Lakers' LeBron James Praises Raptors, Says They Deserve More Credit Post-Kawhi
Aug 2, 2020
Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James (23) reacts after a play against the Toronto Raptors during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool)
The Toronto Raptors haven't been given much of a chance to repeat as NBA champions by outsiders, but LeBron James said players around the league respect the defending champs as true contenders.
He said the following after the Lakers' 107-92 loss to Toronto on Saturday, perTim Bontempsof ESPN:
"That's a great team. No ifs, ands or buts. Exceptionally well-coached and championship DNA. You can never take that away from a ballclub if you win a championship. And even before that, they just got playoff-tested guys. Guys that played not only here in the NBA in big games but also in FIBA games as well. Marc [Gasol] has been in big games throughout his whole life pretty much it seems like.
"So, that's just a great team. The media may not talk about them much or give them much credit because Kawhi [Leonard] is gone, but players in the league definitely know what type of team they are."
Many have spent the 2019-20 season waiting for the Raptors to regress to expectations. It hasn't happened. Toronto is 47-18 through Saturday, solidly in second place in the Eastern Conference, and is tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for the NBA's third-best point differential.
In other words: the Raptors are winning games because they're reallygood, not through luck.
While most Raptors are playoff-tested, Kawhi Leonard put the team on his back in critical moments last season. Before Kawhi, Toronto's postseason reputation was one of embarrassing gaffes and sweeps at the hands of LeBron-led teams.
Pascal Siakam has no experience as the lead scorer on a deep playoff run, and Kyle Lowry's postseason resume is inconsistent. It'll be interesting to see how the team handles the postseason spotlight, especially without a raucous Toronto crowd.
Can Kyle Lowry Carry Toronto Raptors to Another NBA Title?
Aug 2, 2020
Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry (7) plays against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool)
The Toronto Raptors don't have Kawhi Leonard to drive them to another championship, but Kyle Lowry's play Saturday suggests there's another route to the same destination.
The veteran point guard led the Raps to a 107-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers near Orlando, Florida, by racking up a game-high 33 points to go along with six assists, a career-best 14 boards and (unofficially) 419 reckless dives on to the floor. As has long been the case with Lowry, his greatest contributions fell outside the box score.
Example: One of Toronto's key buckets down the stretch, which conspicuously showcased Pascal Siakam's length and skill, started with Lowry subtly setting a high screen on Anthony Davis.
You could kill a lot of time scouring Raptors tape for "little things" contributions like that screen assist from Lowry, but it just so happened that Saturday's effort also saw him help the cause in more obvious ways. Like when he drilled a dagger three to salvage a going-nowhere late-game possession.
The most visible evidence of Leonard's absence this season shows up in the Raps' half-court scoring numbers. Without one of the game's preeminent one-on-one forces, the Raptors have struggled to find good shots when their sets break down, or they can't collect buckets in transition. Last season, they ranked eighth in half-court efficiency. This year, they're 16th.
Lowry's nowhere near the something-out-of-nothing scorer Leonard was, but his control over Saturday's game was so total that it kind of felt right for him to assume that role when his team needed it.
It was a "Why not?" shot on a "Why not us?" night.
Toronto's defense—long, swarming, disruptive—held the Lakers to one of their worst offensive outputs of the campaign. L.A. shot a season-low 35.4 percent from the floor, and Davis failed to record a field goal until the second half. The Raptors were relentless. They rotated with a hive-mind efficiency, tipped passes, forced tough shots with ball pressure and constantly tweaked their looks to keep the Lakers off balance.
Toronto's defense is unreal. Feels like they're always around the ball causing problems. They're so dang big and long. Not a single weak link regardless of the lineup. Same on offense. Bunch of smart players who execute at a high level. The Raptors are real NBA Finals threats.
Yes, it takes five players to pull off a smother job as thorough as the one Toronto did Saturday. But there was no denying Lowry's smart, scrappy spirit defined the Raptors' defensive effort.
And if you really want to run with the notion that Lowry's impact on his team's identity extends into everything, it's not a stretch to attribute the unselfishness, patience and confidence evident in this early-game sequence to him.
At the very least, we can agree that a Leonard-led version of the Raptors didn't turn in many plays like that one.
It's unclear if this version of the Raptors has what it takes to match what last year's did. But it's still worth appreciating that Toronto didn't have to re-form itself around a new leader, because the guy who'd always determined how the team played was already there. Granted, this transition of power from Leonard to Lowry feels all wrong; logically, you'd expect Siakam, the emerging star, to be the one stepping into the void left by Leonard.
