"We're going to Disney World!" NBA to resume season July 31 at WDW

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
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Dec 4, 2005
19,615
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It's incredible how pampered people are these days. Soldiers leave their families, many with young children, for months and years at a time every single year to go to war zones and get sold out to Russia by the President. And they don't get paid millions of dollars to do it.

Asking a player to go to an upscale bubble of comfort for a month or two for a lot of money isn't asking for some grave sacrifice. Plus, players like to play. I am not surprised there haven't been more opt outs, although it is nice every player was given that option. The future of the NBA is at stake here and the players realize this.
Your first point is quite true but I would respond that soldiers signed up for that. NBA players didn't. It is certainly amazingly admirable and something I would never do, so don't think I'm belittling it; but that was on the table for them when they took the job (so to speak).

No one is accusing them of claiming its a grave sacrifice, but I'm also not sure how you can judge how someone else values money vs health or safety or family. Maybe they don't want to get their kids sick, or their parents or grandparents. Maybe they don't like to play - there's plenty of stories about pros that don't enjoy the game they play but it's a job that pays well.

The repeated criticism of players that resorts to "for a lot of money" or "to get paid millions, why are they being such babies?" I think is disingenuous. People are complaining that players may opt out and then we don't get our entertainment and "we've been cooped up for so long, we need this"; when the players have lived in the exact same environment we have. IF they don't want to play, they shouldn't be criticized for it, but ymmv.
 

johnmd20

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How does an individual sitting out impact the next CBA? Are you talking about the cap?
If they didn't play this season, the NBA could have declared a "force majeure" and canceled the CBA. Which would have then needed to be re-negotiated, and one assumes the numbers would look much worse for the players after a pandemic. Granted, the NBA might not have even done this if the season was canceled,(it doesn't seem like the owners hate the players like the baseball owners do) but it was a big risk.

It opened up all the players to a significantly lower cap and potentially lower revenue share.

Regarding an individual sitting out, that doesn't effect anything but that individual. Which is why every player was offered that option.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
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Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
If they didn't play this season, the NBA could have declared a "force majeure" and canceled the CBA. Which would have then needed to be re-negotiated, and one assumes the numbers would look much worse for the players after a pandemic. Granted, the NBA might not have even done this if the season was canceled,(it doesn't seem like the owners hate the players like the baseball owners do) but it was a big risk.

It opened up all the players to a significantly lower cap and potentially lower revenue share.

Regarding an individual sitting out, that doesn't effect anything but that individual. Which is why every player was offered that option.
Thank you, I wasn’t aware of that avenue for the owners.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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Jun 14, 2013
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Has there been any indication of what the product is going to look like? Is there still going to be sound effects, music, and a hyped up PA announcer throughout the game as if there were fans in the stands? Or will it be quiet and sterile like Summer League? I doubt we'll get any live mic'd up access for obvious reasons. I'm coming around on this, if it actually happens and half the league isn't DNP-COVID, I'm just still struggling to get a sense of how "authentic" these games will feel to watch if that makes sense.
 

slamminsammya

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Its not at all obvious that playing is a financial benefit to the players, especially if it turns out that there is significant lung damage even to those who are asymptomatic.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
53,840
Its not at all obvious that playing is a financial benefit to the players, especially if it turns out that there is significant lung damage even to those who are asymptomatic.
I'd say it's obvious that the players think it is.
 

Imbricus

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Jan 26, 2017
4,810
This season, and playoffs, are already looking like they're going to be heavily asterisked. I'd love to see NBA action at the end of this month, but what's going to happen once cases of Covid start popping up on different teams when the games begin? How do you "isolate" everyone that an infected player has come into contact with for two weeks? A single super spreader who's bumping into people, breathing hard all over the court, and open-mouthed coughing, could pretty much wipe out two starting lineups. I'm praying for the best, but bracing for the worst.

On the positive side, I think these elite athletes stand a much better chance of having asymptomatic infections.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
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This season, and playoffs, are already looking like they're going to be heavily asterisked. I'd love to see NBA action at the end of this month, but what's going to happen once cases of Covid start popping up on different teams when the games begin? How do you "isolate" everyone that an infected player has come into contact with for two weeks? A single super spreader who's bumping into people, breathing hard all over the court, and open-mouthed coughing, could pretty much wipe out two starting lineups. I'm praying for the best, but bracing for the worst.

