General manager, a frequent target ofcriticism from fans, media and even his star player, just rolled withthe punches, until one great trade revitalized the team and hisreputation.
The first time Mitch Kupchak was mentioned forone of the most glamorous jobs in sports, general manager of theLakers, he was standing at a urinal.
当库普切克在体育界得到一份充满魅力的工作，湖人队的总经理时，他还什么都不懂。
An All-American at North Carolina who became astarting power forward for the Showtime-era Lakers, Kupchak's careerwas cut short after an injury in 1981 that shattered his left knee.After a limited comeback, Kupchak agreed to move over to the frontoffice in 1986 to serve an apprenticeship under then-general managerJerry West.
这位来自北卡罗来纳州的纯正美国人曾作为湖人的首发前锋出场，但自从1981年左膝粉碎性骨折以后他的上场时间便被减短。回归没几年，库普切克便在1986年转向球队管理层，他以助理的身份跟随当时球队的经理杰里-韦斯特。
"Aboutthe second week I was there, I'm standing in the bathroom at the Forum. . . when the door flies open and Jerry walks in, face red, smokeshooting out of his ears, every other word a four-letter word," Kupchakrecalled recently. "He's ranting and raving, talking to me, but notreally talking to me even though there's nobody else in there. I'mpetrified.
" 'You know, I've had enough. I'm telling Dr.[Jerry] Buss I'm quitting and I'm recommending you for the job.' Andthen he walked out," Kupchak recalled West saying. "I'm still . . .staring straight ahead at the wall, saying to myself, 'I don't know ifI'm ready for this job.' "
Kupchak need not have worried. West wasn'tgoing anywhere for 14 years, although he would periodically threaten tobolt as his job anxiety continued to rise.
When West finally stepped aside in 2000,Kupchak felt he was qualified to take the reins from the front-officelegend. Others weren't so sure. There was a perception that Westcontinued to pull the strings, first as a Lakers consultant, then fromthe golf course in retirement, and even, went the uninformed chatter,from Memphis after West went there in 2002 to revive the Grizzlies.
"That perception is so grossly unfair," said West, once again retired. "Mitch is his own man."
“这种感觉太荒谬了，”再次退休的韦斯特说道。“米奇不会受他人的控制，他是一个有主见的人。”
West left a smoothly running dynasty thatinitially required Kupchak to do little more than add a few roleplayers as the team went on to complete a three-year title run.
韦斯特留下了一个运转良好的体系，库普切克需要做的仅仅是增加几个角色球员就可以完成三连冠。
Thencame some heavy lifting. Karl Malone and Gary Payton came and went,Shaquille O'Neal was traded, and Kobe Bryant, apparently horrified atthe prospect of wasting his prime years on a not-ready-for-prime-timeteam, began to question the front office, quietly at first and thenvery publicly.
There was the 2005 trade of Caron Butler toWashington. "My best friend gets shipped out without me knowing,"Bryant said. It didn't help that Kwame Brown, who came west inexchange, was a bust.
There were questions about the drafting ofAndrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar. There was the failure to consummate adeal with the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett and Kupchak'srefusal to part with Bynum in a possible deal for Jason Kidd -- adecision Bryant ripped in a fan's notorious video. "I was on Mitch's[butt]," Bryant conceded. "It was just rough for me . . . not havinganything done. It was extremely frustrating. We had talks privatelyabout trying to do something to be more aggressive and make changes andstill nothing got done."
All the while, Kupchak had the support of Buss, the only man who really matters.
一直以来，库普切克都获得巴斯的支持，唯一一个知道该做什么的人。
"I saw all the criticism of Mitch and I knewhe didn't deserve it," Buss said. "People would ask me, 'What are yougoing to do about Mitch Kupchak?' and I would reply, 'Support him 100%just like I always have.' "
That support was rewarded with two key deals.In November, Kupchak obtained Trevor Ariza, a solid defender, from theOrlando Magic for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook.
这种支持最终获得了回报，两桩交易。在十一月，库普切克用埃文斯和库克从魔术队换来了防守悍将阿里扎。
Thencame the move that turned around a season and Kupchak's image. On Feb.1, he obtained forward/center Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies for Brown,Javaris Crittenton, two draft picks and other considerations.
"[Kupchak] had the patience to sit on theKwame piece and pulled off the coup de grace," Bryant told reportersrecently. "He goes from an F to an A-plus."
"I'd sit in our kitchen on a Sunday afternoonlistening to a doubleheader on the radio," Kupchak said. "My momthought there was something wrong with me."
“我喜欢周日下午坐在厨房里通过无线电来收听联赛，”库普切克说道。“我的母亲认为我有毛病。”
He envisioned himself as a third baseman, but his body had other ideas. Kupchak soon towered over his peers.
"My strike zone kept getting bigger," he said.
Sam Kellner, the basketball coach at nearbyBrentwood High, spotted the 14-year-old Kupchak, then 6 feet 4, walkingdown the hallway in junior high.
"He grabbed me right there and became one of the most influential people in my life," Kupchak said.
Kupchak blossomed under Kellner, learning theintricacies of the game at a basketball camp, excelling in high schooland winding up at North Carolina.
库普切克在Kellner的指导下，球技日益见长，在高中时球技就胜别的球员一筹，然后他进了北卡。
A first-round draft choice of the Washington Bullets in 1976, Kupchak, by then 6-9 and 230 pounds, spent five seasons there.
But his life changed because of a picnic heldin a Palm Springs park. Buss had invited Magic Johnson to share abasket of food after the Lakers had been upset in the first round ofthe 1981 playoffs.
