My bad for the delay.






*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Per Woj:
ESPN Sources: While the Celtics-Heat game has been postponed tonight, the NBA has no plans to pause the season despite thinning rosters because of COVID-19 protocols in several places.

I fully expect the Wizards to announce several positive COVID tests in the next few days given who their recent opponents have been

woj and rachel nichols alluded to this a few days ago.

there have been studies globally that suggest close, fleeting contact throughout a game doesn't add up to the 10/15 minutes required for "close contact." some of those studies had to do with soccer though. not sure how banging around in the post every possession down the floor doesn't raise red flags when it comes to contact tracing but I know nothing.

basketball probably the least conducive sport to playing safely

..Similar to the 2020 playoffs.

Yes, its asking quite a bit of everyone involved, but it would likely guarantee fewer interruptions to the season schedule.

Incentives to be made.

Advertising $$$ on the line.

Decisions, decisions.



*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

It will cost way too much for a regular season, and due to the lack of
normal revenue coming in, they would probably lose money.

The summer bubble cost close to a quarter of a million, and that was for three months and with 16 teams.

..in a game that saw Morris & Cousins both ejected early, LA took a commanding lead and never looked back.

Another game against Houston on Tues, followed by OKC on wed to wrap up the road trip.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

AD woke up from his slumber for once this season.

OKC is playing really good ball on the low. Shai, Bazely and Diallo learning under
Paul and Donovan last year helped them to really evolve. They are already exceeding expectations for this year.

Owner wants to rebuild.....but I think the young players didn’t get the memo. They are balling.

I wonder what Donovan is thinking. I’m glad we have him and I hope he can develop our players in the same manner.....but I know he has to be second guessing himself just a little.

we been waiting on Diallo to come on out. He's always been uber athletic and not afraid of any moment...but his overall development as a basketball player is really coming on. Good for him. He's one of my favorite guys on our squad.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1348687414362046466?s=21

Should be interesting watching the walkback IRT Silver

A lot of talking heads sounded like they wanted to Vote Silver for POTUS after the bubble

...would they have been better off waiting for vaccines to be administered...?

The start of the season felt rushed, TBH

The release of vaccines coincided with that same timeframe

Could the NBA and possibly other leagues leveraged a more urgent rollout if they demanded vaccines be made available before they started the season?

of course they rushed the fuck out of getting back started

I mean, not surprising by any means. I get the money lost would have been a big deal. But if any one of these players gets really sick, it is beyond disastrous.

I don't know what the answer is, but I hope they figure something out fast.

...Silver REALLY should have gone beyond the "No one will get COVID!" plan that the other two leagues basically went with.

Not many good or feasible solutions here.

1. Do the regional bubble thing like Cy suggested above. Which will cost a shit ton.

2. Find a way to get the players to jump the line on vaccines. Which isn't likely and will cause a lot of bad publicity.

3. Temporarily suspend operations until this surge dies down or until they can get all the players vaccinated. Which will cost a shit ton.

>1. Do the regional bubble thing like Cy suggested above. Which
>will cost a shit ton.

It's one thing to do a bubble for a handful of games and the playoffs.
Something else to do it for a season.
Besides, I think players ended up hating it.
And as a fan, I don't like the idea of keeping players in a
secluded area just for my entertainment.

I'm enjoying watching the Bulls play, but if they need to postpone or cancel the season until this is figured out, I can deal.

But considering this is all being driven by money, I bet they'd try another bubble before they further postponed/cancelled the season. Or, more likely, do nothing.

that its a coincidence that some teams have had multiple instances and some have had none. I feel like once players understand that this is serious and is going to cost them games and money they will take it more seriously.

In baseball it started off crazy and it looked like it would be no way for them to get through the season, players started taking the protocols more seriously and things seem to calm down and they got through the season.

A lot of people thought now way CFB would get through their season and we have a national championship game tonight.

It had rough spots but the NFL made it through their regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

I feel like people are acting like the sky is falling but I think the league and players will figure it out.

We still don't know what the lasting effects of contracting COVID are

These guys are young and healthy, so they should make a full recovery

But as we saw with Keyontae...we still don't know the long term health effects

vs those that a forced to sit out because of exposure?

Going back to the bubble, we know 2 Lakers had it but we don't know who.

