NBA Takes First Steps Towards Returning. Sort of.

While some parts of the country are beginning the first tentative moves to ease some of the restrictions that were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NBA announced it would allow players to begin limited workouts at team facilities. The league originally announced this would begin on May 1st to coincide with Georgia’s reopening of many businesses and the lifting of other restrictions at that time (which has generated controversy as being too much, too soon), but the Atlanta Hawks said they didn’t want to start that soon. In response, the NBA moved the date to May 8th. That would be the earliest date, and that would apply only if state and local stay at home or nonessential business restrictions allow. Here’s the NBA press release:

NEW YORK — The NBA informed its teams today that, as numerous state and local governments have announced modifications of stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on non-essential business activity beginning this week, the league is planning to modify its guidance regarding the use of team practice facilities and player training.  The purpose of these changes is to allow for safe and controlled environments for players to train in states that allow them to do so, and to create a process for identifying safe training options for players located in other states.
The league advised teams that it is targeting no earlier than Friday, May 8, as the commencement date for the new rules, and that it may push this timing back if developments warrant.
The potential rules changes would allow teams to make their practice facilities available for use by the team’s players for workouts or treatment on a voluntary, individual basis if the team’s facility is in a city that is no longer subject to a government restriction.  For any team that, due to a government restriction, is prohibited from making its facility available for use by the team’s players, the league will work with the team to identify alternatives.

The following restrictions would apply:
• No more than four players would be permitted at a facility at any one time. 
• No head or assistant coaches could participate.
• Group activity remains prohibited, including practices or scrimmages.
• Players remain prohibited from using non-team facilities such as public health clubs, fitness centers, or gyms.

So basically, a maximum of four players could work out separately by themselves at team facilities, with no one else present. We don’t know what the “alternatives” would be if the players couldn’t use team facilities, since according to the press release, “players remain prohibited from using non-team facilities such as public health clubs, fitness centers, or gyms”. So far, the league has not announced plans for a resumption of the season.

With the NBA season on hold, a lot of the basketball interest out there is focused on the ESPN documentary series “The Last Dance” about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls championship season, the team’s sixth and final NBA champion team with Michael Jordan. The Bulls won six NBA titles in eight years with Jordan, an incredible run. But a generation earlier, the Boston Celtics, behind Bill Russell, won eleven NBA titles in thirteen years, including eight in a row from 1959-66. Here’s some highlights from Game 7 of the 1966 Finals, a 95-93 win over the Los Angeles Lakers for that eighth title.