It’s Miller Time!
Can the N.B.A. Come Back, and Stay Back? – The New York Times
The N.B.A., mind you, is not without hope. There has been some real progress in the testing arena, starting with the Orlando Magic’s ability to secure clearance last week from local health officials and the league to test asymptomatic players and staff members. With the Lakers and Clippers also expected to soon receive similar blessings in Los Angeles, Orlando’s breakthrough makes it somewhat easier to imagine the N.B.A. reaching a point in coming weeks where all 30 teams can administer tests freely without worrying about taking tests from needier segments of the public.
A far thornier issue for Silver, in his contact sport, figures to be answering the array of health-and-safety questions akin to those Doolittle so forcefully posed to M.L.B.’s elders. Perhaps the resistance is not universal, but there are surely N.B.A. players apprehensive about returning. The question-and-answer session of Silver’s call began and ended with complaints from Oklahoma City’s Chris Paul and the Nets’ Kyrie Irving that some of their peers already feel pressure to return to team practice facilities for individual workouts in what surely rank as the most sanitized gyms on Earth at the moment — even though only two teams (Cleveland and Portland) had opened their practice facilities at the time of the call.
“It’s an issue employers everywhere are going to have to confront,” Michele Roberts, the union’s executive director, told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne last week. “Because I guarantee there’s going to be at least one player, if not many more than that, that are going to have genuine concerns about their safety.”
Silver does not want to apply pressure. He made it clear to his Friday audience that, while there can be no such thing as a risk-free return without a coronavirus vaccine, players cannot be forced back to work by team owners or the league office.
“We’re not going to make any decisions that aren’t joint,” Silver told them.
NBA now up to 10 teams back for voluntary workouts | Inquirer Sports
Besides the Heat, the other teams that have opened so far are Portland, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, Atlanta, Indiana, Sacramento, Toronto and Utah. More are expected in the coming days; among them, Orlando is close, and the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Saturday.
And while there still is no decision about whether the season can resume — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, has told the league’s players he expects to make that call by mid-June at the latest — getting back to some semblance of work is generally being considered a positive step.
“We’re kind of just feeling it out, playing it by ear, taking it day by day,” said Toronto assistant coach Brittni Donaldson, who was in the gym with Raptors wing Malcolm Miller when the reigning NBA champions opened their facility again Monday. “Hopefully, you know, in a week we can start ramping it up a little more. But to start we’re just keeping it very basic, very simple.”
The league has very strict rules about these workouts; no head coaches can be involved, no more than four players can be in the facility at a time — the Raptors are limiting it to one player — and intense safety precautions must be taken before, during and after the sessions. When Donaldson was throwing passes to Miller, she did so while wearing a mask and gloves.
“The NCAA’s deadline for men’s basketball student-athletes to withdraw from the NBA draft and retain their eligibility will be pushed back from the current June 3 date. This modification is being made with the health and well-being of our student-athletes in mind, along with their ability to make the most informed decisions during this uncertain time, and is based on the recent announcement by the NBA to postpone the 2020 NBA Draft Combine. Out of respect to the NBA’s process, the decision on a new withdrawal date will be made once the league has determined a timeline for the 2020 pre-draft process. Working in collaboration with National Association of Basketball Coaches Executive Director Jim Haney and the rest of the coaches’ leadership, the NCAA membership will ensure that any change supports a player’s decision-making process related to professional opportunities while also protecting their academic pursuits and the opportunity to play college basketball.”
Raptors’ cautious return to activities a step forward on long road ahead – Sportsnet.ca
That’s obviously well beyond the pay grade of Miller and Donaldson, who are only foot soldiers in the operation. For now, they can only appreciate a chance to emerge from their respective condos and get back to some version of basketball.
“It definitely felt strange, I missed it,” said Miller, who has been ‘eating’ the team-supplied weights in workouts at home in an effort to come out of the lockdown with a few more pounds of muscle on his slender frame. “It was a good experience just to have the basketball in your hands, feel the basketball and just get back to the game you love, even in a different format.”
Handling a ball was even strange for Donaldson, the former college guard in her first year as a member of the Raptors coaching staff. She was a little rusty after not working players out for eight weeks and then had the added complication of doing it with gloves and a mask on.
“I guess the mask makes it a little harder to breathe but luckily Malcolm doesn’t miss a whole lot so I’m not running down after rebounds much,” she said, while conceding she was a little stiff on the second day. “It adds a layer of a challenge but we adapt and we adjust and we still can get in some work. We’re there just to get a ball back in a players’ hand and get a rhythm back now and we’ll start building from there once the limitations subside over time.”
Roughly 25% of Toronto Raptors opt for individual workouts at practice facility – TSN.ca
It’s been a long couple of months for the 27-year-old. He’s kept busy at home – playing the piano, fuelling his competitive juices with video games, riding the stationary bike, doing some yoga and P90X, and lifting weights – but he’s missed the feel of a basketball in his hands. So, when Toronto’s OVO Athletic Centre opened its doors again on Monday morning, Miller requested to be the first player allowed in.
“It’s just nice to be in the gym in whatever type of capacity it is, even if we don’t have four or five rebounders or someone to set a pin down and someone to pass the ball,” Miller said on a conference call Wednesday. “At least you are able to get in the gym and that’s something that I’m personally thankful for.”
