BUENA VISTA LAKE, Fla. – Orlando Magic used two buses to keep a party of 35 well organized on the 23-mile journey that made them the first team to enter the confined space of the NBA campus on July 7 .
Although there were far more pressing concerns about such an important tour, Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic had another date circled on its internal calendar: July 10th. That was the release date for the 2020 edition of the F1 video game.
“I’m a huge Formula 1 fan,” said Vucevic.
So big, in fact, that Vucevic packed his favorite portable steering wheel for the short trip from the Magic arena, Amway Center, to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Walt Disney World, which hosts NBA teams while the league restarts the suspended season. Vucevic was determined to be well equipped for downtime in an assignment that will last until August – or longer if Orlando goes beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Vucevic also benefited from a single true proximity advantage: Magic players can ask family and friends to deliver items to an external hub that handles mail and delivery shipments for all teams.
“I guess that’s a small plus for us,” said Vucevic, telling how he asked his wife, Nikoleta, to buy the F1 game for him at Best Buy and deliver it to the so-called bubble, which is about 15 minutes from home. their.
There are 22 NBA teams scattered across three Disney World hotels, but only the Magic are close enough home to speed up package deliveries like Vucevic did – or to allow Terrence Ross, Orlando’s sixth man, to drop a gaming chair from his home by his wife, Matijana, at the campus delivery center.
The experience is new for everyone involved, with mandatory coronavirus tests every day and the NBA promoting a 113-page guide to regulations (and restrictions) for governing life on campus. However, it is especially strange for Magic players and staff members, many of whom live within 20 minutes of the Disney site which, due to the coronavirus pandemic, suddenly hosts the NBA and Major League Soccer.
“The fact that, if you’ve left something at home or there’s something you feel you need, you can easily drop it – it’s nice to know it’s a phone call,” said Steve Clifford. Clifford, however, called it only “the only place” where Magic has an advantage. He doesn’t predict otherwise proximity “will come into play so much” – at least not in a way that Magic can benefit.
The pangs at home among Magic players, on the contrary, are inevitable.
A prime example was last Saturday, when Magic was practiced at 1:00 pm, leaving considerable time for the rest of the day to meditate on their surroundings and limit movements.
“It’s pretty crazy, man,” said Orlando guard DJ Augustin. “It’s difficult to stay away from the family, period, so when I go back to my room, that’s when it’s difficult. But at the same time, I’m here to do a job. I am here, I am focused and I am trying to make the most of this opportunity. “
Austin Rivers plays for the Houston Rockets but grew up in Orlando and still has an out of season home there. After stating recently that playing ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex would be “a real plus for my home”, Rivers sounded more confused by the circumstances this week than anyone in the Magic camp.
“It feels like home, but I’m not home,” said Rivers. “This has been very difficult for me.
“It’s where my girlfriend is, my family is, my son is just down the road from there. It was difficult to know that 20 minutes left. So close yet so far. “
Individual circumstances present additional challenges. Augustin’s father-in-law died recently, increasing the tension of a long journey away from his wife Brandy and their three young children. Orlando guard wife Evan Fournier has returned to their native France with the couple’s 13-month-old son to be with Fournier’s parents while focusing on restarting the NBA. Vucevic’s wife is due with their second child in November, prompting parents of the 2019 All-Star center to fly from Montenegro to help Nikoleta Vucevic take care of the couple’s 19-month-old son.
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Frequent questions
Updated on July 16, 2020
Is the coronavirus dispersed in the air?
- Coronavirus can remain airborne for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, suggesting that scientific evidence grows. This risk is greater in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation and can help explain the super-diffusion events reported in meat packaging plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus spreads through these tiny droplets or aerosols, compared to larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes or transmits through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Virginia aerosol expert Linsey Marr Tech. Aerosols are also released when a person without symptoms exhales, speaks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization.
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Is it more difficult to exercise while wearing a mask?
- A comment published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering one’s face during exercise “comes with problems of potential respiratory restriction and discomfort” and requires “benefits of balancing against possible adverse events”. Masks alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, president and scientific director of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people may also experience dizziness during family workouts while they are disguised, says Len Kravitz, professor of motor sciences at the University of New Mexico.
What is paid leave for a pandemic?
- The coronavirus emergency aid package gives many American workers a paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives skilled workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are sick, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive treatment for coronavirus or if they care for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people who care for children whose schools are closed or whose childcare provider is unavailable due to coronavirus. It is the first time that the United States has received extensive federal paid leave and includes people who generally do not get such benefits, such as part-time workers and those working in concert economics. But the measure excludes at least half of workers in the private sector, including those of the country’s largest employers, and offers small employers significant leeway to deny holidays.
“It was actually huge for me to know that I won’t leave her alone,” said Vucevic. “It would have been a much more difficult decision for me to play if she was alone and pregnant, with another child to take care of every day.”
The Magic, between 30 and 35, was the eighth seed of the Eastern Conference when the season was abruptly interrupted on March 11th. Thanks to the dramatic network injury crisis and the losses due to the virus, Orlando has a promising opportunity to move on to the seventh – and off Milwaukee’s path for the first round of the playoffs. Despite the four-month layoff, which basically coincided with the length of Orlando’s low season after losing to Toronto in the first round of the 2018-19 playoffs, Clifford said he was encouraged by the relative availability of his team after seven rounds.
Likewise, Clifford is much more curious about what eliminating travel can do for his team than how much his players will be affected by being close to home.
“I think it’s a big deal,” said Clifford. “You are not going to land at 2:30 in the morning, eating on the plane at midnight.
“This is a unique experience for everyone. It is only difficult to know how to try to help because there is no one you can turn to as a mentor, like an older coach who has gone through this. And then it’s the same for the players. Everyone has their people they talk to for advice, but there is no one to turn to. “
Unless the call is, for example, organized a race for Best Buy.
“Initially we thought it would have been a little strange, because it’s so close, but I think the kids understood that it is,” said Vucevic.
