Practice time will be in short supply this season
Teams are essentially playing every other day plus travel
The Heat just wrapped up two consecutive days of practice, which is significant for this reason: It might not happen again for awhile.
How long? March isn’t out of the question.
Practice time is something that willbe in short supply around the NBA this season; teams are basically playing every otherday, and that— along with travel and mandated days off — realistically leaves time for no more than two practices per week. Given that teams alsohadfewerpreseasongames than usual along with shorter training camps, there just hasn’t been asmuchtime to teachandease into ayear asmost coaches would like.
Andthe hectic pace is prettymuchgoing to last all season.
“I think you need to adjust and at least we’re all on an even playing field, so it’s all relative,” HeatcoachErik Spoelstra said. “If youhave a day inbetween, you still have an opportunity to improve. And it might not be a training- camp practice, but you can get some things accomplished even when youhavegames. Justhave tobalance everything.”
TheHeat just finishedtheir longestbreak of the first half — three full days off, sandwiched between a Christmas game against thePelicansandthe start of ahomeback- tobackagainst theBucks that beginsTuesday. For comparison’s sake, theHeathave a fourgame trip in early January during which it will practice no more than once.
They’re not alone. EveryteamintheNBA willhave similarpractice quandaries, which comeswith the territory ofhaving plenty of four- game weeks. It could be argued that without a lot of practice time, getting off to good starts — like the Cavaliers and the Magic, both ofwhomare 3- 0— might be of even more importance this season.
“It’s good for a couple of reasons,” Cavaliers coachJ. B. Bickerstaff said. “Obviously, you want to take the wins as you can. But what it does is, in a time of growth, it gives youbelief. Andwhentheyfindsuccess and the ultimate success forus iswins, that gives guys faith in whatwe’re doing.”
The Cavaliers have gotten it done so far with veteran big men and a young backcourt proving to be a goodmix. TheMagic are following a similar blueprint; point guardsMarkelle Fultz and Cole Anthony are combining to average nearly 30 points pergameso far. Andwithout anabundance of practice time to cleanupmatters, getting wins into the bank early is a big deal for the Magic.
“We don’t have two days off again until Feb. 3,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “We’ll be able to practice some and we’ll be able to do some shootarounds, but you want to have the right energy and intensity for the games. So, practice time is going to be limited.”
Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy has a smart way to look at the issue: Why, he wonders, should the opportunity to improve only come frompractice?
His perspective: Games are practice as well.
“You should be getting better as games go on if you have a focus,” Van Gundy said. “I’m no different than any other coach. All of uswould probably like to get more practice time. It’s not there, and so you have got to getbetter ingames, youhave to getbetter in your walkthroughs, and you have to get better in everything you do.”