And so....it begins! NBA Season Restarts! July 30th - October 12th.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

They said Covid-19 will kill children and young adults in droves, not just the old or the infirm

Literally no one said this.

[JayBirdHawk]

Would you be okay playing with or against a guy that you knew tested positive for COVID19?” “Curry: Oh that’d be tough. I mean, that’s one of the things that you’re having to address because that is a real scenario. If you try to play and there is no vaccine, there’s no way to really guarantee nobody’s going to get it. I think if you are at a place where everybody says yeah we’re ready to play and then they know what they’re committing to. And if not, it doesn’t make sense, then you won’t see a ball bounce.”

– via ABC 7 News

[bleachkit]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Literally no one said this.

You're kidding right? Anytime I brought up dramatic age disparities I was ignored or shouted down. Doomsdayers and pessimists are been pretty much wrong every step of the way.

Edited May 22, 2020 by bleachkit

[JayBirdHawk]

Quote

NBA

IT WAS THE evening of March 11. Dr. Vivek Murthy was home in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Alice, and the two were engaged in the usual evening chaos of trying to feed their two kids, ages 3 and 2. Normally, the TV isn't on at dinner, but the former U.S. surgeon general was closely following the pandemic, so it was. Then, the news hit: The NBA was suspending its season. Murthy turned to Alice. The two didn't say a word. But, in his mind, Murthy was considering the gravity of the moment.

The NBA has principally consulted with two experts throughout the pandemic: Murthy and Dr. David Ho, director and CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University. Senior vice president of player matters David Weiss has spearheaded the NBA's return-to-play logistics planning.

Concerns of testing capacity and perception in the initial weeks have shifted to issues of protocol -- the league's position has been to closely watch other sports return to action, learn from what has gone well and adapt that information to suit its needs.

Murthy has spoken to league leaders and team owners, and, informally, to others across sports who confidentially contact him. The questions are all of the same ilk: When can fans return to games? How should they respond if someone tests positive? How often should they test athletes or staffers? How should they safely keep distance between staffers and players?

No sites have been chosen yet for play, though Las Vegas and Walt Disney World are considered front-runners. And while many NBA practice facilities are open for individual workouts, not all of them are. So does every team return to its own market to practice, or can some in closed markets send players to Orlando or another "bubble"-like site to practice?

Those questions remain, but the answers all revolve around the idea of risk tolerance.

"Look, there is a nonzero risk to players that being infected with COVID-19 could lead to major complications," Murthy says. "It depends obviously on their health and preexisting conditions. The goal here is not to be alarmist and say that this is definitely going to have severe adverse effects on any NBA player who gets infected. That's not the case. You know, most NBA players are young and healthy and the statistics say most of them would, would ultimately be OK."

As discussions progress between the league office and the players, it's even more important to understand what is viable and what is available in finishing the season. The NBA and the players' association have formed a joint committee to study return-to-play plans. In addition to the league office, it includes health experts, Chris Paul, Dwight Powell, Kyle Lowry, Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook, though sources say NBA commissioner Adam Silver and some players have had similar discussions informally for weeks.

In any conversations with league leaders, Murthy says he acknowledges that, yes, concerns about their season being on hold -- financial or otherwise -- are not insignificant. ESPN's Bobby Marks wrote that a cancellation of the season could result in the loss of $2 billion of basketball-related income. Murthy has been outlining obstacles and encouraging teams to be in lockstep with public authorities. He describes how financial losses are painful but to reopen too haphazardly and then shut down soon after could create even more long-term financial losses.

Which brings him back to the night the NBA shut down. Silver's decision, Murthy says, was a "signal to people that something profound about our way of life is about to change."

Murthy considers reopening to be, in some ways, an even more powerful signal.

"For some people throughout the world of sports, there may be a temptation to move quickly here, recognizing that there may be opportunity to be one of the early [sports] that returns," Murthy says. "But I think this can't be a simple business decision to get viewership and market share. This has to be looked at as a broader decision that has wide support implications for public health."

Silver, he says, gets that. And though the most pressing concern is the resumption of the 2019-20 season, acting too quickly puts future seasons in jeopardy. "The [collective bargaining agreement]," Silver told players on a conference call last week, "was not built to handle pandemics."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29200286/how-close-nfl-ncaa-nba-nhl-mlb-restarts-bundesliga-ufc-coronavirus-delays

[AHF]

2 hours ago, bleachkit said:

You're kidding right? Anytime I brought up dramatic age disparities I was ignored or shouted down. Doomsdayers and pessimists are been pretty much wrong every step of the way.

Should be easy for you to find quotes just from this thread where people said covid would kill young children and young adults in droves then.  Show mac just how wrong he is!

