The NBA is Back!
Basketball Is Back!
The NBA’s Board of Governors announced Thursday that it has voted to approve the league’s 22-team format to resume the 2019-2020 season at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. Starting on July 31, the NBA is inviting 22 teams, 13 Western Conference and nine Eastern Conference, to play eight regular-season games before diving right into the playoffs.
The games will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and will feature the 16 teams that were already in the playoff picture at the time of the March 11 suspension and the six teams that were within six games of a playoff berth. Those six franchises consist of the Washington Wizards, Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs.
The play-in tournament will include the No. 8 and No. 9 teams – if the ninth seed finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth. In that case, the No. 9 seed would need to beat the No. 8 seed twice to earn the playoff berth, while the No. 8 seed would need one win from the two potential games.
The NBA has laid out the following dates for the 2019-2020 season, along with its plans for the 2020-2021 season:
- Training camp- June 30 in home cities, July 7 travel to Orlando
- 2019-2020 season- July 31- Oct. 12
- Draft lottery- Aug. 25
- NBA Draft- Oct. 15
- Free Agency- Oct. 18
- 2020-2021 training camp- Nov. 10
- 2020-2021 season start- Dec. 1
For coronavirus procedures, players will all begin being tested on June 22 while undergoing daily testing in Orlando. If a player is to test positive, that individual would be removed from the team to quarantine and receive treatment with the games remaining to go on.
The National Basketball Players Association has been working closely with league officials on the plan and is set to have a conference call with the league on Friday to approve of the proposal.
The NBA is back!
How does this effect the Sixers?
When the season was suspended back on March 11, the Sixers sat sixth in the Eastern Conference. There were still 17 games remaining, however Joel Embiid was just returning from injury and Ben Simmons was still out with a nerve impingement in his lower back. The Sixers seemed like a team that was dead in the water with a first-round exit looming come playoff time.
However, fast-forward to now and you have a reportedly healthy Ben Simmons “good to go” with Embiid three months removed from his shoulder sprain. It’s no secret that Embiid has had trouble staying in shape with too much time off, so one can only hope this added rest gave JoJo time to recover from any injuries and keep up his in-game shape.
As for the eight regular season games to be played, the Sixers have a favorable schedule if they want to increase their seeding. The NBA’s plan is for teams to continue their schedule as planned, playing the next eight games listed from the 22 teams invited to Orlando. That would mean the Sixers will play the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards, and the Orlando Magic. When looking at that list, there’s only three teams there with a record of over .500 so the competition isn’t that daunting.
The real question however comes to if improving their seeding is best for this team. The Sixers have the same record as the Pacers, who hold the five seed, and are two games below the Heat, who hold the four seed. It’s entirely possible for the Sixers to move up to the four seed before the playoffs start considering the strength of their remaining schedule. However, that would most likely draw a first-round matchup with either the Heat or Pacers, two teams they have struggled against this season ( 2-5 combined record against them). Also, if they were to make it past the first-round, the Sixers would have to play Milwaukee in the second-round just to make it to the Eastern conference finals. Not really a path that seems encouraging to say the least.
However, if the Sixers were to remain in the six seed, they would get a first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics, a team they finally seemed to have found success against this year (3-1 on the season). If the Sixers were to advance, they’d most likely be greeted by Toronto in the second-round, followed by Milwaukee in the conference finals. Although this path to the Finals presents challenges as well, avoiding the best team in the NBA as long as possible is probably the most favorable outcome.
It’ll be interesting to see how the neutral site plays for every NBA team. Although the loss of home-court seems like a big factor for this team (29-2 at home), the Sixers weren’t scheduled to have that advantage anyway. Plus, playing in an environment with no fans where no team’s the “home” team bodes well for a squad that struggled mightily on the road this season.
Only time will tell, but for a team that is now getting its two stars back healthy with the road factor eliminated, the Sixers have benefited greatly from this new format.
