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

England is playing the West Indies in a cricket series at the moment, and the second test match just began about 15 minutes ago. I mention this here because the players are being kept in a "bio-secure" bubble not dissimilar to what the NBA has put in place, with the matches being played at stadiums with onsite hotels, and one of the key England players - Jofra Archer - was supposed to be playing today but got dropped from the team because he left the bubble and went home between matches:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/53419676Archer now has to self-isolate for five days and get two negative test results for COVID-19 before he's allowed to return to the England squad. Does the NBA have similar protocols in place for players who escape the bubble, I wonder?
 

InstaFace

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England is playing the West Indies in a cricket series at the moment, and the second test match just began about 15 minutes ago. I mention this here because the players are being kept in a "bio-secure" bubble not dissimilar to what the NBA has put in place, with the matches being played at stadiums with onsite hotels, and one of the key England players - Jofra Archer - was supposed to be playing today but got dropped from the team because he left the bubble and went home between matches:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/53419676Archer now has to self-isolate for five days and get two negative test results for COVID-19 before he's allowed to return to the England squad. Does the NBA have similar protocols in place for players who escape the bubble, I wonder?
So the answer is yes, as noted. But these sort of incidents just give me a big vibe of "you had ONE JOB!". Like, you know exactly what the deal is. It's been explained to you. You probably signed something acknowledging it. You see everyone else observing the rules. Everyone in the whole fucking world has been discussing all the risks and suffering endured out there, so it's not like you're unaware that it's a big deal. How fucking childish do you have to be to think "oh, well, I'm sure this'll be fine / I won't get caught / they'll look the other way"?

And multiply that by whatever factor is appropriate for the stakes involved professionally. Fucking up during MLB spring training is one thing, but if you're talking the NBA playoffs or a cricket test match, like, this is what not just your career earnings but your career success is going to be defined by. It really IS like Eugene Robinson, or that NFL player who went on a cocaine bender rather than attend the last pre-super bowl team meeting and got sent home. The stakes are never going to be higher for you, you couldn't take it seriously for one week?
 
See post 1086, a player did leave to get food.
Thanks - I missed that about Holmes.
So the answer is yes, as noted. But these sort of incidents just give me a big vibe of "you had ONE JOB!". Like, you know exactly what the deal is. It's been explained to you. You probably signed something acknowledging it. You see everyone else observing the rules. Everyone in the whole fucking world has been discussing all the risks and suffering endured out there, so it's not like you're unaware that it's a big deal. How fucking childish do you have to be to think "oh, well, I'm sure this'll be fine / I won't get caught / they'll look the other way"?

And multiply that by whatever factor is appropriate for the stakes involved professionally. Fucking up during MLB spring training is one thing, but if you're talking the NBA playoffs or a cricket test match, like, this is what not just your career earnings but your career success is going to be defined by. It really IS like Eugene Robinson, or that NFL player who went on a cocaine bender rather than attend the last pre-super bowl team meeting and got sent home. The stakes are never going to be higher for you, you couldn't take it seriously for one week?
Co-sign - all of this. Archer is getting totally slated in the British media for doing this, btw...and this in a country with a much less severe COVID problem than the US currently has.
 

NomarsFool

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My hope is that the players learn the lesson early (from a discipline standpoint, not from a long-term health consequences standpoint) and everyone is 100% compliant after that. I wouldn't want to see all the weeping and gnashing of teeth if some big name player has to miss the Finals because they needed to have a Popeye's Chicken Sandwich.
 

InstaFace

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That is spectacular. The writing, the references, the animation (even if the graphics overlays are a little MSPaint-ish at times). Sounds like they dished out and paid Equity rates to hire some legit singers to do the songs, that's no Fiverr job there. Or is this just some long-running series and they've got a few voices on hand on Ringer staff?
 

Kliq

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That is spectacular. The writing, the references, the animation (even if the graphics overlays are a little MSPaint-ish at times). Sounds like they dished out and paid Equity rates to hire some legit singers to do the songs, that's no Fiverr job there. Or is this just some long-running series and they've got a few voices on hand on Ringer staff?
Issac Lee, who I believe is an audio producer for The Ringer, is a talented singer and did a lot of the male voices. Jason Gallagher, who does NBA Desktop and is The Ringer video director, is a talented musician who probably put it all together. They did a live performance of "HalleLuka" at a Mavs game last year:

View: https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/1071558105232592896?s=20



Here is a whole thread of who did what:

View: https://twitter.com/jga41agher/status/1284130440526180354?s=20
 

Kliq

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I've grown more optimistic about the bubble. Clearly, the NBA has taken as many precautions as possible, and even watching something like the MLS, who is doing a similar type of thing with less resources, and while there were some hiccups with teams testing positive before the bubble, they have been able to keep on going with the tournament. The biggest risk factor is this period, when the most people are there and the players have nothing to do but practice. Once the games starts and the playoffs unfold, more teams will be eliminated and head home.

