NBA Season Suspended Indefinitely

[daoneandonly]

I hadn't seen any sign of Dat2U recently and got worried, but it looks like he's still active on the board.

That got me thinking about da1, but he's still active too.

Then I thought, what the hell does ducler do now? But he's still active too. Maybe posting daily COVID-19 stats.

With the season suspended, many people might not have as much use for a basketball board, with other priorities taking precedence now, but anybody know what's up with these guys who haven't posted for a while?

nuposse04
verbal8
trast66
deneem4
dangermouse
jangles86

Also these guys, who haven't been on the board for quite some time?

Mojo Amok
MarcoPolo
Illmatic12
miller31time
dandridge 10
stevemcqueen1
WizarDynasty
Donkey McDonkerton
CobraCommander

I am surely overlooking some names too, like long time Wiz board contributors pine, WizStorm, fishercob, Nivek

Yeah stilldropin, even you.

Hope you all are well.

Hope you and your loved ones are safe & well monte. It's a crazy, anxious time indeed.

[closg00]

I hadn't seen any sign of Dat2U recently and got worried, but it looks like he's still active on the board.

That got me thinking about da1, but he's still active too.

Then I thought, what the hell does ducler do now? But he's still active too. Maybe posting daily COVID-19 stats.

With the season suspended, many people might not have as much use for a basketball board, with other priorities taking precedence now, but anybody know what's up with these guys who haven't posted for a while?

nuposse04
verbal8
trast66
deneem4
dangermouse
jangles86

Also these guys, who haven't been on the board for quite some time?

Mojo Amok
MarcoPolo
Illmatic12
miller31time
dandridge 10
stevemcqueen1
WizarDynasty
Donkey McDonkerton
CobraCommander

I am surely overlooking some names too, like long time Wiz board contributors pine, WizStorm, fishercob, Nivek

Yeah stilldropin, even you.

Hope you all are well.

Just like The Secret Weapon (Kev) and Fishercob, folks eventually stay over at BF...they had to join Hands11

[LyricalRico]

More on what an NBA restart could involve:

Sources tell David Aldridge of The Athletic the hope is that immediate family members will be allowed to accompany their NBA-playing relatives to Las Vegas if they resume the season there under quarantine.

“There (are) enough luxury hotels to accommodate the players and their families, which would remove any concerns with the egos involved with the players as it relates to accommodations,” one prominent agent who’s talked with players and agents about the proposed plan said Wednesday. “… The players want to play, and by allowing them the option to bring immediate family members, we eliminate their desire to want to leave the city.”

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/257912/Immediate-Family-Members-Might-Be-Allowed-Stay-With-NBA-Players-In-Las-Vegas-Scenario

Seems to be what players want as opposed to what the NBA is actually considering, but floating putting up entire families would seem to indicate they want something closer to a resuming of the season rather than skipping straight to an abbreviated playoffs. Also advances the idea of playing in Las Vegas.

One thing I just thought about when it comes to restarting the season with all 30 teams IMO is where to play. I tried to come up with a Sweet 16-style playoff that could be done in a place like the Thomas and Mack center at UNLV where they play summer league, but I'd imagine they'd need more courts if all 30 teams are going to play out the remaining season schedule.

Does Vegas even have the capacity of professional level full-courts needed to support 30 teams? Without fans they won't need large spectator facilities, but it does need to be a quality floor with a rim/backboard apparatus that can stand up to NBA players dunking on it. And then if those types of courts exist, do they have adequate locker rooms? I'm sure there are other considerations I haven't thought of.

[LyricalRico]

Latest...

Even though the current NBA season is still technically suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, its return this year seems less and less likely with each passing day.

Team executives are starting to feel the pressure, frustrated with the lack of information from the league and pushing for an outright cancellation of the season so everyone can focus on safely resuming play next season.

NBA team executives and players’ agents spoke to CNBC in recent weeks about the challenges in resuming play. They said team owners are concerned with liability issues and are conflicted about whether or not to give up on the current season. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity as they aren’t authorized to discuss league matters publicly.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/nba-team-execs-agents-are-calling-on-the-league-to-cancel-season.html

The article also goes into interesting thoughts about the NBA's revenue sharing model, and what the financial impact could be to non-playoff teams if the league came back only for playoffs.

[Ruzious]

If the NBA can't figure out how to do this, the NFL is probably done. I mean - just 5 players on each team playing at a time. If need be, Is there a way to develop a mask that's not uncomfortable to play with? Seems to me, if you can test everyone twice a week and get results within a day, that should make it acceptable - as long as tests are plentiful enough for everyone else - so it's not a pr nightmare. There's gotta be a way to get this done. Ok, I really want to see Milwaukee win.

