The NBA sent out a memo to teams today reminding them of the safety protocols and guidelines in place at the Walt Disney World campus and instructing them to refresh players’ memories on those rules, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). As Andrews relays, wearing face coverings and masks was one of the points reiterated by the league in its memo.
Shams Charania of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that the NBA’s memo also included a reminder that interacting with or bringing an unauthorized person onto the campus is prohibited. Players won’t be able to bring guests to Disney until after the first round of the playoffs is complete.
Here’s more on the NBA’s restart and life at the Disney campus:
- Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN provide details on the updates the NBA has made to its COVID-19 testing protocols to try to assuage concern among teams about the potential for false positives affecting returning players. According to ESPN’s duo, at least one player who contracted the virus, recovered, traveled to Disney, and registered multiple negative tests later tested positive. The league has added an antibody test to its protocol for individuals returning from the coronavirus.
- Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Wednesday that games at the Disney campus will include virtual fans, digital boards, and “home team sounds,” tweets Paolo Uggetti of The Ringer. Carlisle added that he was impressed by the setup, as Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets.
- Some players in Orlando aren’t particularly fond of the anonymous hotline set up by the NBA to report protocol violations, suggesting that those in the campus community should be responsible enough to follow the rules. Rudy Gobert referred to the hotline as “sort of petty,” per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. Meanwhile, as Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times details, Ja Morant and Montrezl Harrell suggested they don’t intend to use it, while Lakers center Dwight Howard griped that he was reported for not wearing a face mask despite not being around anyone.
Gobert knows how to be petty.
Rudy Gobert thinks its petty? Thats rich.
Anyone else think the piped-in crowd noise is dumb?
yup
yea, I actually watched most of the TBT & I didn’t miss the crowd noise. Hoops doesn’t really *need* it the way football or baseball do.
I could see football needing to fill that dead air while players retreat to the line of scrimmage after an incomplete pass, or a 2-yard run stuff up the middle. And baseball is baseball…
Guess the NBA is scared the slight delay in the video feed & a sensor won’t be enough to wipe out anything they don’t want aired. But that already happens lol. How many times have we heard “F***!!! (silenced few secs)”
I’d be down for a split broadcast, Last Dance style, with a pure feed option. Lemme hear the communication & all the swear words that slip thru lol
It works in the Premier League (soccer) games that have been on TV over the last few weeks. Although I’m certainly not a fan of laugh tracks in Sitcoms, who needs to be told when they’re supposed to laugh? But it may help the players feel like it’s a real game, and that’s what is really important here.
NBC keeps the crowd noise fairly quiet. I can hear the announcers over the crowd and their own accents.
The claim was there was a way to get even that crowd sound not piped in, on a different channel, and the color man said he could hear the coaches shout out strategies and/or cusses! He said other team could also and respond more quickly than usual.
Could make a difference in basketball. If so, it would help OKC, LAL, MIL, TOR I think.
Who needs to be told when to laugh? The same people who let the mainstream media tell them what to think! Most of the moronic public now.
If they follow the rules then why are they worried about the anonymous hotline?
Im not sure he broke any rules. I would not trust the “snitch” about them, or amyone to describe precisely the situation.