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

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...dicts-more-technical-fouls-no-fans-attendance

With no fans in attendance when the NBA resumes games on July 30, Thunder center Steven Adams is predicting one area the lack of ambient noise will have an impact.

"You might see an uptick in more technical fouls because [the referees] can hear what players are saying," Adams said on Monday. "Because you see, we like to talk behind their backs. But they can actually hear us now. So there's going to be a lot more Ts. Should be the only difference."

"I don't know who I'd be more worried for, the players or the referees at this point," veteran official Scott Foster told NBA TV in May. "I know I don't want everything that we normally say to each other going out. But normally we're all in a professional manner out there. But it is going to be different."

Draymond Green and Russell Westbrook lead the league in technical fouls this season with 14, with DeMar DeRozan (13), Kyle Lowry (12) and Marcus Morris (12) right behind.

"There's going to be some assistant coaches that we haven't really heard from before sitting in the second row that we'll be able to hear now, so there's going to be some adjustment there," Foster said. "And then I think we're going to need to really talk about and analyze what is OK for the public to hear and how we're going to go about our business."

Thunder coach Billy Donovan, though, doesn't expect to see an obvious difference in the way games are called.

"I do think their total focus is getting calls right, getting plays right," he said. "I don't know if this lack of fans in the building is going to change any of that. They're always evaluating themselves and the league is evaluating them on calls ... I don't see them being impacted by the fact there's not going to be any fans in the stands. I think they're still going to make the right calls."

 

Shams tweeting that there hasn't been a single positive corona test so far since July 11

 

No surprise here as this continues to go along

 

The NBA bubble is more safe than most of the country right now.

 

One more reason for the coaches to wear masks.

 

I'm not saying the bubble ultimately will or won't work.

I just wouldn't get super jazzed so far. from what we know so far, basically one slip up can domino.

i certainly hope that doesn't happen.... but to an extent i almost wish it would happen early - now. Not at all is best.

 

I don't know if season will finish (IMO it will) but I am sure looking forward to Rockets basketball in summer. The pandemic has really just taken away a lot of entertainment. Really hope we can make a deep run.

 

From the Ringer

 

Doc is hilarious!

 

I understand why they came back and I still don’t think it was the best decision from a strictly medical POV. But I understand the financial ramifications and people’s need to be entertained/distracted. Hopefully this bubble will hold!

 

You make the concluding statement at the end of the project and not when the playoffs haven't even started.

Enough time till September or October to applaud Silver and his guys.

 

No I make the appreciative post as it goes along especially when tons of people are waiting for things to go south. And giving credit where credit is due. Whether the playoffs have started or not makes no difference to what was posted

 

Wasn't direct at you, those guys who tweeted.

Carry on.

 

Don’t see anything wrong with those who tweeted either

 

How can we find out if they will be blacked out in our market? I would not mind trying to get NBA TV added to my TV Package, but it would be stupid if I'm just blacked out.

 

I already said what I had to say. /script

Dun really agree with your optimism but would root for it to finish. Just dun want people to celebrate just yet when teams have not even been close to the end of it all.

So I guess you have to deal with my opinion then.

 

The scrimmages for the rockets haven’t been noted on local AT&T sportsnet. So it being blacked out wouldn’t make much sense if it’s not overlapping any other broadcast.