[LyricalRico]

If the NBA can't figure out how to do this, the NFL is probably done. I mean - just 5 players on each team playing at a time. If need be, Is there a way to develop a mask that's not uncomfortable to play with? Seems to me, if you can test everyone twice a week and get results within a day, that should make it acceptable - as long as tests are plentiful enough for everyone else - so it's not a pr nightmare. There's gotta be a way to get this done. Ok, I really want to see Milwaukee win.

Heard someone on the TK podcast this week talking about a foreign league (soccer, I think) that committed to purchasing something like 5 tests for every test they use for their players. Essentially they're offering to help fund the public testing effort, which I think is an interesting idea. Of course if there aren't actually enough tests available for them to buy, it may not matter.

I guess society could just decide that it's worth using up tests on athletes if it means getting sports back, but as you said that's still going to be harder for the NFL than anyone else. I heard an estimate somewhere that a single NFL team could need about 500 tests per week since you have to account for players, coaches, front office, practice facility employees, etc. I'd also imagine you'd have to test their families if they're going back home after the games.

[montestewart]

If the NBA can't figure out how to do this, the NFL is probably done. I mean - just 5 players on each team playing at a time. If need be, Is there a way to develop a mask that's not uncomfortable to play with? Seems to me, if you can test everyone twice a week and get results within a day, that should make it acceptable - as long as tests are plentiful enough for everyone else - so it's not a pr nightmare. There's gotta be a way to get this done. Ok, I really want to see Milwaukee win.

Heard someone on the TK podcast this week talking about a foreign league (soccer, I think) that committed to purchasing something like 5 tests for every test they use for their players. Essentially they're offering to help fund the public testing effort, which I think is an interesting idea. Of course if there aren't actually enough tests available for them to buy, it may not matter.

I guess society could just decide that it's worth using up tests on athletes if it means getting sports back, but as you said that's still going to be harder for the NFL than anyone else. I heard an estimate somewhere that a single NFL team could need about 500 tests per week since you have to account for players, coaches, front office, practice facility employees, etc. I'd also imagine you'd have to test their families if they're going back home after the games.

Maybe online video gaming can transform into a widely viewed spectator sport. Other than the violence and misogyny, that seems pretty safe. Or strongman competitions on Zoom. It wouldn't take much to jack up Rollerball uniforms to include full face respirators.

[LyricalRico]

Looks like they got the message on PR issues with testing:

The NBA issued a memo Thursday night advising teams not to arrange coronavirus tests for asymptomatic players and staff, league sources told ESPN.

The memo states that, "for the time being, it is not appropriate in the current public health environment to regularly test all players and staff for the coronavirus."

In the wake of the NBA's season being suspended in March, some teams were criticized when they were able to arrange for testing of their entire teams at a time during the early days of the pandemic when tests were difficult to obtain.

<snip>

This comes as the NBA, like so many businesses around the country, is trying to figure out how to navigate through the uncharted waters caused by the pandemic. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier Thursday night that the NBA expects it will need in the neighborhood of 15,000 tests to complete its season if it is able to resume play.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29121493/nba-advises-no-coronavirus-tests-players-staff-symptoms

Wonder if this means Adam Silver reads our board, a la Juan Dixon back in the day.

[FAH1223]

Yeah, season is cancelled for sure.

[nate33]

This is interesting:

Read on Twitter

It's too bad we no longer have a pure dead weight contract on the books like Mahinmi's.

Would we dare amnesty John Wall? He gets paid his money but no longer counts under the cap. It would cost Ted a fortune, but it would seriously open up a lot of options in the future. The team would have a payroll of just $62M. The only problem is, who would want to come play here?

[Shanghai Kid]

This is interesting:

Read on Twitter

It's too bad we no longer have a pure dead weight contract on the books like Mahinmi's.

Would we dare amnesty John Wall? He gets paid his money but no longer counts under the cap. It would cost Ted a fortune, but it would seriously open up a lot of options in the future. The team would have a payroll of just $62M. The only problem is, who would want to come play here?

The optics of using it on John Wall coming off the injury would be bad, he's essentially been the franchise player of the team for the last decade.

But if they talked with John and came to a mutual agreement and sort of presented to him in a way of "We wanted John to have an opportunity to play for a contender", basically if John was on board with starting somewhere else fresh then the optics would look better.

But it's hard to see it happening.

[FAH1223]

Watch on YouTube

[payitforward]

This is interesting:

Read on Twitter

It's too bad we no longer have a pure dead weight contract on the books like Mahinmi's.