[bleachkit]

41 minutes ago, AHF said:

Should be easy for you to find quotes just from this thread where people said covid would kill young children and young adults in droves then.  Show mac just how wrong he is!

I can find plenty of material where others were wrong and I was right regarding Covid-19 if you want to go there.  

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

 

Send Trae and the boys directly to Orlando. We' re going to bring "shock and awe" to the the bubble. While everyone else is in a quarantine haze, we'll be taking the Eastern Conference by storm.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Quote

According to multiple sources, the NBA, led by Silver, also held a conference call with GMs on Thursday in which several notable topics were discussed:

A two-step approach to the start of games:

- Two-week training camp in a team’s market, then a two-week quarantined training camp in the playing location.

- Players are resistant to the full nasal swab coronavirus test: As a result, the league is working on acquiring more comfortable testing via saliva or via the tip of the nose.

- Once in the bubble site, teams could share support services: This includes doctors and security personnel, to lessen the number of people involved.

 

Quote

GMs will be able to vote on a series of scenarios:

Season formats for consideration:

— Advance directly to playoffs: (16 teams, four rounds, best-of-seven series) with postseason teams based on standings as of March 12

— A “Playoffs Plus” option: Expanding the number of teams with the opportunity to play, either through holding a play-in tournament to determine the final seed(s) in playoffs, to be played by “bubble teams” or replacing the first round of the playoffs with a group stage.

— If “Playoffs Plus” — how many teams should return to play: 18, 20, 22 or 24?

— Resume regular season with all 30 teams: All teams plays same number of games.

— Resume regular season with all 30 teams, plus play-in: All teams play same number of games, followed by play-in tournament and traditional playoffs.

— “Playoffs Plus” play-in format options: Play-in tournament featuring bubble teams for 8th seed; play-in tournament for 7th and 8th seed; or group stage that replaces first round of playoffs and all participating in groups (each team plays two games against each group opponent and top two teams from each group advances to traditional second round).

 

Scrimmage games prior to any restart:

— 2, 3, 4, or 5

 

Total regular season games:

— 72 or 76

 

Playoff format:

— Traditional (East/West) or reseed all teams

 

Latest possible date for finish:

— Labor Day, Sept. 15, Oct. 1, Oct. 15 or Nov. 1

 

[AHF]

16 hours ago, bleachkit said:

I can find plenty of material where others were wrong and I was right regarding Covid-19 if you want to go there.  

You said lots of people said young people would die in droves and you could point to this thread.  I was suggesting you flag that issue if you think it is accurate because I don’t remember anyone saying that.

I’m not talking about other things at the moment.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

It remains unknown where the NBA is in the process of securing tests or developing large-scale testing protocols. Also unclear: how many regular-season games would be played before the postseason begins — or if all 30 teams would be playing. The league has asked team general managers for additional input on those matters.

– via Tim Reynolds @ Associated Press

 

Any return to play must also come with a green light from the N.B.A. players’ union. A spokeswoman for the union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is also unclear what the logistics of such a return would be, such as how many, if any, fans would be allowed into an arena for games, how freely players would be allowed to move around or what kind of testing would take place. The games would almost assuredly be run without fans in the stands, as has been the case for some other recent sporting events in golf and soccer. Any return to play would also have added risks for players or team personnel who have underlying health conditions, or for people over 65, a group that includes three head coaches.

– via Sopan Deb, Marc Stein @ New York Times

 

 

 

[bleachkit]

I have bad feeling there will be no Hawks basketball. It's looking this is for the playoffs basically, or teams on the bubble. 

[JayBirdHawk]

At least one player, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, has raised one of the issues the league and the union will have to navigate if the league, as some have suggested, returns and goes straight to the playoffs. “If we go 16 teams directly to playoffs do those teams get paid more for the risk and carrying this years revenue after Corona and China?” Dinwiddie, who is not the designated players’ union representative for the Nets, posted on Twitter,referring to the loss of revenue from the league’s rift with the Chinese government.

– via Sopan Deb, Marc Stein @ New York Times

[JayBirdHawk]

Is the NBA gonna do this plus pump in crowd noise?

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

I know barber shops have been closed but why is James Harden looking like Grady from Sandford and Son?

 

[Spud2nique]

15 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I know barber shops have been closed but why is James Harden looking like Grady from Sandford and Son?

 

Ok am I the only one thinking he’s gonna crawl in some cave like Bin Laden in a about two seconds. what theeeeee hell u doin boy? Then the tight pants I... I may be old school but back then you dress up like this and more than likely you will have no lunch money that day.

[Spud2nique]

26 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Is the NBA gonna do this plus pump in crowd noise?

 

 

Oh I’d kill to be a cut out fan. Can you imagine all ya lined up like  

@kg01 yes you can put ur out like Mike in the cutout pic no worries