When NBA resumes, who wins the furlough?

Earlier this week, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that a conference call of the NBA’s stars got together to discuss their desires to reopen the current NBA season.

I’d picture a meeting much like in the Justice League where Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash circle the round table in their Secret Sanctuary to game plan their next great unconventional heroic quest.

 

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul, the president of the players association, organized a call that comprised of LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

 

That’s 8 of the top 10-12 players in the NBA gathered together.

 

The consensus from them was that they’d like to resume the season. The NBA has been closed since March 11th and the representatives for the players have already begun to poll other players about a return to the hardwood.

 

Obviously there’s some dissenting opinions across the league regarding teams that are essentially eliminated versus teams already well positioned in the playoffs in regards to resuming play—but I want to focus on the teams that most benefit and that are most negatively impacted from the time off.

The Lakers: Positive and Negative

The Lakers paused the season at 49-14 (1st in the Western conference). They were 13-3 in their last 16 games, including a 6-1 record on the road during that stretch. But that span was highlighted by their 112-103 road victory over their estranged step brother–the Clippers.  And a 10-point home win over Giannis and the league’s best record,  the Bucks, also happened in that 3-day stretch.

 

Point is, they were hot and humming with momentum. So how could this potential 4-month layoff negatively impact them?

 

Well for starters, they were 8-2 in their previous 10 games, defeating two contenders along the way. In those two games, James averaged 32.5 points, 8 boards and 8.5 assists. And Anthony Davis was good for 30 points and 8 boards.

 

This was simply a microcosm of what those two helped the Lakers do all year. But with the break in action, they’ve halted the momentum needed to sustain that level of play into the post season.  And getting back to the level of play they were at won’t be easy. The Lakers beat 7 of those teams by 10+ points and hung 120 or more in 6 of them.

 

Fortunately, every NBA team is having this layoff, but my only question is, will this allow teams like the Clippers or Nuggets, who are at least 5.5 games back, to reestablish themselves and level the plating field again in time for the playoffs? Just something to ponder…

 

The positives are obvious for this team: REST for King James

 

LeBron is 35-years old in year 16, playing 35 minutes per game which is tied for 14th in the NBA (League-high is Dame at 36.9).

 

 Regardless as to how uncanny his body works, I believe these 4 months off will serve him the same way the off-season did. Complete recharge. Remember after being knocked out of playoff contention last April, he had that 5 month layoff and came back averaging 26/8/11 this season. We might be in for his most efficient stretch EVER.

 

This season Bron is shooting 50 percent from the field on 20 shots, which he only did last season. And he’s knocking down 35 percent from deep on a career-high 6.6 attempts per game. I say all that to say, this time away, could give his legs the necessary rest and recharge to be his most proficient self in the last leg of the NBA marathon.

The Sixers: Positive and Negative

The Sixers closed NBA action tied for the 6th seed at 39-26 on the season. Their season has had numerous ups and downs, coupled with the challenging questions of, “what’s their identity” and “Can Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid coexist long term.” These looming questions are the dark cloud that’s hovered over their inconsistent performance, despite the franchises wealth of talent on paper.

This dichotomy lies in their record. The Sixers are the best home team in the NBA at 29-2, but 6th worst in the league on the road. Night and day as a team. And their road woes are a major issue because in order to win championships you must be able to beat good teams at their place as well as defend home court. And a lot of that responsibility is heaped upon your leaders–your stars.

Last season they went 3-3 on the road in the postseason, including the heartbreaking game 7 loss to the Raptors. Simmons and Embiid had a hard time making the extra play down the stretch to inch them to victory. The two combined for 39 points, 19 rebounds and 9 assists–with Embiid shooting 6-18 and Simmons taking five shots. And while that line isn’t atrocious, neither of their stars were able to compliment each other effectively enough to rival the 41 points and eight rebounds from Kawhi, punctuated by a game winning trey that dreadfully bounced on the rim.

Their struggles from there on just oozed into the 2019-20 season. Simmons and Embiid have missed a combined 32 games with Simmons being the most recent player injured. Had the season still be ongoing, he would’ve been out with a back injury for potentially the rest of the regular season and maybe into the first round.

But with this layoff, Simmons back has healed itself according to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan and Embiid has gotten added rest for his own nick-ups.  Injuries definitely contributed to a lack of continuity between its stars and the hope is that this added time off will ignite a fire in these stars to lock in and maximize the talent that’s apparent individually.

And yeah, Brett Brown should definitely hold his share of the blame for not always putting those two in the best positions to succeed, but there’s still more those two young guys can do to figure out how to shake up the East.

MY HOTTEST TAKE: If the NBA resume the regular season and the Sixers are healthy, they will come out the East. Okay I'll put the Margs down...

Final Thoughts:


The decision to resume play has been pushed off and will be decided in the next 2-4 weeks or so. With this, will come the NBA’s decision on various modifications, including but not limited to:

Playoff seeding: Will there be a playoff tournament?

What about players who don’t want to return?

How will we test players?

What is the location? Vegas or Orlando?

Will the championship have an asterisk?

Fans or no fans? Crowd noise?

But the question that stands out to me is, will there be a play-in tournament, because I feel the NBA should play the remaining 17 games of the season instead. Doing a play-in tournament works against teams like a Memphis who hold a 3.5 game lead on the 8 spot, but in a tournament they’d play a team that just needs to beat them once to advance. It negatively impacts teams that played well for the 65 games played. So unless there’s a bye given to those teams or some type of contingency for this, they should continue the season and allow the battle for the eighth seed continue as it should.

That’s my thoughts…

#Sixers #Lakers #NBA #lilLakerBoy #BrettBrown #StephenCurry #Giannis #LeBronJames #AnthonyDavis #BenSimmons #JoelEmbiid #return