bleachkit

Supes is not a JC guy. I personally think he's quite good, bordering on excellent. His defense is so-so, but as far as versatile, athletic, efficient bigs go, you're not going to do much better.

Is Hayward 100% back from the injury? Takes a lot to return from an injury like that.

I cant see the NBA making teams spend a month preparing and scrimmaging and relocating to the bubble just for 3 games. I will be absolutely shocked if that happens. I think having an NITesque tournament for non playoff teams would be fun. NBA should get creative, do something fun and different.

I doubt we will see many players quarantined. Positivity rate is going down and down by the week (rate of positive versus negative among tests taken). They will do tests at the outset as well. I personally will consider this championship completely legitimate, so long as the teams are playing hard, and I expect they will be.

No way they bring non play off teams back for 3 games. They either finish the 82 or have some mini tournament thing.

Why? I don't understand that view point. NBA has as much of a right to go forward as anyone else. Don't want to watch, then don't watch.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'd love to see some Hawks basketball in July.

Yes, that's a fair point. It's not a binary outcome of dead vs. living. Some survivors might be scarred for life.

Yes, those with respiratory issues are more likely to acquire Covid-19, have more severe outcomes, and have compromised lung function after recovery.

Well apparently Blake Snell thinks he's "risking his life" as a healthy 27 year old throwing a baseball in an empty stadium only around people who have been tested. Really Blake? He's probably more likely to die in a car accident than of Covid-19.

I do think the enormous difference in risk between the young and old has not been emphasized enough. I mean it's orders of magnitude in difference. You're going to need your old Texas instruments scientific calculator from high school to calculate the difference. Data recently came from Florida. Number of Covid-19 deaths among those age 25 and under: 0. Yes, zero. Number age 65+: 2,000. Let that one sink in.

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/498180-were-risking-national-suicide-if-we-dont-adjust-our-pandemic-response Amazing editorial from Dr. Atlas of Stanford University. By now, everyone recognizes Dr. Anthony Fauci. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the most cited immunology researchers of all time and unquestionably one of the most acclaimed. As specified in his own bio, his deep expertise is in research of immune-mediated and infectious disease, particularly their basic mechanisms and treatments. During this COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci has been a central figure, a key adviser to President Trump and a man to whom the entire country, indeed the world, looks for wisdom and expertise. However, our elected representatives, the public and the media misunderstand his focused role and even his expertise as a scientist. Basic science underlying a viral pandemic is absolutely critical. But now is the time for the design of sound public policy — and that involves a far broader formulation than a single-minded focus on stopping COVID-19 at all costs. Policymakers and the public have not received several key messages that are critical to alleviate fear and guide a safe reopening of society. That has led to a gross failure in policy at the state level: There has been a failure to remind everyone that the stated goal of the policy — total lockdown and whole-population isolation — has been accomplished in most of the United States, including the epicenter of New York. Specifically, two curves, hospitalizations per day and deaths per day, have flattened. The goal was to prevent hospital overcrowding and, aside from a few in the New York area, hospitals were not overcrowded. Today, most hospitals stand under-filled, necessitating layoffs of personnel. More importantly, it was never a policy goal to eliminate all cases of COVID-19. That is impossible, unnecessary and illogical, when 99 percent of infected people have no significant illness from it. There has been a failure to reassure everyone that we fully anticipate more cases will occur, whether we test or not, with continuing relaxation of today’s isolation. Since millions of people have the highly contagious infection, and half are entirely asymptomatic, that spread is fully expected. Even though we will see headlines sensationalizing the next projection, the models are already set to adjust upward for less strict isolation. We also know those same models will project more deaths, because they extrapolate from what happened in the past. Governors rushed to confine everyone in low-risk groups, yet failed to protect nursing homes, the one group needing strict isolation and testing from day one. Due to that inexplicable error, nursing home residents constitute most of the deaths in many states and more than a third nationwide. The coming projection uptick is not a cause for fear or panic. It only reinforces the need for new policies targeted to specifically protect that clearly defined high-risk group. There has been a failure to educate the public that the overall fatality rate is not only far lower than previously thought but is extremely low in almost everyone other than the elderly. In Detroit’s Oakland County, 77 percent of deaths were of those over 70; 92 percent were of people over 60, similar to what was noted in New York and worldwide. While somehow escaping attention, updated infection fatality rates are less than or equal to seasonal flu for those under 60 in France, Spain and the Netherlands. Less than 1 percent of deaths occur in the absence of underlying conditions. Of the exceptionally rare deaths in children in New York City, only one tragic case out of 15,756 COVID-19 deaths — 0.006 percent — was a child without a known underlying condition. Similarly, the likelihood of serious disease requiring hospitalization is far higher for older people and those with certain underlying conditions. In New York City, the hospitalization rate for those over age 75 is approximately 10 times that for ages 18-44, and more than 100 times that for those under 18. Under 1 percent of New York City hospitalizations have been patients under 18. There has been a failure to clarify to parents the truth about the extremely low risk to children, and that has accompanied a gross failure to offer a rational medical perspective regarding schools reopening. Younger, healthier people have virtually zero risk of death and an extremely small risk of serious disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that of 54,861 U.S. deaths from COVID-19, only 12, or 0.02 percent, have been in children under 14. That compares to CDC estimates that childhood deaths from influenza are nearly 600 in the most recent data. Of 15,756 deaths in New York City, only eight, or 0.05 percent, have been in those under 18, a pattern confirmed globally. In France, the fatality rate estimated for those under 20 is close to zero, at 0.001 percent; in Spain, it’s similar. In children, despite exceptionally rare cases, COVID-19 is not a significant risk — even compared to influenza. The CDC stated on May 15 that “for children (0-17 years), COVID-19 hospitalization rates are much lower than influenza hospitalization rates at comparable time points during recent influenza seasons.” A May 11 study of 46 North American pediatric hospitals in JAMA Pediatrics put forth the appropriate medical perspective from the data: “the overall burden of COVID-19 infection in children remains relatively low compared with seasonal influenza”; “the severity of illness in infants and children with COVID-19 [is] far less than that documented in adults”; and “our data indicate that children are at far greater risk of critical illness from influenza than from COVID-19.” Americans must try to accept what all doctors know: Exceptions exist with virtually every infection, but those do not outweigh the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Exceptions exist in this infection, some even tragic, including reports of an extremely rare disorder similar to the rare Kawasaki disease that occurs every year in about 2,000 to 4,000 children in the U.S. Public statements by scientists and the media that sensationalize these extremely rare instances are particularly harmful, because they instill undue fear and provoke extraordinarily harmful, misguided policies from people who lack a medical perspective. We must not forget that total lockdown — not the virus — is generating catastrophic harms. Restricting other medical care and instilling fear in the public is creating a massive health disaster, in addition to severe economic harms that could generate a world poverty crisis. In the U.S. alone, 150,000 new cancer cases arise every month among patients, and most have not been seen; of the 650,000 U.S. cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, an estimated half are missing their treatments. Half of urgent-care patients are not seeking medical attention; two-thirds of physical therapy is not being administered. Transplants from living donors are down almost 85 percent. Emergency stroke evaluations are down 40 percent. And that doesn’t include the two-thirds to three-fourths of people who are skipping cancer screenings and the more than half of children who are failing to receive vaccinations, all pointing to a massive future health disaster. Here’s the real failure: Public policy must never be one-dimensional. It can never be foisted on people without careful consideration of its consequences, including the harms from the well-intentioned attempt to solve the initial problem. True leadership demands far more than empathy and caution. Leaders are expected to rationally integrate the evidence, even if complicated, and then apply policies using common sense and a knowledge-based perspective. Conveying rational thinking is how to reassure the public and instill confidence in a chosen pathway. The total lockdown may have been justified at the start of this pandemic, but it must now end — smartly, without irrational, unnecessary requirements contrary to medical science, common sense and logic. The goal of the strict isolation was accomplished in the overwhelming majority of places. We have direct data on risk and extensive experience, individually and as a nation, with managing it, even as new cases arise. We know that gradually relaxing total isolation will lead to more infections, but that’s acceptable, given that we know whom to protect and this disease is not harmful to the vast majority of infected people. As I and others have written, the way to prevent more death and severe illness is to finally, strictly protect those known to be vulnerable. It’s time to stop the cycle of becoming frantic as we see what are totally expected changes in hypothetical projections. Instead, let’s use empirical evidence and established medical science. The time of failed leadership must end or we are committing national suicide. Atlas is the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29167773/nba-owners-execs-hopeful-return-call-adam-silver There will be a season (highly likely)! They addressed an important issue in the article, about if a players tests positive for Covid-19. Players testing positive will have to be quarantined, but league will continue. Didn't have a lot of details, but basically said some players will inevitably test positive and that will not result in a shut down. I'm glad people are finally coming to their senses.