The final piece of the Showtime puzzle? Itseemed that way until the 26th game of Kupchak's first Lakers season.Facing the San Diego Clippers, Kupchak drove the middle, found ClipperJoe Bryant (Kobe's father) blocking his path, and planted his left legin an attempt to pull up and avoid the charge. Instead, the legbuckled, fracturing his knee and causing cartilage and ligament damage.
"My career was in jeopardy after four monthsin Los Angeles," Kupchak said. "I felt I had to be able to providesomething for the organization other than a political science andpsychology degree. I rehabbed two hours a day, but what else was Igoing to do? Going back to school was good therapy."
He missed the rest of that season and thenext, but came back for three seasons as a reserve. But he was neveragain the player he had been.
他错过了那个赛季剩余的比赛，但他之后回归3年，只不过他已不再是当初的库普切克了。
"Jerry[West] would watch me limp up and down the court and ice my knee,"Kupchak said. "He said to me, 'Mitch, you don't have to do this. I seewhat you are going through. You know, I could use some help in thefront office.' "
Kupchak retired at the end of the 1985-86 season and became West's assistant.
库普切克在1985-86赛季结束后就退出赛场，他成为了韦斯特的助理。
"From day one, all Jerry West did was give meresponsibility," Kupchak said. "He challenged me. . . . He wasn'ttrying to protect his turf. He wasn't questioning what my motives were.He was great, a true mentor."
Said West, "To me, it was an easy decision tobring Mitch in. With his business experience, it was a perfect fit. Weare two people who really liked each other and respected each other. Itwas the start of a really special relationship."
Kupchak remembers the moment he realized theworking relationship was over. It was the morning in June 2000 afterthe Lakers had beaten Indiana for the championship.
Unable to bear watching in person the team hehad built, West spent the night driving around Malibu, listening to thegame on the radio.
不能忍受亲自看他自己建设的球队比赛，韦斯特晚上喜欢一边冲浪，一边通过无线电收听比赛。
WhenKupchak got to work the next day, he recalled, he found West already inhis office. With the door ajar, Kupchak peeked in. West was seated athis desk in the dark, staring straight ahead, eyes bloodshot. Westacknowledged Kupchak in a low, somber voice.
"That's not what youexpect when you just won a championship less than 12 hours earlier,"Kupchak said. "When I left Jerry, I told myself, 'This may be it.' "
West briefly stayed on as a consultant.
"Ididn't bring him into the decision-making process very often," Kupchaksaid. "He retired to get away from that pressure. We spoke a lot, butall I ever asked him was to maybe compare two players, exchange rumors,that kind of stuff. When I did something that he thought was a positivething, he would call. But if I did something he didn't think waspositive, he just wouldn't call, so I knew the answer."
Kupchak shrugs off any public perception thathe was constantly on the phone with West and that West still deservedmuch of the credit for the Lakers' success.
库普切克从来不在乎公众的感觉，他只是一直和韦斯特保持电话联系。韦斯特依然为湖人的成功做过不少事情。
"Didn't bother me," he said. "That was never important to me."
“别来打扰我，”他说到。“那对我来说从来都不重要。”
Indeed, Kupchak, 53, abhors the spotlight. Hewas reluctant to be interviewed for this story, and guards his family'sprivacy, refusing to reveal the names or ages of his two children.Asked to be photographed, he insisted on including Ronnie Lester, hisassistant.
While Buss remains supportive, he, too, would like to see some of the credit shared.
巴斯一直都很支持他，所以他能获得管理层的一些信任。
"I had a lot of faith in Mitch, and there havebeen no surprises," Buss said. "It's never been like, 'Oh my God, youdid what?' But I think it should be pointed out that my son Jim [a teamvice president] was equally responsible for the drafting of AndrewBynum. After Jim saw Bynum in a workout, he said, 'This is someone wemust have, no ifs, ands or buts.' "
“我对米奇很信任，所以对我来说从来都不会有惊奇出现，”巴斯说道。“从来不会发生这样的事，‘奥，天哪，你都做了些什么？’我想指出的一点是，我的儿子吉姆（球队的副经理）在选秀选拜纳姆时也担负了相同的责任。当吉姆在测验中看到拜纳姆时，他说到，‘这是我们必须要的人，没有什么如果但是。’”
Jerry Buss said it was he who initiated the idea of obtaining Gasol.
杰瑞-巴斯说他是那个提出得到加索尔想法的那个人。
"I saw that he said in the paper he wanted tobe traded," Buss said. "Knowing that Memphis was losing a great deal ofmoney, I suggested we pursue it. Mitch made the call, but it was Jimwho also stayed on it."
Kupchak said his toughest time on the job camein the summer of 2004, when the Lakers had traded O'Neal, but Bryanthad not yet decided whether he would stay with the Lakers or join theClippers.
"I was told Kobe would let both clubs know hisdecision on the morning he was eligible to sign," Kupchak said. "I wasin my office when I heard, 'Mitch, Kobe's on the phone.' That was apretty high-stress moment. I got on and he said, 'Mitch, I want to be aLaker.' "
“我告诉科比他可以到签约的那天早晨再决定到底签哪支球队，”库普切克说道。“当我在办公室里听到，‘米奇，科比的电话。’那个时候压力真大。我接过电话他说到，‘米奇，我想成为一名湖人球员。’”
Anda Laker Bryant remains, not only leading the team back into contentionfor the NBA championship, but leading cheers for the once-beleagueredgeneral manager.
湖人的科比依旧在，他不仅继续带领球队冲击总冠军，而且带头为曾经受围攻的经理喝彩。
Kupchak, though, is ever-cautious: "In six months, I could be back to an F."
