Sources: Expect the NBA back playing by mid/late June with 10 reg season games before POs

Quarantine was novel in March.

It's July

 

On Monday, Rivers, outside the parameters of the approved social messages the NBA agreed upon, voiced himself on wanting to have the name “Trayvon,” in honor of the late Trayvon Martin, replace his name on the back of his jersey. Via his Instragram, Rivers explains that he grew up only 25 minutes away from where Martin was killed, and that he wishes to “honor him and (Martin’s) family and help keep his name alive and strong.”

https://www.thedreamshake.com/2020/...rockets-restart-player-previews-austin-rivers

 

Question: if Disney opened up the park today, how are the players protected? @The Cat

 

Howard Beck:


"Skinny Harden makes Rockets title favorites," Ben DuBose of RocketsWire gushed, citing a quote from former NBA champion and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins.

...

Harden's effective field-goal percentage has taken a tumble in each of the past four postseasons, by an average of 4.4 percentage points from his regular-season marks over that span. Of course, the level of competition is also higher in the playoffs, and the quality of defense generally increases, too. Some decline in efficiency is expected, even for the game's greatest stars.

But a string of noteworthy flops have come to define Harden's playoff resume.

In 2015, he went 2-of-11 from the field and had 12 turnovers in a postseason-ending loss to the Warriors.

In 2016, with the Rockets down 2-1 to the Warriors and playing a critical Game 4 at home, Harden put up only 18 points on 4-of-13 shooting in a loss. He bounced back with 35 points the next game but committed seven turnovers in the season-ending defeat.

In 2017, Harden scored 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting and committed six turnovers while being eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals.

The Rockets' best run came in 2018, when they made it to Game 7 of the conference finals against the Warriors. It ended with their worst collapse—27 straight misses from three-point range, including 10 from Harden, who finished 12-of-29 from the field and 2-of-13 from behind the arc.

The Warriors knocked out the Rockets again in 2019, in the second round, but Harden was mostly stellar in that six-game series, averaging 34.8 points with an effective field-goal percentage of .534.

Parsing out all of the factors in a star's playoff record is an inherently fraught exercise—what to attribute the star himself, or his teammates, or the opponent, or even random chance. Is it fatigue that's dragged down Harden every spring? A deficient lineup? The bad luck of existing in the same era as the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Warriors?

Or does the intense reliance on a single star limit the Rockets' chances against elite teams? Is predictability the Rockets' greatest handicap? Perhaps, Partnow said, invoking a baseball analogy to make the point.

"The fewer things you have to prepare for, the better you can prepare for those things," he said. "If you've only got one pitch—it's almost a Mariano Rivera thing, right?—for an inning, that one pitch is devastating. If the Yankees had tried to make Mariano Rivera a starter, how well does it work the third time through the lineup? And the analogy is not to the third quarter, but it's more to the third game of the series."

...

Every Rockets game in the bubble will feel like a referendum of one kind or another: on Harden, on the Harden-Westbrook pairing, on the Rockets' analytics-driven offense, on their small-ball, center-less lineup and even on their leadership.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni is in the final season of his contract. Morey has been viewed as vulnerable ever since his controversial tweet on Hong Kong last fall. It's unclear how another playoff pratfall will impact everyone's future.

Moreover, the Rockets are leaning on one of the oldest rotations in the league, and their two stars are in their late primes. Harden turns 31 on Aug. 26, just as the first round of playoffs will be wrapping up. Westbrook turns 32 in November.

The West will only get tougher next season, with the Lakers and Clippers still around, the Warriors fully healed and the Pelicans and Mavericks rising.

There's a heightened sense of urgency all around. In the view of the longtime advance scout, it's truly now or never for the Rockets.

"This," he said, "is the last dance for them."

 

Pretty sure the players are kept separate from those locations. If you have never been Disney parks are separated by many miles and I’m sure the hotels players are staying will only be occupied by players and staff.

 

They aren’t anywhere near the parts that are open. It’s literally miles of separation. The entire Disney as a whole is massive. The espn Sports complex is isolated from the rest.

 

This. It's best to think of Disney as its own city. The NBA has its fenced off area with no overlap. Same with MLS. (For those curious, there's also no overlap between NBA and MLS — each has its own area.)

 

I dont think its the last dance, Harden is 30 Russ is 31. Still have another 2-3 seasons of their prime together. Definitely though the clock has started and while Hakeem did win his first at 31, He had a reasonably young crew. It just takes one title to get the credit Harden/Russ deserve, the issue is outside of CP3 we have never had a perfect fit with Harden andThis small ball stuff imo this year is an experiment and I don't have enough faith in it in a 7 game series vs the LA teams this year. Lets see how it fares, but if not go for an ibaka type and I think the squad has a pretty solid chance in the next couple of years....

 

Mike D'Antoni on starting without Harden, Westbrook" and Mbah a Moute: I don't think it's going to be too many days. In a fe days, they'll be here."

D'Antoni: "Right now we're assessing where they are athletically or where they are shape-wise. Pretty good."

D'Antoni confirmed that Westbrook and Harden are not there. "They'll be here in a couple of days, three or four days and we'll get going."

MDA: "Every coach has to be excited now. It's like training camp again."

Earlier said, "I'm excited because I know what we can do. And being around these guys is infectious -- no pun intended."

MDA: "We think we can win it. It's a long journey. We'll see how it goes."

Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni says he expects James Harden and Russell Westbrook to arrive at Disney World within a few days. “I hope it’s sooner than later,” he said.

P.J. Tucker on his 85-inch television he installed in his room:
"This is my home for the next three months, so I had to make it as much like home as I could."

He was proud that he installed it himself.

Tucker said he has not decided what he will put on the back of his uniform, his name or a social justice message. Said he would have liked more choices.

Ben McLemore: "We're looking good today. It's not shocking. I know a lot of guys stayed in shape and found ways to stay active. Everybody looked good today for sure."

 

i find bubble videos fascinating. i think they will get even more interesting as this goes on and competition starts. its like a reality TV show.

 

It's like the peaceful beginning of a zombie movie.

 

Here's the NBA's video footage from practice today.

 

im starting to get PUMPED for this. I feel like with the constant testing and devices that detect changes in temperature and oxygen levels this could really work. even if it doesnt I appreciate the effort by the NBA to think of everything to give this the best chance to succeed.