If NBA season resumes, how long will it take players to get into game shape?
Sixers GM Elton Brand: “These dudes are used to going all year. They may take a week off, two weeks off. But they are doing something. ... [Now] they are two months without a ball, period..."
Elton Brand knows what it takes to get back in basketball shape.
Before he became a front office executive, the 76ers general manager played 17 NBA seasons. He even came out of retirement on Jan. 4, 2016, for his second stint with the Sixers.
But not even Brand knows how long it’s going to take current NBA players to get back in shape if the league resumes this season. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, most players have had minimal to no on-court workouts since March.
“These players, even when I played, you might have taken a few weeks off at the most,” Brand said Tuesday.. “You got specialized trainers. [Players] are almost going year-round these days. So now, I don’t even know. I don’t know what it is going to take, honestly.”
The only thing that we do know is that the NBA hopes to salvage this season.
Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins confirmed that Tuesday during an online meeting of an Orange County, Fla., economic recovery task force.
“Hopefully, it’ll be sometime later in the summer,” Martins said. “Obviously, our calendar has shifted now, and our league has decided that we’re going to try to get in as much of our regular season and playoffs as the data will allow us to.
"And we’ll play as late as Labor Day [Sept. 7] if we have to.”
Martins also confirmed there have been initial discussions about delaying the beginning of next season to December in order to try to get in as much as this season as possible.
This season was suspended March 11. Team practice facilities were closed March 20.
The next week the NBA opened facilities to players in need of essential treatment and rehabilitation during the hiatus. But that was to get rehab, not work on their games.
Teams in cities and states in which local governments have eased stay-at-home orders will be allowed to open their practice facilities Friday.
The reopening allows teams to make their practice facilities available to players for individual on-court workouts. No more than four players will be permitted at a facility at any time. But a league source confirmed the league sent memos to teams on Wednesday, stating they will be allowed to designate a total of six assistant coaches or player-development personnel to supervise the individual workouts.
Like the players, no more than four assistants or player-development personnel can be in the facilities at the same time. But only one assistant or/player-development personnel can work out a player at a time.
Head coaches are still prohibited from participating in any way. (Initially, assistant coaches were also prohibited.)
Group practices and scrimmages are prohibited, and the players are not allowed to use non-team facilities — public gyms, fitness centers, or health clubs — to stay in shape.
All NBA players -- regardless of team affiliation -- who live close to soon-to-reopen practice facilities are welcome to work out there.
Some of the players don’t have this option. Nor have most players worked on their games.
Last month, Milwaukee Bucks star and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed that he had no access to a hoop. Around that time, Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum said he hadn’t touched a basketball since the league suspension.
Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle had been able to do some form of shooting with a basketball only while lying on his bed.
That’s why former Sixer Jimmy Butler sent portable baskets to each of his Miami Heat teammates and coaches last month, so they could get up shots during the hiatus.
But even a portable hoop is worthless if you live in an apartment and don’t have a place to use it.
So how long will it take for the players to get back in shape and knock off rust before they resume playing?
Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul, who has been president of the players’ union since 2013, told reporters it would take at least three to four weeks of training.
“These dudes are used to going all year,” Brand said. "They may take a week off, two weeks off. But they are doing something. They are in the gym. [Now] they are two months without a ball, period.
“You can go get some shots up at least. They haven’t even done that, some of them. So I can’t even give you an answer."