《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit95:NBA—篮球运动员的宫殿

　　Unit 95

NBA -- Palace for Basketball Players

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the major professional basketball league in the world, with teams from the United States and Canada. With the addition of the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies 1, the NBA expanded to 29 teams competing in the Eastern and Western areas in four separate divisions. Each team conducts a training camp in October to determine its 12-player roster 2. Training camp allows each team to evaluate players, especially first year players, to see the team's strengths and weaknesses, and to prepare players for the upcoming season through a series of on-court drills. After a series of exhibition games, the NBA begins its 82-game regular season in the first week of November.

In the second week of February, the NBA interrupts its season to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star game, with the game's best players as selected by fans throughout the US and Canada. After the NBA season concludes in the third week in April, a total of 16 teams qualify for the playoffs. The playoff spots are awarded on the basis of win-loss records, regardless of division. The playoffs start with the teams with better records playing the teams with worse records in a best-of-five series, in which the winner is the first team to win three games. In subsequent rounds best-of-seven series are played, with the first team to earn four victories winning the round. The playoffs continue in this way until a champion is crowned. The champions from the Eastern and Western areas then meet in a best-of-seven series to determine the NBA champion.

Every June the league conducts its amateur draft, in which each team obtains the rights to the professional services of the best collegiate and international players. Any player who has graduated from high school and is at least 17 years old qualifies for the NBA draft. To determine the draft order the NBA uses a draft lottery 3, introduced in 1985. Those teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs the previous season are qualified 4 for the lottery. The lottery determines the first three teams to select in the draft. The remaining teams draft according to their win-loss records of the previous season, so that teams with poorer records draft higher than those with better records. The NBA draft consists of only two rounds, with a total of 58 players chosen. Those players not selected in the draft can be invited to try out for a team and are sometimes signed to playing contracts.