Growing Concern About NBA’s Restart Plan
Even as the NBA works to finalize specific dates for various aspects of its resumed season, there’s “growing concern” about the plan among players, according to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (via Twitter).
Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report (via Twitter) reports that approximately 150 players are planning to take part in a conference call tonight to discuss what they can do to take a stand expressing their concerns and reservations about the league’s Orlando plan.
Beck (Twitter link) hears that up to 200 players may be involved in that call, adding that NBPA vice president Kyrie Irving has been a “driving force” in raising concerns and organizing player discussions. Irving believes that the idea of not returning to play should be considered, given the importance of the anti-racism activism currently happening in the U.S. and around the world, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
According to Beck, one agent estimated that about two-thirds of the league’s top 40 players may refuse to play based on the current information presented by the league.
As we’ve detailed in previous stories, players’ concerns are related to their health and safety, spending significant time away from their families, and directing the spotlight away from social justice issues. Beck suggests that the proposed restrictions involving freedom of movement within the so-called “bubble” in Orlando are also a key factor.
Although players will technically be allowed to leave the campus-like Disney environment after reporting in July, as Jared Dudley explained last month, recent reports have suggested they’d be subject to a 10-day quarantine period for doing so. In other words, leaving the “bubble” likely wouldn’t be a viable option for a player once the season officially resumes, since it would mean missing at least four or five games.
On top of that, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe (video link) and Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports (Twitter link) have pointed out today, the Disney support staff involved in the restart won’t be subject to the same protocols as players, coaches, and other NBA personnel. Those Disney staffers would be free to come and go from the premises as needed, without necessarily being tested daily for COVID-19.
Players who are already apprehensive about spending weeks or months on the Disney campus may push back against the idea of doing so if they feel as if the “bubble” isn’t really a bubble and that their safety could be compromised by support staffers.
Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links) hears from a Walt Disney World source that there would be Disney employees willing to stay in the “bubble” for months on end to help complete the season and reduce health risks, but it’s unclear whether Disney and/or the NBA would ask those staffers to do so.
Support Within Knicks’ Organization For Kenny Atkinson
Although Tom Thibodeau is widely viewed as the favorite to become the Knicks‘ next head coach, there’s “legitimate internal support” within the organization for former Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
Thibodeau and Atkinson are among the candidates expected to interview for New York’s head coaching vacancy. Current interim coach Mike Miller and former Knicks coach Mike Woodson will also reportedly interview. It’s not clear yet whether the club will meet with additional candidates beyond those four, though Begley notes that Mark Jackson and Jason Kidd also have fans within the organization.
Atkinson was dismissed from his position with the Nets in March amidst rumors that the team was seeking a head coach more suited for a veteran contender, following Atkinson’s solid work during Brooklyn’s rebuild. His performance with the Nets could make him a good fit a rebuilding Knicks team, and the Long Island native has a history with the club, having been a Knicks assistant from 2008-12.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, who worked with Atkinson in Atlanta from 2013-16, endorsed his former assistant for the Knicks’ job, as Marc Berman of The New York Post details.
“I’d love to see him be coach of the Knicks,” Budenholzer told Berman. “It’s a great opportunity. He understands he’ll have a bunch of opportunities and situations. He’s had an amazing life with a great family. It would be a home run for him. There’s nothing like coaching the team you grew up with, he worked with. And with what they’re trying to do and where they are.
“… He’s just interesting because he’s so unique in that he is so true to player development and can really help players improve,” Budenholzer added. “The league has gotten a lot better with (development), but he’s one of the first — his ability doing it at a super-high level.”
Although the Knicks have reportedly begun their head coaching search, we haven’t gotten many updates on the process as of late and it’s not clear whether the team has set a timeline to make a hire.
Many Players Disappointed About Not Getting Vote On Restart
When the National Basketball Players Association approved the NBA’s plan last Friday to resume the 2019/20 season in Orlando, only the union’s executive committee and individual team representatives participated in that vote.
That hasn’t sat well with a number of players around the NBA, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who hears from sources that a “significant” number of players are disappointed that not everyone was given the opportunity to vote on the matter.
