Jae Crowder said something similar a few days back, he’s ready to return to the court but wants things to be safe.
Thursday, Houston’s James Harden echoed the same sentiment talking to Jabari Young of CNBC.
Harden said he would play games again without fans, but would feel comfortable returning when the pandemic has “calmed down all the way to a minimum…
“I want it to be safe,” said Harden when asked about returning. “I want it to be entertaining for the fans and players to get out there and compete. As soon as we can get this ramped up, I’m ready to go. I feel like the majority of the players feel the same way.”
In general, players want to get back on the court and play. That is both because they are competitive by nature and because getting the playoffs in will help the NBA’s bottom line when it comes to next season’s salary cap and the finances of the league (the players and NBA split the league’s basketball related income). The players also generally trust Adam Silver to make the best call among bad options.
However, players want it to be “safe” — and what’s safe for one player may not feel safe to another. For example, Utah’s Joe Ingles — who has a family, a pregnant wife, and a son with a weakened immune system — has said, “I am in no way willing to risk my children, and [his wife], and everything else, to go play basketball.” He is understandably far more risk-averse than a 20-year-old rookie might be.
As we near a decision on if and when the NBA might return, and as a timeline for that return takes form, the NBA still has a lot to work out. There’s a lot of safety measures yet to be put in place. Even then, it may not be enough for some players.
But the majority, such as Harden, are eager to get back to work.
The Jazz have been more disrupted than any NBA team during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell both tested positive, making worldwide news and deepening a rift between them. Bojan Bogdanovic underwent season-ending surgery. Some team employees got laid off. Now, Utah must mourn legendary coach Jerry Sloan in a time of social distancing.
At least Utah will keep Joe Ingles, who apparently at least considered retiring.
Peter Mitchell of the Australian Associated Press:
Ingles, a key member of the Utah Jazz who sit in fourth place in the Western Conference, has said he is prepared to “walk away, fly to Australia and never play another game in my life and be very content with it” to protect his family from the virus.
His wife, Australian netball great Renae Ingles, is expecting their third child and four-year-old son Jacob has autism and a weakened immune system.
Ingles:
For context, I said this over 2 months ago when we knew nothing about the virus & what it could do. I know the Jazz/NBA would only have us play if they were confident that everyone's health has been put first. When it's safe to go back and play, I will not let my teammates down! https://t.co/zNonZRJHsN
— Joe Ingles (@Joeingles7) May 22, 2020
Ingles almost surely wasn’t alone in contemplating retirement. Coronavirus has shaken the entire world and led to some drastic thoughts.
But Ingles even voicing the consideration is notable. I haven’t seen any other NBA players else do that.
Ingles is due $23,900,001 the next two seasons. That money could help his family, too. NBA careers are short, and the 32-year-old Ingles will likely never earn that type of salary again.
Players generally trust NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who appears to be proceeding toward resuming games. There’s probably a safe way of playing, and I believe Silver is well-intentioned in finding it.
Yet, conditions safe for most players won’t necessarily be safe for everyone. Each person who’d be involved in an NBA game must make an individual decision.
It sounds like Ingles has made his.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr called it “very unlikely” his team would play another regular-season game this season.
Then – amid talk of all 30 teams continuing the regular season – Golden State president Bob Myers assured everyone the Warriors would be “good partners” for the league.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic:
The Warriors, planted in stall mode, can finally expect a resolution to the 2020 season in the next few weeks. Either they’ll be told their participation isn’t required for an end-of-season NBA resumption, as they still expect, or the league will ask them to ramp up training and likely enter an Orlando bubble to play a few competitively meaningless regular-season games for financial purposes, which they’re prepared to do.
Replacement summer league, as it’s been described to me, is how the Warriors would view it.
I can’t tell whether this is wishful or informed thinking by the Warriors.
They clearly want to be done. They were the only team officially eliminated from the playoff race before the league-wide shutdown. The main thing left to do is secure the best draft position.
Yet, the league also has local TV revenue at stake. That might not matter much to the Warriors, who already drew massive revenue before the shutdown.
The NBA is reportedly making plans for all 30 teams resuming. Is that an indicator all 30 teams will play or just a contingency? This report suggests the latter – but again, Golden State might just be taking a hopeful approach.
More than two-thirds of NBA teams have opened up their practice facilities and players are going in now for individual, socially-distanced workouts. It’s expected that for many teams, those practice facilities will be home to the coming “training camp 2.0” phase as teams get back into form for a restart of the season, whatever form that takes.
What about teams in locations that have not opened, such as the Knicks, Celtics, and Raptors?
Those teams could be headed to the bubble city or cities early, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Among marketplaces where governmental restrictions are keeping practice facilities shuttered, teams are asking the NBA whether players can bypass returns to those cities and report directly to the league’s proposed campus environment for the start of training camps, sources told ESPN…
Teams want to avoid having to quarantine significant portions of their rosters twice — once upon returning to more restrictive markets, and again, at the bubble site.
In anticipation of the league’s expectation of restarting the season, the NBA has told those teams that it plans to work with them on solutions that possibly include redirecting some teams directly to campus/bubble sites instead of team facilities to hold training camps, sources said.
It makes sense that some teams will want to do their training camp inside the bubble. The downside of that is that it becomes three more weeks at the hotel/campus for those players — before some regular season and potentially some playoff games — and that’s a long time away from home and in a hotel. A lot of players are not fans of all that hotel time, but also understand the situation and tradeoff, and they want to get back to playing.
When teams do report to a bubble/campus city, they are going to have to trim their normal traveling staff down, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.
League sources say NBA teams have been informed they would likely be allowed to bring (roughly) 35 players/coaches/staff into a "campus" environment if the 2019-20 season, as increasingly expected, resumes in July
In normal circumstances, team travel parties routinely exceed 50
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 22, 2020
Teams are not going to cut back on training staffs, considering the fast ramp-up and condensed schedules that await players. That means equipment staff, some assistant coaches, and other personnel around the team could be left off the trips. Some people (likely some assistant coaches) are not going to be happy they didn’t make the essential staff lists.
How teams and players react to the bubble environment is going to be one of the interesting things to watch going into June and July.
The NBA has now gone 71 straight days without a game, which would be – BY FAR – the longest in-season stoppage in league history.
How early in the day would you watch a game now?
Keith Smith:
Told today that if the NBA does resume with all 30 teams at a single-site, game days are likely to look like Summer League. Games would be almost all day long (starting around 12:00 noon ET) until the regular season is complete. Playoffs would follow a more regular schedule.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 22, 2020
It’s still unclear whether non-playoff teams will resume and whether games be held in only one location. So, this plan might not apply.
But this is good insight into the league’s approach.
The main point of playing more regular-season games would be fulfilling local-TV contracts. On one hand, local TV networks might object to games held so far out of prime time. On the other hand, more people are home during the day – either working or unemployed – than usual. Everyone might be content to generate some money rather than no money.
The big revenue comes in the playoffs, and that’s when the format will look more normal (though still not at home sites).
"want" - Google News
May 23, 2020 at 08:00PM
https://ift.tt/2A155Ur
James Harden says he wants to return to play, but “I want it to be safe” - NBCSports.com
"want" - Google News
https://ift.tt/31yeVa2
https://ift.tt/2YsHiXz
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "James Harden says he wants to return to play, but “I want it to be safe” - NBCSports.com"
Post a Comment