Well the article says the illness may be linked to Covid-19, but they aren't sure. But it is something to keep an eye on. But yes, children getting sick en masse would be devastating.

Yes I do, it's very involved, it involves the Rothschild family, along with free masons, 9/11, the federal reserve, 5G, chemtrails, mass sex trafficking rings organized by globalist technocrats, then I tie it all together at the end with Covid-19. I'm still working on it.

They don't have to dance for me or anyone, but the entire business model of the NBA is built around playing basketball games. I'm not really sure what a post-basketball NBA would be or look like, clearly the survival of the league depends on basketball returning. With a paucity a sports content right now, their ratings could actually be better than ever.

Well maybe the NBA has gotten to big for their britches if their wealth is so bountiful they just can't be bothered with playing basketball anymore.

I find it curious grocery store workers manage to come to work everyday, but it's just too risky for NBA players. But hey, if they don't want to play then don't play. Let me know how they feel when the money dries up. I'm glad most players don't share your alarmist attitude.

Here's my theory about why the NBA is not testing players returning to practice facilities. Publicly, they are stating the optics of a sports league having access to testing during a pandemic is a nonstarter. That might be part of the reason, but I think the real reason is some players will inevitably test positive and that might spook everyone and kill any momentum of a return.

If testing, before entry and upon entry, is used prior to the entry of the bubble, I don't see how this is any more risky than any other business. If numerous other "non essential" businesses are underway, why cant sports? Now, whether players and teams want to deal with the headache of it all is a different matter.

Most states aren't providing age breakdowns of Covid-19 fatality data.

In my opinion the risks are not that great, so long as common sense measures and precautions are taken. But if fear and anxiety are going to rule the day, then so be it.

yes, the elderly and the infirm have to take special precautions, But let's not pretend young healthy people are dying in significant numbers from Covid-19. The emphasis should be on the vulnerable age groups, namely the elderly.

Age plays a huge, huge , huuugggeee role in Covid-19 mortality. Number of deaths per 100,000 from Covid-19 for those under age 29 and under is close to zero. Athletic NBA players in their 20's and 30's are not are risk of dying from Covid-19. They just aren't. Enough of the BS and fear mongering.

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Atlas-2020-05-06.pdf https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Ioannidis-2020-05-06.pdf Written testimony before the US senate today.