Of course they were going to play.
Zach LaVine made that very clear.
“As basketball players, that’s our job. We want to play,’’ the Bulls guard said last week, when the topic of the 22-team restart “bubble’’ in Orlando came up.
Not that there weren’t concerns with a return to team basketball activities for the first time since the March shutdown. There were, and remain, many of those.
Yes, the Bulls are one of eight teams left out of the restart, but that doesn’t mean they are completely free of the coronavirus cloud that hangs over the entire NBA.
The NBA had notified the 22 teams playing in the restart that the Orlando training camp would go from July 9-29, with the reboot of the 2019-20 season tipping off on July 30. For the eight on the outside looking in? They remain hopeful that all goes well in those training camps from a health standpoint, and the NBA puts some type of Summer League model in place for those bottom teams.
An idea that might grow in momentum as long as the “bubble’’ works smoothly.
“I think the main concern — and I think it still is a concern with the players that are going down there — is it safe?’’ LaVine said. “People are in different situations. Some have families, some have wives, girlfriends, different things like that. I’m a big family person. I see my parents and my now-fiancée every day. It’s just concerning if we do go down there, do we have to be quarantined from our family? What happens if somebody gets it? Can you bring it back and make sure that your family feels safe? Does family come with you?
“I think those were more of the general questions. It wasn’t anything about basketball, because that’s the thing that we understand how to do. With COVID, that’s unknown. So that’s what I think a lot of the questions were about.’’
It’s the main questions that remain unanswered, however.
While there are scenarios in place that gives teams extra roster flexibility in case the virus hits several players, what if it hits multiple-big-name stars on a team, completely compromising a top seeds chance to make a run?
And then what are the long-term effects the virus could cause moving forward? Would a team that is in the “bubble,’’ but unlikely to advance very far even find all the concerns worth it?
Would the Bulls find an eight-team “consolation’’ tournament worth it?
Those are questions that have to be weighed individually if that scenario unfolds.
’’Obviously, everybody has a concern about contracting the virus,’’ veteran Bulls forward Thaddeus Young said. “But you have guys that understand we have to play also in order to keep the league moving forward. But for me, I worry more along the lines of my family’s aspect of it. We have a young league, and a lot of these guys that’s in the league they don’t have kids or they don’t have a family. They may have a girlfriend that they’re dealing with. Besides that, it’s just kind of them. So it’s different worries for different people.
“My worry is more along the lines of me being with all the other guys and then coming back home to my family. Like, what was the exit strategy? So those were some of the things that I wanted to talk about if we were going to continue to play or we were out of it. For me to have to go home and quarantine myself for two weeks away from my family, that’s tough when you’ve already been away from your family for a month or a couple of months.’’
For Young and the Bulls, those aren’t immediate concerns considering their situation.
But all eyes will be on Orlando as this plays out.