On the positive side, I think these elite athletes stand a much better chance of having asymptomatic infections.
Typical contact tracing protocol only calls for isolating close contacts within two days prior to symptom onset. We’ll probably see two teams sidelined for two weeks at some point, but a single infection shouldn’t trigger a league-wide outbreak.
 

axx

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Jul 16, 2005
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They can test people pretty quickly now, right? A positive test doesn't mean you need to quarantine the entire team for two weeks.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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This season, and playoffs, are already looking like they're going to be heavily asterisked. I'd love to see NBA action at the end of this month, but what's going to happen once cases of Covid start popping up on different teams when the games begin? How do you "isolate" everyone that an infected player has come into contact with for two weeks? A single super spreader who's bumping into people, breathing hard all over the court, and open-mouthed coughing, could pretty much wipe out two starting lineups. I'm praying for the best, but bracing for the worst.

On the positive side, I think these elite athletes stand a much better chance of having asymptomatic infections.
Maybe the NBA Finals will just be Marcus Smart playing Rudy Gobert 1:1. Tell me you wouldn't watch that.
 

Red Averages

owes you $50
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Apr 20, 2003
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I mean the results come back pretty quickly. They test negative, they don't need to quarantine.
Yes, I was agreeing with you. They are being extra thorough, so they should catch and isolate quickly.
The question will be what happens if you’re a month and a half in and someone gets Giannis the virus, are you really going to play a few games without him? The peer pressure to not ruin this is going to be very high amongst the players I think - despite what Jalen Rose says.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
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This season, and playoffs, are already looking like they're going to be heavily asterisked. I'd love to see NBA action at the end of this month, but what's going to happen once cases of Covid start popping up on different teams when the games begin? How do you "isolate" everyone that an infected player has come into contact with for two weeks? A single super spreader who's bumping into people, breathing hard all over the court, and open-mouthed coughing, could pretty much wipe out two starting lineups. I'm praying for the best, but bracing for the worst.

On the positive side, I think these elite athletes stand a much better chance of having asymptomatic infections.
I do not agree. The team that faces all these challenges and gets through the playoffs to win the title will have most certainly earned it. This is not a normal situation. This isn't a strike shortened season. Whoever wins will earn it. I don't think it should have an asterisk at all.
 

johnmd20

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boston couild win it all they do need a better bench
Bench schmench. The rigor of the regular season is not an issue for 2020. A small bench does not matter because these guys will not be limping into the playoffs. What will matter is top line talent. The Celtics certainly have a chance this season due to the quality of their roster.
 

Saints Rest

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Bench schmench. The rigor of the regular season is not an issue for 2020. A small bench does not matter because these guys will not be limping into the playoffs. What will matter is top line talent. The Celtics certainly have a chance this season due to the quality of their roster.
From the time of Bird thru the time of Pierce, it seemed the conventional wisdom was that the team with the best Big Three would win. Of late, -- call it the time of LeBron, -- it almost seems more like it is about the Big Two vs the Big 5 (think LeBron/Kyrie as opposed to the GSW super-team).

It seems like the Celts are more of the latter approach similar to the Raptors or Clippers as opposed to teams like the Lakers or Bucks.

And the idea of strength of bench suggests the importance of players 6-8.

So which approach will be best in this unique year?
 

Dinkleberries

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Jul 13, 2011
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From the time of Bird thru the time of Pierce, it seemed the conventional wisdom was that the team with the best Big Three would win. Of late, -- call it the time of LeBron, -- it almost seems more like it is about the Big Two vs the Big 5 (think LeBron/Kyrie as opposed to the GSW super-team).

It seems like the Celts are more of the latter approach similar to the Raptors or Clippers as opposed to teams like the Lakers or Bucks.

And the idea of strength of bench suggests the importance of players 6-8.

