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Apparently a Utah player tested positive and there have been a lot gvt folks/health officials recommending against large gatherings, don't know more than this

if this lasts, we should have nurk and collins back to make a push for the playoffs

Dzon Dilindzer wrote:if this lasts, we should have nurk and collins back to make a push for the playoffs

Are you sure? We are on the outside looking in on the playoffs. If they restart the season and go straight to playoffs, we are out.

It was Rudy Gobert who tested positive and all of the teams who played the Jazz are under self
quarantee for 10 days. Fortunately the Blazers are at home and have not played the Jazz since
February 7.

I think at some point, the season could re-start but would not be surprised if they declared the
regular season over and began the playoffs whenever the NBA reopens for business.

d-train wrote:

Dzon Dilindzer wrote:if this lasts, we should have nurk and collins back to make a push for the playoffs

Are you sure? We are on the outside looking in on the playoffs. If they restart the season and go straight to playoffs, we are out.

Plus portland is currently in 9th so the worst place to finish in.

this has consequences bigger than basketball as well, people’s jobs, the economy, etc.

In nutshell this is a pure blessing for NeO.
Just a perfect excuse for a disastrous season preceded by a whack offseason.

He can now confidently say "This season was a mess for Blazers because of coronavirus outbreak" during a season exit press conference.

red_power wrote:In nutshell this is a pure blessing for NeO.
Just a perfect excuse for a disastrous season preceded by a whack offseason.

He can now confidently say "This season was a mess for Blazers because of coronavirus outbreak" during a season exit press conference.

That's what you pull from this? Really?

my guess is that this basically ends the season. There's only a month left of the regular season schedule and only about 3.5 months left before a bunch of free agents won't be under contract.

I suppose the NBA could say that yesterday was the end of the regular season....leaving Portland as 14th in the lottery. Then start the playoffs at the regular time. But if the Coronavirus continues to spread, and every indication is that it will, there will be too many reasons to not restart the season

Several states have implemented bans on gatherings of more than 250 people. Those bans aren't going to be lifted for NBA games, IMO

Deleted.

It'll be interesting to see how things play out. Because the spread of the corona virus is expected to become even more rampant as the months go on. So if you cancel the games now, how do you justify reconvening months down the road when it's even worse?

Wizenheimer wrote:my guess is that this basically ends the season. There's only a month left of the regular season schedule and only about 3.5 months left before a bunch of free agents won't be under contract.

I suppose the NBA could say that yesterday was the end of the regular season....leaving Portland as 14th in the lottery. Then start the playoffs at the regular time. But if the Coronavirus continues to spread, and every indication is that it will, there will be too many reasons to not restart the season

Several states have implemented bans on gatherings of more than 250 people. Those bans aren't going to be lifted for NBA games, IMO

I would guess that if they wanted to reconvene and play the full remainder of the season and the playoffs, they'd have to push a lot of things back (the the draft could still take place). Then you either have a much shorter off-season, or you cut some games from next year.

Sinobas wrote:

Wizenheimer wrote:my guess is that this basically ends the season. There's only a month left of the regular season schedule and only about 3.5 months left before a bunch of free agents won't be under contract.

I suppose the NBA could say that yesterday was the end of the regular season....leaving Portland as 14th in the lottery. Then start the playoffs at the regular time. But if the Coronavirus continues to spread, and every indication is that it will, there will be too many reasons to not restart the season

Several states have implemented bans on gatherings of more than 250 people. Those bans aren't going to be lifted for NBA games, IMO

I would guess that if they wanted to reconvene and play the full remainder of the season and the playoffs, they'd have to push a lot of things back (the the draft could still take place). Then you either have a much shorter off-season, or you cut some games from next year.

I don't think that works because about 20% of NBA players will have their contracts expire on June 30. At the minimum this would push the rest of the regular season to start sometime toward the end of April. Another month for the rest of the games would push the start of the playoffs around the 1st of June. Just not enough time to conduct the playoffs

besides all that, all signs point to this crisis being worse 30 days from now than better. That's why it has been classified a pandemic

Wizenheimer wrote:

Sinobas wrote:

Wizenheimer wrote:my guess is that this basically ends the season. There's only a month left of the regular season schedule and only about 3.5 months left before a bunch of free agents won't be under contract.

I suppose the NBA could say that yesterday was the end of the regular season....leaving Portland as 14th in the lottery. Then start the playoffs at the regular time. But if the Coronavirus continues to spread, and every indication is that it will, there will be too many reasons to not restart the season

Several states have implemented bans on gatherings of more than 250 people. Those bans aren't going to be lifted for NBA games, IMO

I would guess that if they wanted to reconvene and play the full remainder of the season and the playoffs, they'd have to push a lot of things back (the the draft could still take place). Then you either have a much shorter off-season, or you cut some games from next year.