Would we dare amnesty John Wall? He gets paid his money but no longer counts under the cap. It would cost Ted a fortune, but it would seriously open up a lot of options in the future. The team would have a payroll of just $62M. The only problem is, who would want to come play here?

Here's an idea (probably best to consider it as an attempt at humor!): we amnesty John, then we re-sign him at @$2m for the same length as he's signed for now.

Result? Ted is out an additional $2m/year. Additional result? We increase our cap/tax room by @ $168m over the next 3 years!

What? It wouldn't work?

[nate33]

Here's an idea (probably best to consider it as an attempt at humor!): we amnesty John, then we re-sign him at @$2m for the same length as he's signed for now.

Result? Ted is out an additional $2m/year. Additional result? We increase our cap/tax room by @ $168m over the next 3 years!

What? It wouldn't work?

I'm pretty sure there's a rule specifically to forbid teams from doing that.

[daSwami]

This is interesting:

Read on Twitter

It's too bad we no longer have a pure dead weight contract on the books like Mahinmi's.

Would we dare amnesty John Wall? He gets paid his money but no longer counts under the cap. It would cost Ted a fortune, but it would seriously open up a lot of options in the future. The team would have a payroll of just $62M. The only problem is, who would want to come play here?

I hope so. Worst contract in the league. Suck it up, Ted. As far as who would want to come to play here, I don't know, but Ted should find the best Greek chef in the world and pay him to come to DC to be Giannis's personal chef.

[LyricalRico]

Looks like we're getting closer to basketball resuming...

NBA teams are expecting the league office will issue guidelines around June 1 that will allow franchises to start recalling players who've left their markets as a first step toward a formal ramp-up for the season's resumption, sources told ESPN.

<snip>

Barring an unforeseen turn of events, many NBA owners, executives and National Basketball Players Association elders believe commissioner Adam Silver will green-light the return to play in June -- with games expected to resume sometime before the end of July, sources said.

The NBA is still considering a two-site format for the return of the season, including Orlando's Walt Disney World and Las Vegas, sources said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29200984/nba-teams-expecting-guidelines-june-1-players-return

And for those worried about testing...

The league has researched various ways to bring basketball back safely, sources say, including the use of a sampling procedure called “group testing,” which aims to examine a large number of people with just a few tests. The league is also contributing to a nationwide antibody study at Mayo Clinic that involves an innovative new fingerstick test kit.

<snip>

Mayo Clinic has developed a fingerstick test that it believes is just as accurate as a blood draw through a vein puncture at identifying people who have been exposed to coronavirus and have since developed antibodies. They are seeking to validate the fingerstick test’s accuracy, which, if successful, could be a simpler and safer way of detecting antibodies. “It would be hugely helpful because the fingerstick blood draw could be done at home and the sample could be mailed in for testing at a lab,” Sampathkumar said. “Vast numbers of people could be tested without any need to go to the hospital or a clinic to receive a blood draw.”

The NBA has been looking for ways to support research of the pandemic since March—including recommending players who have successfully recovered from coronavirus to donate blood to the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, which is also run by Mayo Clinic. So far, close to 400 people from about half of the league’s teams have voluntarily participated in Mayo Clinic’s antibodies study.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/5/20/21264742/nba-coronavirus-testing-covid-19

So sounds like they are working on mass player testing, while also contributing to expanding testing efforts for others (presumably so they don't look bad). This just might work!

[gambitx777]

There is word on the street of a play in tournament . Where some teams will have the chance to play in the the 7-8 see or some other version of a modified play of picture that would give teams a few games in contention to have a chance to make it in or participate .

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[dckingsfan]

There is word on the street of a play in tournament . Where some teams will have the chance to play in the the 7-8 see or some other version of a modified play of picture that would give teams a few games in contention to have a chance to make it in or participate .

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

Seems like the old 15 team tourney would be the best.

Round 1 only the team with the best record gets a bye.

2 against 15
3 against 14
4 against 13
Etc.

[gambitx777]

Honestly I think it would be good for brad if we made it in and maybe got a win or two good for the young guys too .

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[nate33]

There is word on the street of a play in tournament . Where some teams will have the chance to play in the the 7-8 see or some other version of a modified play of picture that would give teams a few games in contention to have a chance to make it in or participate .

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

Seems like the old 15 team tourney would be the best.

Round 1 only the team with the best record gets a bye.

2 against 15
3 against 14
4 against 13
Etc.

I don't think the 15 seed in either conference should have the right to be involved in a play-in.

I could see a mini-tournament between the 7, 8, 9 and 10 seeds to earn the right to play the #1 seed and #2 seed (in each conference). It will at least be a fair way to resolve the tight standings in the bottom of the West where Memphis, New Orleans, Portland and Sacramento are fighting for the 8th seed.