Officially official: The NBA is back baby!

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Originally Posted by Taker597

I still don't understand why they picked Florida. They easily could of find some facilities in Montana or Idaho.

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Could they find a facility in Montana or Idaho that was willing to pay Disney cash to be the site of the relaunch, tho? That's pure speculation on my part but I'd be willing to bet that money is at least part of it.

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Originally Posted by Biasvasospasm

So not to put too fine a point on it, but we're down to Frank, Jah, Kenrich, Jaxson, and NAW in terms of guys we haven't seen, no?

Edit: Nickeil is accounted for. Also, looks like he's put on some muscle since the last time I've seen him.

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Jaxson Hayes in the bubble pic.twitter.com/DAVlxZrnzB

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 8, 2020

That's Jax accounted for.

I predicted it would be Frank, Jah, and Lonzo. 2 of the 3 still possible!

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Jaxson Hayes in the bubble pic.twitter.com/DAVlxZrnzB

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 8, 2020

That's Jax accounted for.

I predicted it would be Frank, Jah, and Lonzo. 2 of the 3 still possible!

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Lonzo?
He is accounted for.

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

Lonzo?
He is accounted for.

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Yeah, but as far as I've seen, we still don't know about Frank or Jah. Therefore, 2 of the 3 still possible. Not all 3, because Lonzo is confirmed okay, but the other two maybe.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Yeah, but as far as I've seen, we still don't know about Frank or Jah. Therefore, 2 of the 3 still possible. Not all 3, because Lonzo is confirmed okay, but the other two maybe.

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So Frank, Kenny and Jah left.

Is this not Frank? pic.twitter.com/XY2ZpwQCKJ

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 8, 2020

pic.twitter.com/avDpSmWyQK

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 8, 2020

Jaxson Hayes in the bubble pic.twitter.com/DAVlxZrnzB

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 8, 2020

Those are without any reasonable doubt Frank Jackson's sunglasses. There's no one else on the team that could pull those off

Wow . The Nuggets are mess right now? More positive tests coming?

Per NBA Communications, the Nuggets will not practice today

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 9, 2020

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Could they find a facility in Montana or Idaho that was willing to pay Disney cash to be the site of the relaunch, tho? That's pure speculation on my part but I'd be willing to bet that money is at least part of it.

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Wait, you think the Disney is paying the NBA? I think all those months of hotel rooms and meals are actually costing the league a pretty penny.

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Originally Posted by ml wave

Wait, you think the Disney is paying the NBA? I think all those months of hotel rooms and meals are actually costing the league a pretty penny.

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My bad, I'm sure the NBA just chose Disney because they have really warm nostalgic feelings about Snow White and Cinderella.

It's because Disney World is freaking gigantic with an insane amount of different areas, resorts, and hotels. This place is way bigger than EuroDisney. You cannot find a bubble that big and comfortable any place else.

JJ on first impressions of the bubble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

Going back to the tv schedule. For those games that aren't going to be televised either on ESPN, TNT or NBA tv, are they still going to be televised on Fox Sports New Orleans?

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

It's because Disney World is freaking gigantic with an insane amount of different areas, resorts, and hotels. This place is way bigger than EuroDisney. You cannot find a bubble that big and comfortable any place else.

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I'm sorry, I'm just extremely sceptical that the NBA chose Disney World because it is the only.place that could provide what they need, and that's it. It may not be an actual pure cash transaction (in fact it probably isn't) but I am as sure as an outsider can be that the NBA has reasons beyond the purely pragmatic for picking Disney.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I'm sorry, I'm just extremely sceptical that the NBA chose Disney World because it is the only.place that could provide what they need, and that's it. It may not be an actual pure cash transaction (in fact it probably isn't) but I am as sure as an outsider can be that the NBA has reasons beyond the purely pragmatic for picking Disney.

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Honestly, I think it was the most logical option. While there were certainly financial considerations (ESPN, owned by Disney, being a broadcasting partner certainly didn't hurt) there is basically nowhere else in the US that has the infrastructure to host these games and to relatively seclude the players. The Wide World of Sports already had broadcast-ready courts and enough room for the players to move around. Disney World is also in the middle of nowhere and is a closed bubble in and of itself (it provides its own utilities). It also has enough hotel/resort space to comfortably house around 600 people who are used to world class accommodations. Throw in the existing relationship between the NBA and Disney and what I assume is a mutual trust between the two and it was a no brainer. I can't think of a better place they could have done it, while also acknowledging that no perfect place exists for such bizarre circumstances.

