The National Basketball Association (NBA) was the first sports league to suspend its season on Mar. 11 once the eventual Coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared pandemic. In the five weeks since then a lot has happened in the wake of this pandemic that has had a major impact on all of our lives both positive and negative. Then there is the question of will the NBA season finish, and what will happen for the league and all other sports leagues moving forward?
The night of Wednesday, Mar. 11 when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA season was going to be suspended, there was a five-game slate that was supposed to take place the next night, which included a double-header on TNT.
An hour-long pregame show took place instead on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Johnson said on a special edition of NBATV’s “Open Court: At Home,” that as he was getting ready to go on the air that night of the hour-long pregame show that he looked on a chart on the internet and saw that 47 of the 50 states were impacted by the Coronavirus, with a total of 1,587 total confirmed cases, claiming 41 lives on Mar. 12. That number since has grown to 609, 848 total confirmed cases in the U.S., with 29,730 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins/NBC News poll on Apr. 15.
One of those to pass from this pandemic is Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, the mother of All-Star center from the Minnesota Timberwolves Karl-Anthony Towns on Monday due to complications from COVID-19. She was 58 years old.
Towns revealed on his Instagram page in a very emotional video on Mar. 25 that his mom, who worked in the medical department at Rutgers University in New Jersey for over two decades and his father Karl Sr. had both contracted Coronavirus and had to be hospitalized. Mr. Towns Sr. recovered enough to be able to go home, but his wife did not as she fell into a medically induced coma and was placed on a ventilator towards the end of last month.
Towns’ former teammate Tyus Jones, now with the Memphis Grizzlies, tweeted on Monday @1Tyus, “Thoughts and prayers to @KarlTowns and his family. Can’t believe it. RIP Mrs. Towns.”
Another former teammate Zach LaVine, now with the Chicago Bulls tweeted @ZachLaVine, “I’m so sorry @KarlTowns love you bro! Thoughts and prayers to your family.”
Towns former coach at the University of Kentucky John Calipari tweeted @UKCoachCalipari, “Ms. Jackie was an angel and we were blessed to have her in our lives. I cannot imagine the heartbreak @KarlTowns and Karl Sr. are going through right now but my hope is we can lift them up during this time and get them through this with our thoughts and prayers.”
On the night of that NBA on TNT pregame show after the league suspension was announced, Hall of Famer and fellow co-host with Johnson, Smith and O’Neal in Charles Barkley was getting tested for the COVID-19 Pandemic, which included a 10-day wait to see if he had tested positive.
Barkley said from his home in Phoenix of the test that it was “very uncomfortable,” because he said the person administering the test takes a 12-inch q tip and stick it to the back of his nose.
Barkley, who quarantined himself in his condo for 10 days after taking the test added, “The thing that was weird for me, it took them 10 days to get my results back. I felt good actually two days later. I think I was just tired and ran down.”
When this whole pandemic began it was hard to fathom that we would be looking at numbers of people testing positive and the number of deaths from that.
When three-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat Dwyane Wade, who now works for Turner Sports as a studio analyst first heard of pandemic said that he did not take it as seriously in the early stage back in the middle of March.
The 13-time All-Star did say though that once he and the public began to hear about the lives being lost, your mindset did a complete 180 degree turn on the seriousness of the situation.
Wade said that he was headed to Jamaica for his sister’s wedding but had to head back home once the COVID-19 Pandemic got to the level of seriousness it did.
“We knew it was serious,” Wade, father of four and married to actress Gabrielle Union said. “We had to get back and get out family prepared for this lockdown.”
For five-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection in his 15-year career with the Golden State Warriors, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons, Chris Webber took the pandemic very seriously right from the jump because he had his parents with him that he had his parents; his wife of nearly 11 years in the former Erika Dates and their three-year-old twins (a boy and girl).
Webber said that it was all about being very cautious and talking to family members of his that are nurses, who spoke of what was going to be on the horizon with COVID-19.
“It’s terrible to hear D-Wade missed his sister’s wedding and some things for family that I’ve had to miss,” Webber said from his home in Atlanta, GA on Monday. “But it’s a sacrifice that I’m glad that, you know, those people who are sacrificing that they’re here and hopefully we’ll be able to share some really good times when we come out of this.”