There are millions of dollars at stake for everyone involved, so you won't find a more efficient motivating factor to get everyone to follow the rules.
 

JCizzle

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I've grown more optimistic about the bubble. Clearly, the NBA has taken as many precautions as possible, and even watching something like the MLS, who is doing a similar type of thing with less resources, and while there were some hiccups with teams testing positive before the bubble, they have been able to keep on going with the tournament. The biggest risk factor is this period, when the most people are there and the players have nothing to do but practice. Once the games starts and the playoffs unfold, more teams will be eliminated and head home.

There are millions of dollars at stake for everyone involved, so you won't find a more efficient motivating factor to get everyone to follow the rules.
MLS, NBA, and especially the NHL (Pasta aside) give me hope. I have no idea how the MLB and NFL are going to pull it off with all the travel and continuing to live at home.
 

Kliq

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MLS, NBA, and especially the NHL (Pasta aside) give me hope. I have no idea how the MLB and NFL are going to pull it off with all the travel and continuing to live at home.
The NFL I have no idea. NASCAR has managed to pull it off without too many problems, with the exception of Jimmie Johnson missing one race due to testing positive, and they have been traveling all over the country each week, and we are talking hundreds and hundreds of people coming in each week. I think MLB, with its limited schedule and teams playing mostly the same few other teams, has a chance to pull it off without too much trouble.
 

johnmd20

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The NFL I have no idea. NASCAR has managed to pull it off without too many problems, with the exception of Jimmie Johnson missing one race due to testing positive, and they have been traveling all over the country each week, and we are talking hundreds and hundreds of people coming in each week. I think MLB, with its limited schedule and teams playing mostly the same few other teams, has a chance to pull it off without too much trouble.
The NFL is acting like it's April and they have 4 months to work with. They basically just put their fingers in their ears and hoped it would be fine. And now they are just plowing ahead with very little planning, although the NFL Doctor did say everything is fine. So I guess they are good to go. NFL doctors have never been shady.

The NFL never cared about the players. Why should they start now?
 

Kliq

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The NFL is acting like it's April and they have 4 months to work with. They basically just put their fingers in their ears and hoped it would be fine. And now they are just plowing ahead with very little planning, although the NFL Doctor did say everything is fine. So I guess they are good to go. NFL doctors have never been shady.

The NFL never cared about the players. Why should they start now?
Simmons has said it a million times but it is a good point, Covid-19 just put a magnifying glass on everyone's relationship, and it is reflected in how the leagues have handled everything. The relationship between the NBA players and owners is good by most standards, so they were able to find a solution that they agreed on. MLB was much rockier, but at least are trending in the right direction. The NFL is off the map and have basically developed no plans. Their main plan appeared to be just hoping the pandemic would die down before they had to do anything, and the lack of foresight and planning is pitiful. From what I'm seeing, NFL players seem more inclined to play than NBA or MLB players, but the owners and the league have basically told them nothing until very recently and were going along with business as usual.

That isn't even factoring the obvious challenges of playing football during the pandemic as compared to what the NBA, MLS, or MLB is trying to do.
 

johnmd20

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Simmons has said it a million times but it is a good point, Covid-19 just put a magnifying glass on everyone's relationship, and it is reflected in how the leagues have handled everything. The relationship between the NBA players and owners is good by most standards, so they were able to find a solution that they agreed on. MLB was much rockier, but at least are trending in the right direction. The NFL is off the map and have basically developed no plans. Their main plan appeared to be just hoping the pandemic would die down before they had to do anything, and the lack of foresight and planning is pitiful. From what I'm seeing, NFL players seem more inclined to play than NBA or MLB players, but the owners and the league have basically told them nothing until very recently and were going along with business as usual.

That isn't even factoring the obvious challenges of playing football during the pandemic as compared to what the NBA, MLS, or MLB is trying to do.
The NFL is like Ivan Drago when it comes to the players and coaches. If they die, they die. It's so irresponsible.
 

