Los Angeles Times - 03.04.2020

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aged both players’ work-
loads with an eye toward the
playoffs.
“I’m hopeful we’ll start
the season again,” Patter-
son said. “We’re all just
waiting on the NBA to re-
lease a statement and let us
know what’s happening.
Obviously the most impor-
tant thing is to make sure
everyone is safe during this
COVID-19 pandemic, but
we’re hopeful that the sea-
son will restart this year at
some point whether that’s
in the summer or later. We
just want to finish the sea-
son.”
Patterson agreed to a
buyout with Oklahoma City
last August and agreed to a
one-year deal with the Clip-

every Sunday night. His
collection of VHS tapes has
been replaced by subscrip-
tions to Netflix, Hulu, Ama-
zon Prime, HBO Now,
YouTube TV and Disney+.
If there’s a streaming serv-
ice with movies and shows,
Patterson likely has an
account.
“I’m watching every-
thing,” Patterson said. “You
name it, I got it at home.
With all the movie theaters
closed and the new releases
pushed back, I’m catching
up on movies and shows
with my wife at home. We’re
flying through TV shows
and movies right now.”
As much as Patterson
loves watching films, he was
planning on catching up on
everything he wanted to see
this summer, not in the
midst of what was supposed
to be the stretch run of the
NBA season. Heading into
the third week of NBA
games being postponed
indefinitely, he’s simply
trying to stay in shape in
between his binge-watching
schedule.
“It’s tough,” Patterson
said. “I’m going on the occa-
sional run to random places
in L.A. near where I live. I’m
trying to find some hills that
I can run up and down to
keep my conditioning up.
Our training staff sent us a
bunch of gear, so I have
dumbbells, ladders and
boxes. I have everything I
need set up in our garage. I
work out down there every
other day and go on runs
and jogs every other day. I’m
just trying to keep my body
in the best shape it can be
for whenever we start up
again.”
No one knows whether
the NBA season will re-
sume, but Patterson would
like to see what the Clippers
can do in the postseason
with a rested and healthy
Kawhi Leonard and Paul
George after the team man-

Clippers power
forward Pat-
rick Patterson
was supposed
to have been in
Detroit last
Friday night.
His team was
scheduled to face the Pis-
tons in its last multigame
trip of the season. Instead,
he found himself on his
couch, hosting a virtual
movie night.
Patterson, who is work-
ing toward opening a pro-
duction company and be-
coming a film producer, has
hosted movie screenings for
fans since he was with the
Toronto Raptors (2013-17).
He took the tradition with
him when he played for the
Oklahoma City Thunder
(2017-19) and plans to make
it a weekly Friday night
tradition as a Clipper with
the NBA season suspended
and much of the country
ordered to stay at home
during the COVID-19 pan-
demic.
“It started as a way just
to interact with fans off the
court and away from
basketball, and it carried
with me wherever I went,”
Patterson said. “Now during
this lockdown situation, I’m
just trying to continue to
engage with fans and watch
some movies.”
As he has done in the
past, Patterson posted on
his Twitterand Instagram
accounts that he was host-
ing a movie night and in-
structed anyone interested
in joining him to comment
or reply to his post.
Patterson’s “Pat Pre-
sents” movie screenings had
been held in a theater he
rented with a seating capac-
ity, forcing him to pick win-
ners through a contest. His
virtual Friday night screen-
ings are hosted on the Net-
flix Party extension, which
allows Patterson to invite
anyone he wants. He’s able
to play, pause and rewind
the movie and chat with
fans before, during and after
the film.
He screened “Good
Time,” a 2017 crime thriller
starring Robert Pattinson,
on Friday and engaged with
about 40 fans who joined
him from Toronto, Vancou-
ver, Oklahoma City and Los
Angeles. “I’m picking mov-
ies I haven’t seen and I
thought most people have
not seen, so we can watch it
together for the first time
and talk about it,” Patterson
said. “People are more
familiar with recent films, so
I’m trying to throw out a
variety.”
Patterson grew up in
Huntington, W. Va., and
would go to the movie thea-
ter at least once a week with
his parents. Then he’d
watch another film at home


pers. It was a move inspired
as much by what he could
do off the court as it was by
his on-court skills. “It was a
perfect opportunity to put
myself in a position to do
what I want to do outside of
basketball when my career
is over,” Patterson said.
“Now is the perfect time
for me to be out here in L.A.
I’ve met with a few people in
the industry and have had
meetings and lunches and
exchanged emails. I want to
do this when I’m done
playing. Basketball is the
most important thing, but
while I’m out here I want to
take advantage of this op-
portunity of being here in
L.A. where a lot of filmmak-
ers and creative people live.”

