Heat ‘all in’ for NBA restart at Disney. But that doesn’t mean living in bubble is easy
While 15 of the Miami Heat’s 17 players are currently inside the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World, all 17 intend to be available to play when the season resumes.
That’s noteworthy, simply because others around the league opted out of participating in the resumption of the season for various reasons. But that doesn’t mean it was an easy decision for Heat players, as the team completed its sixth practice at Disney on Thursday.
“Without a doubt, yes,” Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler said when asked if he considered skipping the restart. “But I think that a lot of decisions went into that. Being away from your family is hard. What’s going on in the world right now, it’s hard. But being here is also hard. It’s not easy for anybody.”
For Heat forward Jae Crowder, leaving his family and knowing he wouldn’t see them for at least seven weeks was the hardest part.
“The first part of it that really stuck out to me is just being away from my family for a certain amount of time,” Crowder said. “... I just want it to be safe, obviously. I wanted to put my health first, I wanted to put my family first and then I wanted to be there for my teammates. That’s the process that I took with everything coming back together.”
It was a complex decision that had many players around the league weighing their options over the past month, with the NBA making it clear that players would not be penalized for staying home. But those players who opted out will not be paid for missed games unless they are unable to play because of an injury, test positive for COVID-19 or are ruled to be an excused or protected player because they are in risk categories for the virus.
Players who considered skipping the restart expressed concern that basketball could distract from the Black Lives Matter movement. Others were worried about being away from family for weeks, with player guests not allowed inside the NBA bubble until late August following the first round of the playoffs.
Some were uneasy about the restrictive health and safety protocols that come with living in the bubble. There’s also the risk of contracting COVID-19 or sustaining an injury following a four-month break from games that began when the season was suspended on March 11.
Among the players who made the decision to sit out the restart: Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza (family considerations); Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans (impending free agent); Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley (family considerations); Dallas Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein (family considerations); and Brooklyn Nets forward Wilson Chandler (family considerations); center DeAndre Jordan (positive COVID-19 test); and guard Spencer Dinwiddie (positive COVID-19 test).
“I think you just make an adjustment,” Heat veteran forward Andre Iguodala said of transitioning to life in the bubble. “I think for us it’s just important to try to adjust to the new normal. Everyone is adjusting to a new normal. You got to empathize and you got to have an understanding from a worldly perspective in terms of people who don’t have jobs. Unemployment is at an all-time high historically for our country. ... If you have that grand scheme perspective in terms of what’s going on with people, you should be able to adjust and have an understanding that everybody is doing the best they can to deal with their environment and circumstances and just trying to make the most of it.”
Center Bam Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn are the two Heat players who remain away, but the hope is they’ll both eventually rejoin the team in the Disney bubble to play games.
The season is set to resume July 30 and end in October at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, with the Heat beginning its three-game scrimmage schedule Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings. Miami’s eight-game seeding schedule begins Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets.
“Once I got here, obviously I’m buying into it. I’m here to do a job,” Crowder said. “I’m here to put my teammates in position, put myself in position to succeed and play for it all. Because we do have a goal, and we’ve been talking about it. So once I’m here, I just want to reiterate to my teammates and Miami Heat Nation that I’m all in. And I don’t want to sit here and complain about what’s going on, because I am playing the game that I love to play, in a very safe environment. Like I said, the hardest part for me was getting here. Now that I’m here, I’m all in.”
What was Heat center Meyers Leonard’s mentality entering the bubble? “Embrace the Suck.”
“’Embrace the Suck’ is a Navy SEAL thing and a David Goggins thing, which just means: Listen, there’s plenty that we can complain about. But who’s going to be the team that doesn’t do that?” Leonard said. “If you’re the team that does not, you’re going to have a leg up. If you’re a team that’s built on culture, you’re going to have another leg up. Then as you start to dial into basketball, which we have a very talented team, that’s where the next-level championship mind-set and then game play comes from. It’s every day, it’s mental, it’s physical. Nobody said this was going to be easy.”
The Heat is guaranteed to spend at least nearly two months in the Disney bubble since it has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17. Thursday marked Miami’s eighth day at the league’s Central Florida campus.
The Heat’s longest road trip this season lasted five games and spanned eight days. The road trip to complete the season at Disney will be much, much longer.
“I think everybody has wrapped their mind around that this is different. It’s not a normal road trip,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not a normal training camp. And although nobody really knows for sure how long you’ll be here, we know it’s an extended period of time. It just has a different feel than a typically long road trip would have.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 1:10 PM.