We've seen strides forward from Siakam, OG Anunoby (who was fantastic in guarding LeBron James) and others, but it's undeniably odd that a late-prime veteran who leads with head and heart is so clearly the one in charge of a team that's every bit as good without the Finals MVP.
And lest this come off like an overreaction to a single seeding game, understand that this Toronto team has been better than last year's all along. A higher net rating than the 2018-19 squad and the best record in the league since Jan. 15 show the Lowry-led Raps, just now getting some hype, deserved it months ago.
Years of NBA history say serious title threats need a superstar, and there will be times between now and whenever the next champ is crowned that Toronto will miss what Leonard provided. That said, Lowry and the Raptors just took down a Lakers team with two players on Leonard's level. Decisively.
Let's give one of them, who knows a thing or two about winning on the biggest stage, the last word on just how good Lowry's Raptors are.
As far as title defenses go, you'd be hard-pressed to find a stranger one than the Toronto Raptors are experiencing this season.
It started in the summer, when Kawhi Leonard became the first-ever Finals MVP to immediately leave his team for another. It continued through the fall and into the winter, with the Raptors racking up wins despite injuries ravaging their roster. They won seven in a row around Thanksgiving, five in a row around Christmas and then 15 straight a few weeks after that.
Spring looked like it'd bring more of the same. On March 9, the Raptors knocked off the Utah Jazz. The victory was their fourth straight and bumped their record up to 46-18, second to only the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference standings.
"We were starting to gear up for the playoffs," starting guard Fred VanVleet says.
Two days later, the NBA suspended its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it put the Raptors on the path to attain a record they'd surely prefer not to have: By the time the 2019-20 playoffs are scheduled to begin on Aug. 17, 431 days will have passed since the night they were crowned the 2018-19 champions. Another 44 days will pass before the NBA Finals begin on Sept. 30. No NBA champion has ever been forced to defend a single title for so long.
"It's certainly been strange," Raptors head coach Nick Nurse says.
30 teams, 30 days: The biggest story from each NBA team ahead of the league's return.
That the Raptors have a legitimate shot to repeat as champions is one of the league's best, and unlikeliest, stories. Most teams take a step back after losing their best player. The Raptors have gone the other way, leveraging a combination of depth, smarts, spunk and ingenuity to win 71.9 percent of their games, an uptick from last season's 70.7 mark.
They aren't better without Leonard—and the hole created by his absence will likely be more noticeable come playoff time—but they just might be more fun. And in a foreign format where chaos could reign, it isn't hard to envision an outcome where the Raptors finish on top and become the most improbable repeat champs in NBA history.
"I wouldn't put anything past them," one Eastern Conference scout says.
How have they withstood the loss of Leonard? It starts with their incredible depth. At the top of the roster are All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, whose brilliance at the point remains underrated, and All-Star big man Pascal Siakam, who's in line to receive Most Improved Player votes after winning the award last season—a rare feat. Beyond that, there's also VanVleet, a knockdown shooter and elite defender. And there's Marc Gasol, a genius passer and one of the stretchier big men in the NBA. OG Anunoby has become one of the league's premier wing defenders. Norman Powell (16.4 points per game, 39.8 percent from deep) is one of the league's best player-development stories. And the bench, with Serge Ibaka putting up his best season in years and revelations like sharpshooting wing Terence Davis and bouncy big man Chris Boucher, is loaded.
"You gotta give Masai [Ujiri] and his front office staff so much credit," one NBA executive says, referring to the Raptors' president of basketball operations. "No one saw this coming."
Nurse has earned a big part of the credit, too, using a defensive playbook that seems to pull equally from Gregg Popovich and the dad strutting the sideline at your local Y. They cycle between styles and schemes in a manner the NBA has rarely ever seen. Sometimes they trap pick-and-rolls. Sometimes they drop back off of them. Sometimes they play zone (only the Miami Heat use a zone defense more frequently, according to Synergy Sports). Sometimes they blanket opposing stars via a box-and-one or triangle-and-two. It all works. The Raptors boast the league'ssecond-best defensive rating.
"They play, like, 20 f--king different defenses," one NBA assistant coach says. "It makes it so much harder to plan for."
At the root of it all lies the Raptors' length, aggression and cohesiveness. They flood ball-handlers, deny entry passes and fill the floor with waves of swiping hands and flying arms, and they do it all while helping and recovering as if on a string. Only one team has forced a higher rate of turnovers this season. Another telling and fun stat, one which illustrates how long they are and how befuddling their style is to opponents: The Raptors have blocked more three-pointers than any team in the league.
