16-team playoffs almost too logical
A painstakingly slow process of figuring out how or if the NBA can finish the 2019-20 season seems to suddenly be going at warp speed.
Owners and players are sounding far more optimistic a resolution to the suspended season is in the offing, one that includes two separate sites to house teams, a mid-June return to full-on training camps and games in early July.
Nothing has been officially announced and the problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic seem to change almost hourly, but positive signs are emerging.
“I think we’ll have something, hopefully within the next six to eight weeks we should be playing,” Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks told the American television network CNBC on Thursday.
What it means for the Raptors may be troubling for anyone who thinks even practices will be held in Toronto in the coming months. The most sensible resolution may be to move the franchise south of the border for the remainder of the season.
To think there will be games played in Toronto is delusional — fans or no fans — because of the league’s desire to keep its teams together, social distancing rules in Ontario and the continued restrictions on cross-border activity between Canada and the United States.
Having a 14-day quarantine period for people entering Canada presents a timing problem that likely can’t be overcome. It’s hard to imagine the NBA saying, “we’ll wait out that period before any team can get started” so that the half dozen or so Raptors who left Toronto in March can get back, do the quarantine period and follow that with a three-or-four week training camp prior to a resumption of games.
It makes more sense for the seven or eight players in Toronto to meet their Americanbased teammates in some safe location south of the border and let them work there.
The league could set a restart date for training camp for mid-June, which would give departed Toronto players a chance to return, complete the quarantine and work out at the club’s OVO Training Centre. But would it be worthwhile for those players to uproot themselves from their families and stay sequestered for two weeks before they could practice? Wouldn’t it be better to stay where they are and gear up on their own before teams are allowed full practices?
Lasry also said the league is looking at two venues — Orlando and Las Vegas — as so-called “bubble sites” to house teams. But which teams go where, or even how many teams in total take part in completing the season, remains a question.
It would make utmost sense for the NBA to limit the teams that come back from the suspended season to just the 16 that were in playoff spots March 11 when the league went on hiatus.
The logistical nightmare of having 30 teams resume games, with the need for more testing, more physical space to house players and staff, would be lessened considerably. Putting eight teams in two cities would obviously be easier than putting almost twice that number and the logistics of staging a return to play in limited facilities are going to be almost overwhelming as it is.
Besides, there would be no incentive whatsoever for many non-playoffs teams to do anything other than pay proverbial lip service to a resumption of play. It would be shocking if any of them used their best players in any meaningful way after a three-month break where even one win might slightly change odds in the draft lottery, whenever it’s ultimately held.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team had the worst record in the league when the season was put on hold, said earlier this month he’s operating under the belief the season is over for his team.
The other lottery-bound teams would have no incentive at all to win games; their inclusion in any abbreviated end to the regular season would hardly be necessary given the issues of having them play would create.
There might be some financial considerations that come into play with local broadcast right fees and cancelled games, but the financial picture of all pro sports in North America is going to be so blurry whenever this pandemic abates, it certainly can’t be a major consideration today.
Having just 16 teams split into two cities just seems too logical for it not to be the prime plan under consideration right now.
The NHL is different and it’s folly to compare one to the other today. The NHL is reportedly looking at several cities and something like a 24-team Stanley Cup tournament that would keep interest alive in the majority of the league’s cities. And given the number of teams still in legitimate playoff contention when the season was stopped, having more might work best for that sport.
The NBA, on the other hand, is cut and dried.
The 16 playoff teams were basically decided when the season was stopped — perhaps Portland could have caught Memphis for eighth in the West but that would have been a surprise — and while there were certainly playoff seedings to be determined in the final 16 or so games, there will be no perfect resolution to this nightmare.
Having eight teams in Orlando and eight in Las Vegas, letting them train and play four or five tune-up games before starting the playoffs with the pairings that existed on March 11, would present the fewest complicating factors.
It would feed the demands of national broadcasters who much prefer games involving the best teams, would alleviate any talk of bad teams “tanking” at the end of such a difficult season and would still whet the appetite of fans who want to see the best players play.
It may not be the most perfect solution, but perfection is not possible when it comes to salvaging what can be saved of this season.