Raptors closing in on gym return
With strict guidelines, city and province look to be on board The NBA suspended the season on March 12 after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive.
As the NBA prepares to allow teams to open practice facilities under limited and restrictive guidelines, the Raptors are seeking approval to make a workplace available to players.
And the appropriate officials are willing to work with them.
Discussions have been held with both the city and the province to find a way for the few team members who remain in Toronto to start using the OVO Training Centre at the lakefront.
“A couple of athletes and a couple of trainers, quite literally, so you’d have a very small group of people in there … That proposal, that we worked on back and forth with the Raptors, is under very active consideration,” Mayor John Tory said in a CP24 interview Wednesday morning. “I think the discussions have been going well.”
The NBA’s plan to open team facilities starting Friday, with the Raptors still seeking government permission, is simple.
It is not a signal of free-for-all access, nor is it a precursor to an immediate return to play. It’s allowing access for some, under strict rules:
No more than four players at one time. No coaches can take part. No scrimmages. Aone-player, one-basket rule. Temperature checks going in and out.
Players and staff must wear masks.
A 12-foot distancing rule during workouts.
Strict guidelines for the cleaning and treatment of balls and equipment before, during and after workouts.
Government stay-at-home rules can’t be violated.
“The Raptors have been very, very co-operative in understanding completely the challenges that we face on the public health side of this, and also from the standpoint of public perception, in terms of: Are they allowed to be open when everyone else isn’t?” Tory said. “The circumstances in which they’re asking to be open are so limited that I think people will understand, and I think the fans will be very happy that our people can get back to a little bit of conditioning.”
Just how many Raptors might be able to take advantage is another question. A majority of the players left Toronto for their off-season homes once their 14-day quarantines were lifted, and two-week quarantines remain in place for anyone returning to Canada.
With no clear indication the season will resume, it’s unlikely that any player would go through another two weeks of isolation just for the chance to have small workouts under such restrictions at the team facility.
The NBA is the second major North American league to allow teams to oversee workouts. Major League Soccer opened its training grounds for individual workouts Wednesday, in cities where governments have eased or ended stay-at-home rules. The NHL has yet to make public any return-to-work plans, while MLB seems pointed toward an early July resumption, but parks are still closed. The CFL and NFL have yet to open training camps.
The NHL, however, has spoken to the Ontario government about the possibility of using Toronto as a “hub” city if it is able to resume play. The proposal suggests groups of teams would operate in bubbles that include arenas and hotels to sequester them. The NBA season was suspended March 12 after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz contracted COVID-19, the first pro athlete based in North America to be publicly identified following a positive test. Commissioner Adam Silver has given no indication that the fate of this season will be determined any time soon, and there are so many variables in play..
The possibility of mass testing still has to be addressed, finding suitable locations to play has yet to be determined, and consultation has to continue — not only with the players association, but health officials and pandemic experts around the world.
Just because facilities can open in cities where stay-athome orders have been eased or lifted doesn’t mean all the doors will fly open on Friday.
“My best guess is it will be after May 8,” Utah general manager Dennis Lindsey told reporters on a conference call.