All of that havoc helps the Raptors cover up their biggest deficiency. Their transition offense is statistically the NBA's best, but they rank 14th in half-court offense, according to Cleaning The Glass. The sluggish half-court attack is cause for concern, especially in the playoffs, when the games slow down and opposing defenses lock in. "A lot of their success came from their ability to get out in transition," an Eastern Conference scout says.
The Raptors can lean on Siakam in crunch time, and he says he’s ready to carry the load. "I've been getting attention pretty much all season long," he says. "The playoffs [are] more specific in terms of preparation, and teams are going to be ready for different things, so I'm definitely working on those things and making sure that I'm ready to adapt in any situation."
But Nurse is also adamant that the Raptors' reliance on depth and diversity can be leveraged into an advantage, even late in games. They have enough weapons to make opponents sweat—and, because of the layoff, they'll enter the postseason with more healthy bodies than they've had all year. "It's going to be a little weird at the beginning to have everybody at the same time," Ibaka says.
The question is whether such an egalitarian approach can succeed in the playoffs,
"I think it makes us dangerous," Nurse says. "You can get to Kyle-Pascal two-man action, Fred-Pascal. Kyle-Marc, Fred-Marc, Pascal-Marc, Fred-Serge, there are so many different little things, and I kind of like to approach it that way."
It's the Raptors way, and it's what makes this team worth celebrating. Everything about them—from their playing style to their roster depth—is distinct. With Ibaka, Gasol and VanVleet all slated to become free agents in October, this could be the group's last stand. What better way to cap off a run that's defied so many expectations than with another Finals appearance?
"I really like our chances," VanVleet says.
Yaron Weitzman covers the NBA for Bleacher Report and is the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports. Follow Yaron on Twitter: @YaronWeitzman.
Three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner Jamal Crawford, joins The Full 48 with Howard Beck to discuss his recent signing with theNets, life inside the NBA bubble, the recent rise in NBA activism and the advice he offers younger players.
Nick Nurse's New Raptors Contract Will Be Addressed 'In Due Time,' GM Says
Jul 23, 2020
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse claps in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King)
"Obviously, timeline's a little different this year," Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said to reporters on Thursday, per The Athletic's Blake Murphy.
Webster added that an extension is something the team will "address in due time."
“Nick obviously has done an incredible job for us and those type of conversations are always top of mind for us” — Raptors GM Bobby Webster on possibility of a contract extension for head coach Nick Nurse.
Nurse took over in June 2018, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reporting at the time he had signed a three-year deal. That keeps him under contract for one more season.
Because he's set to remain on the sidelines for 2020-21, the Raptors can wait a bit longer before turning their focus toward Nurse's situation. It may not be a priority at the moment given both the NBA's upcoming restart and the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the time comes, one would expect Toronto to do everything necessary to keep Nurse around.
His hiring looked like a bit of a risk at the time.
Winning Coach of the Year and guiding the Raptors to 59 victories wasn't enough for Dwane Casey to keep his job, and the franchise was turning to somebody with no NBA head coaching experience. The subsequent acquisition of Kawhi Leonard showed how the front office had Finals ambitions after years of falling short in the playoffs.
Nurse proceeded to guide Toronto to its first NBA championship. Among his biggest successes, he managed Leonard's workload perfectly to keep the four-time All-Star happy and at his peak for the postseason, and he wasn't afraid to deploy asomewhat rudimentary approachto neutralize Stephen Curry in the 2019 Finals.
Nurse might be doing even better work now, with the Raptors sitting second in the Eastern Conference (46-18) after having lost Leonard and Danny Green in the offseason. The team's defensive rating (104.9) is second only to the Milwaukee Bucks, perNBA.com—a surprising development given how good Leonard and Green are at defending the perimeter.
Nurse is getting the most out of the talent at his disposal, providing team officials with every reason to believe he's the right coach to guide Toronto in the seasons ahead.
Serge Ibaka Says Raptors Are 'In Great Shape' and 'Ready' Ahead of NBA Restart
Jul 4, 2020
Toronto Raptors center Serge Ibaka (9) against the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Thursday, March 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Ibaka told reporters Saturday the reigning NBA champions are "in great shape" and "ready" to defend their title:
"I saw just how everyone is in great shape. They came here in great shape and as soon as we got here everyone was starting to put in work.
"I've been in the league for 11 years. You can see when people's locked in and they are ready mentally, and when they are not.
