The NBA and NBPA are engaging in exploratory conversations about a likely resumption of play at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as a singular bubble site for games, practices and housing.
There’s been a lot of information regarding this all week in the lead up to the NBA’s announcement Saturday afternoon and still a lot of questions to be answered, but for the time being, it certainly looks like the NBA is on track to make a return in the summer.
Here’s a look at what we know so far about the NBA’s potential return and possible next steps that will need to be figured out before it can become reality.
• Straight-up resuming the regular season with all 30 teams and then heading into the playoffs.
• Playing directly into the playoffs with the standings as they were as of March 12.
• A “playoffs-plus” idea that would give more teams a chance to compete for a final playoff seed.
The first two are very self-explanatory, but the “playoffs-plus” concept is worth a little more clarification.
This is the most radical idea, but also seems like the one that could most likely be the one to stick because the idea behind this format, which appears to have gained the most steam, would be to do so with a limited number of teams.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA’s preference isn’t to have every team resume the season, and in Charania’s report about this proposed “playoffs-plus” format between 18-24 teams were floated as the number of teams that would be involved.
The logic behind limiting the number of teams returning to play seems sound enough. The fewer people at the bubble site the safer, obviously. Not to mention, it doesn’t seem worth it for teams that are very much out of the playoff picture, like the Golden State Warriors, to ramp up and go through the rigmarole of preparing just to play what amounts to just a handful of games and risk injury to key players – or even their lottery positions.
Additionally, according to Wojnarowski, should this “playoffs-plus” format get opened up to the entire league, the idea of rewarding some of the league’s bottom-feeders with a chance in the post-season was met with much skepticism.
The reason for this is because the driving idea behind the “playoffs-plus” option, according to Charania, is it could involve a play-in-style tournament for either the No. 8 seed, or 7 and 8 seeds.
Additionally, another way it could work is that the first round of the playoffs would be replaced with an international-competition-style, round-robin group stage with each team playing two games against their group opponent and the top two teams from each group advancing to the second round.
Either way, rewarding the league’s worst teams with a chance to pull a George Mason-like run in the NBA playoffs doesn’t seem to be appealing to many.
Why Disney World?
In the lead-up to the NBA’s announcement, there were reports that the NBA was debating between Disney World in central Florida and Las Vegas as its preferred bubble destinations.
By all appearances, it would seem as if Mickey Mouse has won this particular battle, and the rationale behind it is quite apparent.
First off, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a massive, 255-acre campus with multiple arenas that could host many different games and practices simultaneously, and has already done so for the NBA as the host of the Jr. NBA World Championship in recent years.
Secondly, Walt Disney World is a gigantic 40-square mile plot of private land with about 24,000 hotel rooms to house players and coaches as well as other team and event staff.
And lastly, you can’t discount the relationship between the NBA and broadcast partner ESPN, which is primarily owned by Disney.
It doesn’t take much to connect the dots that it would likely please ESPN to go to a location with its own name in the facility’s title, and with the amount of money at stake for the NBA, pleasing a key broadcast partner is just the smart thing to do.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the NBA is slated to lose about $900 million in television revenue should the 2020 post-season fail to happen, so prioritizing broadcast partners seems like the right call from the NBA’s perspective.
Extensive testing to come
Should the NBA decide to continue with a plan to play at Disney World in July, getting set up there is but one gargantuan task that will then lead to another, perhaps even bigger one: Maintaining the bubble.
The NBA, of course, is aware of this and, according to a Charania video report from Thursday, the league is looking into an extensive COVID-19 testing program.
Charania reports that NBA commissioner Adam Silver expects to have daily COVID-19 testing when the league returns and, most notably, no stoppage in play necessary should someone test positive, as that person would then go into self-isolation in their hotel room as the team continues on.
There are, of course, complications.
While daily testing would be vital for the league to run, where and how the NBA gets its tests is of the utmost importance. The league came under fire when the Utah Jazz used Oklahoma state’s tests, and when the Brooklyn Nets bought private tests it was viewed as big business using its affluence to jump the line ahead of the public in the midst of a global pandemic.
The perception of the NBA has reportedly been front of mind for Silver and any return-to-play plans would have to take into consideration the public’s supply of tests.
And to those ends, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported that the NBA has begun research into “group testing,” a procedure that could see many more get tested with fewer tests needed.
Here’s O’Connor’s explanation of what “group testing” is:
“Group testing is simple: Several samples from multiple individuals are taken and “grouped” together into the same lab test—this could be done randomly, or by mixing samples from members on the same team. Between five to 20 samples are usually mixed into the same test, which reduces the amount of tests needed, saving time, money, and resources. If the test is positive, those people’s samples would be separately retested to locate which individual sample(s) are responsible for the positive test in the group.”
The other problem the NBA will have to tackle if they do test daily is what happens when someone tests positive, especially a star player.
It’s well and good to say that play won’t stop and a player has to go into isolation if they test positive, but let’s say, for example, the Los Angles Lakers are facing the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals and LeBron James tests positive the night before Game 1, that would likely leave the Lakers without their most important player for the championship series. What does that do for the so-called legitimacy of the 2020 Finals?
It’s not difficult to envision a scenario where key players on multiple teams are forced out of the lineup because of a positive test and thus throwing the entire competition’s balance out of whack.
Wins and losses may seem like a small thing, ultimately, in the face of a public health crisis, but for the reputation of a professional sports league, this is a potentially huge problem.
Next steps that need to be sorted out
Lastly, here’s a very quick rundown of possible next steps that the NBA will have to get figured out before the season resumes.
• For non-American players, such as Dallas Mavericks all-star Luka Doncic, who may have decided to quarantine abroad, or even for members of the Toronto Raptors who stayed in Toronto and are working out at OVO Athletic Centre, the guidelines need to be clarified.
Do players need to be quarantined before they can start doing any work with their team in the bubble site? And if so, for how long?
• How long will the post-pause training camp last? And how many, if any, exhibition games will teams be allowed to play?
• If there are regular-season games that will be played, how many more will the NBA look to complete? According to Charania, getting the total number of 72 or 76 has been floated.
• What will the playoff format look like? Will it be the usual East vs. West? Or will all the teams just be re-seeded? With such strange times in the league’s history, the idea of taking just the best teams into the playoffs that many have wanted for years could actually happen this year.
• Charania also reported that some of the latest possible dates for the season to finish are Sept. 7 (Labour Day), Sept. 15, Oct. 1, Oct. 15 and Nov. 1. This is important to figure out as it impacts when the league’s draft could be held, when free agency would open and when the next season could be started.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