[RELATED: Not All Players Bullish On NBA’s Restart Plan]
There’s a sense that many players’ voices weren’t heard on what could be a “life-changing” decision, sources tell Yahoo Sports. Some agents have encouraged their clients to speak up and to talk to the NBPA about pushing for a more collaborative system, Haynes adds.
According to Haynes, some players have been reluctant to express their opinions because most of the league’s superstars are “adamant” about finishing the season if the NBA institutes adequate safety protocols. Haynes notes that a faction of players remain uncertain about the resumption of the season due to the lack of information available about those coronavirus-related health and safety protocols, which are still being negotiated.
Interestingly, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and analyst Matt Barnes have alluded to, a number of players are also taking into account the recent social justice protests following the death of George Floyd as they weigh their options. According to Haynes, some players believe the optics of a predominantly black league resuming play in a bubble to “entertain the masses” and to salvage TV deals aren’t great.
“What message are we sending by agreeing to this during this time?” one player said to Haynes. “We’re out here marching and protesting, and yet we all leave our families in these scary times and gather to perform at a place where the owners won’t be at? What type of sense does that make? We’ll be going backwards. That place isn’t that magical.”
Conversely, Nets guard and NBPA vice president Garrett Temple told Malika Andrews of ESPN that he thinks playing games – and earning pay checks – is an effective way of combating the systemic oppression of black people.
“The difference in the economic gap between white America and black America is astronomical,” Temple said. “I can’t in good conscience tell my brethren to throw away millions of dollars in order to create change that I don’t see the direct impact of — if there was a direct impact of laws changing, that would be a different story.”
Appearing on J.J. Redick‘s podcast (video link), Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, another NBPA VP, acknowledged both sides of that issue.
“(Some) guys are going to say, ‘The black community and my people are going through too much for me to basically be distracted with basketball, I’m not going to prioritize this over the black community, I’m going to sit out,” Brogdon said. “”And then there’s another group of guys – and these are all black perspectives – who are going to say, ‘No, this is the most amount of money I’m going to make in my lifetime. It doesn’t make sense to hand this money back. I can do so much good in my community if I have this money.’
“… My thing is, if you’re going to sit out, you have to have demands. You have to have policies that you want to see change,” Brogdon continued. “There has to be something very organized and strategized to go into that.”
Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) reported earlier today that the NBA and NBPA are still working through the health and safety protocols for the resumed season. Once those protocols are in place, players with safety concerns should have more information to make informed decisions. However, the social-justice concerns that players have may require further discussions between the league and union.
NBA Provides Updated Schedule For Restart
The NBA has provided teams with an updated timeline of its target dates for the rest of the 2019/20 season, according to reports from Marc Stein of The New York Times, Shams Charania of The Athletic, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (all Twitter links).
Those dates are as follows:
- July 9-29: Training camps, including three inter-squad scrimmages.
- July 30 – August 14: Seeding games.
- August 15-16: Possible play-in tournaments.
- August 17: Start of postseason.
- August 30: Guests/family members permitted to arrive.
- August 31 – September 13: Conference Semifinals.
- September 15-28: Conference Finals.
- September 30 – October 13: NBA Finals.
These are pretty similar to the dates that were previously reported, with a few tweaks here and there. For instance, as Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter), the target date for a possible Game 7 of the NBA Finals is now Tuesday, October 13 (instead of October 12), sidestepping a potential conflict with Monday Night Football.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the NBA informed clubs that players traveling from outside the U.S. will need to report to their respective teams’ markets by June 15 (Monday), while other players will have to arrive by June 22.
Meanwhile, sources tell Charania (Twitter link) that two assistant coaches or developmental personnel (instead of one) are now permitted to work out with a player. As of June 23, head coaches will be allowed to supervise players’ workouts, Charania adds. Teams will be required to make sure their players are being tested for COVID-19 between June 23 and June 30, before they travel to Orlando, tweets Charania.