"So I can tell you right now, mentally, everybody is ready. Everybody is ready."
Because of travel and quarantine restrictions in Canada, the Raptors set up shop at Florida Gulf Coast University on June 22 and have been training there for the past two weeks.
The 22 teams taking part in the season restart will travel to the Orlando area Tuesday through Thursday, with the Raptors among the eight clubs expected to arrive Thursday. Training camps will run July 9-29.
Teams will play three scrimmages apiece July 22-28. The Raptors will first scrimmage against the Houston Rockets on July 24.
The Raptors enter the restart as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 46-18 record.
Fred VanVleet: NBA Restarting amid Racial Injustice Protests 'Terrible Timing'
Jun 29, 2020
TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 25: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors dribbles the ball during the second half of an NBA game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Scotiabank Arena on February 25, 2020 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
The NBA's restart is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases rise across the United States (including Florida) and protests for social justice continue nationwide.
Players have the option of sitting out the restart, and Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet thought about doing so before committing to finishing the season, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
But it wasn't an easy decision by any means, VanVleet said, noting how the league's planned restart (which has been in the works for months) comes with unfortunate timing amid current events:
"It sucks. It's terrible timing. But that's been 2020 for us. We all know the right thing to do is to not play, to take a stand. Morally, yes, that makes sense. But life goes on. We're all young, Black guys. None of us want to give any money back. I don't think that we should. I think that money can be used in a number of different ways.
"This is not going to end this summer regardless, or over the next couple of months. This issue, racial injustice, social injustice, police brutality, all these things are not ending anytime soon. Our fight was long-term. That was part of my decision.
"But if the league, or more of my guys would have come together and said we didn't want to play, I would have sat out as well. I wouldn't have even fought it. I think most of us decided to play. It's something we'll have to live with. I trust that my heart's in the right place and I'm doing enough to make change."
The league is set to restart its currently suspended 2019-20 season in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on July 30, which will end a 20-week hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Raptors are already in Florida practicing in Naples in advance of 22 teams heading to Walt Disney World finishing out the season in a de-facto bubble from the general populace to help protect themselves during the pandemic.
The Raps will play eight regular-season games before the playoffs begin in mid-August. Toronto could be in Florida as late as October 13, which is the scheduled date for Game 7 (if necessary) of the NBA Finals.
"It sounded good a month or two ago,"VanVleet said to reporters in a conference call on Monday regarding the league's plans (h/tEric Koreenof The Athletic)."Not so much right before we got ready to leave."
Another difficult part of the situation is players being separated from their families while in the bubble, although some family members will be allowed to join players beginning Aug. 30 for teams still in the playoff picture.
Still, that means VanVleet and other Raptors won't be able to see their families for two months provided they win their first-round series, which will run in the back half of August.
"I've been gone a week and I miss my kids already," VanVleet said.
Every player has been forced into making difficult decisions amid current events, a fact not lost on VanVleet, per Koreen:
"I definitely respect guys that took the stand to sit out for whatever reason. But my choice was to come play. I'm not right and they're not wrong. It's just a personal choice for everybody.
"I understand that around the league there have been some positive tests and they are trying to get ahead of that now so that when we are actually in the bubble, hopefully everything will be OK. I'm trying to be optimistic about it. It's not the most ideal situation but it's kind of the times we are in. It hasn't been ideal for anyone."
The remainder of the Raptors' season begins August 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
NBA Free Agents 2020: Ideal Landing Spots for Fred VanVleet, Isaiah Thomas, More
Jun 29, 2020
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet (23) handles the ball during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Basketball fans have all eyes on the final act of the 2019-20 season, which is set to restart July 30 in Orlando, Florida. A total of 22 teams will head to the "bubble" to finish the regular season. A postseason will follow—with the finals ending no later than Oct. 13.
We have a jam-packed basketball schedule in the next few months, with free agency beginning almost immediately after the season ends.
Many players have option deadlines in the days following a potential NBA Finals Game 7, including big names such as Anthony Davis and Gordon Hayward.
The 2020 free-agency market is overshadowed by its 2021 counterpart given some of the NBA's biggest stars like LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard will be available. However, there are still plenty of players who can make impacts in the upcoming season—whatever that may look like.
Here's a breakdown of some of the point guards who will be available come October and predictions about their landing spots.
Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors
Fred VanVleet could have seen significant pay coming his way this summer.
Instead, with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NBA's economy unknown, VanVleet may have to settle for less than he would have otherwise gotten.
