New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020
nypost.com
TALKIN’ABOUT
PRACTICE:Three-week
NBAtrainingcamps
openonTuesdayand
amongtheplayers
towatchareLeBron
James(farleft)—ifhe
evenpractices—top-
pickAnthonyEdwards
(nearleft),whowillhave
torushtoadjustto
theNBA,andsecond-
yearsensationZion
Williamson.GettyImages(4)NBA TRAINING CAMP GUIDE
By GREG JOYCE
The calendar flips to
December onTuesday, and
with it begins NBA training
camps.
It ’s been an unusualye ar
fo r the league—with the
pandemic pushing the
NBA FinalstoOctober,
the draft andfr ee agen-
cytoNovember and
the 2020 -2021 season
toDecember—but
there’s no lackof sto-
rylines as camps kick
off across thecountry.
Here’s a lookat 10:Quickstart
The Lakers andHeat played
the lastgameof theFinals on
Oct. 11. Less thantwo months
la te r, they are ba ckattraining
camp with theregular season setto start
Dec.22. Th ere’ s usually at least three-plus
months between the endof theplayoffs
and the startof camp, bu t COVID-19 inter-
rupting the 2019 -20 season has thrown
“normal” out the window forthe 2020 -21
season.That’s even more so the casefo r
theteams that weren’t invitedto the bubble
— instead of fi ve-plus monthsoff, they’ll be
comingback fr oma nearly nine-month lay-
off thisyear.Can this work
withouta bubble?
The NBA’ s fi rst tryat playing during the
pandemicwas a success, getting through the
rest of its season and theplayoffssa fe ly
in the Disney World bubble without any
COVID-19 cases. But the league will be
in thereal world fo r this season, and the
NFL and MLB have shown how easily the
virus can infiltratea team. Local protocols
have alreadyforcedthe Raptors to relocate
to Ta mpa, but will otherteams have to do
thesame?Will there be teams that have to
shut down becauseof positive cases once
the schedulege ts into fullsw ing? Ca n
they actually make it a fullseason with-
out COVID-19 havoc setting in?Will LeBron be late?
Will others optout?
Shortly after winning the title, now-
fo rmer Laker Danny Green suggested
LeBronJamescould sit out the startof
the season becauseof the quick turn-around.Will that actually cometo fruition
and might others fo llow suit in anextreme
formof loadmanagement? Plus, without a
bubble, will more NBA players chooseto opt
out of the season like some did in the NFL
and MLB?Lakersrunningit back
And so the title defense begins.Even if
they haveto start the season without LeB-
ron, the Lakers could beeven better this sea-
son after astrongoffs eason,adding Dennis
Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol and
Wesley Matthews. Jameswon back-to-back
titles once before with theHe at in 2012 and- Can he do it again this season, after
turning 36 on Dec. 30?
All eyes on Giannis
The Bucks haveanother shottomake
a runat a title thisyear, but that may well
getovershadowed by— or at least will be
intertwined with—the looming question
ofwhether Giannis Antetokounmpo will
signa super-maxextensionto stayinMil-
waukee.The Bucks madea big trade to land
JrueHoliday thisoffs eason, but until Ante-
tokounmpo puts pento paper, he’ll befa cing
questions about hisfu ture.Rockets crash landing?
The Rockets are setto enter camp with
Jame s Harden(aboveright) andRussell
Westbrook(aboveleft) still on theroster. On
pa per, that looksfi ne , andad ding Christian
Wood could bea smart move as well. But new
coachStephenSilascould have his handsfull
as both Harden andWestbrookreportedly
want out.It has all the makings of a disaster
waitingto happen, with the clock ticking until
Harden andWestbrookget their wish.Big names in
new places
The fr ee-agent mar-
ket lacked stars, but that
didn’t stop big names
fr om moving around
the league thisoffs eason.
Chris Paulis now with the
Suns after being tradedbythe
Thunder. Doc Rivers and Daryl Morey are
teaming uptogether in Philadelphia after
theClippers fi red Rivers andMorey stepped
down as GMof theRockets.Holiday joins
the GreekFreak in Milwaukee and Gordon
Hayward is aneven richer manwho now
calls Charlotte home.Healthy stars once again
Welcomeba ck,Kevin Durant,
StephenCurry andJohn
Wa ll. Morethana ye ar
after signing with the
Nets, Durant isfi nally
ready to make hisBrook-
lyn debut after recovering
froma rupturedAchilles
suffe red in the 2019 NBA
Finals.Curry isback after
breaking his hand in theWarriors’fo urth
game last season. AndWall is setto returnfo r
thefi rst time in almosttwo years —he last
played on Dec.26, 2018— after suffe ringa left
heel injury that required surgery and then
rupturing his left Achilles ina fa ll at home.The year offull Zion
ZionWilliamson’s arrival to the NBA was
long-awaited since being drafted No. 1 over-
all in 2019 , but he didn’t make his debut until
January 2020 becauseof knee surgery and
then only played 24 games in the shortened
season.This year, theexplosive Pelicansfo r-
ward shouldget afullseasonto show what
kindof star he can be.Rustyrookies thrown
in the fire?
Less thana month afte r they we re
drafted into the NBA,a new class of
rookies will havea welcome-to-the-
NBA unlike any other. Never mind not
havinga summer league in LasVe gas,
mostof theserookies haven’t even
played an organizedgame since
March or longer after thepandemic
cut the NCAA season short.That
might make fo r more growingpains
than usual as theexpeditedoffs ea-
soncould impact them the most.
[email protected]CAMP CRAMPED
10 storylines as NBA opens for
quick ramp up to regular season