Yes. What Nola3 said. The infrastructure of Disney World is insane.

I don't know, this might be American Arrogance and I'm using that to assume that you being across the pond aren't fathoming the real scope of the place but.....I really think it is the only place this could be pulled off.

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Originally Posted by Nola3

Honestly, I think it was the most logical option. While there were certainly financial considerations (ESPN, owned by Disney, being a broadcasting partner certainly didn't hurt) there is basically nowhere else in the US that has the infrastructure to host these games and to relatively seclude the players. The Wide World of Sports already had broadcast-ready courts and enough room for the players to move around. Disney World is also in the middle of nowhere and is a closed bubble in and of itself (it provides its own utilities). It also has enough hotel/resort space to comfortably house around 600 people who are used to world class accommodations. Throw in the existing relationship between the NBA and Disney and what I assume is a mutual trust between the two and it was a no brainer. I can't think of a better place they could have done it, while also acknowledging that no perfect place exists for such bizarre circumstances.

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I don't know about everywhere in the US, but again, I'm sceptical that Disney World is the only place in the entire country that could have made a suitable venue. Especially given that Disney World has several drawbacks to its use, including but not limited to
1) Being in Florida
2) The impossibility of setting up a real bubble

I'm much more likely to believe, and indeed I do believe, that it was one of several competing ideas that ended up winning at least in part because of the sorts of things you mentioned: Disney has plenty of financial ties and stakes to the NBA, the two have a pre-existing business relationship, and there's already a cash flow between the two whether it be for broadcasting, or even small things like Disney being the logo sponsors for the Magic.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I don't know about everywhere in the US, but again, I'm sceptical that Disney World is the only place in the entire country that could have made a suitable venue. Especially given that Disney World has several drawbacks to its use, including but not limited to
1) Being in Florida
2) The impossibility of setting up a real bubble

I'm much more likely to believe, and indeed I do believe, that it was one of several competing ideas that ended up winning at least in part because of the sorts of things you mentioned: Disney has plenty of financial ties and stakes to the NBA, the two have a pre-existing business relationship, and there's already a cash flow between the two whether it be for broadcasting, or even small things like Disney being the logo sponsors for the Magic.

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I mean, where else? All the big cities are out because isolating all those people is basically impossible as it is, but throwing them in the middle of Chicago or NY would be laughable. And then going somewhere completely remote like Montana or the Dakotas is out because there's no chance you can put the infrastructure in place in a matter of a few months, let alone hire enough support staff to make it work. And yea, Disney being in Florida isn't ideal, but like I said the park is already its own relatively self-contained bubble. I just don't see another viable option except for maybe Vegas. And Vegas is.... well, Vegas and I cannot imagine the players sticking to the bubble concept with that much temptation just steps away.

Alvin Gentry credits Zion Williamson's stepfather Lee Anderson for working with Zion during the quarantine period. Said he worked on his shooting and Gentry saw some improvement there.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) July 10, 2020

Alvin Gentry says assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik isn't in the bubble with the team but "he'll be involved in every practice, he'll be involved in every game, he'll be involved in every game plan."

Says Bzdelik will still play crucial role with team.

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) July 10, 2020

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Originally Posted by Nola3

I mean, where else? All the big cities are out because isolating all those people is basically impossible as it is, but throwing them in the middle of Chicago or NY would be laughable. And then going somewhere completely remote like Montana or the Dakotas is out because there's no chance you can put the infrastructure in place in a matter of a few months, let alone hire enough support staff to make it work. And yea, Disney being in Florida isn't ideal, but like I said the park is already its own relatively self-contained bubble. I just don't see another viable option except for maybe Vegas. And Vegas is.... well, Vegas and I cannot imagine the players sticking to the bubble concept with that much temptation just steps away.

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I don't know where else, I already conceded that I don't know the details about everywhere in the US.

But I find it very hard to believe that the NBA only got one even semi-plausible offer, and that they were subsequently just forced to pick Disney, totally unrelated to their pre-existing business ties to the company.