The 26-year-old is in fourth season with the Toronto Raptors—and his first as a full-time starter. He made himself known during Toronto's NBA Finals triumph in 2019, being one of the most productive defenders against Steph Curry.
VanVleet is coming off of his best career season, shooting 40.9 percent from the field and averaging 17.6 points per game, 6.6 assists and 1.9 steals.
While Toronto would obviously like to keep the playmaker, it may end up in a bidding war with a few other teams who have openings at the point guard position.
The Raptors have their hands full this offseason, as Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka will also be entering unrestricted free agency. And with such a star-studded free-agency class in 2021, Toronto will likely want to keep its options open for next summer.
This could leave room for a team like the New York Knicks or even the Detroit Pistons to swoop in and top the Raptors' offer to the young dual-threat guard.
Prediction: New York Knicks
Isaiah Thomas, Free Agent
The 2019-20 season was tumultuous for Isaiah Thomas in more ways than one.
After a three-year stint with the Boston Celtics from 2014 to 2017, Thomas hasn't been able to stay in one place.
No one was doing what Isaiah Thomas was doing at his size during the 2016-17 season:
Most recently, he played 40 games for the Washington Wizards—37 of which he started—before being dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal at the NBA trade deadline for Marcus Morris. The Clippers ended up waiving the point guard two days after the trade, which he was surprised by.
While in Washington, Thomas averaged 12.2 points per game and 3.7 assists, and he shot 41.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Thomas finds himself a free agent at 31, and while the market may be more difficult because of teams' unwillingness to spend much this offseason, the veteran shouldn't be ruled out. He mounted a comeback in Washington, after playing in just 12 games for the Denver Nuggets. Thomas has battled injuries in recent years, and while he may never play like he did in the 2016-17 season, when he averaged 28.9 points per game, he still has the ability to make an impact and log minutes.
There are plenty of teams who could use his help as soon as this season. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks reported that free agents who were on NBA rosters this season "are eligible to sign into open roster spots." Thomas is a seasoned veteran with playoff experience who could help younger teams.
Prediction: Miami Heat
Goran Dragic, Miami Heat
Goran Dragic's Miami Heat will join 21 others teams in the bubble in the hopes of making a playoff push.
"We are basketball players, so we want to compete," Dragic said in an interview with WPLG Sports Local 10's Will Manso (h/t Shandel Richardson of SI.com). "As long as it's going to be safe for everybody who's going to be in the bubble, I'm OK with it. I want to play."
But will a strong performance in Orlando be enough to secure him a new short-term deal with his team?
Dragic has played for Miami for five full seasons, averaging 16.6 points per game, 5.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds, all the while notching a 45.7 percent shooting average. While he only started one game for the Heat this season, he averaged a whopping 16.1 points and 5.1 assists off the bench.
Retaining the 34-year-old's services will surely be attractive to the Heat, but he could also draw interest from a team such as the Los Angeles Lakers, who have a need for secondary playmaking.
With Dragic's age and experience, he could be the perfect fit in L.A., helping the team fill a roster hole at a reasonable price and giving it a chance to win a ring before potentially having to give up James and Davis in 2021.
Raptors' Nick Nurse Discusses Changes, Worries During NBA Restart amid COVID-19
Jun 26, 2020
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse yells toward players during the second half of his team's NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, Thursday, March 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse provided his thoughts and concerns on the NBA's impending restart amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with David Aldridge of The Athletic, Nurse discussed COVID-19 testing and how the possibility of one or more of his players testing positive at some point could impact the way he prepares them:
"I guess I'm more concerned—or, my thoughts keep thinking of—what if there's a positive test and a guy has to sit out for two weeks? You're trying to get them in shape, and now they gotta go back to doing virtually nothing, and then bring them [back]. It's going to be tricky. One of the first things I said to my team this week, and to my staff especially, is we've got to get all 17 guys ready. ... You usually get to the playoffs and you're talking about eight, seven-and-half [man rotations] sometimes, you're playing big minutes for guys. I said, we've got to get some role for everybody, 'cause we have no idea who we may need to use."
Because of the restrictions in place in Canada, the Raptors have assembled in Naples, Florida, and begun practicing and preparing for the resumption of the 2019-20 season in Orlando, Florida, next month.
Nurse also touched on some of the protocols that have been put in place now that the team is gathering and suggested that he has pins and needles to some degree because of the constant threat ofCOVID-19:
"It's strange. It feels good to be back on the floor. Just walking out there and hearing the balls bounce, that's a good feeling on one hand. And, yeah, it's some, a little anxiety around. We're going into such an unknown territory here. Every day you get tests [and] you think, 'Man, I hope I pass. When do I get my results back?' is kind of on your mind.
