The Boston Celtics are gearing up to head to Florida soon to resume the 2019-20 NBA season at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista next week, and hosted a Zoom call to brief beat reporters about where the franchise was in the process.
Players have been training on their own with voluntary remote help as they sheltered in place early in the pandemic hiatus.
The team recently began holding in-person sessions for individual players at Auerbach Center — Boston’s training facility in Waltham, Massachusetts — once local government gave the go-ahead this month.
Questions have circulated throughout the Celtics media sphere as to what sort of condition the players might be in given the long layoff, and in today’s team media availability, head coach Brad Stevens shed a little light on where the Celtics’ conditioning was as a team on the first day of mandatory workouts.
Brad Stevens: "Guys look good. They look good physically and they have clearly worked hard to prepare as hard as they can."
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) July 1, 2020
“Guys look good. They look good physically and they have clearly worked hard to prepare as hard as they can,” he related via team reporter Taylor Snow, noting the bulk of the team had stayed in the greater Boston area during the break, according to The Athletic’s Jay King, who notes Stevens is effectively looking at this as a new season.
In particularly good news, no further players have tested positive for the coronavirus since testing began in late June, per Stevens, and none of them plan to opt out for the Disney restart — “at least nobody’s told me!”
The team’s plan is to ramp things up gradually.
“We won’t go five hard days in a row. We may go two hard days in a row, then go very light, then two hard days, then off,” explained the head coach via Weiss. “Basically, once we start games, it’s going to be every other day for however long we’re there.”
Stevens noted Celtics director of player development Allison Feaster has been working with players throughout the hiatus to keep players engaged, and plans to continue in that role at the Disney NBA Campus.
Boston’s head coach stressed the atypicality of the situation the team finds itself in, and expects it to be a unique challenge; “The longest road trip I’ve been on is 10 days,” he offered.
A few players I talked to earlier this month all agreed that the idea of an asterisk, assuming people aren't testing positive left and right, is crazy and that this will be the hardest title to win.
Stevens said today, "Whoever wins it is going to really earn it."
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) July 1, 2020
“Even in the summer league, I don’t usually go more than 10 days. It’s a unique thing and we’ll figure out how to handle it appropriately;” he noted players may need to find “great grit” to make such a challenging situation joyful.
He’s still pushing for family of team staff to be able to join the ‘Orlando bubble’ as teams are eliminated; “We’ve tried to identify how to be the most efficient we can be with people who can be excellent remotely as well.”
Asked his thoughts about rumors coaches may be forced to use masks on the sidelines, the former Butler coach was unphased; “If I have to, I’ll have to. I’ll just have to get good at hand signals.”
Stevens flatly rejected the notion that the restart will somehow be judged as less-than, or with an asterisk.
Brad Stevens: "The idea of an asterisk next to this championship — [Austin Rivers] said it exactly right. This is going to be a super unique situation and whoever wins it is going to really earn it." https://t.co/DJRAedgO6Y
— Nicole Yang (@nicolecyang) July 1, 2020
“The idea of an asterisk next to this championship — [Austin Rivers] said it exactly right. This is going to be a super unique situation and whoever wins it is going to really earn it,” he said via the Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang.
Soon after, point guard Kemba Walker joined the call, and chastised media for a lack of mask wearing jokingly. “It feels good to be back in the gym,” he related via King. “Still trying to get in that game shape, obviously … Getting there slowly but surely.”
“You can do all the running you want, but basketball shape is just so different,” he added via Weiss.
On the notion of treating the restart as its own season, the UConn product concurred with his coach, stating “I agree with [Stevens] as far as the feeling of the new season, we just had so much time off. A lot of us haven’t played summer basketball, like real basketball, since the AAU days.”
The Bronx native revealed he’s been extra careful regarding the virus however, citing childhood asthma despite it no longer affecting him.
Kemba on rooming with Grant Williams in quarantine: “He was great, man. We had a great time. We got really close over the quarantine. I enjoyed it.”
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) July 1, 2020
His high-profile roommate — rookie teammate Grant Williams, who has been staying with Walker at his Charlotte home during quarantine — was reportedly less of a gabber than some believed despite his loquacious reputation.
“We had a great time,” related the former Husky via MassLive’s Tom Westerholm. “He’s not as much of a talker as people would think. He likes his alone time.”
The rest did his balky knee a big favor too, evidently; “The way I ended the season, I wasn’t really happy with the way I was playing,” he explained, noting the layoff helped the irritated joint get better. “I’m pretty comfortable with the way the schedule is and I’m going to keep taking care of myself.”
Kemba Walker said he’s looking forward to the bubble. He’s clearly pumped to play hoops again.
“I think it’s going to be very enjoyable honestly.”
As a single man with no kids, he knows bubble life may not hit him as hard as it does others.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) July 1, 2020
That Florida has become something of a hotspot of new COVID-9 infection isn’t especially concerning to the New Yorker; “I think we’re going to be pretty safe and secluded in the bubble.”
“I’m a single man with no kids, so I’ma be fine. All I do is stay in the house anyways, so there’s nothing wrong with me staying in the room. I’m actually looking forward to it cause I’m ready to play basketball. And it’s going to be set up so we can have fun.”
There has been concern about the virus’ long-term effects on the body — some even coming from teammate Jaylen Brown — and also about the increased risk of soft tissue injuries due to the unusual nature of the hiatus-
But, neither of those concerns seemed especially pressing for the NCAA champion.
Kemba Walker on supporting social justice movement in Orlando: "We have an opportunity to get together, think about some plans and execute them together…We got a chance to do something big and use our platform to the best of our abilities."
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) July 1, 2020
He did have some thoughts on the notion of using the restart as a platform for furthering racial justice; “We have an opportunity to get together, think about some plans and execute them together…We got a chance to do something big and use our platform to the best of our abilities.”
As to whether the team can recapture the chemistry driving their early-season success, Walker had little doubt.
“From day one with this team, our vibe, our chemistry was already there for a very long time. So the first time you see anybody, it’s like we were just together yesterday. That’s just the team that we have, we’re so close.”
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