Asterisk championship? Don’t tell Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“It will be the most difficult championship you can ever win,” said Antetokounmpo.
A less significant trophy? Brad Stevens has none.
“Whoever wins,” said Stevens, “will really earn it.”
In recent days, as players have reported on mandatory workouts (and the mandatory media sessions that result), a feeling of normalcy has returned. Steven Adams, raised on a farm in New Zealand during the pandemic, joked about his training including boxing cows. Anthony Davis has revealed that he has become a dominant player in call of Duty is NBA2K. Sion Williamson has unveiled a new chiseled physique. The photos of the NBA teams practice the plans that are assembled in the Orlando conference centers scattered on social media. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the social justice movement remain prominent issues, but for a moment the game has returned to the fore.
Davis answered a call from Zoom’s reporters, “I don’t miss you guys at all.”
However, as teams prepare bags for Florida, the question remains: what are they playing at? There will be the end of the regular season, a traditional, four rounds, the playoffs of the best seven and in October the league will officially crown a 19-20 champion. History will not indicate this title differently.
But should it? Objectively, what it collects at the end of this month will bear little resemblance to what the NBA left behind in mid-March. The Sixers, apparently dead in the pre-pandemic in the water, will bring Ben Simmons back, stronger for Simmons than he was at the beginning of the season. Jazz, which he had as soon as has begun to understand how to incorporate Mike Conley, will be without Bojan Bogdanovic. Portland will not have Trevor Ariza, but will welcome Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic.
And the Lakers? A favorite of the title when the season has stopped, LA may look decidedly different. Davis, plagued by shoulder problems before the break, declared himself completely healthy. “It was nice for me to let some of the persistent injuries I have had towards the time the NBA stopped recovering and healed,” said Davis. “(I can) return to the best version of myself.” But the Lakers will be without Avery Bradley, a key member of the Los Angeles backcourt rotation, and may be without Dwight Howard, who has yet to engage in the resumption of the season due to a family situation.
“This is something I personally appreciate,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “I can’t wait to face the challenge of lasting, to be the team that can be the strongest mentally, the strongest mentally and say ‘Yes, we could be on this isolated campus for three months, but we have a goal, we have a mission and it won’t affect us by trying to reach the end goal and finish the job. “”
Suggesting that there should be an asterisk on this title does not lessen its difficulty. “I think it deserves a harder than normal asterisk,” said Vogel, “if you’re going to put an asterisk on it.” Indeed, the physical balance of travel between cities will be replaced by the mental balance of isolation. Players will not face hostile crowds on the street (punch pump, Philadelphia) but will not have the crowd bounce back home. The comforts of home will be replaced by services such as a 24/7 concierge service and unlimited golf.
“The circumstances are very difficult right now,” said Antetokounmpo. “So anyone who wants it more will be able to go out and get it.”
The circumstances could become more difficult. The NBA has expressed confidence in its quarantined campus, although coronavirus numbers reach record highs. More than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Florida on Thursday, a new one-day record, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the state to nearly 170,000. Governor Ron DeSantis defiantly said that Florida will not turn back, pointing out that many new infections have been found in young and healthy people, most of whom are not seriously ill.
However, the NBA’s concern goes beyond disease. An outbreak could decimate a team. An infection for a significant player could have the same impact. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that a spike within the bubble will force the championship to close.
How will the NBA define an outbreak?
Honestly … I’m not sure, “said Silver during a Time 100 conference this week.” We have a group of scientists, doctors, experts working with us. We’ll see as we go … you can’t escape this virus. I am absolutely convinced that it will be safer on this campus than off this campus, because there aren’t many other situations I know of where there are mass tests on asymptomatic employees. So in a sense, this is perhaps a model for the opening of other industries “.
Any title is a result and this will be no different. A grueling stretch will begin next week when the teams fly to Florida and two of them won’t end until mid-October. That is something. But is it a 19-19 championship? Or a 2020 tournament? Players see it as the first. History will decide.
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