New Album & The Beginning of Basketball Season

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Well Steve, I honestly cannot see how the NBA can proceed even in July or August when there are 855k active cases in the USA and 28,000 new cases yesterday. I would imagine the need need for the active cases to be down to a few thousand with 1 or 2 new cases for the NBA games to resume with fans in full throng, and teams flying left and right each day to cities. I just cannot see that happening in June. Which is why the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for next year.
I think if they do it should be in an empty stadium with only rv cameras but no people
 

jadis

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I think if they do it should be in an empty stadium with only rv cameras but no people

Agree Steve. That is the only way to do it. And that would actually take away any so called home court advantage..
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
NBA postpones Draft Lottery, Draft Combine
Steve Aschburner
Steve Aschburner NBA.com


There can’t be a Draft Lottery if you don’t have final NBA regular-season standings to know who’s in it.

And the reasons you don’t have final regular-season standings by now are the same reasons you can’t have the annual Draft Combine in a few weeks.

Both events were postponed Friday, the league announced, as part of the continued shutdown due to the coronavirus crisis and government guidelines.

“More information on each event will be shared at a later date,” the NBA said in a statement. It will continue “to closely monitor the coronavirus pandemic and consult with infectious disease specialists, public health experts and government officials.”

The Draft Lottery was scheduled for May 19 in Chicago, the same site as the Draft Combine set for May 19-24. In theory, the lottery could have been conducted remotely, without league executives, representatives of each teams and media members gathering in a hotel ballroom.

But because the 2019-20 season remains paused, with the possibility of resuming regular-season play still among the NBA’s many, constantly changing models for a return to action, the actual 14 lottery teams are as uncertain as most of the 16 playoff qualifiers.

Mathematically, only the Milwaukee Bucks, Torono Raptors, Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference had clinched postseason berths by the time the schedule was suspended March 11. A total of 259 games were left on the schedule, their status -- as well as the playoffs -- on hold.

"There are no target dates," R.C. Buford, CEO of the San Antonio Spurs, had said earlier this week. "We just got the early-entry list in the last couple of days. That at least gives some kind of clarity on who the draft pool will be.

"But from there, we don’t have clarity on the Chicago pre-draft or medicals or all the things that go on with draft preparation."

Postponing the combine, where draft-eligible players get evaluated by scouts and executives of the league’s 30 teams, owes more to the calendar, and the travel and social-distancing limitations facing much of the nation overall. Pushing back the date for the combine -- if it gets held at all -- delays the decision-making process for early-entrant players in particular. They currently face an NCAA deadline to retain eligibility of June 3; a similar deadline for international players is June 15.

If the combine is not held, medical information traditionally obtained by teams there would need to be procured in some other way.

The 2020 NBA Draft is scheduled for June 25.
 
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jadis

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One thing that this pandemic has caused is that people are now a bit hungry for sports news that each day or week we get to hear about episodes of the Last Dance documentary and with that comes the 'good' thing that millennials (like my son and his friends) are now getting a good grip of basketball in the 80s, not just the 90s. My son who erstwhile was never interested in 80s and 90s NBA, is now appreciating videos of the Bad Boys era, Bird and Magic era, and the tough and physical and sometimes violent plays of those times. He now recognizes the hard plays of yesterday's basketball against the 3 balls spread out offense of today's game. While I never paid much attention to the Jordan era, thanks to ESPN's Stephen A , Max, and Fs1's Shannon and Skip, I get to hear about Jordan's golf debts, gambling, his father's shocking murder, and the latest, an Ode tweeted by LeBron , yes, LeBron James, saying that Larry Bird could dominate in ANY era. :D
 

jadis

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jadis

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One thing crossed my mind - the NBA should just cancel this season and declare a vacancy due to an unforeseen pandemic wrecking havoc on human lives all over the world. The Tokyo Olympics were cancelled as well for this very reason. The NBA can go on with the draft standings based on the current standings and go on with the draft combine and draft itself and start playing the next season which is this coming November, that is, if things have normalized. If the league continues in DisneyWorld, for example, I don't see how fans will enjoy the whole thing on TV at their quarantined conditions and let the networks earn their commercial income. If the league really want to just crown a champion, they might as well shorten the playoffs via an NCAA sweet 16 knockout type of series and be done with it quick, and still, earn an asterisk marking for this season, and this * will be a lot worse in meaning than the lockout shortened season many years ago.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I'd be surprised if they don't find a way to finish the season....


