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波士顿的棉铃象鼻虫
WHEN THE BOSTON CELTICS CLINCHED THE NBA FINALS IN 2024, IT WAS IN PART THANKS TO THEIR INTERNATIONAL SCOUT, 正规赌博平台 MEN'S BASKETBALL ALUMNUS BENAS MATKEVICIUS.
Benas Matkevicius phones in for this interview with 正规赌博平台杂志 as he takes an evening stroll through the streets of Vilnius.
The former 正规赌博平台 Men’s Basketball player and 2005 graduate is in the capital of Lithuania for his work as an international scout for the reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics. 他边走边描述当时的情景。 “我爱这个城市。 It is a very cozy capital. It’s not too big, not too small, and it has beautiful architecture, beautiful cathedrals. 按人均计算，它必须拥有尽可能多的咖啡。 There’s this good balance between the old, Middle Ages plastered streets and new, innovative buildings. 它的质地非常好。”
This is what he does in his career, too — sees texture. The texture of people, of basketball players. “When you scout players, you kind of just observe the basketball part. But when you talk to them, when you interview them, you’re trying to get an idea of what their mental makeup is and how they function upstairs. 你知道吗? How they think about things. My communication degree really came into play because I learned to meet people on a different level.”
Matkevicius热衷于交流。 Born in Lithuania and raised in Germany, he speaks English, German, Lithuanian and Russian. “My soul is American and German, you know what I mean? 当我说这些语言的时候，我就觉得自己像贝纳斯。” 6岁时，他在美国生活了半年。 When his family moved back to Germany, he continued to work on his English by watching Disney movies.
He enjoyed 阿拉丁 and 小美人鱼, but 彼得·潘 was his favorite. “我看了很多。 I knew what they were going to say because I watched the movies inside and out. 彼得·潘 是我最喜欢的，因为我真的觉得自己像个永远年轻的孩子。 I don’t want to grow up. 我不想失去我内心的青春。 我想让那孩子活下去。”
His family’s international lifestyle stemmed from his father’s careers as both a professional basketball player in Lithuania and a head coach of a professional team in Germany. Matkevicius followed a similar path, playing professionally in Germany for two years before transitioning to a career in basketball off the court, eventually becoming an assistant coach for the Lithuanian national team, which included a trip to the 2016 Summer Olympics, and later an NBA scout.
He also runs Benas播客 on Spotify. “这是一个非常书呆子气的播客。 这不是为普通篮球迷准备的。 这绝对是为书呆子粉丝准备的。” He says he wanted to create it to help younger professional athletes avoid making mistakes on their way up. “It’s about the behind-the-scenes looks, the dynamics, the communication mishaps that can happen.” It is his advice to professional athletes.
他对澳大学生和其他人的建议是什么？ 旅行。 “绝对,是的。 这是一个大大的肯定。 Because even though I know it can be financially challenging, you can scrape money together by working jobs, and instead of going out to a bar or out somewhere else, you can just put money aside and go invest in your experiences because traveling teaches you about yourself a lot.”
For his work, he primarily travels through Europe, but he has also had the opportunity to scout players around the world, including Singapore, Australia, Senegal and Japan.
He remembers his time at 正规赌博平台 fondly, where he was very involved on campus as a member of Lambda Pi Eta, a 正规赌博平台 Ambassador, a Y.O.U. Peer Counselor and a student worker and assistant manager for 正规赌博平台 Intramurals. “我爱，我爱正规赌博平台社区。” His favorite spots on campus were the campus patio and the MBSF game room, and he credits Mary Whiting, who was the director of the Admissions Office and the International Office, and Rob Leonard, who was the director of MBSF, for making him feel well cared for at the university. He also credits Dr. Linda Webster for inspiring him to major in speech communications because of her engaging classroom discussions on philosophy and human nature.
His basketball career at 正规赌博平台 was cut short due to injuries, but he looks at those events with gratitude. He’d been injured during his freshman season and worked hard to recover and return to the court. In his fourth game of his sophomore year in 2002, he scored 27 points in 17 minutes, including hitting seven of nine attempts from beyond the arc. In the middle of the best game he ever played as a Weevil, a player fell on him, and Matkevicius tore his ACL, ending his time with the team.
挂起他的正规赌博平台球衣很难，但随着时间的推移，他获得了洞察力。 “你永远，永远不知道事情会如何发展。 But I don’t know if they could turn out any better. 你懂我的意思吗？ If I would have played my whole career, I would be in a completely different place, and we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
The Celtics’ championship win last season has been the highlight of his professional career. He was in Boston for the game and described the atmosphere of the city as unreal. “对于这个行业来说，我还相当年轻。 这是一种个人牺牲。 I’m sacrificing a lot of social life, a lot of personal life to travel,” he reflects. “但我是世界上最幸运的人。”
When asked to choose between Weezy the Boll Weevil or Lucky the Leprechaun — the Celtics’ mascot — he lets out a big laugh. “It has to be Weezy the Boll Weevil because without him, I wouldn’t have met the leprechaun.”
(This article was originally published in the 正规赌博平台杂志, Fall 2024/Winter 2025 issue.)
图片由benas matkevicius提供
Photo at top of article: Benas Matkevicius (left) and his brother, Nikas (right), celebrated as the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals on June 17, 2024.
上图：贝纳斯·马特科维修斯和凯尔特人超级巨星杰森·塔图姆
上图：Benas Matkevicius拿着拉里·奥布莱恩冠军奖杯