It’s in the Orlando bubble.
Ricky Rubio, the starting point of the Phoenix Suns, attended Tuesday’s practice The Republic of Arizona he got videos from the NBA provided by the media of him and his teammates in action at the Walt Disney World Resort.
In the two-minute, 26-second rehearsal video, Rubio is making Euro-step moves into the basket and taking the 3s corner.
The video was released a few hours after Monty Williams declined to comment on the status of Rubio, Aron Baynes, Elie Okobo and novice Jalen Lecque as the Suns prepare for their first scrimmage on Thursday against Utah at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
“Again, I’m not going to get into who’s here and who isn’t,” Williams said after rehearsals on Tuesday. “I’ll report it to (Suns GM James Jones). I know the roster has come out, but again, that line of talking about who’s here who’s not here, which can lead to speculation. So refer James to that. ”
Rubio’s Tuesday footage was the first time that the test footage that the NBA provided to the media was seen. Rubio was not made available for Zoom interviews on Tuesday.
Rubio, Baynes, Okobo and Lecque did not make the initial 7 July trip to Orlando with the team and did not train with the team last Sunday, sources said The Republic. The NBA released the team’s official rounds Monday for the resumption of the 2019-2020 season with those four players on the Suns’ 15-man list.
Baynes, Okobo and Lecque weren’t in Tuesday’s free practice footage. Players entering the bubble must be quarantined before being put into practice.
After the Suns’ practice and media availability on Zoom on Tuesday, the team’s Twitter account tweeted a photo with Devin Booker and Rubio this season with a message saying they would be on the field together for the first scrimmage:
“How · sist
/ assistant /
verb
help (someone), typically doing some of the work.
TWO days until you see this duo on the field! “
Looking at just over seven minutes of video footage of Sun’s practices available for media review from 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19 July, Rubio, BaynesOkobo and Lecque are not part of the footage.
The Suns reported Rubio, but Williams was not asked why he wasn’t known to the media about the Zoom call when he was answering questions.
There is still no indication that Rubio will play Thursday.
The Suns (26-39) may also be without Kelly Oubre Jr., for the first scrimmage.
Undergoing surgery on March 3, Oubre has not played in a game since February 24 ironically against Jazz in Utah. He’s reshaping his knee in the bubble.
“It’s pretty much the same,” said Williams. “He did a little on the field. He looks fantastic. He didn’t have enough contacts. It’s a difficult situation for him because we will have so many back to back to back games and practice times, as far as 5 out of 5 and the bump, we won’t have enough time. “
Oubre had a career year averaging 18.7 points per game. The Suns have two days between their first and second scrimmage, which is Sunday against Boston.
Then they have another scrimmage on July 28 against Toronto before playing their “seeding” opening of the regular season on July 31 against Washington.
From there, Phoenix plays on alternate days until his seventh game on August 11 against Philadelphia, which is the second in a back to back.
The eighth and final game of the Suns’ regular season is August 13 against Dallas.
“I’m not sure where he will go, but when he was offended by us when we write and did our exercises, he is crushing the ball, he is moving and seems to be in a good place,” Williams concluded on Oubre.
The first scrimmage for the 22 NBA teams in the restart will have 10-minute quarters instead of the usual 12-minute quarters as the league is protecting against overloading players who haven’t played in a regular season game for four months and taking teams into consideration that don’t have complete lists.
“I like the idea of a buildup,” said Williams last week. “I was hoping we would do it for a couple of games, to be honest, just to shorten the time on the pitch, especially teams that didn’t have a full complement on their list so they wouldn’t tax the kids.”
The Suns seem to be one of those teams that don’t have “a full complement” of players on their roster available to play right now.
“I’m glad we have a game that allows us to build,” continued Williams. “… I’m confident with the 5 out of 5 scripts we have in practice and the three games we can play before the regular season, our kids can start getting a good pace and get into the NBA game form.”
Williams has been very attached to who and who is not part of the team, citing medical privacy reasons for not revealing the status of the registry.
“I’m not going to talk about who’s here, who’s not here,” Williams said last week. “It’s difficult for me because medically, I can’t talk about things. That’s where I have to leave him. Guys (the media) you know me. I never want to be rude to you guys. I understand that you have a job to do, but there is a limit to what I can talk about. “
La Repubblica reported last month that two Suns had tested positive for COVID-19 before the teams had to start mandatory testing. This was before Jones claimed that some Suns would arrive in the bubble “later” on July 6.
Do you have an opinion on the current state of the suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter on @DuaneRankin.
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