅斯周四接受電台訪問，就表示不喜歡這種遊戲方式。他認為當離冠軍只是咫尺，留在原隊再度挑戰，將會有更大的樂趣；他更批評新一代遠不及他們飢渴及渴求競爭。
“I could have left Boston years ago but I stuck it out. I just feel like when you’re that close as a competitor, you don’t go join the team that just pushed you out. That’s just me personally but we’re living in a day and time where there’s a new generation. Guys I don’t think they are as hungry or competitive as my generation was, and that’s why you’ll probably see more of that.”
不用KD開口，他的新隊友Draymond Green就在今日護航，他更以轉工來作比喻，認為如蘋果的CEO轉投Google，不會有人覺得有問題，難明為何KD轉會卻在聯盟引來軒然大波，批評不絕。
“Nobody complain when somebody leave Apple and go to Google. Aren’t they in competition with each other? Nobody talk junk about the CEO who leaves Apple and goes to Google. As a basketball player, you are the CEO of a business. You are a business. Kevin Durant is a big business. He is the CEO of that business. So him going to play basketball for a different team, the CEO decided to leave where he was at and go somewhere else.
“But there’s so many guys in this league that are so stupid they don’t think like that. They don’t think business wise. It happens every day in the world. But in basketball it’s a problem. Aren’t you competitive in your day job if you work for Apple? Don’t you want to outdo Google?”
” What’s the difference on the basketball court. It’s your day job. You want to do what’s better for you. If it’s better for your family life, better for your happiness. Ain’t no one criticizing them. ”
作為老一輩的球迷，我當然更認同皮雅斯的講法，正如Reggie Miller早前的批評，因為運動畢竟不只是一份工，他背負了城市的期望，也代表了價值觀，不是每座城市都如紐約、芝加哥或洛杉磯，對小城球迷來說，一個運動英雄，意義可能比宗教更大，例如印第安納就是籃球狂熱之地，所以Reggie Miller才會講出不捨當地人民之說。
可是由公牛當年的肥佬總經理Jerry Krause，到今日仍在熱火翻雲覆雨的油頭Pat Riley，無情無義的管理層比比皆是；亦有眼光不夠遠大的高層，令留隊的球星徒然浪費青春。所以當球星離隊，要考慮的實在太多，要為自己打算，也不是十惡不赦之事，只是離隊的手法，加盟那支球隊，以及其年紀及球隊的支援等等，都可看出不少道理來。
當年LBJ由騎士轉投熱火，之後壟斷東岸，帶來兩座總冠軍，也讓不少球星認同只要贏得總冠軍，批評者自然收口的理論；在我而言，運動，不是只有一個贏家，有時落敗者的堅持，反而更值得敬佩。正如香港本屬銅臭之地，可是搵得錢多，能夠早早供斷層樓，又是否真的「傑出」，這種是非，自有公論。
所以當這世代球星大多逐強而居，拓荒者的Damian Lillard卻在隊友連番出走下仍堅持留隊，可謂奇葩，而他的一番言論，更深得我心。「這是合法的，但我的自尊和鬥心不容許我如此做（加盟強隊），而且斬殺這些怪獸球隊，總是特別有趣。」
“If somebody wants to go join people and do that, it’s not against the rules. They can do it. It’s just more pressure to win when you do it. Some people say, ‘Oh, they had to do that to win it’ but we play the game to win it. So when people do it, that’s their decision. I wouldn’t do it. That’s just not who I am. I might have too much pride for that or be too much of a competitor where I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but it also makes it more fun. You get to take a monster down and that’s always fun.”
