It's already NBA season again

What a strange year it has been huh? The NBA crowned the Los Angeles Lakers the champions of the 2019 / 2020 season just a few weeks ago and here we are, in the second half of December and the preseason has already begun.

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The NBA approved a 72 game season that officially kicks off next week on the 22nd of Dec but we got a preview yesterday with very little in the way of surprises other than Utah trouncing the L.A. Clippers.

Don't let this get you down if you are a Clippers fan; we all know that the preseason doesn't count for anything and that these games do not really matter. Sure, it's not like the teams aren't trying to win but a loss during the preseason is much better than a win with an injury so I think it is pretty safe to say that the teams are not giving it the usual Karl Malone 110% on the court.


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One thing that I am absolutely delighted about, and I would imagine the players and coaches feel the same, is that the games this season will not be held in any sort of "bubble" and the actual home courts and the home team advantage that comes along with it will be a factor this time around.

To be honest, I am sure this was not a case of the NBA deciding to alter the season because of current rules. They are no doubt capitulating to the players and players' unions because there was no way that any player was going to sign on to live in the bubble for 6 months. There was enough bitching and whining when they had to just go there for the shortened season and the playoffs.

I feel a little bit of animosity to their complaining and also the pundits who say it would be "dangerous" to the players' mental health to be subjected to such a restrictive living situation when they were all, in comparison to the rest of us, living in relative luxury at hotels with amenities that the rest of us paupers could probably only dream of... and they got it for free while they were being paid millions of dollars.


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At the moment, there are no plans to allow fans to attend games but I would be willing to bet that as soon as it is possible for this to happen that they will start letting them in but with rather extreme social distancing guidelines. After watching many of the playoff games in the bubble, it is undeniable that the games are dramatically less exciting when there are no fans at the games. In many ways it was very distracting to hear the players shouting - and disappointing in other ways when things would start to kick off and you hear how awful a few of them actually behave. This would normally be hidden by crowd noise.

It should come as no surprise, since money makes the world go round that the first seats they are looking at opening are the luxury suites where the ultra-wealthy will be allowed to attend games. If this surprises you at all, you probably have been living in a bubble of your own creation for some time. The rules that exist for "our safety" do not apply to the rich and famous. This is nothing new.

One thing that I was kind of happy to see is that the BLM stuff at least up to this point, seems to be getting phased out of the game and while they almost certainly will not acknowledge this in the NBA management, it is likely because of the massive drop in viewership that occurred because of this becoming a major part of the game.

For now, not a great deal has changed since very few trades have even happened in the very short off-season, but that can all change as the transfer windows are going to be very different this year than in years past. Let's just hope they can prevent some sort of Covid outbreak from happening that would throw the season into another tailspin and screw up the season again.



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