Despite the slew of updates today on the NBA’s proposed schedule, the league doesn’t yet have any news on the most important item of interest for many players: its health and safety protocols. Negotiations between the NBA and NBPA on those protocols are ongoing, league sources tell Stein (Twitter link).
Hornets’ Ray Spalding Undergoes Knee Surgery
Two-way Hornets forward Ray Spalding went under the knife for left knee surgery today, per the team’s official PR department (Twitter link). Spalding inked a deal with Charlotte in January.
Spalding was drafted with the No. 56 pick out of Louisville in 2018, and logged time with the Mavericks and Suns during the 2018/19 season. In the 2019 offseason, the 6’10”, 210-pound power forward signed limited agreements with the Hawks and Rockets, but did not make their fall rosters. He played with Houston’s G League squad, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, before latching on with the Hornets.
Spalding holds career averages of 3.9 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 10.6 MPG, plus a 53.2% conversion percentage from the floor. The 23-year-old most recently averaged 17.5 PPG and 12.7 RPG in his 16 games with the Hornets’ G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.
The Hornets’ two-way agreement with Spalding includes a second year for 2020/21, so he’ll be back with the team next season if he’s not traded or waived.
NBA To Allow 17 Players Per Team In Orlando
Despite some whispers that the NBA may only permit teams to bring 15 players into the Orlando bubble this summer, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the league actually plans to allow 17 players per club.
The decision ensures that each team will be able to bring its two-way players into the bubble, even if that club has a full 15-man roster. That may lessen the need for those teams to convert players’ two-way contracts to standard deals before the postseason begins, though we still need more details on exactly how the roster rules will work.
In a typical season, two-way players are allowed to be on the bench during the playoffs but are prohibited from participating in games. It’s unclear, based on Charania’s report, whether the NBA has changed that rule for 2019/20 or whether two-way players will only be allowed to play in the eight seeding games before – as usual – becoming ineligible for the postseason.
Additionally, the wording of Charania’s report doesn’t make it clear whether teams will be permitted to bring up to 17 players to Orlando only if they’ve filled both two-way slots, or whether a team could carry, for instance, 16 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal. There are also no indications at this point that the NBA will be adjusting its usual limit of 13 active players per game.
Luguentz Dort (Thunder) and Chris Chiozza (Nets) are among the two-way players who were playing regular roles for their respective teams when the season was suspended in March.
Teams are expected to be restricted to traveling parties of around 35 people when they head to Orlando next month.
NBA Adjusts Target Restart Date To July 30
The NBA has slightly adjusted its target date for the first games of the resumed 2019/20 season, moving it up to July 30, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The league had previously been targeting July 31.
[RELATED: Details On NBA’s Return-To-Play Plan]
Obviously, shifting that tentative start date by one day doesn’t represent a major change. Still, with teams in Orlando expected to have to deal with at least one back-to-back set during the eight seeding games and possibly again in the first round of the playoffs, each extra day that the NBA has to work with could come in handy.
It’s also worth noting that July 30 is a Thursday, which is typically a marquee night on the NBA’s weekly in-season calendar that often features a TNT doubleheader. In terms of attracting television viewers, it may make more sense for the league to relaunch its season on a Thursday than on a Friday.
The NBA still has to work out several details related to its return and finalize a revamped schedule, but the league now has a general idea of each team’s opponents during the eight seeding games, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
Not All Players Bullish On NBA’s Restart Plan
A faction of NBA players has been discussing as a group whether restarting the season in Orlando is a good idea, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that “several dozen” players took part in a conference call within the last 24 hours to talk about the issue.
Even as the NBA and NBPA get closer to reaching an agreement on many details tied to the league’s return to play, some players are hesitant to fully embrace the plan and have been discussing issues related to the return, including concerns about their families, COVID-19, and social justice, says Wojnarowski.
Players aren’t expected to be permitted to bring family members into the Orlando bubble until September, after the first round of the postseason concludes. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets that he has heard “many” players are unhappy about that fact.
Meanwhile, coronavirus cases appear to be on the rise in Florida, including in the Orange County region, where the NBA’s return would take place, as Reynolds tweets. Additionally, NBA analyst and former player Matt Barnes told Josiah Johnson (Twitter link) over the weekend that he has spoken to some players who want the rest of the season canceled in order to focus on addressing injustices in the Black community.