I still feel the season will be in a designated (safe city) where the games will be played in a neutral arena before no fans, only TV

Here is some reassuring news....

Cavs' Love: Being at reopened facility 'weird, uplifting'
Cavaliers, Trail Blazers first teams to open practice facilities for individual workouts
From NBA media reports

https://www.nba.com/news
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Adam Silver prepares NBA players for challenges ahead

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29152608

NBA commissioner Adam Silver prepared players for a potentially grim landscape amid the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting there are no guarantees when fans could fully return to NBA arenas next season.

Silver said that 40% of the league's revenue comes from money built around game nights in arenas.

"This could turn out to be the single greatest challenge of all our lives," Silver told the players.

ESPN acquired an audio replay of the National Basketball Players Association call, which included executive director Michele Roberts, NBPA president Chris Paul and several players asking questions of the commissioner in an hour-long session.

The tone was respectful, but Silver was asked some hard questions about safety issues, return-to-play ideas, how future seasons would be affected and the financial realities of future salary caps and basketball-related income. Silver said no decision on returning to play this season needed to be made in May, nor immediately into the start of June.

Silver said returning to play this season at one or two potential sites -- including Orlando and Las Vegas -- made the most sense.

"There's no point in adding risk for flying all of you city to city if there's not going to be fans," Silver said. "We think it would be safer to be in a single location, or two locations, to start."

Silver allowed that there would need to be some restrictions in place at a single or two-site scenario, but he told players: "The goal isn't to have you go to a market for two months to sit in hotel room."

The commissioner expressed a desire that the NBA complete its season with a traditional playoff structure that includes seven-game series in each round, but he left open the possibility of play-in tournaments to accommodate more teams in resumption of a shortened season. Silver also told players that the start of next season could be pushed until December, regardless of whether this season was completed.

Through it all, Silver reminded players that these were issues that needed to be collectively bargained with the NBPA. Among those issues, he said, included how future basketball-related income and salary caps would be affected by massive decreases in revenue.

He flatly told players about the current collective bargaining agreement: "The CBA was not built for extended pandemics."

As for a return to play this season, Silver indicated discussions around training camp length in the resumption of the season centered on a minimum of three weeks. Silver said the NBA's hope would be that players who test positive for COVID-19 won't require shutting down a team or season, but only the removal of a player amid persistent testing of those who had come into contact with him.


Silver expressed confidence there would be enough mass testing available in the United States for the league to feel confident about using such a large number of tests. Once the NBA is ready to play in the next couple of months, Silver said, "We won't be taking tests from needy people."

Sources have told ESPN that the league estimates it would need in the neighborhood of 15,000 tests to resume and complete its season.

Roberts and Paul asked Silver to remind teams they were not allowed to pressure players to show up at voluntary workouts at team facilities. Silver said, if that was happening, it was "disheartening," and he assured them the organizations would be reminded.

"Until there's a vaccine, or some cocktail preventing people from dying from the virus, we are going to be dealing with this collectively," Silver told the players. "The ultimate issue is how much risk we're all comfortable taking."
 
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Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Say it isn't so.........

Pau Gasol: ‘Playing my last year with the Lakers would be great’
NBC Sports

Pau Gasol planned to come off the bench in Portland this season, but he could never recover from foot surgery and the team ended up waiving him.

Gasol has contemplated retirement, but he wants to play for Spain in the Tokyo Olympics. With those games pushed back into the summer of 2021, Gasol would like to play one more NBA season, his 20th.

How about returning to the Lakers? He’s open to it, Gasol told Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints.


“It’s something that has been on my mind. Kind of like the potential of maybe finishing or playing my last year with the Lakers would be great. It’s appealing if you will, but the opportunity never really kind of presented itself in a serious official manner.
“I have a great relationship and love for Jeanie [Buss] and the Lakers organization and the city of Los Angeles, which is always going to remain extremely meaningful to me no matter what, but we’ll see.”
This seems unlikely but never say never in the NBA. Gasol is beloved in Los Angeles, where he won two titles playing next to Kobe Bryant.

Gasol signing anywhere for next season would have to start with him proving healthy enough to play and contribute — he only played 30 games in 2018-19, zero this season, and he will turn 40 before next season. It feels like Gasol’s Hall of Fame career may have come to an end, he would need to convince a team he still has gas in the tank.