NomarsFool

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Unfortunately, the way the mask issue has unfolded has created a lot of this drama. In the early days of the pandemic, there was guidance NOT to wear masks because #1) there wasn't enough PPE for front-line healthcare workers and if 350 million people started wearing masks there definitely wouldn't be enough and #2) wearing a mask seems to do little to protect oneself from catching the virus.

Now, we "know" (as much as we know anything) that wearing masks seems to be very helpful in protecting other people from catching the virus from you.

So, Dwight is - I don't want to say "right", but the players probably don't have to wear them as much if everyone is staying very quarantined in the bubble and all the workers coming in and out of the bubble do wear them. It would still be MUCH BETTER for the players to wear them, because while wearing a mask isn't super useful at protecting yourself, it probably helps at least some. And, certainly it would help contain player to player spread if and when it occurs (and players to workers). But, at the same time, the players are going to be unmasked in games and practices quite a lot anyway.

At the very least, it would be helpful if all the players made a point about wearing them in order to be a good example to all the people that are NOT in bubbles.
 

CSteinhardt

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The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced the NBA really missed an opportunity here. Why not take advantage of this to place their bubble somewhere outside of the US, ideally in a market they'd like to grow? Europe offers several great locations in markets where the NBA is already heavily invested in growing, with the possibility that you could even have limited fans at playoff games by a month or two from now. Heck, consider this a dry run for the idea of expansion to a European division. And if bubbles fail for other sports, it's also a solution that's tougher for other leagues to copy; you can't find enough suitable places to play baseball, for example.

The main issue would be the West Coast timezones, but you could solve this in a few ways. One, of course, is to start some games at 2 AM local time; as long as all of the games are at that time and players get used to living on that schedule, it's doable. But I'm also not sure how critical prime time is at the moment, given that people will be at home during the afternoon as well.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced the NBA really missed an opportunity here. Why not take advantage of this to place their bubble somewhere outside of the US, ideally in a market they'd like to grow? Europe offers several great locations in markets where the NBA is already heavily invested in growing, with the possibility that you could even have limited fans at playoff games by a month or two from now. Heck, consider this a dry run for the idea of expansion to a European division. And if bubbles fail for other sports, it's also a solution that's tougher for other leagues to copy; you can't find enough suitable places to play baseball, for example.

The main issue would be the West Coast timezones, but you could solve this in a few ways. One, of course, is to start some games at 2 AM local time; as long as all of the games are at that time and players get used to living on that schedule, it's doable. But I'm also not sure how critical prime time is at the moment, given that people will be at home during the afternoon as well.
You are taking the human element out of it. There would be way more players opting out of playing and being away from their families.
 

johnmd20

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The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced the NBA really missed an opportunity here. Why not take advantage of this to place their bubble somewhere outside of the US, ideally in a market they'd like to grow? Europe offers several great locations in markets where the NBA is already heavily invested in growing, with the possibility that you could even have limited fans at playoff games by a month or two from now. Heck, consider this a dry run for the idea of expansion to a European division. And if bubbles fail for other sports, it's also a solution that's tougher for other leagues to copy; you can't find enough suitable places to play baseball, for example.

The main issue would be the West Coast timezones, but you could solve this in a few ways. One, of course, is to start some games at 2 AM local time; as long as all of the games are at that time and players get used to living on that schedule, it's doable. But I'm also not sure how critical prime time is at the moment, given that people will be at home during the afternoon as well.
Definitely no logistical issues with doing this in Europe. How do so many people get visas? The players didn't want to go to Florida to leave their families for a month. They are going to do the same to Croatia? What about the press? What about the cameras and the operators? Would the NBA have to renegotiate all their contracts because of this? This is overseas work.

Further, travel to Europe is literally not allowed for people in the USA. So even if they planned this, which they wouldn't have, it would be dead before it started.

And the timezone thing is an absolute complete and utter debacle. Fuck the players, start the games at 2am, which is something that has never happened in the history of the NBA.(or team sports) Who cares about them? Or the people working? Or anyone?

