Covid Outbreak with Chicago Bulls and League not doing anything? (Update: The league did something - pg 10)

[bebopdeluxe]

Please merge this if it needs to be but I just wanted to get this out and also this should be discussed more as this does not only affect Bulls but whoever they play against and it could outbreak onto other teams/players/and more.

I am not sure if people are aware but there is a Covid outbreak going on with Chicago Bulls and just see - other than Lavine/Lonzo/Vuc - they are going to have to play the players that were not in the rotation or bring in g-leaguers to fill in the roster.

Bulls have Coby White, Demar Derozan, Javonte Green, Matt Thomas, Derrick Jones Jr, and now Ayo Dosunmu - all in there top 8 rotation guys except Matt Thomas. Not to mention Patrick Williams is out and Caruso is out with bad hammy.

What I want to discuss is why the league is not postponing their games (like they did last year)?? This could not only affect Bulls but whoever they play in their games next. If I am the other team that;s playing Bulls next, I would be very worried. This could mean other teams players can get Covid and be out for a while and so on.

The Sixers had to play a game last year against Denver with only SEVEN HEALTHY BODIES - with everybody in their rotation but Danny Green out. The league basically forced the Sixers to dress Mike Scott - even though he was still recovering from a hamstring injury. That was the game where Maxey scored 39 points, but it was still a pretty easy win for the Nuggets.

ZERO SYMPATHY for teams who are forced to play with 8-9 players. Suck it up, guys.

[G_Misconduct]

I know it sucks but let's just be thankful we have some ball to watch and these guys haven't gotten seriously ill that we know of

Obviously if this keeps trending in a bad direction lots can change real fast

[Liam_Gallagher]

There’s more covid this year with the vaccine lol.

[PlayerUp]

Bulls just added Stanley Johnson and he is already in protocol. Comical. Bulls won't have any rotation players by next week.

[Osirus89]

Wizards got legit slammed by covid last year. I remember it being a consideration if they even had enough players to field an 8-man roster at the height of it. Bulls will get through it eventually, but the bright side is that even if there are positive cases, it doesn't just run roughshod through the league( player-player and team-team) like it did last year. It is REASONABLY contained. As much as it possible I suppose.

[amcoolio]

It is not like Hornets or last month's Sixers. yes they did have a few players out but Bulls have 7 players out with Covid + 2 injured - so they have 9-players out - that's basically about the rotation that normally all teams play so that's HUGE.

I am not saying this because of Bulls might lose games but I am saying it because this can affect many teams and it's players and others.

What.... Charlotte is missing 7 players, including two of their best

Charlotte went 2-2 (with the two losses being last second losses to the Sixers)

all their point guards
Ball
Rozier
Ish

all their centers
Plumlee
Washington
Richards

and McDaniels who is also in the rotation

We just beat the Kings with bascially a 5 Small Forward lineup

So yes it comes off as whining

[JN61]

Wizards missed like 2 weeks last season because of it. Just wait it out and pick the games back in back to backs.

[JN61]

Wizards got legit slammed by covid last year. I remember it being a consideration if they even had enough players to field an 8-man roster at the height of it. Bulls will get through it eventually, but the bright side is that even if there are positive cases, it doesn't just run roughshod through the league( player-player and team-team) like it did last year. It is REASONABLY contained. As much as it possible I suppose.

No. They straight up missed 13 days of action between January 11 and 24th.

[tundraknight]

I am not sure if people are aware but there is a Covid outbreak going on with Chicago Bulls and just see - other than Lavine/Lonzo/Vuc - they are going to have to play the players that were not in the rotation or bring in g-leaguers to fill in the roster.

Well at least they still have their 3 best players in the line up besides DeRozan.

A team should still be able to be competitive with 3 borderline All Stars and scrubs.

Like others mentioned, covid outbreaks are unfortunately a part of life now and happens to many players/teams.

[djw]

If omicron is as infectious and gets around vaccination as easily as reported, pro sports leagues are going to have some interesting decisions over the next few months. Imagine if one of the teams in the NFL conference championships has 20 players out for covid. What do you do? Postpone the super bowl? Play a farce game and then watch the opponent get wiped out for the superbowl with same?

Nah, just postpone everything by 4 weeks. When Omicron hits, it‘ll wipe through the league in a short time with players and staff travelling day by day.
I‘m in South Africa at the moment and almost everyone I know (and also almost everyone I met afterwards) caught it in a very short time span.

[ArtMorte]

This was always possible, might well happen with more teams.

If there's something to talk about, it would be that is it worthwhile to place asymptomatic covid-positives in protocols anyway? Does that actually help at all any more?

