Mailbag: Are there signs NBA can save the season? And answering Meyers Leonard’s question
The Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions.
If you were not able to ask this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email them in to achiang@miamiherald.com.
Ajith: Practice facilities will be opening soon. Is this a sign the NBA season will be saved? What does this mean?
Anthony Chiang: IF practice facilities open in May, I would characterize it as a small step in the right direction. The key word there is “small.” The NBA announced Monday it is now “targeting no earlier” than a May 8 date for a reopening of team practice facilities in cities and states where local governments have loosened stay-at-home orders, and the league “may push this timing back if developments warrant.”
But this doesn’t mean teams can begin practicing, with basically only individual workouts permitted upon facilities reopening. According to the guidelines the NBA sent out this week, group activity remains prohibited, including practices or scrimmages.
So, why even allow practice facilities to reopen? Because NBA players want to resume basketball workouts, and players could start moving around the country to do it with different states reopening at different speeds. While players remain prohibited from using non-team facilities such as public health clubs, fitness centers, or gyms, the reality is some NBA players have already begun workouts in gyms that are supposed be closed. By reopening practice facilities, the NBA can control and monitor the environment that players work out in, while also enforcing strict social distancing guidelines.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in mid-April that a decision on the remainder of the NBA season will not come until May at the earliest. Today is May 1. The possibility of team practice facilities opening for individual workouts in a week is a small bit of positive progress, but it should not be taken as a sign that the restart of the 2019-20 season is near. Because if/when Silver says the NBA intends to finish the season, the first game played is likely at least five weeks away from that announcement.
@MeyersLeonard: Favorite player to interview on the Heat currently?
Anthony: This is the first mailbag question we’ve ever received from a current Miami Heat player or any professional athlete. So, thank you, Meyers.
Just for that, my answer to this question is Heat center Meyers Leonard, a.k.a. “The Content King.”