The Lakers’ center spot is more fluid. Dwight Howard will be a free agent after this season and has played well enough — and fit in well enough — that he might get offers for more than the minimum he made this season. Then there is JaVale McGee, who has a $4.2 million early termination option (basically a player option), but he likely sticks with the Lakers for another season. With the decreased salary cap next season, and considering the NBA is already shifting toward treating the center spot as a position to save money (except for the handful of truly elite bigs), the Lakers should not need to spend money to have options at center next to Anthony Davis (who will play some key minutes at the five, just not steady minutes, he wants to be at the four).

It would take a lot for Gasol to fill that role. That said, one of the smartest and best guys in the league, Gasol will fit in any locker room. Including the Lakers.
 

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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Adam Silver prepares NBA players for challenges ahead

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29152608

NBA commissioner Adam Silver prepared players for a potentially grim landscape amid the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting there are no guarantees when fans could fully return to NBA arenas next season.

Silver said that 40% of the league's revenue comes from money built around game nights in arenas.

"This could turn out to be the single greatest challenge of all our lives," Silver told the players.

ESPN acquired an audio replay of the National Basketball Players Association call, which included executive director Michele Roberts, NBPA president Chris Paul and several players asking questions of the commissioner in an hour-long session.

The tone was respectful, but Silver was asked some hard questions about safety issues, return-to-play ideas, how future seasons would be affected and the financial realities of future salary caps and basketball-related income. Silver said no decision on returning to play this season needed to be made in May, nor immediately into the start of June.

Silver said returning to play this season at one or two potential sites -- including Orlando and Las Vegas -- made the most sense.

"There's no point in adding risk for flying all of you city to city if there's not going to be fans," Silver said. "We think it would be safer to be in a single location, or two locations, to start."

Silver allowed that there would need to be some restrictions in place at a single or two-site scenario, but he told players: "The goal isn't to have you go to a market for two months to sit in hotel room."

The commissioner expressed a desire that the NBA complete its season with a traditional playoff structure that includes seven-game series in each round, but he left open the possibility of play-in tournaments to accommodate more teams in resumption of a shortened season. Silver also told players that the start of next season could be pushed until December, regardless of whether this season was completed.

Through it all, Silver reminded players that these were issues that needed to be collectively bargained with the NBPA. Among those issues, he said, included how future basketball-related income and salary caps would be affected by massive decreases in revenue.

He flatly told players about the current collective bargaining agreement: "The CBA was not built for extended pandemics."

As for a return to play this season, Silver indicated discussions around training camp length in the resumption of the season centered on a minimum of three weeks. Silver said the NBA's hope would be that players who test positive for COVID-19 won't require shutting down a team or season, but only the removal of a player amid persistent testing of those who had come into contact with him.


Silver expressed confidence there would be enough mass testing available in the United States for the league to feel confident about using such a large number of tests. Once the NBA is ready to play in the next couple of months, Silver said, "We won't be taking tests from needy people."

Sources have told ESPN that the league estimates it would need in the neighborhood of 15,000 tests to resume and complete its season.

Roberts and Paul asked Silver to remind teams they were not allowed to pressure players to show up at voluntary workouts at team facilities. Silver said, if that was happening, it was "disheartening," and he assured them the organizations would be reminded.

"Until there's a vaccine, or some cocktail preventing people from dying from the virus, we are going to be dealing with this collectively," Silver told the players. "The ultimate issue is how much risk we're all comfortable taking."

I still can't imagine a scenario of closed to fans NBA games. The only time I saw such a game was in 1977 my college team was in the finals, best of 3, but fan violence marred games 1 and 2 outside the arena parking lot, and the league feared it would spill indoors come the 3rd and final game. We watched it on TV with no fans in the arena.
 
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Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
NBA owners, execs hopeful for return after call with Adam Silver, sources say

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29169336

Participants on a board of governors call Tuesday with NBA commissioner Adam Silver left the virtual meeting feeling increasingly positive about the league's momentum toward a resumption of play this season, sources told ESPN.

Owners and executives on the call were encouraged about the league's progress toward minimizing health risk upon a return and the league office's positive conversations with the National Basketball Players Association about the players' desire to eventually restart the season, sources said.

Discussions centered on health and safety concerns, including the goal of getting team officials and players comfortable with the idea that a positive test for the coronavirus upon a return would not shutter play.

