Rockets, Astros may flourish in odd situations
The games will return, so keep hope alive.
Financially, every sports entity we know of will be negatively affected by the novel coronavirus. What this all means on the courts and fields, though, is different.
Some teams believe they are better suited to deal with the new order. Talking to people in the Astros and Rockets organizations, championship-wise at least, this could be a good year.
Generally speaking, this is more luck than organizational genius. There was no planning for the novel coronavirus pandemic in their leagues. The NBA was in-season headed to the playoffs, and MLB was a couple weeks from opening day.
The craziness hit, and they are dealing with it.
NFL franchises have had time to work through strategies that could drastically affect this and upcoming seasons.
Since our world pushed the pause button and went slow motion, the NFL has been like a prancing juvenile, carrying on business as usual with hundreds of transactions via free agency, trades and the draft.
Tom Brady, the most popular player in the NFL, changed teams. DeAndre Hopkins, the best wide receiver in the league, was traded. Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner on an undefeated national championship squad, was drafted No. 1 overall.
Sure, this isn’t the appropriate time to talk about games yet to be played. Maybe when the clock is ticking — with just a couple weeks leading up to go time and every player in every sport claiming to be in great shape and ready — it’ll be safer to dig into such analysis.
But I can’t help it. Those in the arena want to talk about it.
In keeping with the 2020 coronavirus-inspired world theme, it ain’t my fault.
Yeah, I know, ain’t is not a word, but you’re not Johnnie Lee Solomon or my editor, so you’re not allowed to correct my poor English. Plus, I am jonesing for
sports, so I’m a little out of sorts right now.
Some of you are in worse shape than me.
We have gone so long without a real sporting event that millions claimed to be amazed at the NFL draft’s virtual experience. (Insert gif of Tony Soprano putting hands to face in frustration.)
The NFL draft has transformed, going from a couple days of NFL business transactions to a bad reality television show.
Not that I am an expert on reality TV — I gave up that genre up when Puck was on “The Real World” — but based on the reviews of the draft, you would think people had never seen a family sitting on a couch in the den watching television.
Did the lack of games make you think non-games were games?
Seriously. The draft drew huge numbers of people who were excited to watch other people — draftees and their families, NFL general managers and coaches and their families — watch the draft on TV.
And by excited, I mean exclamation marks.
“Kliff Kingsbury has a nice house!”
“(Insert draft pick here) has a couch that looks like mine!” “Bill Belichick has a dog!” “Bill O’Brien is mad!”
Yes, Kingsbury is rich, most college athletes have families that have homes that have dens, and, although he comes across as a Westworld host, Belichick is human.
O’Brien’s anger wasn’t much a revelation either. That’s who he is. (Mad as in angry, not insane. Y’all need to stop.)
The draft was celebrated this year as more than it usually is because sports-wise there is nothing else going on.
If you’re starving and somebody throws you a cracker …
It has been so long since I have seen a ball go through the nets that I had to look up the standings to remind myself of what was going on when the NBA put a halt to games on March 11.
The Rockets were 40-24 and had no business being tied with Oklahoma City for the fifth-best record in the Western Conference.
They are only a couple games away from the third seed in the conference, so returning to play some regular-season games before the playoffs is very important to them.
Coach Mike D’Antoni’s return is unlikely without a deep playoff run.
The NBA is more of a stars’ league than other professional team sports, and under the circumstances, stars should be even more important.
There won’t be lengthy training camps allowing teams to get up to speed and find their midseason rhythm. Games will probably be played as soon as the
NBA can find enough scientific evidence that playing is feasible.
The Rockets were already banking on James Harden and Russell Westbrook, two of the game’s brightest stars, causing problems for opponents in the playoffs.
As someone in the Rockets’ front office told me, this year’s playoffs might be handicapped like a pickup game.
“If you throw some players together with little practice, who are you betting on?”
MLB is discussing the possibility of a 100-game season, with games being played without fans and at a few stadiums.
Sources close to the Astros believe the delay to the start of the season and the possibility of neutral-site games could be a benefit for them.
Ace Justin Verlander was going to miss the start of the season. He had groin surgery on March 17, and the team announced that would keep him out for six weeks.
Tuesday marked six weeks.
“Any stretch of the season with Verlander is better than that stretch without him,” a team source said.
Aside from losing the home gate, the Astros aren’t bothered by the possibility that games might be played outside of Minute Maid Park.
Their 157 road wins from 201719 were the best in all of baseball. Boston posted 142 victories away from Fenway Park in those three seasons. The Dodgers, who lost in the World Series in two of those seasons (to the Astros and Red Sox), were third-best with 141 wins.
The Rockets think they have a better chance after the pandemic, and so do the Astros.
Of course, we’ll find out down the road if they were right. Don’t let the coronavirus take away your hope.
The games will return, and believing in your team is what sports fandom is all about.