I don't think that works because about 20% of NBA players will have their contracts expire on June 30. At the minimum this would push the rest of the regular season to start sometime toward the end of April. Another month for the rest of the games would push the start of the playoffs around the 1st of June. Just not enough time to conduct the playoffs

besides all that, all signs point to this crisis being worse 30 days from now than better. That's why it has been classified a pandemic

They'd probably need to play games without fans then.

They could cancel the rest of the regular season, seed the playoffs according to current standings play abbreviated best of 3 series.

But yeah, now all schools are closing. I don't get the point in it because this won't get better for while.....maybe ever.

I think this COVID-19 thing is far from over. I don't know that they finish this season, let alone start on time next season. This thing has barely scratched the surface here in the states. Once it spreads further, everything will change. I hope I'm wrong.

If the season resumes, I could see them shortening the season depending on how long everything is shut down. Maybe they go straight to the playoffs or maybe they do some type of tournament play-in. They could have the top few teams get a first round by, the remaining teams all the way down to the bottom dwellers play a one game winner takes all (I suppose they could do a 2 out of 3 series) and then the playoff's resume like normal. It looks like everyone would need to play in that format except the #1 team in each Conference.

1 Bye
2 vs 15
3 vs 14
4 vs 13
5 vs 12
6 vs 11
7 vs 10
8 vs 9

You could play a 2 round series and give more teams at the top a bye.

1 Bye
2 Bye
3 Bye
4 Bye
5 Bye
6 Bye
7 Bye
8 vs 12
9 vs 13
10 vs 14
11 vs 15

Followed by

7 vs Winner of 8 vs 12
6 vs Winner of 9 vs 13
5 vs winner of 10 vs 14
4 vs winner of 11 vs 15

Then you have your 8 playoff teams for each Conference set

OR

The NBA reduces the number of teams all together that make the playoffs (maybe 4 teams from each Conference?).

OR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an opportunity for the to intertwine the conferences and do some type of playoff seeding.

Okay, I'm done now. Thank you for listening!

The NBA is not going to view the problem from the perspective of what's fair for Portland. It's not their job. First, the NBA wants playoffs if possible. They've already written off the revenue they expected from the remaining regular season games. The only thing they are concerned with is having 16 teams for a playoff, if playoffs can be salvaged. The Blazers aren't going to be one of the 16 teams because the record as it stands has us out of the playoffs.

d-train wrote:The NBA is not going to view the problem from the perspective of what's fair for Portland. It's not their job. First, the NBA wants playoffs if possible. They've already written off the revenue they expected from the remaining regular season games. The only thing they are concerned with is having 16 teams for a playoff, if playoffs can be salvaged. The Blazers aren't going to be one of the 16 teams because the record as it stands has us out of the playoffs.

A lot of people involved want to be paid, and the best way to get that is to have all the games. But it may not be something the NBA has a choice in. I listened to a podcast with an infectious disease scientist and he thinks the virus is going to be a 3-6 month issue. So if it takes 3 months, games have to be cut out in some way, either they play out this season and shorten next season or shorten/cancel this season, and start next season on time. Maybe they do what you said and go right to the playoffs and then cut some games from next season. That would probably maximize money, in other words that lines up with what you said.

But also there would be an issue with expecting players to go from not playing to being in late season form or playoff form. On CJ's podcast he basically said after 10 games off it's hard physically and mentally to get back in it and the body takes time to adjust back to the work load. He said we'd likely see more injuries from guys going through that transition.

I'd prefer they simply shut down this regular season but perhaps go to a final 4 setup with
the Bucks and Raptors in the East and the two LA teams in the west if the season is able
to resume by May. If the suspension runs into June, may as well proceed to the off season.

I'm very happy to see various NBA stars stepping up with money for the support staff workers who
aren't getting get paid with the suspension of the season. The league will get in great hands after
Lebron for great guys like Zion seem up to the task.

Norm2953 wrote:I'm very happy to see various NBA stars stepping up with money for the support staff workers who
aren't getting get paid with the suspension of the season. The league will get in great hands after
Lebron for great guys like Zion seem up to the task.

or the billionaire owners could step up and pay their employees...?

loved Mark Cuban's response. workers will get paid. they might have to do some volunteer work or something instead, but they're still employees.

The league has got to be nuts to think about re-starting the season in mid-late June if the CDC
is really serious about a national shut down of all restaurant, bars, leisure activities for 8 weeks.

Better off just calling it a season lost and come back in September when things should be better.
Current estimates of 3-6 months seems set up well for a regular start of the 2020-21 season.