Grind City Media’s Lang Whitaker and Michael Wallace have been covering the NBA since shorts were short and socks were long, but their opinions about the League don’t always mesh. #IMHO is their weekly chance to weigh in on the most pertinent news from around the NBA. What’s lit? What’s lame? Find out each week right here.
From: Lang Whitaker
Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 at 2:04 PM
To: Michael Wallace
Subject: IMHO
Mike,
It’s been a while, but as we start this week’s IMHO, NBA teams are starting to gather in Orlando and getting inside The Bubble. Which hopefully means practices start soon, which hopefully means scrimmages start soon, which hopefully—hopefully!—means we’re about to see some NBA regular-season action!
Well, what passes for NBA regular season action, at least, with an eight-game seeding schedule that will lead into the Playoffs, for the teams that qualify for the Playoffs. My question to you to start us off this week, Mike, is this: What do you make of the eight games the Grizzlies will have to play to make it into the postseason? The Grizz open with other teams fighting for the last spot (Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans), and then end it with three of the best teams in the NBA (Toronto, Boston, Milwaukee). I’ve heard some Grizz fans say they hope by those last three games, those teams will be resting players in anticipation of the Playoffs ahead. I would think the opposite may be true: By then those teams will be ramping up to get ready for the Playoffs, and playing guys more minutes than they did early on.
There are a lot of unknowns, of course, but since we haven’t really caught up on this one, what do you make of the Grizzlies’ seeding schedule?
From: Michael Wallace
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 at 5:00 PM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
First and foremost, the NBA made sure the Grizzlies’ seeding schedule would be consistent with the gauntlet they were originally scheduled to close the season with before the pandemic hit. If you recall, the Grizzlies had the toughest closing strength of schedule in the league heading down the stretch. So, eliminating the eight worst teams in the league from the Disney bubble had little impact on Memphis.
It did, however, make many other teams’ seeding schedule a bit tougher. But it is what it is. Taylor Jenkins, Ja Morant and company knew they still had plenty of work to do to secure the No. 8 spot in the West and advance to the playoffs for the first time in three years. They weren’t running or hiding from that reality. So that’s why these guys welcome whatever challenges they face heading into the Orlando restart. As I’ve written before, the playoffs essentially start with the July 31 re-opener against Portland because that game has all kind of heavy implications.
That all said, I think the Grizzlies not only keep the No. 8 spot, but also avoid having to bother with a potential 8-9 play-in series if they go 4-4 in those eight games. We’ll see how it turns out.
But one thing we won’t see in Orlando, Lang, is Bradley Beal on the court for the Wizards. The team announced this week that Beal and his career-high, 30 points per game will be sitting out because of an ongoing shoulder issue. According to the Wizards, it’s just not worth the risk to have the All-Star push through a restart and risk further damage that could impact his 2020-21 season. Which goes back to my question a month ago: why even invite the Wizards to Orlando? At 5½ games back with eight to play, they had little shot of forcing a play-in series with or without Beal.
From: Lang Whitaker
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 9:47 AM
To: Michael Wallace
Subject: Re: IMHO
The Bradley Beal thing is strange to me on a few levels. First of all, Beal is missing the games because of a rotator cuff injury that he dealt with all season. Which would seem to suggest that this was something more than a last-minute decision from the Wizards. The Wizards were already without John Wall and Davis Bertans, and even with Beal I think it was doubtful they were going to make up the 5½ games they need to make the Playoffs.
So why even go? I understand wanting to develop young players, but tell the league you’d rather go to the Chicago bubble and show up there to develop all your younger guys, instead of messing around with teams who are fighting for their postseason lives.
The other thing I thought a little weird was a line in Beal’s statement: “This was a difficult decision and one that I did not take lightly as the leader of this team.” Maybe that’s just a clumsily worded sentence, but as soon as I read it, I wondered what John Wall thought about Beal saying he was the leader of the Wizards? Not “a” leader, but “the” leader.
Of course, the Wizards are also six games back of the Brooklyn Nets, who are losing players at an alarming rate. They were already going to be without All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but in the last week they’ve lost DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, Wilson Chandler and Taurean Prince. And don’t forget, they parted ways with coach Kenny Atkinson just a bit before the break.
If you’re the one seed Milwaukee Bucks, who would you rather play in the first round of the Playoffs, the Nets, the Magic or, if a miracle occurs, the Wizards?
From: Michael Wallace
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 10:03 AM
To: Lang Whitaker
Subject: Re: IMHO
The Wizards would be the easy choice, but far from the most realistic one. So that default answer has to be the Nets, right? That roster has fallen apart in recent days, and it wasn’t all that together to begin with when the restart format was established. The Bucks would obviously face a much tougher matchup if a healthy Orlando squad is there for them in the first round, but even the Magic has had some issues along the way.
Bottom line is if the Bucks can stay healthy and find some level of rhythm over the course of the “seeding” games, they should pretty easily coast into the second round of the playoffs. Giannis won’t allow his team to go about it any other way.
Lang, we’ll get out of here on this: NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed some concerns about the potential of COVID-19 bursting the bubble. Considering how at least five NBA teams had to shut down their facilities in recent days because of positive tests, and considering more than two dozen players tested positive during the league’s initial testing periods according to the NBA’s own release, and considering there’s a bit of COVID chaos playing out in the MLS restart on the other side of the Disney bubble, how much should we be worried that the NBA might be unable to ultimately finish what it restarts in Orlando?
From: Lang Whitaker
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 1:15 PM
To: Michael Wallace
Subject: Re: IMHO
I mean, it’s a concern. In an interview this week with Fortune, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “What would be most concerning is once players enter this campus and then go through our quarantine period, then if they were to test positive or if we were to have any positive tests, we would know we would have an issue.”
So this is obviously something that’s been talked about, even as a contingency, at the league level. The goal of The Bubble is that things don’t go in or out, right? That includes the coronavirus, which the whole world is trying to keep out, with varying levels of success.
Will The Bubble work? I hope so. Other sports—the EPL, for instance—seem to be able to play without too many problems, or at least issues that I’ve heard about. I just hope the NBA is able to stick to the rules they’ve set and keep the COVID out, while finishing off this season.
And if they need someone to come help with the meals down there, I can always take Cooking With Lang on the road.