I don't even know if Draymond was officially said to have had it, or that was simply speculation.

So I don't think so.

MLB and NFL went through this. MLB crowned a champ and NFL seems on their way as well. They had setbacks and postponements and made adjustments.

The nba has only released half of a schedule bc they expected postponements. Worst case scenario is that they have to come to a complete stop at some point. Even if that happens, they already completed a portion of the season. Thats a win from a business standpoint.

Aside from being able to examine the financials, the nba seems to be doing well with the hand their dealt. Plus this is gonna make for a whole lot of parity in the standings come playoff time.

>MLB and NFL went through this. MLB crowned a champ and NFL
>seems on their way as well. They had setbacks and
>postponements and made adjustments.
>
>The nba has only released half of a schedule bc they expected
>postponements. Worst case scenario is that they have to come
>to a complete stop at some point. Even if that happens, they
>already completed a portion of the season. Thats a win from a
>business standpoint.
>
>Aside from being able to examine the financials, the nba seems
>to be doing well with the hand their dealt. Plus this is gonna
>make for a whole lot of parity in the standings come playoff
>time.

I think a lot of people thought because the NBA figured out things so much better than baseball and football - both NFL and CFB - the NBA would of course have a great plan for the '20-'21 season.

But without a bubble and without a vaccine the chances of sizeable outbreaks were much more likely. And unlike baseball or football, losing 3 or 4 players at a time impacts the likelihood of cancellations because NBA rosters are so much smaller.

I'm not personally alarmed about the postponements. Given how other major sports leagues are fairing the NBA's been about average with regard to the number of postponements early in their season. (I feel for the players who have the illness. They make their money with their body and if the findings of the effects post-COVID are correct, lung damage could jeopardize careers.) I think like baseball and football, as the season continues the number of outbreaks will decrease. And the teams may potentially play an unbalanced schedule with regard to the halves of the season. Everyone may not play the 72, but outside of the chance that a team may lose out on TV money, that shouldn't be a big deal. Everyone feels there are too many regular-season games anyway and going by win PCT ought to work out fine.

Like a lot of posters have said, they don't have a practical reason to play right now. But $1B is a lot of money for just about any organization to lose out on.

But coming from several months witho UK t organized sports, im good with watching tyrese maxey ball

hawks come up a lot on the ringer nba pods and they sound like one of the more dysfunctional teams around. trae gives about as much as he gets

But first...WTF at his shooting percentages

There was a lot of hype about ATL that first week

...and don't get me wrong, that team at full strength is a problem...

Trae's shooting 41%FG and 29%3pt...hunh...how do these dudes forget to shoot...?

Kinda weird for a board that still throws up random AI troll posts and wants him to be remembered as a scrubby chucker...

But yeah, they said Collins called him out for what was describes as...'the way he runs the offense'

Sounds very similar to CLE/Sexton...I believe TT had the same issue...and he's outta there...so...

yeah, there's beef.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BillyReinhardt/status/1348845410035621893

im sure theres a perfectly justifiable reason for his continued absence in there tho franklongo. kyrie has earned the right for us not to question him or something like that.

for personal reasons.

Hilarious to me how some defend this asshat.

His 2 step is some trash too.

mental health to social justice but if he's trashing his teams season to attend a birthday party...

i thought maybe after some adversity in the middle of the season when chemistry was an issue, things werent going well, fingers started being pointed, etc.

but dude should be officially radioactive now. i dont know why anyone would ever take the chance on bringing him in.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1349040349029793795

and that doesnt even include the covid quarantine if/when he does decide to come back. and i believe they add even more time on to that (10-14 days overall) if their investigation proves that party video is legit.

fuck this bozo.

https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1348955989215768576

don't know what it takes to win a ring, don't know the commitment required, and went on and on about his four touchdowns in one gam...I mean, his big shot in '16.

I'd take at least 10 PGs over him right today...probably more.

These games count.

At least we’ll be competitive against MIA

8 on 8 I guess...

I get the losing money and all...but this is f’n up the brand

Been looking forward to some of these games...and they’re over at halftime

Adam Silver...do not come to Philly.

