Wolves Health and Safety Protocols Update Thread

[Domejandro]

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[winforlose]

Seeing how quickly the entire league went from a handful cases to 50-80 new cases within a week or ten days, there's almost a guarantee it won't stop there. Particuarly if we are talking Omicron. It spreads like a wildfire during dry season. If the NBA won't shut down soon, every team will see heaps of their players be put into protocol very soon.

I was specifically referring to us and our most recent (and most healthy,) opponents, but you are exactly right. What is terrifying about all this is that so many players are fully vaccinated and still getting it. I wonder what the booster rate is?

Early studies of the omicron variant (that are based on limited data unfortunately) seem to indicate a much lower grade of protection against an infection. I can't quite remember whether it was an early report from South Africa or from Norway but it was said that it appears two shots of m-RNA vaccine will give you only about 33% of protection against an infection. Getting a 3rd shot should increase that number but the early reports indicate a much lower protection against an infection.

However, early reports also indicate a much lower chance for getting a serious case. It appears omicron goes rampant in the upper respitorty section rather than attack the lungs. I truly hope this is the case and will give the vast majority of infected people a mild case. The aforementioned report from Norway, for example, has stated that out of the 70-100 infected attendants of a christmas party, virtually everyone had minor symptons. I think outside of maybe one of those, all of them had two shots of m-RNA vaccine and were relatively young. The amount of data is not enough to draw any definite conclusions but there is hope that omicron isn't as dangerous as other variants to the individual person.

It’s a little too early (probably 2-4 weeks to early,) to know how serious Omicron is in the unvaccinated. Early indications are that vaccinated people are doing fine with it, but they were also mostly fine with Delta. But as I have said before my biggest concern isn’t with the current variant but the future ones. There are far too many unvaccinated people in the country and in the world for Covid to be plausibly contained. Sooner or later we are going to go from a small scale problem to a large scale problem. I cannot help but think of it like cancer. So far we are in the early stages, and if we keep failing to treat it (we being the world population,) then it will be get worse and make much more serious problems later.

[winforlose]

Bad news is we just lost any chance of having our next game postponed. Good news is we got some defense back now that Bev and JO are cleared to return.

https://www.canishoopus.com/2021/12/26/22854820/beverley-okogie-clear-protocols-as-wolves-add-greg-monroe

[shrink]

I posted this at the end of the UTA game thread, but it probably should have gone in this thread.

TLDW .. I checked in, in the first quarter, saw who the “Timberwolves” were, and didn’t bother to watch.

I will say this - every team seems to be dealing with COVID at some time. If we’re getting hit, this isn’t the worst time, with several games that would have been struggles to win even at 100% healthy. I wish we would have won that DAL game, but I checked the schedule

12-23 @ UTA .. loss
12-27 vs BOS
12-28 vs NYK
12-31 @ UTA
1-2 @ LAL
1-3 @ LAC

1-5 vs OKC
1-7 @ OKC
1-9 @ HOU
1-11 @ NOP

We just need to go 4-0 against those last four teams, to make up for some losses in the next 5. Those teams might get the word in January to put on the brakes to improve their lottery positions. In fact, if the NBA is reducing the wait to six days, an asymptomatic Towns could be back for the road trip.

[shrink]

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If anyone else had to refresh their memory, since the name sounded so familiar, here ya go.

Monroe, 31, has nine years of NBA experience under his belt, but hasn’t played in the league since 2018/19, when he appeared in 43 total games for three teams. In 632 career NBA games, the former Georgetown star averaged 13.2 PPG and 8.3 RPG in 27.7 minutes per contest. He has spent time playing in Germany and Russia since 2019.

[moonpie]

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[winforlose]

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So from 8 players in protocols, to 6 then back up to 7. Only a matter of time before Beasley, Nowell, and the rest go into protocols.

[Calinks]

Wow, didn't realize Greg Monroe was out of the league, he was a fairly big name early on. Not really a modern big but I look forward to seeing if he can use his size to be disruptive and get some boards.

[Klomp]

With how we use our bigs in a playmaking role, I really like Monroe's fit. I know his raw numbers don't exactly jump off the page, but he's got good passing skills. Will probably have to use him more in the post and FT line extended over setting up behind the 3-point line, but I'm curious to see how he looks.

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Spent the last couple seasons in Germany and Russia, and was playing this season in the G League.

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[karch34]

I remember Monroe as more of a traditional big who got less run as league went small ball. Interesting to see how we use him and how much his game has changed. Does look like he’s got some passing skills and like his size.

[IceManBK1]

monroe would've been a good complementary big for dlo in his prime..good pick and roll big, and good reb when he was a starter. too bad dlo is out..they would've worked well together. hopefully dlo friqqin refresh his mind on how to shoot the ball during this covid break. or else our playoff chance would be very slim.

[Merc_Porto]

For people complaining about how the NBA is handling this though, what do you want them to do? Shut down for two weeks? Would that really help? Wouldn't played be as likely if not more likely to catch covid if they are free for two weeks? Yea some guys who are out now will come back but won't players who are clean now start catching it? I don't think that helps.

Postpone the season until Omicron number peel off? How long with all that take? 2 months? 6 months?

Do we shut down two weeks and force players to quarantine and bubble again?

I mean, what is the realistic alternative you would like to see? Maybe I'm missing something here but the way I see it, I think you are just rolling the dice. Likely that most teams will get hit hard, maybe some if they are incredibly cautious will avoid big losses but a this point I think everyone is in the same screwed boat.

I think is more about how society, in general, is handling covid.
But that's another conversation.

Idk about the NFL policy at all, but isn't different?

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[Merc_Porto]

All of our starting five are now OUT due to covid

Has this ever happened before where all 5 starters are out?

Yesterday with Toronto and was ugly.

[Biff Cooper]

If we assume every player in the NBA will get covid once this season, from a competitive standpoint, it makes sense to keep going under the same rules. If rules get changed, a team that has or hasn't already gotten hit hard may be handed a large scheduling advantage.

[winforlose]

I think he was/is symptomatic as he is eligible to return after 10 days if he is asymptomatic. The article suggested he needs the extra time to recover and get back in shape.

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/timberwolves-anthony-edwards-not-ready-to-return/

[winforlose]

Cnn is reporting that the NBA has changed their Covid protocols. Asymptotic players may return after 6 days.

[wolves_89]

I'm curious if any Wolves players are near a return. Edwards and Prince have been out 10 days and Vando is at around 7 days.

[winforlose]

I'm curious if any Wolves players are near a return. Edwards and Prince have been out 10 days and Vando is at around 7 days.

Prince might be back next, not counting Bev. Ant seems to be out till Friday according to CBS sports.

[Klomp]

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[Calinks]

Damn, I always was curious about us getting Okafor. That said I like what Monroe did.

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