One person who wants to have those good times when we come on the other side of this is Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons in lead guard Isiah Thomas, whose 29-year-old daughter Lauren tested positive for COVID-19.
“For us, and for me and my family, you just didn’t know what was coming next. And you didn’t know how to deal with it or how to process it or understand,” Thomas, a 12-time All-Star said from his home in New York, adding, “And also everybody was trying to find out where to get the right information from.”
“And fortunately, enough, my daughter, she was very proactive in the situation, and she’s been in, you know, very isolated now for, you know almost 30 days waiting now to see if she’s negative and can we be around here.”
Thomas added this has been the longest period of time that he and his family has not had any physical contact with his daughter Lauren, who resides in New York.
As difficult of a time that this has been for Thomas, his wife of three-and-a-half decades the former Lynn Kendall, their son Joshua and his other son from a previous relationship Marc Dones, it has also been a moment of inspiration and positivity because they have all come together and be united in support Lauren in this difficult situation.
So much so that in their daily group chats on social media, Lauren gives her family a thumbs up sign each morning followed by heart emojis followed by a smile and keeps the day moving.
One of the things that Thomas and his family has done to during this time to is that around 4 p.m., which the time they see Lauren to facetime with here and Joshua during this time is playing music via DJ for the family via social media.
“Just trying to, you know, stay positive, you know, for the family. Trying to stay positive as the leader of the family. As the father of the family, and for so many other, you know, friends in the community,” Thomas said.
On top of trying to maintain the togetherness of his own family, Thomas is also trying to keep things well with his investment holdings organization Isiah International LLC, which runs five companies: Isiah Real Estate, a development firm that specializes in commercial properties; TAND Properties, a property management firm, private equity and asset management firm; Isiah Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations; and GRE3N Waste Removal; and RE3 Recycling, which he co-owns with Lauren.
Thomas has said he has made sure that all his employees that work for him have the right information in terms of how they will be paid during this pandemic and that they are okay in terms of their mental health.
With no games for Johnson and his colleagues to broadcast now since the league’s suspension have had a lot of down time, which is something that Wade, Thomas, Barkley, and Webber have not had in years.
For Webber, he said that ever since the age of 14, basketball has been a major part of his life whether it was playing or now broadcasting after a conversation he had with his father.
This time away from the game has allowed him to reconnect with his family, especially with his aforementioned three-year-old twins.
The downside has been that he has not been working out because he has put that focus on family and the fact that his discipline of eating healthy has been off, which has resulted as he said of him gaining about 20 pounds.
The part of getting back to working out is something that Wade is familiar with because he said that he has had three injuries during this time of quarantine, which to him let him know that his retirement from the game last year was a solid decision. One of those injuries occurred when he strained his calf while running on his treadmill.
Aside from that, this time away from the game now as a broadcaster with Turner Sports has allowed him to reconnect with his children, which now includes his newborn daughter.
“My family is getting to know me in a way they’ve never been able to. And me the same way,” Wade said from his home in California.
Wade also said that he has also found the time to do the things that he has had to put to the side because of basketball like painting.
In the case of Barkley, what he has done since the pandemic began has get himself into better shape thanks to working out for about a minimum of an hour every day on a tire bike that he purchased.
Barkley also said that he has given up drinking Diet Coke, which he drank five to seven of when he was in the studio during nights of TNT’s NBA coverage.
“No. 1, I wanted to quit the Diet Cokes. And I wanted to make sure I don’t drink every single day, because I could because I like it,” he said. “But I said, ‘Hey Chuck, you can only drink on Friday and Saturday.”
The NBA was one of the first sports leagues to suspend their season as mentioned earlier when the COVID-19 Pandemic had reached a level where large gatherings were no longer acceptable. The question on the minds of a lot of us is will the 2019-20 NBA season resume and how will it be done?
Back on Apr. 6, Commissioner Silver said to Johnson during NBATV’s “#NBATOGETHER” about the future of the current NBA season after he and the Commissioner’s of the NFL, NHL and MLB had a conference call with President Donald Trump, “Essentially I’ve told my folks over the last week is that we should just accept that at least for the month of April we won’t be in a position to make any decision.”