In a windy backyard 6 months ago.

shyte that's being passed off as professional basketball

The Harlem globetrotters play more competitive games...

coolcoolcoolcool

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30698995/multiple-nba-players-test-positive-covid-19-second-sources-say

Sources: Some NBA players positive for 2nd time
Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe

Adding to anxiety currently affecting the NBA amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, multiple players who previously tested positive for the coronavirus have recently tested positive a second time, sources told ESPN.

The CDC defines "reinfection" as a person getting infection, recovering and then later becoming infected again. There are ongoing studies about how long immunity might last, but the CDC says it expects some coronavirus reinfections.

The NBA has announced more than 100 positive tests since last summer, but the actual number since March is believed to be significantly higher. Several teams have more than 10 players who have tested positive at some point over the past nine months, sources told ESPN.

Because testing was less available and there were higher rates of false positives early in the pandemic, there is some level of uncertainty as to how many players had true positive cases early in 2020, especially during the league's three-month shutdown.

It is possible that some players who tested positive for the virus but were asymptomatic months ago were false positives. Some players have been tested for antibody levels to determine their level of immunity, but there currently isn't a leaguewide procedure in place to regularly test for those levels.

Team and league doctors evaluate every positive test and player exposure on a case-by-case basis because the nature of the virus is still uncertain, league officials said. For example, players who have tested positive in the previous 90 days are sometimes handled differently from players who might've tested positive last summer because of the way the virus might still show up in their system.

The league office, National Basketball Players Association, teams and agents have been in talks in recent days to consider protocol changes to limit the spread that has caused three games to be postponed. The league has already placed players who previously had the virus -- Brooklyn's Kevin Durant and Miami's Bam Adebayo are two examples -- into weeklong health and safety quarantines after exposure to an infected person over concern of reinfection or spreading the virus.

According to current CDC guidance, the duration for immunity after a COVID-19 infection is not yet understood. Some reinfections, based on knowledge of other coronaviruses, are expected but are believed to be rare.

ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon contributed to this story.

.

Players are existing in the general public while playing professional sports. The only way to prevent the spread of Covid and reinfection of Covid is to separate the players
from the general public.

The CDC still does not understand the course of the virus after a person is infected. They have no timetable on how long immunity will last after a person has recovered from being infected. So with this uncertainty and lack of information it is impossible to
protect players while they are still existing in the general public.

When players are at home or in their communities , they are interacting with people who could be infected. They are in areas that could be contaminated, so it’s almost impossible to control and regulate the spread of a virus when dealing with those dynamics.

Also, we are starting to see that the NBA had more infections than what was previously reported ,and we know damn well the NFL and MLB weren’t reporting their full Covid numbers. And now that they are reinfections occurring on top of infections, how will the reporting be handled?

Either they accept the fact that this is going to be the way it is all season long, or they isolate the league for the entirety of the season. So if they continue with things the way they are, there are going to be postponements. There is going to be inferior play due to players being withheld from games, and there are going to be numerous infections and reinfections.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1349065690821644290

Well... it's not nothing. But it's close.

that I’m going to be hugged against while actually playing the game?

That’s all good for SHOW, but will have zero effectiveness.

But we saw the NFL and MLB players dapping and hugging each other ...we just saw it last night. Fans were/are in the stands.

Man....Just lie to us like CFB,NFL and MLB did. They just said fock it, and mysteriously all those high cases went away.

It’s like what Richard Jefferson said, they are just going to have to push through it. They knew it was going to be like this.

Essential Activities

i was watching sportscenter and he said something like "an excessive amount unauthorized, untested hotel guests"

league probably trusted them to be adults about this shit. you see some teams aint having problems w/ it and other teams cant get right. and some folks stretched the rules too much now they have to crack down just like baseball

so frustrating missing so much of the team, but they're keeping those opponent scores low.

no Drummond atop the rest of the missing people resulted in a 30-point blow out.

damn.

..that corner 3 tho? LOL!

Houston is a mess. Sucks to see Cousins in that environment, but I'm glad he's still in the league.

Hopefully resting Bron & AD for the 4th qtr will have them rested for tmrw's game against OKC.



*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

https://64.media.tumblr.com/e4165a575f9f980a038eec52c424ff74/tumblr_osjs4dsD9h1rsw96uo3_400.gif

like we were already wylin and had buried them but that was the finisher.

https://mobile.twitter.com/malika_andrews/status/1349171335986098181

talk about random lol.

stephen a called for him to retire lol. that might seem like much but is this dudes heart even in it? nba basketball aint some hobby you can just drop and pickup as you please.