Silver told those on the call that if a positive test would "shut us down, we probably shouldn't go down this path."
The question remains: How many positive tests would be too many? That is among the questions that the NBA, NBPA and medical experts have to come to terms with in the coming weeks before the league and union can greenlight a resumption of play.
Once the NBA formalizes a return to play, the league indicated to teams that the plan would be to standardize coronavirus testing among the 30 teams, sources said. For now, the NBA is allowing teams to use a variety of tests.
As for the format in a return to play, there still is no decision on the form that would take with the 30 NBA teams, sources said. The league hasn't worked through the details on whether all 30 teams would return or whether regular-season games would be played or if perhaps there would be a play-in tournament to give more teams a chance to make the 16-team playoff field, sources said.
Asked about the bubble-isolation plan on the call, Silver described it as a "campus environment," sources said. He has talked about one or two locations for players, and the focus continues to be on Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort and Las Vegas, sources said.
The NBA shared with owners several factors that it plans to study over the next two to four weeks before deciding on restarting the league.

Among them, sources said: Understanding the trajectory of new cases in those states starting to reopen, understanding who is getting severely ill and why, and developments in testing types. The NBA also is studying how other leagues are handling positive tests among participants, sources said.

On the call, the league office wasn't optimistic about rapid-response testing becoming widely available within the next month, sources said.
There was growing confidence among owners on the call about how players were responding to the return to practice facilities. The league believes it will have 22 of its 30 facilities open by Monday, sources said.

The league office described to owners how leagues in the United States -- and across the world -- are handling a return to play, especially detailing overseas leagues, such as the Premier League, La Liga and the Chinese Basketball Association, sources said.
 
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jadis

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NBA owners, execs hopeful for return after call with Adam Silver, sources say

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29169336

Participants on a board of governors call Tuesday with NBA commissioner Adam Silver left the virtual meeting feeling increasingly positive about the league's momentum toward a resumption of play this season, sources told ESPN.

Owners and executives on the call were encouraged about the league's progress toward minimizing health risk upon a return and the league office's positive conversations with the National Basketball Players Association about the players' desire to eventually restart the season, sources said.

Discussions centered on health and safety concerns, including the goal of getting team officials and players comfortable with the idea that a positive test for the coronavirus upon a return would not shutter play.

Silver told those on the call that if a positive test would "shut us down, we probably shouldn't go down this path."
The question remains: How many positive tests would be too many? That is among the questions that the NBA, NBPA and medical experts have to come to terms with in the coming weeks before the league and union can greenlight a resumption of play.
Once the NBA formalizes a return to play, the league indicated to teams that the plan would be to standardize coronavirus testing among the 30 teams, sources said. For now, the NBA is allowing teams to use a variety of tests.
As for the format in a return to play, there still is no decision on the form that would take with the 30 NBA teams, sources said. The league hasn't worked through the details on whether all 30 teams would return or whether regular-season games would be played or if perhaps there would be a play-in tournament to give more teams a chance to make the 16-team playoff field, sources said.
Asked about the bubble-isolation plan on the call, Silver described it as a "campus environment," sources said. He has talked about one or two locations for players, and the focus continues to be on Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort and Las Vegas, sources said.
The NBA shared with owners several factors that it plans to study over the next two to four weeks before deciding on restarting the league.

Among them, sources said: Understanding the trajectory of new cases in those states starting to reopen, understanding who is getting severely ill and why, and developments in testing types. The NBA also is studying how other leagues are handling positive tests among participants, sources said.

On the call, the league office wasn't optimistic about rapid-response testing becoming widely available within the next month, sources said.
There was growing confidence among owners on the call about how players were responding to the return to practice facilities. The league believes it will have 22 of its 30 facilities open by Monday, sources said.

The league office described to owners how leagues in the United States -- and across the world -- are handling a return to play, especially detailing overseas leagues, such as the Premier League, La Liga and the Chinese Basketball Association, sources said.

I'm trying to imagine how it will be like if they resumed play, possible for 2 months or so, and then there is that 'agreement' that play goes on even if 1 or more tests positive during these months of play resumption. But if that positive player was playing for a few games and opponents were exposed, the would literally cause an outbreak of sorts.
 

WLVCA

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I've heard a few different proposals.

Not sure how Disneyworld Orlando would work. Plenty of hotels but how many basketball courts? You could control public access there assuming they stay on Disney properties and the parks are closed.

Las Vegas? The mayor wants to open up the strip so there would be lots of infected folks around if she does that but there are lots of courts - Summer League is there.

On one hand I'd love to see some NBA basketball. On the other hand there will be objections to whatever format they come up with.

