Podcast: Basketball is (almost) (sort of) back. Eight reasons we’re getting excited
This time next week, the NBA season will — sort of — be back in full swing.
The Miami Heat and 23 other NBA teams will descend upon Central Florida next week to begin training camps ahead of the resumption of the NBA season. As soon as Tuesday, teams will be back in action. Needless to say, we’re excited.
On the latest episode of the Heat Check podcast, David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, discuss the latest developments in the NBA return, including Miami’s plan to leave for Lake Buena Vista on Wednesday with all 17 players in tow, including, ideally, Derrick Jones Jr. once he fully recovers from COVID-19.
This episode includes the latest edition of our NBA confidence meter, which is a little lower than it was last week, but still pretty confident about the season starting and even finishing. We also bounce around the league to tackle all the story lines emerging as training camps near, including the signature players mulling opting out and the role players who will be most missed.
Later, we break down the eight games left on the Heat’s regular-season schedule. It’s a little bit of a gauntlet for Miami. Chiang’s biggest takeaway is the difficulty and two huge games against the Indiana Pacers down the stretch. Wilson is mostly excited for day games. Nonetheless, a competitive middle of the Eastern Conference is going to set up a couple of marquee first-round playoff matchups in August.
Speaking of which, we wrap things up by celebrating our excitement. In the last week, the return has started to feel reel, so Wilson and Chiang run through everything they’re excited to see when the season resumes, including Zion Williamson, “Inside the NBA,” Duncan Robinson three-point binges and Dion Waiters on the Los Angeles Lakers.
