SALT LAKE CITY – Every NBA team that will be in Orlando for the restart of the season is faced with an incredibly unique situation and there are no plans to follow.
There is no one to turn to for advice on how teams should proceed after not playing basketball for more than four months. There is no previous research or examples on how unexpected isolation and lack of competitive basketball during a global pandemic can affect team dynamics.
Utah Jazz and the rest of the NBA are really walking in uncharted territory. According to Quin Snyder’s estimate, the best thing to do is the plan, which seems very popular with the coach who has become known for his methodical tactics.
“There are so many variables,” said Snyder on Sunday. “That doesn’t mean you’re not thinking about them. You won’t go into the blind saying, “Oh wow, I wonder what’s going to happen.” It almost requires you to plan even more because it can be a bit of a maze and try to figure out if you make a left turn how quickly you can go back and make a right turn if you come across a dead end. “
The variables are apparently infinite. Teams still have to train in groups or play basketball out of five. They will begin that once they are in Orlando, followed by three exhibition games, things will really show up on July 30 when games matter.
There will be players who are well conditioned and ready to exit the gate, there will be some who will need time to get fit. But even once the matches started, will the chemistry that the teams had when the league closed on March 11th still be there?
The long pause could have an impact on when teams turn to their veteran players. This situation may require temperate expectations across the board and the need to be hyper-flexible in play patterns and plans.
“The word that comes to my mind lately is’ agile,” said Snyder. “We have to be agile in our ability to make changes, make them quickly. We may find out about our team on the first scrimmage. At the same time, focus on our health. I don’t think that means that you don’t play people or you don’t compete in games, but it’s something we are aware of and that we monitor and, again, agile. “
Jazz are already getting ready for what their game will look like without Bojan Bogdanovic, but there is only so much planning they can do before going on the pitch.
“We started to lose some consistency after trading with Jordan [Clarkson] where we had Mike [Conley] becoming healthy, we were having a rhythm there with our spins and our bench, “said Snyder.” Not having it obviously changes it. “
Bogdanovic, who is out for the rest of the season after wrist surgery in May, was a very important part of the crime of Jazz, but he also added size and athleticism to a position where Jazz doesn’t have immense depth. .
“It affects us in various ways. I think it’s our second scorer and every time you lose a player of that caliber, especially in that position, he has 6-8, so size becomes a factor, “said Snyder.” So how can we defend? This is still our identity. We may look a little different in a defensive way, and then as we can score, he is one of the best shooters in the league, he can score in post, he can score in various ways. “
In addition to losing Bogdanovic, there is a real possibility that Jazz will have to play a couple of games, if not more, without Conley, whose wife is expected to give birth to their third child on August 27th. While Snyder and the Jazz fully support Conley who leaves the NBA bubble for such an important reason, it adds another variable to their situation in basketball.
Even with all the planning and trying to predict which variables could force Jazz to adapt, Snyder is deeply aware that until Jazz is able to get on a basketball court and practice and compete, there is no a real way to know where they are in terms of being ready.
With that in mind, the Orlando program becomes incredibly important. The three exhibition games, which are part of a truncated “training camp”, will serve as a true measuring tool for the teams.
“I don’t really see it as a typical training camp, I see it differently from that,” said Snyder. “We have to compete and we have to play so we can see some of those things and make some of those changes.”
During a normal NBA preseason, stars often play very limited minutes or sometimes they are not. Jazz won’t have the luxury of letting everyone take time off, there has been too much. They have to see how things have changed or evolved in recent months and what needs to change and evolve quickly before the games really start to matter.
Of course, there will be a real balancing act that Snyder and his staff will have to learn and master on the fly. The risk of injury is something that many players are concerned about and for players with many miles on their sneakers, it could mean that they are brought with a little more attention.
“The best thing we can do is prepare and be aware,” said Snyder. “We will adapt what we do in practice and also what we do in the games. Some of these will vary according to the score, others will depend on whether it is a back-to-back. There are always variables that you need to consider. We have some guys who have worked very hard, have improved over the season and the opportunity is the mother of the invention. “
Despite the countless hours Snyder and his staff spent planning, reprogramming and overscheduling, and planning a little more everything could depend on which team is able to fall back on what they had before the NBA crash.
Snyder is confident that his team will be able to do it. But again, until they get on the basketball court, nothing is certain.
