Theis updates us on his, teammates conditioning, readiness for Disney

Boston Celtics center Daniel Theis shared his assessment of his teammates and his own readiness for the so-called ‘Orlando bubble’.

The Boston Celtics held another media availability event with Celtics beat reporters Thursday as the NBA and the Celtics gear up for the move to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida next week.

Boston, which just began mandatory individual workouts along with the rest of the league on the first of July, revealed yesterday in another press conference with head coach Brad Stevens that no new players have tested positive for COVID-19 since testing has been ramped up in recent days.

Stevens was joined by point guard Kemba Walker, who shared his knee was feeling much better with the rest provided by the hiatus, and today’s presser began with Boston center Daniel Theis.

The big man revealed he’d also put the coronavirus hiatus to good use.

“I think it was good for me too, the break we had, to help my knees and get lifting in. During the season it’s hard to get lifting in between games,” noted Theis per The Athletic’s Jared Weiss.

The Saltzigger native has put in two days of conditioning work, noting that — like Walker — the time off was critical for his own sore knees to feel better.

As for returning to action after such a long layoff being a potential problem, Theis said (per the team), “It’s definitely easier. It’s the same team. We know what we do. We just have to refresh everything.”

The German pointed to his home country’s success with the Bundesliga Basketball League (BBL) using a similar arrangement when asked if he thought the planned Florida site presented risk.

Given the steadily-increasing new cases currently besetting Disney’s home state, such a concern has been growing in the media and more generally in recent days.

“My best friend (Elias Harris) played in the tournament,” he explained via Weiss. “In the beginning, he wasn’t sure about it either. But when I talked to him in the end, he was really positive with the way things were organized, testing & safety. They made sure you can just focus on basketball.”

Jay King — also of The Athletic — relates that Theis feels the time away from his family will be difficult.

He never really considered skipping the restart, saying (via NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg), “It’s my job.”

“I want to win,” he added. “Obviously, it’s going to be hard for me to leave … especially with my daughter. She’s 4 now, we’re so close.”

As to whether Theis expects players to follow the rules needed for a successful restart, the Celtic center replied, “I know on our team, all the players are going to follow the rules.”

“It’s not just about [us]. It’s about that [we] can get more people sick and potentially get the NBA season canceled,” he added.

“If somebody has real problems following the rules, maybe he should stay home,” he added.

His teammates — in his estimation — have been looking good in practice, according to Theis. “They look great. Especially [Jayson Tatum]. He walked in the first day and couldn’t miss a shot.”

Let’s hope that continues once real play begins.

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