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

DJnVa

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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.
Unless I'm mistaken, there is a plan for families to join them, but likely not right away.

EDIT: This is from May, but it talks about the players and league discussing it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29230850/sources-nba-nbpa-discuss-plan-allow-limited-family-members-join-players
 

JCizzle

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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.
Unless I'm mistaken, there is a plan for families to join them, but likely not right away.

EDIT: This is from May, but it talks about the players and league discussing it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29230850/sources-nba-nbpa-discuss-plan-allow-limited-family-members-join-players
Yep, there is a plan in place for that to happen following round 1: "Family and guests won't be welcomed to the resort until the seeding games and first round of the playoffs are completed."

USA Today did a cool job with the graphics, you can see that it basically equates to two months without family for teams that make it into round 1. I think it's the best of bad options because ultimately it is very important to keep the number of people within the bubble as low as possible.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/sports/2020/07/09/nba-bubble-takes-shape-disney-world/5387760002/
 

Nator

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Yep, there is a plan in place for that to happen following round 1: "Family and guests won't be welcomed to the resort until the seeding games and first round of the playoffs are completed."

USA Today did a cool job with the graphics, you can see that it basically equates to two months without family for teams that make it into round 1. I think it's the best of bad options because ultimately it is very important to keep the number of people within the bubble as low as possible.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/sports/2020/07/09/nba-bubble-takes-shape-disney-world/5387760002/
October 19th LeBron makes some passive aggressive dog-whistle comment about officiating to the media after the Lakers fall behind 2-1 in the conference finals. "Hey, we know we have to play harder to win. I mean...we're not getting calls here like we would if there were an actual home-court advantage , but it's still on us try try to turn things around in game 4, ya know?"

October 21st. Game 4: Lakers score 113 points. From the free throw line. Win 187-92.
 

JCizzle

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October 19th LeBron makes some passive aggressive dog-whistle comment about officiating to the media after the Lakers fall behind 2-1 in the conference finals. "Hey, we know we have to play harder to win. I mean...we're not getting calls here like we would if there were an actual home-court advantage , but it's still on us try try to turn things around in game 4, ya know?"

October 21st. Game 4: Lakers score 113 points. From the free throw line. Win 187-92.
I can 10000% see that happening. Fucking Lakers
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I don't know what Shams is on about. Harden will arrive with his team later in July when the officials show up for the games.
 

Red Averages

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Just a reminder that we are now only 3 weeks away from having the NBA back for the rest of summer and fall. :drunk::popcorn::drunk::banana:
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Converting this into a post where I observe how much I missed non-play-related NBA content. Rondo getting dragged for his food criticism was gold enough but today was better with JR Smith's menu review as well as Tobi & Bobi reuniting.

I don't know if we will actually see any "real" games but the entertainment value from these guys in Orlando is good enough for now.
 
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djbayko

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Yes should be closer to 99% odds IMO. We’re talking about 3 weeks from now, regular season.

I already bought the outdoor TV for some summer hoops. Don’t ruin this anticipation phase for me!
I'm just having fun with you :)

Edit: I should say that I'm mostly having fun. I am somewhat concerned about the daily death totals in Florida starting to spike really soon, creating a public backlash towards the NBA's "irresponsibility" for contributing to workers being in harm's way.
 
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Red Averages

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I think it’s important to project out a few weeks (Numbers will come down as people adjust to the higher risk environment*) when the numbers are fading and remember the league is focused on Orlando, in a specific location that will be strictly enforced for precautions, including to the workers you are worried about.

*i was on a call today with someone golfing at Trump’s Doral resort and it was 99 degrees and they we’re all required to wear masks while golfing.
 

johnmd20

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*i was on a call today with someone golfing at Trump’s Doral resort and it was 99 degrees and they we’re all required to wear masks while golfing.
If you're golfing at that monster's golf course, you should be stuck wearing a mask. That said, it's ridiculous to make people wear masks while golfing.(before you tee off, sure) You're generally in the middle of nowhere for 4 hours. Golf is not quite like being in a crowded bar.
 

Red Averages

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If you're golfing at that monster's golf course, you should be stuck wearing a mask. That said, it's ridiculous to make people wear masks while golfing.(before you tee off, sure) You're generally in the middle of nowhere for 4 hours. Golf is not quite like being in a crowded bar.
Yes, that was the point. Of all the places in the world where it wouldn’t be enforced; on a golf course, at a Trump resort, when it was 99 degrees out seemed like a good enough example of people changing behavior because of an elevated level of cases. So we should expect three weeks from now cases have come down and the optics will look better.
 

djbayko

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A new record, more than 50% greater than the previous.



