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Community Shootaround: Should The NBA Go Back To A “Bubble”?

January 9th, 2021 at 9:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA’s closed-campus experiment at Disney World was hailed as a huge success that enabled to league to complete its 2019/20 season and crown a champion without any interruptions from COVID-19. However, there was no desire to repeat the experience for an entire season as teams preferred to play in their home arenas, even if no fans were allowed.

But that decision carried risks, which are already beginning to overwhelm the new season. Only one game has been canceled so far — a season-opener between the Rockets and Thunder because Houston didn’t have enough eligible players — but several teams are operating with depleted rosters due to positive coronavirus tests and contact tracing mandated by the league’s health and safety protocols.

The Sixers had just eight eligible players this afternoon as they lost at home to Denver. Danny Green was the only Philadelphia starter to suit up for the game, while Dwight Howard and Tyrese Maxey were the only other members of the rotation who played.

The team’s predicament began Thursday when Seth Curry learned that he had tested positive for the virus. Tobias Harris, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle and Vincent Poirier shared a table with Curry at a team meeting that day, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, so they are required to quarantine for contact tracing. They will likely be unavailable for an entire week, which means three more missed games.

“We don’t know,” said coach Doc Rivers, whose season may be derailed after a 7-2 start. “We don’t know anything. We have to make that assumption, I guess. I mean, they were at a table. So it wasn’t like close contact. So maybe that will shorten their days. I don’t know that. But I guess even that’s too close. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t get that whole (thing).”

The 7-3 Celtics may be headed for the same situation. Star forward Jayson Tatum has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, joining Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson in quarantine. Boston’s injury report for tomorrow’s game mentions all but eight players, which is the minimum needed for the game to be played.

Tatum’s test has also affected the Wizards because he talked after the game to Bradley Beal, who is now subject to health and safety protocols for contact tracing. The Nets, Nuggets, Spurs, Grizzlies and Mavericks are also short on players because of quarantine issues.

Kendra Andrews of The Athletic believes the NBA is making a mistake by forcing games like the one today in Philadelphia to be played. She notes that virus rates are higher now in many places than they were when the league suspended play in March, and basketball is an easy way for germs to spread because of close contact and shared equipment.

The league isn’t at a crisis situation yet, but it’s headed in that direction. Without the controlled environment that was in place at Disney World, the athletes face a lot more potential exposure to COVID-19, and just one case can change the course of a season.

We want to get your opinion. Do you believe the NBA can play an entire season under the current conditions or will it need to revert to a “bubble” alternative at some point? Please leave your responses in the comments section.

Sixers, Nuggets Will Play Saturday Amid Contact Tracing

January 9th, 2021 at 12:32pm CST by marksuleymanov

12:32pm: Embiid and fellow All-Star Ben Simmons will miss tonight’s game because of injuries, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Sixers will now only have eight eligible players, which is the technical threshold for fielding a team.

When asked whether or not he believed Philadelphia should take the floor, coach Doc Rivers said, “I don’t think we should,” according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

“An hour ago we were told we were playing,” Rivers said to reporters, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post (Twitter link). “We have eight active players. One is Mike Scott, and I can tell you right now there’s no way I’m going to play him.”

Scott is currently listed as day-to-day with a knee injury. The power forward has appeared in five games this season for the Sixers, averaging 16.0 MPG.

11:25am: Amid the Sixers‘ rash of contract tracing due to a positive COVID-19 test, the team will play its Saturday afternoon game against the Nuggets, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Philadelphia had expected to be without several players, as Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Vincent Poirier and Paul Reed were listed as questionable for today’s game. Embiid, Green and Reed were cleared from the protocol, Wojnarowski tweeted Saturday afternoon.

Harris, Milton, Thybulle and Poirier are all out and still in the protocol, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Wojnarowski adds that the Sixers have nine eligible players for today’s game, one more than the required total of eight. However, that does not guarantee that Embiid will play — clearance from the protocol simply allows him to be counted as an eligible player toward the requirement of eight players to avoid a postponement, Wojnarowski noted.

Sixers point guard Seth Curry returned a positive COVID-19 test during Thursday’s game against the Nets. He was on the bench during the first quarter, but was not playing due to an ankle injury.

COVID-19 has caused some issues for multiple teams this week as the Celtics’ Robert Williams tested positive, which led to several players entering health and safety protocol. On Friday, Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas had to leave the bench before halftime due to contact tracing. Also, a positive COVID-19 test led to three Mavericks players being placed in quarantine.

Multiple Sixers Players Could Miss Time Due To Contact Tracing

January 8th, 2021 at 7:34pm CST by Luke Adams

7:34pm: Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Vincent Poirier and Paul Reed are the players listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against Denver due to health and safety protocols, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

1:46pm: The Sixers are expected to have multiple players miss time in the coming days due to the NBA’s COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the club is still waiting on the results of today’s coronavirus tests.