So which approach will be best in this unique year?
Does anyone else feel like "chemistry" is going to be a bigger factor under the circumstances? This team seems to have a great esprit de corps and my sense is that a deep playoff run/championship is more likely for a team like these Celtics. Obviously not something quantifiable, and I don't know if they are better or worse than the other contenders in this respect, but my eye test this year tells me that they're strong in this sense.
 

InstaFace

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The NBA is closing in on signing off on a second “bubble” in Chicago for the eight teams that were not invited to play in Orlando, enabling mini-training camps and subsequent games against other clubs with a target date of September, sources tell ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan.
Sounds like a backup plan in case Florida goes to absolute shit and they need to re-isolate somewhere they can be more confident is sanitary.

Or they want to end up playing a few official games in Chicago, to get more teams to their TV-contract threshold of 70 games.
 

Kliq

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Sounds like a backup plan in case Florida goes to absolute shit and they need to re-isolate somewhere they can be more confident is sanitary.

Or they want to end up playing a few official games in Chicago, to get more teams to their TV-contract threshold of 70 games.
I think it is definitley the latter, with a touch of the former.

I'd be interested to see if Trae Young, playing in an empty gym against the worst teams in the league, could average something like 50 ppg over the final stretch.

I wonder if someone like Curry would even bother going to Chicago; there is pretty much nothing to be gained by him being there.
 

benhogan

Granite Truther
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Nov 2, 2007
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Bench schmench. The rigor of the regular season is not an issue for 2020. A small bench does not matter because these guys will not be limping into the playoffs. What will matter is top line talent. The Celtics certainly have a chance this season due to the quality of their roster.
I'll 2nd this. Talk about fresh. 3.5 mths off. EC seedings for the top 3 are pretty much done. So throw in another month of warm-up. I could give a rats azz about a handful of extra possessions due to the modern-day pace of play. The Celtics first 6 are playing big minutes in close playoff games.
 

RetractableRoof

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I'll 2nd this. Talk about fresh. 3.5 mths off. EC seedings for the top 3 are pretty much done. So throw in another month of warm-up. I could give a rats azz about a handful of extra possessions due to the modern-day pace of play. The Celtics first 6 are playing big minutes in close playoff games.
I agree with all of this... and add in that there won't be any travel issues - so in theory unless the NBA plays games with scheduling a night game followed by a day/morning game, recovery between games will be optimal. Walker has had plenty of time to get his knee right, and get beyond the grind of the international, followed by the regular season, and the All Star participation. I'm not making any predictions, but the C's could be among those that benefit the most from this approach to finishing the season.
 

scottyno

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Dec 7, 2008
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Oladipo sitting out is very good for the Cs. Philly has to be a pretty huge favorite to end up the 5 seed now.
 

NomarsFool

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Not much information, unfortunately. Total speculation here, but I'd think if even just 2 people tested positive for Covid (players or non-players) that might be enough for them to shut down a facility. So, maybe the impact on the team isn't that great.
 

Swedgin

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Jun 27, 2013
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Yet another Net. I think they really want to leave the bubble after 8 games instead of hanging around any longer to be throttled by the Bucks. Race to the 9 seed!

View: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1280633979629076485

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn

·
11h

Brooklyn Nets forward Taurean Prince has tested positive for the coronavirus and will sit out the NBA’s restart in Orlando, sources tell ESPN.
They keep their pick if they miss the playoffs... but that's asking alot of Moe Wagner and Rui... or you think there is some Ewing Theory action with Beal.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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They keep their pick if they miss the playoffs... but that's asking alot of Moe Wagner and Rui... or you think there is some Ewing Theory action with Beal.
I mean if I were the Wizards I'd have been thrilled to accept Beal's opt out of Disney World. If you have the opportunity for Ish Smith to be in your starting backcourt, you gotta take it!
 

amarshal2

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Oct 25, 2005
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I feel so bad for those guys having to say goodbye to their families for up to 4 months. The NBA needs a plan to test family members into the bubble after the end of the regular season or a round of the playoffs. At some point the playoffs are going to come down to which team is best able to give it their all when they know a series loss would re-unite them with their kids. The difference between 100% effort and 90% effort is noticeable.