I think it’s important to project out a few weeks (Numbers will come down as people adjust to the higher risk environment*) when the numbers are fading...
It's not clear to me that this will be the case. As we saw in all geographies back in March/April, it took some time - even after strict lockdown orders were in place - to see new cases begin to plateau and then decrease. It's not obvious from the Florida data that we're seeing any sort of downward slope in new cases yet either.


On top of this, Floridians have been told by their federal and local government leaders for months that they don't have to worry about COVID-19. Many people won't be reprogrammed overnight, and some may never be.

...and remember the league is focused on Orlando, in a specific location that will be strictly enforced for precautions, including to the workers you are worried about.
I think the NBA's bubble plan has a chance of working, and I definitely agree with your point that the bubble is located in Orlando, which is away from where the majority of the COVID-19 action is. Whether the public latches onto the increasing death toll, and whether they differentiate between the macro view of Florida vs. Orlando when it comes to their outcry remains to be seen.

One thing is for certain. Florida has the right governor in place if you're someone who wants to see NBA games in August despite whatever might be happening in his state :) As for the NBA, there is so much effort and momentum behind this thing, that they'll want to give it every opportunity to succeed.

PS: I'm less arguing against you RA and more playing devil's advocate. I recognize that I'm probably being overly concerned and appreciate the debate.
 
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InstaFace

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COVID Exit Strategy, the monitoring dashboard site built by public health experts on top of COVID Tracking, has just introduced a new dark-red category on top of its previous stoplight-colors categorization, and Florida (along with most of the South and Southwest) is right among the worst of it. Florida's cases-per-million-population (436) is very nearly the worst in the country, right behind "leaders" Arizona (491), and ahead of other states doing awesome including Louisiana (349), South Carolina (302), Mississippi (281), Texas (279), Georgia (279), Alabama (252) and Nevada (241).

Those ratings incorporate data from @bowiac 's rt.live site, which has Florida still >1 at 1.14, but down from its post-shelter-order-lifting (5/5) peak of 1.35 on 6/2. So cases should still likely continue to increase for at least a few more weeks.
 

Imbricus

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Not to say things aren't bad there, but this death toll has been corrected from 188 to 95. It appears someone mistakenly added two days of deaths together. Still, with the way things are going in Florida, this error might just be a glimpse of the future.
A new record, more than 50% greater than the previous.
 

Smokey Joe

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Not to say things aren't bad there, but this death toll has been corrected from 188 to 95. It appears someone mistakenly added two days of deaths together. Still, with the way things are going in Florida, this error might just be a glimpse of the future.
So the state of Florida fires someone because they won’t go along with some bookkeeping fiddle that makes their case count look a little bit lower and then they add 2 days death toll together and announce it as one. They should have stuck with the first person.
 

djbayko

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Not to say things aren't bad there, but this death toll has been corrected from 188 to 95. It appears someone mistakenly added two days of deaths together. Still, with the way things are going in Florida, this error might just be a glimpse of the future.
15,299 new cases in FL today. Sets the record for most new cases in any state on a single day. Broke Florida’s own July 4th record of 11,434 by 33.8%

Let’s hope they got this data point wrong too.
 

Ale Xander

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15,299 new cases in FL today. Sets the record for most new cases in any state on a single day. Broke Florida’s own July 4th record of 11,434 by 33.8%

Let’s hope they got this data point wrong too.
Disney opened yesterday; wait a few weeks. Not to say Disney isn't handling it as best as they can (other than not opening) but if the attendees think going is a good idea, they're not making safe choices overall.
 

Nator

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Don’t worry, there’s lot of social distancing going on at Disney. I’m sure the virus won’t infiltrate the NBA’s super secure bubble down the street.

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/unrooolie/status/1281929931417505792
I am guessing that those idiots next stop after the 7 dwarves train ride won't be trying to infiltrate the NBA bubble.

"Hey, after this, let's go see if we can see Kentavious Caldwell-Pope making an Instagram post in the parking lot of the hotel he's staying at!"
 

johnmd20

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I am guessing that those idiots next stop after the 7 dwarves train ride won't be trying to infiltrate the NBA bubble.

"Hey, after this, let's go see if we can see Kentavious Caldwell-Pope making an Instagram post in the parking lot of the hotel he's staying at!"
That is obviously the case. The Disney visitors won't have anything to do with the bubble. I guess the issue is one of the Disney workers infiltrates the bubble in the course of doing his or her job. The hope would be the workers would be smart when they are not working. But. . . .yeah, no, that's not going to happen with every person.