“It definitely felt strange. I missed it. It was a good experience just to have the basketball in your hands, feel the basketball and just get back to the game you love, even in a different format.”
The court is the only area of the building that is accessible, so Miller’s workouts are limited to shooting and some ball-handling drills. He said his jumper is actually further along than he expected, given the layoff, but his handle could use some work. He spends an hour in the gym each day and plans to go in four or five times per week.
It’s progress but it’s not exactly what Miller or any of his teammates are used to.
At any given time, there can only be one player, one coach, one representative from the medical staff and building security on the premises.
The schedule is fluid and can change daily depending on which players want to come in. Each player that’s participated has been paired with a coach (and the team has additional coaches available in case other players decide to work out).
Assistant coach Brittni Donaldson has been assigned to work with Miller, and will only work with Miller for the time being. There isn’t any overlap between player and coach duos. One group can’t arrive and enter the building until the previous group has left.
Report: Toronto could be ‘option’ to host NBA return – Sportsnet.ca
“(Silver) mentioned Toronto in that conference call, too,” Haynes told Tim & Sid. “He said Toronto is an option, but he would like to keep the season in the (United) States. But he said he’s not ruling out Toronto.”
Haynes believes that if the season does resume, the “likely spots” will be Orlando or Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis spoke of welcoming professional sports leagues to resume in his state.
Meanwhile in Toronto, the OVO Athletic Centre opened to the Toronto Raptors in limited capacity this week.
“We just have to adapt and all these guys have at some point in their careers have been in a gym either alone or just with one other person so it’s not a super unfamiliar setting for them or the coaches,” Donaldson said. “So just digging for that creative part of us from our past and implementing.”
The league suspended play on March 11, hours after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, and whether it will be able to resume is a big question mark. In a conference call with players last week. NBA commissioner Adam Silver raised the possibility of resuming without fans and potentially playing at a centralized site. Hurdles would include the need for testing.
About half the Raptors are in Toronto and team general manager Bobby Webster said last week that a player who wanted to return to Canada now would have to abide by the government’s isolation rules.
Miller, who played in 25 of Toronto’s 64 games this season, remained in the city after the shutdown because the situation was just as bad back home in Maryland. Miller has been lifting weights, doing yoga and riding a stationary bike.
“It’s just nice to be in the gym in whatever type of capacity it is, even if we don’t have four or five rebounders or someone to set a pin down and someone to pass the ball,” he said.
The gym access, which is voluntary both for players and coaches, is a very small first step.
“We’re definitely used to having either more coaches or more players to help with passing and rebounding and making the workouts a little more advanced,” Donaldson said. “It’s simple now and we’re keeping it basic and we’re just trying to get the guys a rhythm back for those that want to be in the gym.”
Malcolm Miller, Brittni Donaldson kick off Raptors’ workouts – TSN.ca
“It definitely felt strange but it was great to get back to the game I love, even in a different format,” Miller told Lewenberg.
Miller and Donaldson were both screened before entering the building and trained for about an hour. For the time being, the Raptors are allowing only one player and one coach train at a time. Miller says he plans on working out at OVO Centre four to five times a week.
Lewenberg notes the workouts are voluntary and not every player currently in Toronto has attended a session at the practice facility yet.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the Board of Governors on Tuesday and indicated that he would like to make a decision in the next 2-4 weeks on whether or not to resume the 2019-20 season, according to a report by Shams Charania of the Athletic.
Silver said he is “feeling increasingly positive about the league’s momentum toward a resumption of play this season.”
Miller said he requested to be the first Raptors player to workout at OVO Centre on Monday. He's been keeping busy playing video games and the piano at home but was itching to get back on the court.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 13, 2020
It’s hard to categorically say one team is more impacted than another given the degree and scale to which the coronavirus has turned the season upside down. Every player, every team, every front office, every team employee, every fan… we’re all impacted.
But what specifically is in store for the Raptors?
With an NBA-best 21-4 mark over their final 25 games prior to the halt in play, the Raptors were riding the momentum of an inspiring stretch of play which saw them jump out to a comfortable lead for second place in the Eastern Conference. Under normal circumstances, one might expect Toronto to pick up right where it left off…
… were it not for the fact that these are far from normal circumstances.
Taking everything into consideration, here are the five biggest questions and X-factors facing the Raptors as we consider the possibility of the season restarting this summer.
Prior to the season’s suspension it was fair to question the viabilty of Toronto’s championship aspirations.
Even as the Raptors rattled off double-digit win streaks and exceeded the rosiest of expectations, it’s been hard to shake the feeling that this Raptors team did not realisticly have a path towards repeating. Despite their standing as the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors often assumed the identity of a hardened, proud, well-coached veteran team that could beat anybody on a given night, but perhaps lacked the top-shelf alpha talent required to win four series in a row.
There’s nothing wrong with that! In fact, there’s plenty right with it.
Loaded with expiring contracts and a massive void following the departures of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, Raptors president Masai Ujiri could have opted for fasttracking the rebuild and nobody would have blinked an eye. Instead, he brought everyone else back and the team responded to the point they simply became too good to give up on heading into the trade deadline. Would a couple of non-premium picks and dimes on the dollar pieces be worth a spirited title defence on the heels of the defining season in franchise history?