The NBA that is scheduled to resume play at the end of July will look at lot different than it did when it was shut down, starting with the bubble environment the teams will be operating within at Disney World’s sports compound in Orlando, Fla., but certainly not ending there.
When the league stopped playing, 75% of the regular-season games were complete — a substantial sample size to make projections and predictions. The hierarchy was easy to sort out.
The Los Angeles Lakers, led by an MVP-type season from LeBron James and a dynamic partnership with Anthony Davis, were cruising in the Western Conference, where a collision with the Los Angeles Clippers loomed. To prepare for that battle, the Clippers had fortified their roster, trading for a starter in Marcus Morris and signing bench additions in Reggie Jackson and Joakim Noah. In the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks were better than everyone else. They had the reigning MVP, plenty of depth and the experience from the disappointment in the conference finals the previous year.
But since then, much has changed. Some players have even had medical procedures that will prohibit them from coming back next month. What might happen when the games start up is now anyone’s guess. However, in conversations with coaches, scouts and executives, a couple of likelihoods have become clear.
One, for a team to be successful in Orlando it will have to manage the challenges of the isolation, the sterile arenas and the consistent grind of games.
The format “favors the team that can overcome the mental anguish that a quarantine has to produce,” said one NBA team executive. “It’s totally unnatural in every way for those guys. Mental toughness is more important than almost anything else heading there.”
The Lakers and the Clippers check that box — no team has been challenged in the ways the Lakers have been this season, starting the season in the middle of an international drama in China and having to process Kobe Bryant’s tragic death midway through the year.
Scouts don’t believe the slowdown will work against the Lakers, who had won 11 of their last 13 games before suspension of play. James’ dedication to his physical condition is legendary in NBA circles and expectations are that he’ll be in incredible shape once games resume.
The Clippers, too, have had their toughness tested, albeit in more subtle ways, having their culture adjusted thanks to the influx of two superstar players. But the team had worked through some hiccups and seemed to be playing their best basketball as the season stopped.
While the Bucks had to respond to blowing a 2-0 lead in the conference finals last year (and they’ve done it by being the best team in the NBA this season essentially from the start), the team that beat them in the playoffs a year ago has considerable buzz as it heads to Orlando.
The Toronto Raptors are a favorite of scouts, coaches and executives because of their adaptability. A year ago, the roster perfectly handled Kawhi Leonard’s load management plans, and this season they didn’t flinch after Leonard and starting guard Danny Green left for the Clippers and Lakers, respectively.
One Eastern Conference coach said the Raptors’ length gives them a chance to defend the Bucks’ superior size. Another executive said he thought coach Nick Nurse’s ability to motivate — and, if necessary, manufacture slights — would be meaningful inside the Orlando bubble.
“I mean, we’re right in the same position we were a year ago going into it,” Nurse said during a conference call last week. “Nobody was talking about us. You know, (it was), ‘Hey, they got a decent team up there,’ but they weren’t really talking about us as a serious threat and long may it continue. We’re looking forward to it.”
Health and whether players are in shape are going to be important factors too.
According to one Eastern Conference assistant coach, he’s more skeptical of Philadelphia because of how the long layoff could affect center Joel Embiid and his body. A Western Conference scout has severely downgraded Utah after it was announced that Bojan Bogdanovic would miss the resumption of the season after having wrist surgery. Same goes for the San Antonio Spurs’ chances as a frisky No. 8 seed now that LaMarcus Aldridge is done for the year too.