"The social distancing, you go look at our ballroom where we're eating, and there's big, huge tables all over this huge ballroom with two seats at each one. There's some things that feel strange, and look strange, and are strange. But we're trying to get to our goal, which is to get to Orlando [as] healthy as possible and get these guys back moving around a little bit at the same time."
Aldridge expanded on some of the ways the Raptors and other NBA teams are attempting to remain safe in the current climate.
Only four players and eight coaches are allowed on the court at once, and each player is assigned to one basket. Each player is assigned two basketballs as well, and they will use the same balls for the duration of their time in Naples.
The practices are usually about one hour and 20 minutes in length, and when that group of four is done, everything is cleaned and a new group of four arrives.
It is far from an ideal circumstance, but the NBA is doing everything possible to make the resumption of the season a reality. Until then, teams like the Raptors are simply trying to keep their players healthy and eligible to play in Orlando.
When the season resumes July 30, the remaining 22 teams will play eight regular-season games each and then the top eight teams in each conference will reach the playoffs.
The Raptors, who are the reigning NBA champions, are in a great spot, as they own the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference at 46-18. The top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks are the favorites in the East, but Nurse and the Raptors knocked them off in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, so perhaps they can do it again this time around.
Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.
Raptors Travel to Florida Ahead of NBA Restart; Workouts to Resume This Week
Jun 22, 2020
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) looks on in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Monday, March 9, 2020, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, the team traveled to Fort Myers on Monday in preparation for a restart to the 2019-20 season. They'll open with "COVID-19 testing and individual workouts this week."
The team noted in a press release: "In keeping with NBA and team safety protocols, there will be no group workouts during this phase of return to play, and strict protocols have been designed to ensure this initial level of access will take place in a safe, controlled and healthy way."
Whether the NBA season will resume remains a question. A group of players, led by Kyrie Irving and Avery Bradley, have expressed concerns that a return to play could distract from the marches and gatherings happening around the United States and the world in protest of systemic racism and police brutality.
According to Malika Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowskiof ESPN, those players also want to see the NBA undertake a number of changes, including improving "hiring practices for black front-office and head-coaching candidates—making it so the league's management better reflects its composition of players; donations to organizations serving black communities; and partnerships with black-owned businesses and arena vendors."
But there are also concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic to take into consideration, especially with the 22-team restart happening in Orlando. Floridaexceeded100,000 total coronavirus cases Sunday, with a record-high of over 4,000 cases reported Saturday.
And there are injury concerns as well given the long and unusual layoff. On Monday,Wojnarowskireported that Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans would be skipping the return to play as a "preventive measure."
Bertans had two ACL tears before his NBA career began.
But the Raptors, at least, are operating as though the restart will begin on time. The defending champions sit at 46-18, second in the Eastern Conference, and are a real threat to repeat behind Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry.
Raptors' Masai Ujiri Discusses Need for More Diversity in NBA Front Offices
Jun 18, 2020
Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri attends a premiere for
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri opened up about the lack of black people and minorities in NBA front offices during an appearance on The Woj Pod with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski (h/t Josh Weinstein of The Score):
"Somebody told me there's only one minority (public relations) director in the NBA. How is it that we only have this few when it's a predominantly black league in terms of players?
"I really question it and I think we generally in sports ... we have to really look at this and it comes from all different levels. It's not just hiring a diversity and inclusion officer now ... we also need more minorities and more black people in higher positions, too, and there are many that deserve to be in higher positions if we look the right way."
He is not the only one to raise such concerns of late.
According to the report, the coalition is looking for progress in areas such as "improved hiring practices for black front-office and head-coaching candidates—making it so the league's management better reflects its composition of players; donations to organizations serving black communities; and partnerships with black-owned businesses and arena vendors."
That coalition also raised concerns about restarting the 2019-20 season in Orlando, Florida, on July 30 because it may serve as a distraction from the national focus on systemic racism and police brutality.
The NBA released a statement saying "a central goal of our season restart will be to utilize the NBA's platform to bring attention and sustained action to issues of social injustice," per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium:
NBA has informed all 30 teams of this entering 2019-20 resumption: "A central goal of our season restart will be to utilize the NBA's platform to bring attention and sustained action to issues of social injustice..." pic.twitter.com/qfrRms88Hi