While Patterson waits on
the fate of the NBA season,
he plans to watch plenty of
movies and shows while
working on his first foray
into entertainment.
“In the perfect world, I’d
love to work on a project and
get it out there while I’m still
in the NBA,” Patterson said.
“That would be amazing.
Right now, I’m working on
creating a production com-
pany, and we have a few
scripts that we’ve been
reading and just brain-
storming ideas. It’s difficult
to do that during the sea-
son, but we have some time
now, so we’ll see what hap-
pens. But I’d love to get
something out there while
I’m still in the league.”

going is really good for your
mental health.”
Whenever the Dodgers be-
gin their 2020 season, if one is
played at all, it’s McDaniel’s
job to ensure the players are
as prepared as possible for
opening day.
The task is unlike any that
McDaniel and his staff have
encountered in their careers.
They are unable to work with
players directly. Dodger Sta-
dium and the club’s spring
training facility are closed. As
are most gyms across the
country. The circumstances

Among the challenges for
many people during the
COVID-19 outbreak, though
perhaps somewhere down the
list of importance, is main-
taining a workout regimen
while confined at home. The
Dodgersare offering help.
Brandon McDaniel, the
team’s director of player per-
formance, will stream a 30-
minute workout every Mon-
day and Friday at 8 a.m. for
the public on the Dodgers’
YouTube, Facebook and
Twitterpages. McDaniel will
conduct the first few sessions
alone with explanations for
each exercise. He said players
may join eventually if they’re
interested and can get to his
home, where he’s holding the
workouts. The first workout is
Friday.
“Psychologically, fitness is
huge right now,” McDaniel
said in a conference call. “To
be locked in a house, or wher-
ever you might be, being fit
and having the ability to exer-
cise and release some endor-
phins and get some hormones


have forced creativity.
McDaniel and three mem-
bers of his staff divvied up the
Dodgers’ 40-man roster and
constructed individualized
workouts for each player.
They are talking to players via
video chats and phone calls,
walking them through exer-
cises when necessary. A few
players have home gyms. Oth-
ers have access to a gym,
somewhere. Others can’t get
to one and have been left to
test their resourcefulness
holed up in their living rooms,
garages and backyards.

McDaniel challenged players
to get creative. So far, he said,
Gavin Lux, the organization’s
top prospect, has stood out
for his ingenuity.
Some sessions look like the
home workouts made famous
by celebrity trainers — think
Shaun T’s Insanity or Tony
Horton’s P90X. There’s jump-
ing and lunging. For weight-
lifting, jugs and cans are used
if dumbbells aren’t available.
The point is to avoid falling be-
hind. For people at home, it’s
to work up a sweat.
“The workouts that we’re

going to provide for our fan
base are literally the same
workouts that we’re giving
some of our players,” McDan-
iels said.
The difference, of course, is
that players aren’t partaking
in workouts just to keep
weight off or stay sane. They
hope to have a season at some
point this summer, perhaps
deep into autumn, and maybe
even into the beginning of the
winter if their World Series as-
pirations come true.
Normal seasons — 162
games played over 187 days

followed by the postseason —
take tolls on bodies even after
proper offseason regimens.
This year could bring un-
charted territory — a con-
densed schedule with fre-
quent doubleheaders after a
truncated spring training. It’s
arecipe for widespread in-
juries. In the long term,
McDaniel said, the industry
will learn a lot about the level
of preparation and work
needed for the future. In the
short term, the possibility is
concerning. “Anytime you
take even two weeks off of do-
ing something,” McDaniel
said, “it really scares me.”
So, McDaniel said, there’s
a balance. Players need to stay
in shape, but also need to pre-
vent overworking. That’s es-
pecially true for pitchers.
Most were close to getting
fully built up in spring training
three weeks ago, and most of
that progress has been lost.
The goals are to not lose all of
it and to avert injury.
“That’s a pretty tough
blow, I think, for them,”
McDaniel said. “We’ve never
really had to deal with any-
thing like this before.”
For now, McDaniel and his
staff are “hovering” over play-
ers, guiding them from afar for
the foreseeable future. Twice
a week, every Monday and Fri-
day, McDaniel will guide fans
too.