Zion on his old minute limit and if it still applies

''I think the person that can give you that answer the best is Coach Gentry''

Alvin Gentry

On the team being able to finally get back to practice: ''Y'know, first of all I think our guys were happy to just be back out on the court, to get out there and be together. It wasn't really a tough practice but we just tried to get timing back on some plays, put back in some defensive concepts, ran up and down a bit and played to see where we were from a conditioning standpoint, but we have a lot of days left before we play, 20 days before we play, so we didn't feel the need to ramp it all up on the first day.''

How do you handle practice: ''I just think we've sat down as a coaching staff and we have a plan together, we talked about what we're gonna do in each practice, the intensity of that practice, and where we'd like to be at the end of the practice. We may have to make some adjustments along the way, planning practice 20 days in advance is tough, but we want to take each step so that by the 30th we're back in basketball shape, back in basketball timing, and everyone's feeling good about where we are.''

How was the general settling in process and the testing: ''Everyone's here, I don't really know the details of everything but all of our guys are here and they're ready to go, from the testing standpoint.''

What's the bubble feel like so far?: ''Well, number one it's new to everyone, there's no one here who has ever experienced this. It's been difficult for us because we just got here, we've been quarantined until today at 1:30 so we haven't really had any experience as far as the campus, but like I said, from the time we've got in here we've been quarantined so we don't really know. I think everyone is going overboard to be cautious, the number one concern is health and everyone feels that way, the players the coaches, the NBA staff, everybody understands that this is a different situation and everyone here is proceeding with caution.''

Zion: ''Zion looked great, he's been working, he did a lot of work when we weren't together and we weren't doing anything, his stepfather did a fantastic job with working out with him every day, making him be in good conditioning when we got him back, and he's made a lot of strides in his shooting I think. Although we weren't together he's done a lot to improve his game and that's the toughest thing to do, work on your game when you're by yourself but his stepfather Lee has done a fantastic job trying to keep him basketball ready.''

Jrue Holiday

Nico Melli's improvement over the season: ''I think it was a bit of that, and getting into a rhythm, coming from Euroleague where it's a different type of game and some of the open shots he would get out there are different here, and even if people are closing out on him we want him taking those shots because he's that good of a shooter and once he got that down he started excelling like we knew he would.''

On not finding out Alvin was getting into the bubble until late: ''I think I started to realise that once he didn't know ahead of time, he was going to come with us. Having our head coach for us is an advantage, we're taking precautions because he's a little older but the fact that he loves being here and he brings the energy means a lot to us.''

On focus, practice, etc: ''I think as a team we've done a pretty good job of staying ready throughout quarantine, keeping our bodies right and mentally not getting too far away from the game. We had a great first day, we started playing 5 on 5, and I think we did a pretty good job.''

What is it like missing Jeff Bzdelik and Jamelle MacMillan? ''It's definitely an adjustment, I think at the beginning of this quarantine we were starting to get into a groove defensively and we're trying to pick it back up but being without them is kind of weird. I feel like we adjusted today and did a pretty good job.''

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I don't know where else, I already conceded that I don't know the details about everywhere in the US.

But I find it very hard to believe that the NBA only got one even semi-plausible offer, and that they were subsequently just forced to pick Disney, totally unrelated to their pre-existing business ties to the company.

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I'm sure the TV relationship played a giant part in it...you want to keep your bread and butter happy. Pay Disney 8-9 figures now to make sure the 10 figure TV contracts keep rolling in. Plus the isolation, basketball facilities, hotels, restaurants, activities (golf, etc.)...I know New Orleans put in a bid as well as Vegas, and assume others did as well, but I can't think of anywhere that had this kind of infrastructure.

Zion Williamson

''It feels good to be out here with my teammates, in a safe environment, it's good to be in one environment with the whole team and the coaches. It was good energy today.''

On shooting and improvement: ''I think there are gonna be parts of my game that you didn't see that you will see in the future, when we start playing.''

On his quarantine workouts: ''It just felt like when I was 5 years old again, going back to square one, getting my body where it needs to be, working on fundamentals. It was just like starting over, and it was a great process.''

What was it like to meet up with the whole team again, and having had a coach during quarantine: ''It was a blessing. Travelling with the team was good, it brought back memories, even though we had to do our social distancing, but there was good energy.''

That last question is a bit paraphrased :hihi: