There is no guarantee that the NBA will return from their hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic, but there is hope. The league has discussed playing at Disney World in Orlando and they received an offer from Las Vegas to resume the season there as well. However, the Philadelphia 76ers are focused on getting ready for any scenario.
The Sixers are currently the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference which means they would match up with the 3 seeded Boston Celtics in Round 1 of the playoffs. General manager Elton Brand hopped on a conference call with the media on Tuesday morning to discuss the possibility of the playoffs returning.
“We’re talking about the Celtics as if that could be an opponent,” said Brand. “Brett (Brown) and his staff have also prepared for other teams in case there is a regular season and odds change, but we have done a deep dive. As a fan, I want to see it, I want to see this team in the playoffs. I’ve said it many times. That is what we’re built for so I want to see that, but I know it’s going to be based on the data, the safety, and health of not just us, but of our community, but we are preparing as if we are going to go to the playoffs and play the Celtics.”
Brand has added that they’re focusing on all scenarios for the playoffs, including the Boston Celtics who they would play in Round 1 if the regular season just gets scrapped #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) May 5, 2020
Brand did add that he is hopeful the season can return. States are beginning to loosen their stay at home orders and he has been in contact with other general managers in an effort to get the players back in the gym, safely, as the NBA is allowing teams to re-open training facilities on May 8 in those specific states.
“There’s some states that have loosened the stay at home mandates and on the GM call, it’s basically been ‘Hey, we’d rather have our players in our facilities instead of going out to other gyms because we have a better chance at keeping ours safe’,” Brand added. “The NBA agreed, they sent the memos, probably 13 or 14 pages on how to keep everything clean. It’s basically letting the players out individually, no more than groups of four, having time in the gym to shoot, get a workout a little bit, get a sweat.”
Nonetheless, this will continue to be a situation to keep an eye on. The Sixers are hopeful that the league will return and they can resume the season, but that will be based on the science and the data of the spread of the virus. [lawrence-related id=30474,30466,30460]