The players affected by contact tracing are expected to be ones who were in close contact with Seth Curry, says Wojnarowski. The veteran guard, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game due to an ankle injury, was told while he was sitting on the bench that he had returned a positive COVID-19 test.

As Shams Charania of The Athletic explains (via Twitter), players are tested for the coronavirus twice on game days. Curry’s rapid test earlier in the day was negative, but the 76ers learned of his positive PCR test after their game was already underway.

It’s not yet clear which Sixers players will be forced to miss time due to contact tracing. However, we can look to the Celtics as a reference — Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson are required to quarantine for at least seven days because they were sitting beside Robert Williams – who tested positive for COVID-19 – on the bench for at least 15 minutes, per Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).

At the start of Thursday’s game, Curry was sitting on the Sixers’ bench next to assistant coach Sam Cassell and All-Star center Joel Embiid, according to The New York Daily News. Embiid, who has a three-month-old son, already told ESPN that he plans to self-quarantine from his family until he has confirmed he didn’t contract the virus.

Seth Curry Returns Positive Test For COVID-19

January 7th, 2021 at 10:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers guard Seth Curry returned a positive test for the coronavirus today, which the team learned of during the first half of Thursday’s game vs. Brooklyn, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Curry, who was unavailable for the game due to a sore left ankle, immediately went into an “isolation room” and left the arena separate from the team shortly thereafter, says Wojnarowski. Before leaning of the positive test, Curry was on the 76ers’ bench for the first quarter, Woj adds (Twitter link).

As a result of Curry’s positive test, the Sixers will remain in New York tonight and commence contact tracing in the morning, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Wojnarowski (Twitter links). It remains unclear how many Philadelphia players might have to miss time due to the league’s health and safety protocols.

The Nets, who are scheduled to play the Grizzlies on Friday night, are still flying to Memphis, tweets Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Even though Curry didn’t play at all and likely wasn’t in close contact with Nets players, it’s possible some of those players will be affected by contact tracing protocols.

One Nets player who won’t make the trip to Memphis is Kyrie Irving, though his absence appears unrelated to COVID-19. As Malika Andrews of ESPN details, Irving didn’t play on Thursday night for personal reasons and will also miss Friday’s game. Head coach Steve Nash referred to it as a “private matter,” while Caris LeVert said Irving texted teammates before Thursday’s win.

And-Ones: Rubin, LeBron, 2021 Draft, Roth

January 6th, 2021 at 8:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Michael Rubin, the founder of Fanatics and a current minority shareholder in the Sixers, is a good bet to take over majority control of an NBA team at some point, writes Jon Wertheim of SI.com. According to Wertheim, many people around the league believe it’s likely a matter of “when” – not “if” – Rubin will eventually own a franchise.

“Michael has all of the characteristics that we would look for in a team owner,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “He’s smart, innovative and passionate, wants to give back to his community and loves the game.”

If Rubin were to eventually buy a majority stake in another NBA franchise, he’d have to sell his shares of the 76ers.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In other team ownership news, LeBron James expressed interest (via Twitter) in putting together an ownership group to purchase the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. The team is currently co-owned by Kelly Loeffler, who lost a run-off election for a Georgia Senate seat on Tuesday. A number of WNBA players have called for Loeffler to no longer be involved with the Dream, but the league has said it won’t force her to sell.
The NBA updated its mental health guidelines on Wednesday, urging its teams to increase their commitments to providing mental health resources to players and staffers, reports Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The changes come in the wake of an ESPN report which suggested that many staffers are feeling overwhelmed with increased responsibilities due to all the new COVID-19 protocols in place this season.
Jeremy Woo of SI.com takes a look at some 2021 NBA draft storylines to watch, and explains why he believes the No. 1 spot is Cade Cunningham‘s to lose.
Former NBA player and coach Scott Roth, who was the head coach of the G League’s Iowa Wolves from 2017-19, has been hired as the head coach of the Tasmania JackJumpers, the team announced today in a press release. The JackJumpers are an expansion team in Australia’s National Basketball League and will play their inaugural season in 2021/22.

Curry Thriving Alongside Simmons

January 4th, 2021 at 5:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Seth Curry appears to be headed to a career year with Sixers distributor Ben Simmons feeding him the ball. HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky breaks down how well they’re playing together in the early going. Acquired in a trade with the Mavericks, Curry is averaging 16.2 PPG while knocking down 51.5% of his 3-point attempts.

