2020 NBA musings

the nba preseason is scheduled to begin tomorrow. in the middle of a pandemic, this year will be chaotic. the end of last season in the orlando bubble worked for the most part but that was just a few games before the playoffs. now is the start of the season. how will the league balance safety for all involved when there will be so much movement with travel?

here is a summary of the changes: https://www.nba.com/news/nba-2020-21-season-faq

i am probably in the 90th percentile for nba fanatics. as much as i would like to see nba action, i have deep reservations about how this season can be done safely. but as we have seen with sports, there is too much money involved to not do anything. there will be some sacrificial lambs who will get the virus from these decisions.

i wonder what the power dynamic will be between the nba and local county covid expectations. how will the season evolve when we see hospitalizations increasing all over the country? even the nfl had to pivot when santa clara county locked down last week. the nba does not have the juice that the nfl has.

the median player money has gone down since the rosters have grown. with the possibility of players getting the virus and going through quarantine protocols, more players on each team are needed. each year i enjoy going through the depth charts and memorize the players. every year there is more movement and it becomes more challenging. no way i am going to memorize 532 players and their teams!! i am shooting to know the top 9 players on each team. 270 is doable for me

last year’s median salary was about $4.4 million (j.j. reddick). this year it is $3.3 mil (james ennis) as the number of current signed players jumped to 532. the top ten players make between $35- 43 mil this season alone. oh how the league has changed over the years!

the western conference is so much better than the eastern this year. it has been this way for a while now but i do not remember at the start of a season where i think that 11 out of 15 teams can make the playoffs. minnesota and the warriors will not make it. now that the rockets and okc have blown up their team rosters, they will be in rebuild mode so they will be pommeled this year. i always hope the okc blunder (sic) will lose every single game. without chris paul and stephen adams, they will lose a lot. everyone else have a legit shot at the playoffs.

if the rockets’ small ball experiment beat the lakers in the playoffs last year, so many teams would be trying it now. << sigh>> it was fun while it lasted though!

the bubble was not kind to my clippers in the playoffs. i was sad that free agent montrezl harrell went to the lakers. even in the nba, the rich get richer. the lakers also added schroder and gasol. they have to be the favorites to win it all again this year.

i liked the nets last year– i like blue collar teams. adding kyrie and KD will improve them greatly but what will it do with their previous chemistry?

my knicks will be bottom feeders again. they have some nice players (mitchell robinson, ntilikina, barrett, toppin) but when julius randle is your best player, you are in trouble.

last season, i did something that i thought i’d never do: buy nba league pass. when i was in full time ministry, i would think to myself, “if i had league pass (access to ALL nba games), i wont get anything done!” last season i watched more clipper games than ever. i enjoyed being able to see any game but it isn’t worth the price. not to mention that since i live in seattle, the blazer games were blacked out! with the pandemic looming over us, i am just going to stick to tnt, abc and espn games for the nba. that will satisfy my jones…

enough for now

bring back the sonics!