Tag: Germany

The program, known as KINEXON SafeZone, …

The program, known as KINEXON SafeZone, has already been used successfully in the German BBL in their recently-completed tournament. Where the focus for the BBL was on contact tracing data being stored in case of a positive COVID-19 test, however, the NBA is currently more interested in the proximity alarm features of the technology, sources say. Player and staff use of KINEXON technology is optional, per sources.

Peyton Siva is currently back in …

Peyton Siva is currently back in Florida as well, taking some time off with his family as he celebrates the Basketball Bundesliga League title he and his Alba Berlin teammates won in late June. And while cases have risen lately in the Sunshine State and around the U.S., the top German basketball league reopened the right way last month, Siva said — over the course of three weeks in Munich, none of the players, coaches or hotel staff involved with the 10-team tournament tested positive at any time.

The stakes were high, Siva said, just …

The stakes were high, Siva said, just like they’ll be high when NBA players return to the court later this month. But a successful restart, he added, can send a message to the world. “This is a chance to show that basketball can survive through this time — whether that’s with spectators or not,” he told The Courier Journal last Thursday, the day after his plane landed back in the U.S.

It was a winning strategy — he came …

It was a winning strategy — he came back to the U.S. as a BBL champion, starting at point guard for title-winning Alba Berlin — but he advised NBA players preparing for Orlando to enjoy their time outside the bubble now. Life is different once you’re inside. “I feel like it’s going to be a lot tougher for them, since it’s a lot longer season that they’re going to be playing than we had,” Siva said. “… Try to get out and do stuff as much as you can because you can get cabin fever staying in a place so long. But I feel like they’ll have a lot more things to do with going outside, going golfing, more entertainment — and plus they can have family come later on. I think that’ll help a lot of the guys.”

Marc Stein: German basketball’s …

Marc Stein: German basketball’s @easyCreditBBL completed its final round of COVID-19 testing today with no positive tests registered by the 10 teams over three weeks of play. The two-legged tournament championship tournament pits @MHP_RIESEN against @albaberlin on Friday and Sunday

With teams living in a bubble, no fans …

With teams living in a bubble, no fans in the arena and likely anti-racism protests on the court, German basketball will show how the NBA’s future could look. The Basketball Bundesliga, or the BBL for short, returns Saturday after a three-month break caused by the coronavirus pandemic with a 10-team tournament in a closed “bubble” in Munich. The plan has strong similarities to the project approved by the NBA board on Thursday for a closed 22-team format starting July 31 at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.

Following the killing of George Floyd, …

Following the killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving, it appears likely that basketball players will protest police brutality and racism during the tournament. The BBL initially said it wouldn’t allow protests, with CEO Stefan Holz telling the dpa news agency that league rules forbid “political statements of any orientation,” but backed down following criticism. Holz later apologized for the “unfortunate wording” of his comments and said the league would “position itself clearly against racism” at the tournament.