Tough call however they decide to go.
 

jadis

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Apr 28, 2010
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I've heard a few different proposals.

Not sure how Disneyworld Orlando would work. Plenty of hotels but how many basketball courts? You could control public access there assuming they stay on Disney properties and the parks are closed.

Las Vegas? The mayor wants to open up the strip so there would be lots of infected folks around if she does that but there are lots of courts - Summer League is there.

On one hand I'd love to see some NBA basketball. On the other hand there will be objections to whatever format they come up with.

Tough call however they decide to go.

Agree. It might boil down to this - League revenues at the expense of mass infections. And I just thought of this, that if the league is so hell bent on resuming play for fear of loss of revenues, under this once in a lifetime pandemic situation, then they do what they think is proper to resume play, but do not call it the NBA world championship. It just cannot be the same NBA champions as in the previous years and decades, if and when they play with no fans, no psychological advantage of home court, and worst of all, play WITH FEAR. I mean even the players will be weary of the locker room boys or ball boys. They might test 500 people and isolated them inside Disney World, but what guarantee do they have that not 1 of them would turn out positive or symptomatic during the course of the playoffs or regular games. This has got to be just a 'modified' league champion. The * is going to be too long and too dubious for a 2020 NBA World Champion to be called as such under these covid-marred circumstances.
 

WLVCA

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We are about to find out what's going to happen - not only in the NBA but in society in general.

Lots of states are allowing more businesses to open - including Arizona - so we'll know shortly what's going to happen.

I'm retired so my circumstances are different than most people who need to work to support their families.

I will continue to limit my exposure to the general public for a while longer - but that's an easy decision for me to make.

Not so for most people.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
We are about to find out what's going to happen - not only in the NBA but in society in general.

Lots of states are allowing more businesses to open - including Arizona - so we'll know shortly what's going to happen.

I'm retired so my circumstances are different than most people who need to work to support their families.

I will continue to limit my exposure to the general public for a while longer - but that's an easy decision for me to make.

Not so for most people.
I am in the same boat as you. I'm retired but going stir crazy

I can tell you what's going to happen. There will be spikes in the number infected as the country is opened

Young people have to work to survive and live

Old people need to stay home to survive and live

I don't see a happy or safe mid position
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
LeBron James: 'Definitely not giving up on the season'

Tim Reynolds | Associated Press

(AP) - LeBron James reiterated Monday that he is hopeful the NBA season can resume, with the caveat that the health and well-being of players won’t be jeopardized by a return to play.

The Los Angeles Lakers star, speaking on the Uninterrupted platform’s “WRTS: After Party” show that was released Monday, said it remains his wish that the season comes back “sooner than later.” The NBA suspended the season on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and two unidentified members of the Lakers were among the league’s players who subsequently tested positive for the virus.

“Definitely not giving up on the season,” James said. “Not only myself and my teammates, the Lakers organization, we want to play. There’s a lot of players that I know personally that want to play. And obviously, we don’t ever want to jeopardize the health of any of our players or any of the players’ families and so on and so on.

“This is a pandemic that we have no idea (about). We can’t control it,” James added.

James was among a group of some of the league’s highest-paid players, National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder also part of the group, who met last week to talk about the season. Those players affirmed to one another on that call that they would like to see the season resume.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told players’ union members on May 8 that he was hoping to make some sort of decision about the future of the season within no more than a four-week window. By that timeframe — barring any adjustments based on what’s happening with the pandemic — Silver and the NBA would be hoping to decide upon some course of action by June 5.

That said, there has been no definitive timetable from the NBA on when a decision would be made. The league is prepping for many options.
As of Monday, just over half of the league’s 30 franchises had reopened their practice facilities for voluntary workouts. But other sports are showing promising signs, with NASCAR restarting its season this past weekend, baseball working through some plans that could lead to a summer opening day, and live golf returning to television Sunday.

“We’re seeing a lot of sporting events, UFC, soccer, we’re hearing baseball’s about to get going in a little bit,” James said. “You know, I want to get back to playing. I love to play the game of basketball. I know how inspiring the game of basketball is. I know how inspiring sport is, itself. As soon as possible, when we can get back out there, we’d love to bring the game of basketball back to our fans.”

James and the Lakers were atop the Western Conference standings when the NBA suspended play. At 49-14, the NBA’s second-best record behind Milwaukee, the Lakers had already clinched what would be their first playoff spot since 2013.
“I know we all miss it,” James said. “I’d be sitting here lying if I said we don’t.”
 

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