“I don’t think that necessarily means on May 1 we will be. But at least I know I think just to settle everyone down a little bit. Doesn’t mean that internally both the league and its discussions with our players and the teams we aren’t looking at many different scenarios for restarting the season. But I honestly its just too early given what’s happened right now to be able to project or predict where we’ll be in a few weeks.”
If there was any time or moment to be positive to think that we will see pro sports back in our lives it is now because, the U.S. and the world needs something to be excited about and want to anticipate returning like pro hoops because of the inclusiveness and togetherness that it brings for not just the players on all 30 NBA teams but the fans, and even the community they are from.
The concern of when the NBA does possibly resume after the all clear comes from those in medical and science world is will the season be rushed so that the playoff can get started.
One thing that Commissioner Silver has done a great job the last couple of years is limiting the back-to-back for the teams, so that players can avoid injury, especially to the star players of the league like LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers; Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks; or James Harden of the Houston Rockets.
Webber brought the idea up that if the remainder of this season does not resume, that this would be a good time to reset the amount of games played from 82 to possibly 70.
“I’ve always been a proponent that we should play 75 or 70 games,” Barkley said about reducing the NBA schedule. “We should not start till Christmas. I said it five years ago.”
When the had the lockout shortened season back in 1998-99, when the season was shortened to 50 games, the NBA had their highest ratings in a long time because they were not competing with College Football or the NFL, which Barkley called “King Kong” and “King Kong, Jr.”
Along with that there is no clue how long the Coronavirus will be around. We have no cure for it, and when once is eventually developed, it will not happen for 12-18 months.
Which makes the idea of having all the team in one city to play the rest of the NBA schedule is a bad idea to begin with because even if they take every necessary precaution, the players are still away from their own families two months.
On top of that, they have to worry about if the people that work at the hotel if they are infected with COVID-19.
Besides taking care of the players and making sure they do not put their health in jeopardy, it is also about making sure the fans do not put their health at risk when they attend a large gathering like a sporting event in a confined arena or football stadium.
While the NBA was the first league to suspend play when the COVID-19 Pandemic got the level it has, they do not necessarily have to be the first one to jump back into the swing of things to bring our nation together.
What we all have to remember, the numbers of people you could be around during this pandemic went from about 10, to five to now everyone has to shelter in place and when you do go outside your home you have to have a mask and gloves on.
As we begin to get back to some sense of normalcy, it will likely be done in that same fashion where it could start by having just 15-30 people in a restaurant to and grow that to 50 people and beyond.
When it comes to sports, you are talking about bringing 20, 30, sometimes 40,000 people in one arena. Trying to rebuild that trust is something that for sure is going to come in stages for our society to feel comfortable that when they decide to attend a basketball game or football game and feel their health will not be compromised.
“Sports has a responsibility in my opinion to make sure that when you’re going to put 30, 40 to 50,000 people in a space, you have to be the leader in terms of saying there’s certainty that we’re going to be able to handle this right.”
What also has to be handled right is bringing the players and the teams of the NBA back to the hardwood if the 2019-20 season is allowed to resume play.
A lot of players currently since the league has suspended play have said they have barely shot a basketball.
Perennial All-Star lead guard for the Portland Trail Blazers said to Johnson over the weekend that while he has done some shooting on his hoop outside of his home, but as far as a real getting a sweat on the court in a real gym that has not happened for him since the league said to all teams they are not allowed to go to their respective squads facilities in late March.
“Because they’re not allowing us to go into our team facility. No third-party facility. They pretty much got us on lockdown,” Lillard said to Johnson on Saturday. “Other than shooting outside on my hoop outside, I haven’t been getting shots up.”
Lillard, who has not played in a game since the Trail Blazers’ (29-37) 121-105 win versus the Phoenix Suns (26-39) on Mar. 10 added that he has been keeping in good physical condition by working out at his fitness center in his home where he lifts weights and recover in his personal stem room.
Also, that if the season where to resume, Lillard said that it would take him a week to get in the type of shape necessary to compete in an NBA game.
One player who has found a way to stay in shape has been James, who was seen working out lifting weights.
All-Star forward Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers was seen in a video working out with heavy ropes.
A video was posted of Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine shooting on his outside court with his dog trying to guard him.
