Eight men out for C’s
Lose another player to COVID protocol
The Celtics, wracked by the COVID-19 madness now sidelining teams across the NBA, finally dropped below the league minimum of eight active players Monday.
According to a source, an eighth Celtic was forced to enter the league’s health and safety protocol, forcing cancellation of their game tonight in Chicago. It was unknown whether the player had tested positive for COVID-19 or was in contact tracing.
Two Celtics — Jayson Tatum and Robert Williams — have already tested positive, and five others (Jaylen Brown, Semi Ojeleye, Javonte Green, Grant Williams, Tristan Thompson) are in contact tracing. Sunday’s game against Miami was postponed after former Celtic Avery Bradley tested positive, forcing the entire Heat roster into contact tracing. The fate of the Celtics’ Wednesday game in the Garden against Orlando is unclear.
The experience is bittersweet for Tatum, who for the first time since last February was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday. He got to savor the honor in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
Brown, along with Ojeleye and Green, were sent into quarantine for contact tracing as a result of Tatum’s positive test, and this is the bumpy rhythm that governs the NBA in this age of pandemic.
The NBA called an emergency meeting with general managers on Monday to discuss tightening their COVID regulations, and has another scheduled with owners today. Players are already tested daily. Those who test positive are required to go into quarantine for a minimum of five days, and must produce negative tests on the sixth and seventh days in order to return to action.
Grant Williams and Thompson were sent to contact tracing after it was determined that they sat within close proximity of Rob Williams for at least 15 minutes last Wednesday in Miami, and that time period appears to be what the NBA has defined as enough time for an infected player to spread the virus.
But the league and players association is now looking to expand restrictions. According to an ESPN report, officials are now weighing the issue of player socialization and hugging before and after games, with Tatum’s friendly chat with Washington’s Bradley Beal on Friday night an example of what not to do.
Once Tatum tested positive the next morning, Beal was held out of a game against Miami on the same day. He was later cleared to return to action.
But in order to function, the league can’t restrict actual competition. The fact that Bradley guarded Tatum for a significant stretch of time last Wednesday in Miami, with each player testing positive within a day of each other this weekend, begs the question of whether the virus can be spread on the floor. Thus far NBA policy has minimized that possibility.
The result is dangerously small lineups. Had their last two games been played, the Celtics would have taken the floor with an eight-man roster — again, the league minimum.
In hindsight, the Celtics did well to decline their invitation to send the Maine Red Claws to the G-League bubble in Orlando. As Danny Ainge noted last week, before the virus started to deplete his ranks, the Celtics were going to need players like Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters.
Indeed, as of today, in addition to those two players, Brad Stevens has a rotation of Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Jeff Teague, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith.
The delay may also have an impact on the return of Kemba Walker from a knee strengthening program. Though the point guard was expected to return later this week, Stevens wants the 32year-old veteran to get in some much-needed practice time first. That’s not possible with eight active players.
Speaking last week of why he’s not fielding a G-League team this season, Ainge said, “Three of our players started the season injured, and the young players, we felt, had a very likely possibility of playing for us.
“It seemed like we were better off keeping our 17 players together. As we saw on opening night, one team (Houston) didn’t even have enough players available due to contact tracing.”
The Celtics on Sunday became involved in the second game postponement of the season, and then the third.
The league is now scrambling to plug an increasing network of holes.