Doc Rivers Keeps Focus On Sixers Despite Recent Accomplishment

January 3rd, 2021 at 8:16pm CST by JD Shaw

Sixers coach Doc Rivers has inspired others while reaching a new milestone in his career, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Rivers, a former head coach with Orlando, is now 10th on the all-time coaching regular-season wins list, though he remains focused on his current team and not on any career achievements. “I don’t look at what I’m doing, honestly. I’d love to say — I know it means something and I know it means a lot to people, but I just I don’t know,” Rivers said. “I’ve never been able to put myself in that place where I’m thinking about what I’m doing. I think I have fooled myself that I’m really young and I have a whole career to go, and maybe that’s why I don’t, but I do feel like I’ve got a lot to do and so I don’t think about it that often.”

Ben Simmons Expects To Take More Three-Pointers

January 1st, 2021 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Sixers guard Ben Simmons hit his third career three-pointer Thursday night and is becoming more comfortable with the shot, according to Ky Carlin of Yahoo Sports. “I’ve seen him make it in practice and I know he can knock it down,” said teammate Seth Curry. “Especially from the corner so it’s just a matter of him doing it in a game and stepping into it with confidence. It didn’t look like there was too much hesitation on the shot and I expected it to go in.”

Latest On James Harden

December 31st, 2020 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

In his latest look at the James Harden situation, Brian Windhorst of ESPN lists the Sixers, Nets, Heat, Celtics, and Raptors among the teams that have at least placed “courtesy calls” to the Rockets about the former MVP.

And while the Bucks reportedly don’t have interest in pursuing Harden, they did have an internal conversation about the possibility and ran it by Giannis Antetokounmpo before coming to that decision, Windhorst notes.

The Harden trade talk that dominated NBA headlines during the preseason has died down to some extent now that the season is underway and the 31-year-old is suiting up for the Rockets, but Windhorst believes it’s just a matter of time before a team convinces itself that Harden is the missing piece for a championship and pulls the trigger on a deal, like Toronto did for Kawhi Leonard in 2018.

Here’s more on Harden:

Although the Nuggets have been linked to Harden directly, they’re also interested in potentially getting involved in a multi-team trade involving the star guard even if they don’t end up with him, according to Windhorst.
Sam Amick of The Athletic wonders if the loss of scoring depth caused by Spencer Dinwiddie‘s ACL injury may motivate the Nets to push harder to acquire Harden. Of course, as we discussed earlier this week, Dinwiddie’s injury also diminishes the value of a player who likely would be part of any package the Nets offer.
Within that same Athletic article, Amick examines where things stand for the other teams linked to Harden, writing that the Sixers remain content to continue evaluating their current roster under Doc Rivers before making any major changes, while the Bucks don’t view Harden as a fit for their culture. Amick also evaluates the Heat, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, and Raptors, but doesn’t suggest that there’s traction on any front.

Rockets Notes: Wall, Cousins, Harden, Hard Cap

December 30th, 2020 at 7:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Gordon all practiced today for the first time since being forced to quarantine after an ill-fated haircut last week, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. The Rockets‘ Dec. 23 season opener was canceled because they didn’t have enough active players, and they were short-handed for the two games that followed.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Wall said. “All I did was get a haircut in my apartment. And one of the teammates tested positive and the next four or five tests I had all came back negative. So, I was like ‘Oh, it was me and three people can’t get a haircut.’ I’d rather get a haircut in my apartment than be in a barbershop somewhere where random people are coming in constantly. Even the barber tested negative. That was a frustrating thing.”

Assuming no more setbacks, Wall will play his first game in more than two years on Thursday. He and Cousins, who responded to the quarantine with an online post of an angry emoji, will both make their debuts with the Rockets.

“It’s tough in general to be sitting around for seven days, no type of activity,” Cousins said. “It’s tough for any person, but especially for a professional athlete, sitting at home for seven days straight then jumping back in a full-speed practice or game. There’s not a lot of positive on that side.”

There’s more from Houston:

Head coach Stephen Silas said league protocol requires Ben McLemore and KJ Martin, who are believed to have tested positive for COVID-19, to remain in quarantine through the weekend, tweets Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
The Sixers are farther away from trying to acquire Rockets star James Harden than they were two weeks ago, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on today’s episode of “The Jump” (video link). With a 3-1 record and Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid playing well together, Philadelphia doesn’t feel any urgency to make a move. Windhorst believes Simmons gives the Sixers the best asset of any of the teams rumored to be involved in talks for Harden, but he doesn’t think either side is in a hurry to complete a deal.
The Rockets are currently $1.077M below the hard cap, which means they will be able to add a pro-rated 15th player to their roster starting February 9, tweets salary cap expert Albert Nahmad. Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts on February 23 (Twitter link).

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