When the 2019-20 NBA season resumes in Orlando at the end of July, 22 of the league's 30 teams will be involved. That means eight teams -- the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pistons, Knicks, Bulls, and Hornets -- won't be returning to action. As the schedule stands, these teams will be sidelined for a substantial amount of time until the start of the '20-21 season. One person leery of such a long layoff is Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who hopes that the league will allow the teams that won't be in Orlando to conduct a minicamp prior to the official start of next season's training camps.
A typical offseason for lottery teams goes from mid-April through mid-October, or approximately six months. The last NBA game was played on March 11, and the current projection for the start of next season is Dec. 1, yet that date is expected to be pushed back even further. If it goes into January, the teams that don't go to Orlando could be off for more than 10 months. Understandably, Kerr is worried about the potential rust that would be created upon returning after such a long layoff, as well as the damage such a long unstructured period could do the cohesion of his team.
"The league has been great about working with us on potential minicamps," Kerr said on a conference call with media members, via ESPN. "We definitely need to get our team together for a period of time. I don't know for how long, but we definitely need to be together and have some practice sessions. Given that 22 of the teams are going to be allowed to do so for minimum of a couple weeks' practice and a couple weeks' games, while the rest of us are not part of that, the league is sensitive to giving us the space that we're going to need. So we're still in touch with the league about what that means.
"I think what I would like as a coach is a couple weeks of practice at least, maybe two different blocks of a couple of weeks where we can bring guys in, health permitting and regulations permitting, of course, given the virus, but if we could have a couple different blocks where our players could come in, work with our training staff, we get them on the court, almost like an OTA for an NFL team where we can install some things for next year, think about what we want to accomplish and get some practice sessions in. I think it would bridge the gap towards a more normal offseason and then lead us into next season in a healthier frame of mind. ... That's one reason why I think it's important to mix in a couple of minicamps so that we can knock off some of that rust or staleness, whatever you want to call it."
If the Warriors are ultimately permitted by the league to conduct some sort of minicamp, Kerr expects that all three of his veteran All-Stars -- Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green -- would participate.
"I would not consider this voluntary workouts," Kerr said. "Obviously, these are really unique circumstances, but given that we would be staring at a nine-month break, to be perfectly honest, I would be shocked if any one of those three guys said to me, 'No, I don't want the work.' They all know they need the work. And we all need the work, so they'll be there."
After five straight offseasons that were truncated due to Finals runs, having so much time off is new for Kerr and his veteran players. Nonetheless, Kerr is confident that one way or another, his team will be ready to go when they are finally able to return to game action.
"Who are we to complain? We complained enough about not having any time off over the last five years, so we can't now turn around and say we've got too much time off, so we're just going to take advantage of what we can and use the rest and use the time wisely," Kerr said. "I know that our players, whenever we come in to prepare for next season, our players are going to be rarin' to go. I think in the end, it will be a positive step no matter how this plays out."
There are a whole lot of details that the NBA will need to iron out over the next few months, both in finishing the current campaign and starting the next one. And while most of the attention will be focused on the teams in Orlando, figuring out a plan for the teams that won't be there so they're not at a competitive disadvantage due to rust at the start of next season should be near the top of the priority list.