Safe at home, fans can stay fit the Dodgers’ way


During the pandemic,


team’s head trainer


will stream workouts


twice a week.


By Jorge Castillo


BRANDON McDANIEL, far right, will stream 30-minute workouts Mondays and Fridays during the crisis.

Jon SooHooLos Angeles Dodgers

Kevin Demoff, Rams chief
operating officer, said Thurs-
day he’s optimistic SoFi Sta-
dium will be finished on
schedule for this NFL season
but left open the possibility
that the COVID-19 pandemic
could impede construction.
“This is not the time you
want to be finishing a sta-
dium, in this environment as
you prepare,” Demoff said.
“Because it’s when you need to
be all hands on deck, walking
through the building every
day, meeting with your staff,
working out the kinks and
planning for it. So when you’ve
been building something for a
few years, you would love an
optimal environment to finish
it.”
The $5-billion stadium in
Inglewood is scheduled to
open July 25 with a Taylor
Swift concert, followed by the
Rams and Chargers moving
into their new home venue.
Concurrently, the Raiders are
finishing their new stadium in
Las Vegas.
But Demoff was not ready
to absolutely commit to a date
when SoFi Stadium will be
ready.
“Our stadium, and I be-
lieve the Raiders’ stadium as
well, will both be amazing
when they are finished and
when they will begin play,
which will certainly happen in
the near future, whether
that’s in July, August, Sep-
tember, in 2021,” Demoff said.
“I don’t think you can look at
either of these stadiums as
short-term projects to finish
but rather long-term beacons
for the franchises and for the
NFL.”
One worker on the Ingle-
wood project has tested pos-
itive for the coronavirus, and a
second was a presumptive
positive.
Some workers have ex-
pressed concerns to The
Times about the project con-
tinuing in the midst of the
health crisis. A spokesman for
the Turner-AECOM Hunt
joint venture, which is over-
seeing construction, said a va-
riety of steps have been taken
to keep workers safe, includ-
ing requiring social distanc-
ing, nonessential personnel
working from home, and in-
creasing the number of toilets
and hand-washing stations.
Jeff Pash, general counsel
for the NFL, echoed Demoff in
saying the league is optimistic
about the construction sched-
ules but left wiggle room on
the Inglewood and Las Vegas
venues.
“Each team has options in
the event their stadium isn’t
ready,” Pash said. “Right now,
construction is proceeding in
both locations in a satis-
factory and on-schedule way.
We’re optimistic these stadi-
ums will be completed on
time.”

Demoff


optimistic


about


stadium


But Rams executive


won’t commit to an


opening date for the


Inglewood venue.


Pat’s picks By Sam Farmer


The Clippers’ Patrick
Patterson, a movie fan who
would like to pursue film
projects, is hosting virtual
screenings during the
self-quarantine era. Here
are some of his personal
favorites:
TOP MOVIES


  1. “Looper”

  2. “Forgetting Sarah
    Marshall”

  3. “Se7en”

  4. “It Follows”

  5. “Outbreak”


TOP TV SHOWS


  1. “Ozark”

  2. “Altered Carbon”

  3. “The Outsider”

  4. “Kingdom”

  5. “Peaky Blinders”


CLIPPERS FORWARDPatrick Patterson, a movie buff and aspiring film pro-
ducer, hosts online movie nights from his home during the season stoppage.

Arash MarkaziLos Angeles Times

THE CHECK-IN


Movies help


Patterson


reach fans


ARASH MARKAZI


PATTERSONsigned with L.A. partly to be closer to the film industry. But he
likes the Clippers’ potential and said “we just want to finish the season.”

Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times
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