It’s not clear, based on Woj’s reporting, what percentage of players are having reservations about the resumption of the season or if their concerns will slow down a potential agreement between the league and the players’ union. However, even if those concerned players are outnumbered, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be forced to report to Orlando.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the NBA and NBPA will likely agree on a provision that will ensure players aren’t subjected to discipline if they decide to stay home this summer when play resumes. Those players would lose a portion of their salaries for the games they miss, but otherwise wouldn’t be fined or suspended.
It remains to be seen how serious an issue this could be as the NBA gears up for a restart — we should get a better sense in the coming days and weeks about how many players are reluctant to participate and whether they’ll feel pressured to do so.
Brian Shaw To Coach G League Select Team
JUNE 9: Shaw’s hiring was officially confirmed today in a press release issued by the G League.
“Brian’s extensive experience and success as an NBA player and coach make him a natural choice to lead the new NBA G League team,” NBAGL president Shareef Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. “We look forward to watching these terrific young players develop their skills and grow as professionals under Brian’s leadership.”
JUNE 1: Veteran NBA coach Brian Shaw has agreed to become the head coach of the NBA G League’s new “Select Team,” sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
That G League squad will be made up of a handful of top prospects who opted not to play college ball, as well as several veteran players who will be tasked with mentoring the youngsters. The 2020/21 NBAGL Select Team – which will play exhibition games against other G League teams but won’t be part of the league’s official schedule – will include guards Jalen Green and Daishen Nix, forward Isaiah Todd, and center Kai Sotto.
Shaw, who was the head coach in Denver from 2013-15, has also served as an assistant coach for the Lakers and Pacers. He had two separate stints with the Lakers, most recently holding the title of associate head coach from 2016-19 under Luke Walton.
We heard back in April that Shaw was receiving consideration to coach the G League Select Team, along with David Fizdale and Sam Mitchell. At the time, it sounded as if Mitchell was on track to becoming the club’s head coach, with the other two men potentially being involved in some capacity. Now that Shaw has been tabbed for the head coaching position, we’ll see if Fizdale and Mitchell have any sort of roles with the Select Team.
Condensed Schedule Possible For 2020/21 Season
Speaking today to reporters on a conference call, Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said the NBA has indicated to GMs that the schedule for the 2020/21 season may be somewhat compressed in order to avoid straying too far from the league’s usual calendar, reports Tim Bontemps of ESPN (via Twitter).
As Schlenk explains, that could mean more back-to-back sets or even instances of four games in five nights for teams (Twitter link via Bontemps). The NBA has tried to reduce – or eliminate – those stretches as much as possible in recent years, including increasing the number of days in the regular season from 170 to 177 as part of the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
With the NBA aiming to start the 2020/21 season on December 1, a 177-day regular season would run through May 26, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Typically, the league pencils in a little over two months for the postseason — in 2019, for instance, the playoffs started on April 13, with a Game 7 Finals date of June 16. A similar timeline in 2021 would result in the Finals potentially ending around August 1.
That schedule would be somewhat problematic for the NBA, which would prefer not to have its Finals overlapping with the start of the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokyo games have been postponed to next summer and are scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021.
On top of that, the National Basketball Players Association reportedly considers it unlikely that next season will start as early as December 1, since that timeline would create a tiny gap between the 2020 Finals and ’20/21 training camps for certain teams. The NBPA has to sign off on changes to the NBA’s annual calendar, so that start date may require some negotiation.
Reducing the number of games in the 2020/21 regular season would help condense the league year, but Schlenk told Bontemps today that the NBA hasn’t given any indication there will be fewer than 82 games on next season’s schedule (Twitter link via Malika Andrews of ESPN).
For now, the league and the players’ union are rightly focusing most of their attention on how the resumption of the 2019/20 season will work. However, figuring out how to fit in 82 games next season without playing too deep into the summer will be another issue the two sides have to address at some point, with compromises potentially required on both sides.