Another social media post had All-Star guard of the Atlanta Hawks Trae Young working on his dribbling in his home driveway with his dog.
Another post had Miami Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler doing squats on his patio in the backyard of his home.
Wade, who spent 13 of his 16 years in the NBA with the Heat said on Monday that Butler and his teammates are doing team workouts via “Zoom.”
“I’m sure certain leaders are on their teammates, on their guys about making sure that their staying in as much shape as possible,” Wade said.
There was also a video of All-Star swingman of the Boston Celtics Gordon Hayward working on his ball handling in his home gym.
His teammate Jayson Tatum on the other hand said to “NBA: The Jump” host Rachel Nichols on Monday that despite working on an exercise bike at his home, he has not touched a basketball since the Celtics (43-21) last game, a 114-111 win at the Indiana Pacers (39-26) on Mar. 9.
“I got stuff to work out at home and cardio and weights and stuff. But yeah, I haven’t played basketball in a long time,” Tatum said to Nichols.
Thomas said that he went through something very similar to this when he had wrist surgery to his right shooting hand in January of that year, which had him on the shelf until May, right around the time the 1991 Playoffs began.
He said that he was able keep himself in shape stamina wise. But his inability to get any rhythm in terms of getting his shooting touch back had a major impact on his game as the Pistons fell to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the eventual NBA champion Chicago Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals 4-0.
“If you don’t shoot the basketball for, you know, 30-40 days, it’s definitely going to effect your touch,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that the only player he feels that will not be effected by this layoff if the NBA season were to come back is two-time Kia MVP Stephen Curry of the Warriors. Everyone else that has not touched and shot with the basketball during this suspension of the season they will struggle shooting wise.
What we also have come to grips with if the season does comeback is that we will have some ugly basketball due to this unprecedented layoff, Webber said that the ugliness will be followed by some of the best played hoops.
He used the example of LeBron James who prior to his first season with the Lakers a year ago, had played in eight straight Finals beginning in his four seasons with the Heat and his last four seasons with the Cavaliers.
Counting last season and this league wide suspension due to the aforementioned COVID-19 Pandemic is the first time the four-time Kia MVP and three-time Finals MVP has had this much time off from the court, and a well-rested and motivated LeBron James to go along with a healthy Anthony Davis is great for the Lakers and bad news for the rest of the league.
It would also mean for the Rockets that Harden, who over the last couple of postseasons has seen is production drop off because of the wear and tear of the regular season would be nullified.
“We would have guys that are fresh, frustrated, passionate and can’t wait to get back out there. And to me, that’s the perfect storm,” Webber said.
Webber added, “When we do get back, I think you’ll see and appreciation from the players that we haven’t seen in a long time and also from the fans.”
While the players are doing their part as best they can to be ready if the season does resume, the league according to ESPN Insider Brian Windhorst said on “NBA: The Jump” on Monday that the league is working on a 25-day plan which would consist first of 11 days of individual workouts, with social distancing still being enforced.
That would be followed by two weeks of 5-on-5 training camp, if the all-clear comes from health officials.
“Whether those days are exact or not, what’s important to realize coming out of this is that when we get the all clear, it’s going to be a while before we can play games. They’ve got to rev everything back up,” Windhorst said.
That is why we all have to prepare for the possibility that this season may not resume and that this will go down as the only time in NBA history that there was no champion.
Six weeks ago, our world changed a great deal because of the spread of the COVID-19 not just our nation, but the entire planet Earth. It has had a major impact on the sports world with the first domino to fall in being the NBA suspending its season, with NCAA Basketball’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games being cancelled. The MLB season is put on hold and leaving the start of the NFL season this fall in doubt.
The one thing that has give us an outlet to escape our troubles in our lives and to give us some joy is not with us for the time being. For how long we do not know.
If there is one positive that has come out of the loss of not having sports, accept for replays of some of the best games from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB is that it has given us the opportunity to see the real heroes in action from our police, firefighters and most important of all the doctors, nurses, school teachers and all those that are involved in health care to get the much deserve love and credit.
