April 13, 2020
A decision on the return of sports still feels weeks, if not months away in most cases, as the uncertainty of COVID-19 continues to hang over us all. But as we await concrete decisions from the NBA and the rest of the sports world, conversations continue to happen behind the scenes regarding how a return to play might be facilitated.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported early Monday morning/late Sunday night that one point of discussion is the runway leading into the potential season restart. An idea making its way around right now is a 25-day period that will be used to get the ball rolling again before players and teams hit the floor and compete for a potential championship.
As the NBA waits until May to formally reassess its shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Adam Silver has encouraged all of the league's employees to present ideas and concepts for a potential return to play.
In that vein, various executives and team medical personnel have been discussing possible protocols to get players ready for games, wherever they could be staged. One of the ideas that has been proposed is a 25-day program for players to go through before they resume game play, sources told ESPN.
Under the plan, players would go through an 11-day stretch of individual workouts in which they could maintain some measure of social distancing while ramping up training and activity. Then, if permitted by medical officials, the idea would be to allow for a two-week training camp with entire teams participating. [ESPN]
While all reporting on the subject has hinted at the idea of a ramp-up period being baked into a return to play, this is the first time (at least that I have seen) a theoretical timetable has been attached. And it is not a small one — were this to be part of the NBA's return to action, it would mean basketball is still almost a month away whenever they are cleared to open the doors of their practice facilities again and get back to work.
Weirdly enough, the impact of the quarantine on NBA players really set in for me during Sunday's opening round of the HORSE competition, with Trae Young up against former player Chauncey Billups in a remote streaming battle. Young, one of the league's rising stars, played on a hoop in his driveway that was met with some laughs from people following at home, who accused him of playing on an 8-foot-rim that was bent forward.
To be clear, Young is one of the fortunate ones. It varies from situation to situation, but NBA players live in an assortment of places around the country, from high-rise apartments to lavish mansions, and not all (or even most of them) have basketball training setups built into their homes. There isn't really a reason to these days — state-of-the-art practice facilities are just a short drive away, with players usually able to waltz in and out whenever they want. And as anyone who has played sports competitively will tell you, being in good shape is not the same as being in good game shape.
Having some sort of warm-up period would be critical for the quality of play around the league, perhaps even more so for the Sixers specifically. Lest we forget, Ben Simmons was still on the mend with a back issue prior to the league suspending operations, and Joel Embiid's struggle to stay in peak shape without the benefit of game reps has been an ongoing issue throughout his time in Philadelphia. A long layoff with no warm-up period would only exacerbate that problem, to say nothing of the impact on basketball skills.
(Devil's advocate — the Sixers were already a chaotic mess before the season ended, and might benefit from the rest of the league reverting to something close to early-season form. They remain a talented group even with their issues, and might be able to get by on that as everyone tries to find their footing again.)
All of this is to say that if we hear, "The NBA is opening back up" at some point in the next month or two, we are still going to be waiting a while for the return of sports. If the doom and gloom of day-to-day life hasn't made that clear yet, this is another reminder.
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