[old skool]

The NBA is following rules for Covid that were in place for all teams at the start of the season. The league will postpone or cancel games when a specific level of player unavailability occurs. Teams and individual players will adhere to various protocols intended to protect players health and minimize disruption to the league schedule. Those rules were established by public health experts, without bias in favor of or against any individual team. The rules were agreed to by the league and the players association.

I can understand why fans would lament the impact Covid has on their team, but it would not be reasonable to change the rules mid stream.

Sent from my SM-N960U using RealGM mobile app

[NyKnicks1714]

The NBA is following rules for Covid that were in place for all teams at the start of the season. The league will postpone or cancel games when a specific level of player unavailability occurs. Teams and individual players will adhere to various protocols intended to protect players health and minimize disruption to the league schedule. Those rules were established by public health experts, without bias in favor of or against any individual team. The rules were agreed to by the league and the players association.

I can understand why fans would lament the impact Covid has on their team, but it would not be reasonable to change the rules mid stream.

Sent from my SM-N960U using RealGM mobile app

Great post. One note though: it would be reasonable to change rules mid-stream but only if those changes are based on new information regarding Covid.

[queridiculo]

One thing I'm wondering is why isn't anybody coming back early? 10 days is only the minimum if you don't deliver 2 negative tests. So for like the Hornets players that tested positive 7 days ago, none of them have been able to provide negative tests yet?

LeBron gets more special treatment every week than our franchise has gotten since it's original inception

Or, you know, his test results were a false positive.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

I think the argument being made is that this is a legitimate outbreak (several staff members and commentators also got it), and would put opposing players at risk. I’m pretty sure how this started — when Vuc got it from Embiid, and likely passed it down to everyone else

[kuclas]

It is not like Hornets or last month's Sixers. yes they did have a few players out but Bulls have 7 players out with Covid + 2 injured - so they have 9-players out - that's basically about the rotation that normally all teams play so that's HUGE.

I am not saying this because of Bulls might lose games but I am saying it because this can affect many teams and it's players and others.

What.... Charlotte is missing 7 players, including two of their best

Charlotte went 2-2 (with the two losses being last second losses to the Sixers)

all their point guards
Ball
Rozier
Ish

all their centers
Plumlee
Washington
Richards

and McDaniels who is also in the rotation

We just beat the Kings with bascially a 5 Small Forward lineup

So yes it comes off as whining

Sixers had
Embiid
Harris
Thybulle
joe
(This in addition to the Ben Simmons fiasco)

All those players out with Covid at the same time

Add Seth curry and Danny green missing 3-5 games at the same time due to various injuries.

Imagine playing 6-7 games without your 3 best players. Missing 5 games with 6 out of your top 8 players in the rotation.

There is a reason they went from 8-2 to 10-9 quickly including a 5 game losing streak and a brutal 6 game road trip.

This affects their record. They are 15-12 now. I’m sure their record really would be 19-8 at worst.

[hauntedcomputer]

This was always possible, might well happen with more teams.

If there's something to talk about, it would be that is it worthwhile to place asymptomatic covid-positives in protocols anyway? Does that actually help at all any more?

Asymptomatic people with Covid actually have Covid and can spread it. It's likely that most spread is from Typhoid Marys going around thinking they are fine and no danger to others, which is a problem when you put thousands of people inside an arena.

It would be interesting to connect the dots between team outbreaks and determine (if possible, but i doubt it) if players are spreading it to each other on the court during games. Tests only capture one moment in time and are not infallible.

The NBA plan is pretty solid, and at least some G Leaguers are getting some run and some funds.

[Richard4444]

Update my list of recently infected players

Hornets: LaMello, Rozier, PJ Washington, Mason, Richards, McDaniels, Ish,
Bulls: DeRozan, Ayo, Stanley Jonhson, Derrick Jones, Coby White, Javonte Green, Matt Thomas
Sixers: Embiid, Harris, Thybulle, joe
Knicks: Topin, RJ,
Denver: Bones, Rivers
Memphis: Morant
Wizards: Kuzma

[Soulyss]

Are the Bulls players who are testing positive vax'd or not? Breakthroughs happen, but this seems too far reached to be breakthrough cases.

Good news for Bulls fans is that if they are vax'd, the odds of severe symptoms are very low so they should be back quick.

[Billy Goat]

This was always possible, might well happen with more teams.

If there's something to talk about, it would be that is it worthwhile to place asymptomatic covid-positives in protocols anyway? Does that actually help at all any more?

Asymptomatic people with Covid actually have Covid and can spread it. It's likely that most spread is from Typhoid Marys going around thinking they are fine and no danger to others, which is a problem when you put thousands of people inside an arena.

If you didn't have any symptoms...wouldn't you think you were fine? You're obviously not going to get tested for covid if you feel fine.