Otherwise, this is a pretty excellent idea.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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He crossed the line to pick up "delivery food"? Wasn't a very good delivery.
I actually had something similar happen (or what I suspect might be similar and what the tweet is referring to if given benefit of the doubt). Early on in this, back in March or April I'd say, we order delivery from a local pizza place, just a couple of subs; the owner of the place was one of the first in the area to be super vigilant and vocal about proper procedures and protocols, both with his staff and for town in general. Unlike many places in town, he focused on the bigger problem (containing the virus and not getting others sick) rather than "when can I reopen fully? this is ridiculous and you're ruining my business!".
Anyway, we ordered and when the delivery guy arrived, he called and told us to please stay in our house, he would leave the food on the steps along with a can of soda and a sandwich bag; please allow him to drop the food, leave our money under the can, in the ziplock so it wouldn't blow away and then he would get it after we returned inside; if we needed change to let him know and he'd leave it for us inside the bag (i.e. if the subs were $21 and all we had was 2 20s, he'd leave us $19 or whatever minus the tip we wanted to leave). At first we thought it was kinda odd, but then we got it and understood; the owner was looking out for his employees, as people likely weren't masked in their own homes and even if his driver had one on, it was a risk (this was also before they determined touching things wasn't a real concern for transmission, so he was gloved). I could see a similar situation arising with the bubble and some kind of perimeter they have set up that outside people aren't allowed into, but maybe I'm just overthinking it and the guy was calling takeout "delivery food".
 

DJnVa

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Yeah, I can see that.

But, think whatever you want of Disney, one thing they have is a lot of food. I wonder if this is more that he had to get some *specific* type of wing or pizza or sub and they had a limited delivery area.
 

NomarsFool

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Well, at least they are being vigilant. But, can't they assign some employee to basically guard the "DMZ" if you will? There is a lot of money at stake here, I'd think you could have somebody in a freaking hazmat suit carrying food back and forth from UberEats drivers to NBA players.
 

Kliq

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MLS said it tested 1,106 individuals for Covid-19 and got no positive tests, which was the fourth consecutive round of clean results after the scare with DC United and Toronto last week. These are people living and playing multiple times a week in Orlando.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Well, at least they are being vigilant. But, can't they assign some employee to basically guard the "DMZ" if you will? There is a lot of money at stake here, I'd think you could have somebody in a freaking hazmat suit carrying food back and forth from UberEats drivers to NBA players.
There are a number of huge hotels with many entrances
 

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you really gotta say that Adam Silver and his squad have pulled off a very complex and risky endeavor and done it, knock on wood, quite well.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Yeah, I can see that.

But, think whatever you want of Disney, one thing they have is a lot of food. I wonder if this is more that he had to get some *specific* type of wing or pizza or sub and they had a limited delivery area.
Yeah probably. But didn't a lot of them tweet out complaining about the food? And they don't have full rein over the whole park do they? I thought I saw something that Disney had reopened, but could be mixing that up.
you really gotta say that Adam Silver and his squad have pulled off a very complex and risky endeavor and done it, knock on wood, quite well.
It's impressive but I'm not sure could be done by other leagues. Smallest rosters and coaching staff, they identified a venue quickly and they don't have much left in the season. NHL probably has a good chance too, if for no other reason than Canada is handling this so much better. I don't think there's a chance in hell that MLB or NFL could do this or will play their full slates, but good luck to them both. At least NFL would be a full, legit season if they could pull it of, but I highly doubt it, they could fuck up a one car funeral.
 

scottyno

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Between the NBA and NHL, plus throw in MLS and MLB, this is going to be the most amazing and unique next few months probably in sports history. It's like march madness on steroids, sports all day every day.
 

johnmd20

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Some pretty great golf tournaments too
In the fall, there is the potential to be NFL football, baseball playoffs, NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs happening at the same time. While golf will literally be playing majors and the Fed Ex Cup.

It could be completely overwhelming, assuming it all happens. The three things I think are guaranteed to happen are the NFL(because fuck the players, although I do think something bad will happen), golf(last 6 weeks have shown golf is pretty easy to manage, all things considered) and the NBA, because the teams and crews are much smaller and they are in the bubble.

NHL and MLB seem like they could start and stop, depending on what happens.
 

Ale Xander

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In the fall, there is the potential to be NFL football, baseball playoffs, NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs happening at the same time. While golf will literally be playing majors and the Fed Ex Cup.

It could be completely overwhelming, assuming it all happens. The three things I think are guaranteed to happen are the NFL(because fuck the players, although I do think something bad will happen), golf(last 6 weeks have shown golf is pretty easy to manage, all things considered) and the NBA, because the teams and crews are much smaller and they are in the bubble.

NHL and MLB seem like they could start and stop, depending on what happens.
Plus SEC football
 

Ale Xander

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College football might last a few weeks. I just can't see how teams will be able to get it all together, while schools are barely open and a virus is still dancing around and the players are not getting paid.
I can see Miss/Alabama/Arky not caring and just having a round robin between the 5 schools in the 3 states.