>https://mobile.twitter.com/malika_andrews/status/1349171335986098181
>
>talk about random lol.
>
>stephen a called for him to retire lol. that might seem like
>much but is this dudes heart even in it? nba basketball aint
>some hobby you can just drop and pickup as you please.

I'm sure the Nets are wishing they had agreed to Houstons terms for Harden...what a shit show.

Dinwiddie tearing an ACL is also killing them because he was the only one on that team who played (perimeter) defense

Lol @ the Knicks being the most stable franchise in the city despite not having a single star...

#theKyrieEffect

.

those 2 rings was going to get him what LeBron had...acknowledgement from peers and others that he was the best in the league...and it didn't.

I dunno. This ain't the Heat.
Those dudes were friends. At least Harden and KD have played on the same team before.

I'm not sure if KD has said much about playing with Ky. Mostly he's been keeping his head down and hoopin' which is cool to see.

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status/1349207105912381443?s=20

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1349433571258359809?s=20

.

Brooklyn already has its hands full with the Kyrie matter, and
doesn’t need to acquire another emotionally unstable player.

Philly is dialed in, and their team is united on all levels. There is no need to disturb
that foundation.

Both should pass.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

With Ju taking all the shots

if the Cavs can figure something out. Marv wants out, and Bickerstaff is doing some interesting things over here.

that's just dumb

still all speculation on the personal leave

...but you gotta find a way to take that time and not lose almost a mil...

I'm starting to get concerned about his mental state

The spiraling could be a cry for help

Something wrong with dude.

.

https://twitter.com/KarlTowns/status/1350223070376595460

Can't imagine what's going through dude's head given how COVID hit his family hard.

geez, man. That's gotta be terrifying, for him. How much more can he take? Damn.

I know these things aren't mutually exclusive but it should piss everyone off when people flout guidelines to PARTY. Ain't no partying in a pandmemic, fuckers. You don't have to look further than KAT and his family to understand why. I hope him and his family come out of this ok.

If I remember correctly, MIN didn’t go to the bubble

KAT lost everything to covid, but managed to not contract it through his own precautions

Comes into this season and contracts the virus

Should be obvious, this $hit ain’t working.

No matter how much people ignore it, no matter how badly folks want to be entertained by basketball, no matter how poppin those Kyrie and Harden parties were....the virus is not going anywhere.

Quite the opposite.


Shut the shit down.

Shut it down
Get the vaccines started
Come back in a month

Are these games worth dying for?

I get it, we all want some semblance of normalcy and it’s hard to resist the temptation

...but the way I’ve been approaching this past year was simple...

Is it worth dying for?

+1, with so many blowouts and teams not dressing a full roster...you can’t even call this $hit professional basketball

Fat Harden has been the highlight of the year to date.

fine a week later and are usually "asymptomatic"

>geez, man. That's gotta be terrifying, for him. How much
>more can he take? Damn.

I was kinda expecting him to sit out this season. He would’ve been justified in doing so.

and the team, down just about everyone managed to squeak by that game, playing some incredible defense down the stretch.

I can't type enough words about how I love having Larry Nance Jr. on this team.

Cedi hit a lot of his shots.

Randle and Quickley were killing 'em though.

Best part of the game, seeing Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince and Kevin Porter Jr. on the sidelines watching the game.

Since the Wizards games are postponed Cavs might have them against the Nets, who are next up.

Kyrie is supposed to be back. He almost never plays the games against the Cavs.

Man, if Sexland is back that game.

33 PTS, 10 AST, 5 REB, 68 FG% & 60 3P%.

Thunder did it again!

..LA showed the league why they're #1 in defense.

Fell behind by double digits early, only to take over the game with defense. New Orleans was held to just 37 pts for the 2nd half.

Bron 21/8/11
AD 17/6/5

Crazy that they're still growing in terms of chemistry and balance.





*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

idk if you saw on the broadcast but they put up the scoring split of our stars vs the rest and AD/Bron scoring load is down 5% compared to last year, and it’s probably down further after last night

Bron playing in front runner swag mode the whole game now with these guys