There's not going to be any more season

Right? We need to stop kidding ourselves. The question is, when are we going to have the draft?

 

Actually, I’m thinking it’s more and more likely that they decide to finish this season and delay the start of the next one. It looks like the expectation is that the virus is seasonal, with a likely break from it over the summer and a return late fall and winter. It would make sense to tailor the NBA season to that dynamic until we get a vaccine. Finish the current season over the summer, with the playoffs extending into September. Have the off season and draft through fall and winter, then start the new season in the spring when the second wave dies down.

 

I like your thinking! But wouldn't it be simpler just to play the games in the Southern Hemisphere?

 

IMO, the break in play has been too long to make this season salvageable. Anything that has happened this season is pretty much erased.

 

But the Lakers were going to win it all!

 

I know. Cancel the season!

 

As I see it, if they cancel this season, and if the virus comes back in November or December and we go into another couple of months of lock down, they'd be at risk of losing two seasons. I think that the smarter play is to take advantage of this summer to finish last season and then wait until spring to start next season. Unless, as Rastapopoulus suggests, we want to farm out the NBA to Australia or something. Patty Mills would probably like that.

 

"Still defending Western Conference...finalists."

 

Yeah, I don't want to rob the Lakers of the opportunity to lose the NBA Finals.

 

Given that they'll likely face the Blazers in the first or second round, they're not getting a chance to lose in the Finals.

 

CP3 said he hasn't shot a basketball since warming up for the Gobert game. He thinks players probably need about a month to get trained for games or they risk injuries. Most players dont have a way to workout or scrimmage like they normally do in the offseason so they will need more time than a normal to get prepared.

First they will need to decide the date of starting that month warm up period and how it will culminate with games. They probably need two weeks from an agreement until players/staff are able to open everything up to fully begin workouts and groups together. So that is about 1.5 months minimum. Then probably 2-3 months of play. Lets call that 2.5 months. In total we probably need 4 months from deciding the season is starting until there is a champion.

Plus the major unknown, however long it takes from now to come to an agreement on a start. I'd think at the minimum we are at least multiple weeks away, but who knows this could be 4+ more months to decide if Chinese Basketball is an example...

Another way of looking at it is how long can we wait to start that 4 month clock? If we started in two weeks the championship is decided in September, already the start of football season.

In two months to set this up, we would have the 2019-2020 NBA champion scheduled to end in November? Then its clashing with Football and Holidays. How do you have games from October 2019 impact a championship in November 2020? How does the last games played in March even seem relevant to to teams that have a longer break than an NBA offseason? At that point it seems more likely to just cancel the playoffs as we know them.

The NBA has talked about a midseason tournament. Maybe they decide to do the first "midseason" tournament as a finale to the 2019-20 season. Have a break for a few weeks. Then start the next NBA season. It won't be anything like an NBA playoff or championship as we know it.

I'm thinking they need to have a firm plan to restart the season with a somewhat normal playoffs in the next month, or move to an alternative tournament format, or just cancel everything and focus on starting the 2020-21 season.

 

The way I see it, we’re not likely going to have neatly separated baseball, football and basketball seasons for the next couple of years. I think we have @Sports Season” in the summer and early fall, and covid season the rest of the year.

 

Nice try, CP3, but you can't just pretend that crappy HORSE thing didn't happen

 

The opposite. There’s a trend developing (higher number of infections, much lower mortality rate) with testing results. If it holds, my guess is not only will the league return, but the whole “bubble” idea will be scratched. It’s why I believe the league has been holding out on making any real decisions. They’ll avoid that idea if they can. Cancelation probably isn’t even a consideration right now unless something turns for the worse. I think one option would be allowing a certain number of fans at first, and then gradually expanding. The NHL for example is considering that scenario.

Oh and I also don’t think the nba is opposed at alllllllll to the idea of pushing the start date back to Christmas going forward.

 

Draft postponed to August I believe

 

I agree. This season is over.

At least our playoff streak will remain alive

 

Steve Blake was a Faker for a while, maybe he'll be on your podcast.

 

yup


think the real question is do they resume the season where it left off or go straight to the playoffs with a play in tournament for the eighth seed. The second would favor the blazers.

 

I think that depends on whether they are intent on starting the 2020-21 season in the fall, or if they think that waiting until next spring after the second wave of COVID-19 passes is more realistic. If it’s the latter, then they will want to play out the current season and playoffs, finishing up by about the end of September to avoid the start of COVID II.