Firefighters and police officers are ones we have come to know as people who risk their lives to help save and protect us from known dangers. In this time, those involved in health care in our hospitals and doctor’s offices are the ones out there in harms way doing the same thing to protect us as best they can against this global pandemic. That also includes those working in grocery stores and gas stations to make sure everyone has place to go to purchase food and to fuel their cars.
While the basketball world is off the hardwood because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, they have like our first responders have stepped up to help others during this pandemic to make the lives of others a little bit easier.
Barkley has started a fund in his home state of Alabama called the AL Hospitality Relief Fund, which is raising money for those that lost their job in the hospitality industry due to the Coronavirus, which Barkley said is up to $100,000 in raised funds. All 110 percent of the proceeds will go to the workers where they can borrow money against the fund. To make a donation, you can go to www.arhaonline.com/al-hospitality-workers-relief-fund.
Tatum told Nichols that he along with Washington Wizards’ All-Star guard Bradley Beal have partnered with Feeding America in lending a helping-hand in providing meals to those in the Boston area as well as their hometown of St. Louis, MO hardest hit by the Coronavirus.
“Helping out and using my platform and my foundation (The Jayson Tatum Foundation) is important, especially for times like these,” the Celtics All-Star said to Nichols on Monday. “You know, my foundation partnered with ‘Feeding for America’ to donate $250,000 to Boston and Bradley Beal jumped on to help donate because were both from St. Louis.”
Tatum’s former teammate in perennial All-Star Al Hoford, now with the Philadelphia 76ers made a donation of $500,000 to help in the relief efforts, with “beantown” among the cities that will receive a portion of those funds, while Tatum’s current teammate in guard Marcus Smart said earlier this month that he plans to donate his blood plasma after he fully recovers from the Coronavirus.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on Apr. 6, according to a “Bleacher Report” article confirmed 2,367 cases of Coronavirus, with 34 of those resulting in death. St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis have accounted for a large number of COVID-19 cases at 883 and 298 respectably, according to the same article, and 12,500 cases have been confirmed throughout the state of Massachusetts, according to their Department of Health.
Their will be games again, like there will be major gatherings again at some point. It might be a while but they return.
That will only happen if our government, local, state and federal and ourselves are in lockstep fully with each other does whatever it takes so we can do the small things like hug our loved ones; be able to be close without worry; to be in a large venue to see a concert or major sporting event.
We cannot bring back those that have been lost to this awful pandemic like the previously mentioned mother of Karl-Anthony Towns in Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, who was as Nichols said in the opening of the Tuesday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump” more than just a mother to one of the most talented players in the NBA.
“If you spent anytime around KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns) at all, you spent time around Jackie. She rarely missed a game he played in,” Nichols said of Mrs. Towns. “She would often travel with the team. She was so full of energy, and light and love. She truly became the second mom to so many of his teammates and friends.”
To put into perspective how close Mrs. Towns was to her son, when he announced that he was going to go to the University of Kentucky she was by his side when he made that decision.
Mrs. Towns showed that same excitement and joy when he was announced as an NBA All-Star for the first time back in 2018.
As a spokesman for the family said to ESPN.com’s Malika Andrews on Monday in a statement, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns was many things to many people.
She was “a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; fiery, caring, and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met. Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced.”
While the loss Mrs. Towns should really make the NBA think very carefully about continuing this season, it should serve as a major source of motivation for all of us to do whatever it takes to beat this pandemic and produce a vaccine and have a government that will make sure we never go through a pandemic like this ever again.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 4/6/2020 https://www.bleacherreport.com article, “Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal Announce COVID-19 Donations for Boston, St. Louis,” by Joseph Zucker; 4/12/2020 7 p.m. NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson” And guest Damian Lillard; 4/13/2020 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Brian Windhorst, and Richard Jefferson; 4/13/2020 10 p.m. NBATV’s “Open Court: At Home,” with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Isiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Webber; 4/13/2020 https://www.espn.com article, “Mother of Timberwolves Star Karl-Anthony Towns Dies Due to Complications From Coronavirus,” by Malika Andrews; 4/14/2020 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” with Rachel Nichols, Jay Williams, and Kendrick Perkins; https://www.espn.com/nba/standings; https://answerafrica.com/chris-webber-bio-facts.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Webber; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isiah_Thomas; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Anthony_Towns; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyane_Wade.
No comments:
Post a Comment