Should the 2019-20 NBA season resume after its long hiatus due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon says team chemistry could be more important than ever.
The season has been on hold since March 12, though recent reports have indicated increased optimism that the season will be completed. Earlier Monday, the NBA announced May 8 as a potential date in which team facilities could be reopened for individual player workouts.
In speaking Monday night with Cayleigh Griffin of Rockets television partner AT&T SportsNet Southwest, Gordon elaborated on the correlation between the long layoff and the importance of chemistry. He said:
I think 25 days would be a solid number, an amount of time for us to get back in shape and get things going. At the end of the day, no player is going to get in game shape. That game is almost a different style of working out by itself.
But I would say the key to coming back, when the season gets going, is which team has the best chemistry. Because everybody is going to be healthy. Bottom line, it’s going to boil down to who has the best chemistry and who can use their talent the best.
The 25-day period was in reference to the NBA’s rumored plan to ramp up training activities for its players and eventually team practices, once clearance is granted by U.S. health authorities to proceed.
Now 31 years old, Gordon is the third-leading scorer on the Rockets (40-24), averaging 14.5 points in 28.6 minutes per game this season. He’s missed 30 of the team’s 64 games due largely to a knee injury, but he says the extended COVID-19 hiatus has finally given that issue time to heal.