That said, players are going to get infections. Seems like nobody is expecting zero infections. That has been the case for golf. BUT if good hygiene and other measures are being practiced, the spread won't be like if they were in a bar or a choir and it can be caught quickly and taken out of the system, like it was for golf.

The NBA has a good plan here and they are moving forward with it. It won't be perfect but I think they will make it through the end of the season, specifically because of the bubble. But will the 2021 season start anytime before next spring? Probably not, unless they do another bubble. A regular season with travel will have quite a few more holes.
 

NomarsFool

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It's interesting how many NBA players have tested positive in ramping up for the bubble vs. before. It seems like they are catching a lot of them much earlier (or maybe never would have).
 

Red Averages

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It’s almost like this testing things works to detect, isolate, and curate a safer environment to resume activities!
 

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I don't play basketball, I just like to watch it, so this may be a stupid question: from the players' standpoint, will there be any difference in the quality of the courts they play on in Disney, in particular for the games, as compared to the NBA courts?
 

Kliq

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I don't play basketball, I just like to watch it, so this may be a stupid question: from the players' standpoint, will there be any difference in the quality of the courts they play on in Disney, in particular for the games, as compared to the NBA courts?
I doubt it, if they were playing at regular YMCA's it would make a difference because I'm sure the floor wouldn't be maintained properly the way an NBA hardwood could, but I'm sure the league will be doing regular maintenance on the floors at WDW and should be at a pretty high standard.

I suppose its possible the players might roll their ankle and complain about the floor, but I'd wonder how much that actually had to do with the floor.
 

Pedro's Jheri Curl

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Seems the teams brought their courts with them.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/07/nba-teams-installed-their-actual-courts-inside-a-giant-disney-world-ballroom
"The 22 NBA teams set to participate in the resumed regular season will relocate to Disney World in Orlando next week to enter the NBA’s bubble and begin training camp – and players will begin training camp on July 9th playing on the same surfaces they used back home."
That's pretty freaking cool. Not sure about everyone else but I am getting more and more excited for this with each passing day. I don't even really care if it feels more like an exhibition without fans, I just want to watch the Celtics again.
 

djbayko

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It really does feel like the NBA put together a serious plan here. If it goes to shit it will be due to non-compliance of people in the bubble. Also, if this plan doesn’t work, then basically no plan has a chance. The only thing which would have made it better is having the bubble in Montana :)
 

Red Averages

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That's pretty freaking cool. Not sure about everyone else but I am getting more and more excited for this with each passing day. I don't even really care if it feels more like an exhibition without fans, I just want to watch the Celtics again.
Absolutely. It'll be different, but sometimes different can lead to some interesting changes/perspectives. Bubble life has already started to offer some interesting material. I'd imagine we'll hear more from players/coaches during games than we would have, likely see some new camera angles and other innovative items that could enhance viewing.
 

Five Cent Head

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I doubt it, if they were playing at regular YMCA's it would make a difference because I'm sure the floor wouldn't be maintained properly the way an NBA hardwood could, but I'm sure the league will be doing regular maintenance on the floors at WDW and should be at a pretty high standard.

I suppose its possible the players might roll their ankle and complain about the floor, but I'd wonder how much that actually had to do with the floor.
Thanks, that make sense.
 

snowmanny

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There’s a tip line where someone could anonymously report they saw Joel Embiid at a Chipotle in downtown Orlando two hours before a Game 5 tip-off? What could go wrong?
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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There’s a tip line where someone could anonymously report they saw Joel Embiid at a Chipotle in downtown Orlando two hours before a Game 5 tip-off? What could go wrong?
It says "on campus"; I'm assuming it's for players to keep an eye on each other while they're in the bubble, i.e. "player x had five guys in his room last night", "player y took one of the restaurant staff home last night" etc. I don't the exact rules they have inside but I can't imagine it's free rein.
 

johnmd20

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It really does feel like the NBA put together a serious plan here. If it goes to shit it will be due to non-compliance of people in the bubble. Also, if this plan doesn’t work, then basically no plan has a chance. The only thing which would have made it better is having the bubble in Montana :)
The NBA is run by competent individuals. Goes to show you how important that is when you're in a crisis. The MLB and the United States Government should take notes, certainly not necessarily in that order.

Bad management during a crisis is catastrophic. It's not good when things are chill. But when they are not chill, it turns destructive very quickly.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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...
I suppose its possible the players might roll their ankle and complain about the floor, but I'd wonder how much that actually had to do with the floor.
Depends on whether any player becomes obsessed with counting the number of bolts holding the floor together...