Mavs Roundtable: Adjusting to Life Without Basketball
The thing we love the most at DallasBasketball.com is watching the Dallas Mavericks play basketball. Unfortunately, though, due to the CORVID-19 pandemic, we've all been robbed (hopefully just temporarily) of that simple joy. Instead, the staff has been mostly staying at home, not only coping with the sudden loss of Mavs basketball, but the loss of sports all together. Today, some of our staff gathered to discuss life since the NBA suspended its season, plus what it could mean for the Mavs if and when the season is resumed later on.
How’s the media quarantine life going? What have you done so far to help you keep your sanity without having Mavs basketball - or any sports for that matter?
Bri (@BriArmanthus): I have a cat and a dog at home that I’ve hired as assistants. So things are going great. Or maybe I’m losing my mind, either way… They both take way too many water breaks.
Just kidding.
NFL Free agency and the Dallas Cowboys are keeping me plenty busy. I’ve even set up a makeshift home studio to do videos. To keep my sanity, I have been exercising and cooking. I’ve never been much of a chef, so this has been a good time for me to learn some new recipes. The crock pot is my savior. When things feel very out of control, I like to try to prepare as much as possible for peace of mind. I’ve created a Coronavirus prep list on Amazon for those who don’t know what kind of medicine, food, etc, to buy or don’t want to go to a store. Amazon is selling out of stuff but the items on this list are still available. And yes, the Swedish Fish are a necessity.
You can find that list here.
Fish (@FishSports): Baseball used to have a thing - maybe still does - called “The Hot Stove League.” It’s an old-timey way to refer to an off-season, when there aren’t games to discuss ... but there are trade ideas to discuss.
The NBA could plug into that sort of thing ... or, just let the NFL hog all the sports attention. It’s what I’m working on quite a bit, and enjoying quite a bit: Trying to stay plugged in with the Mavs while also covering the No. 1 sport in America right now: the NFL’s offseason.
Matt (@MattGalatzan): Work has kept me busy. The Mavs might be on hiatus with the rest of the NBA, but NFL free agency and the coronavirus coverage has left given me plenty of work to keep the brain sharp.
Other than that, video games have been a nice distraction. I’ve already beaten Doom 2016 and have also been playing a lot of Call of Duty Modern Warfare on my down time.
Those things, plus my dog and cat, are plenty to keep me entertained.
Postins (@PostinsPostcard): Oddly enough, having a day job comes in handy in times like this. I can actually work on non-sports stuff while binging TV shows (right now it's Star Trek: Discovery). In the evenings I'm writing historical pieces on the Big 12 Conference in the NCAA Tournament for HeartlandCollegeSports.com, preparing a Cowboys Mock Draft for CowboyMaven and working on my College Football America Yearbook for 2020.
So, yes, I need help. Please send Vodka. Preferably Tito's.
Dalton (@dalton_trigg): My Twitter 'Connect 4' duel with the Texas Legends' social media account should tell you all you need to know about where I'm at.
In all seriousness, though, I really, really miss basketball, guys. When you invest so much time and energy into a team the way I do (the way we all do), having that just stripped away from you after almost making it to the finish line is super-deflating. And it's not like we have any other sports to fall back on, either. It's ALL gone, for now at least.
The silver lining in the quarantine life, though, is that I'm getting caught up on all kinds of different Netflix and Hulu shows with my wife and pup (here is a shameless plug to Chance's Instagram account).
Do you believe the NBA will eventually resume its 2019-2020 season, or could all be lost by the time this pandemic blows over?
Bri: Right now, I need to hold on to the belief that NBA will resume in some sort of fashion. In my opinion, it won’t look like our old normal. Realistically, it will be shortened, maybe straight to NBA Playoffs with out any fans in attendance. Late-August playoffs would create a very short break for the 2020-21 season, which would cause more issues.
Fish: I’ve still got friends who think I’m a panicky weirdo conspiracy guy. But I’m prepared for the COVID-19 damage to be even more devastating than most projections.
And if that turns out to be wrong? If it’s “just the flu”? Or, more practically, if we successfully “self-quarantine,” practice “social distancing” and “flatten the curve”? And we beat it that way?
Then we can all celebrate how it was “nothing” - probably because our smart actions rendered it that way.
In other words: Shut it down. No rush to return. No push to return.
Matt: Yes I do think it will continue. I feel like there has been too much of an investment in this season to give it completely. If they have to push the start of next season because of it, so be it. I’ve always been of the Opinion that basketball and football should be separated by even more time anyway, so that basketball has its own time to shine.
Postins: I think it will resume sometime in the summer, much like Mark Cuban laid out late last week. I have a hard time seeing them do anything more than playing 10 more regular season games and going straight to the playoffs. I do like the idea that one owner had of just putting all 30 teams in a playoff bracket and moving forward after a short training camp. Either way, I think there will be a 2019-2020 NBA Champion.
Dalton: As long as this hiatus doesn't start bleeding into football season, I definitely think the NBA will resume this season at some point. Completely cancelling a season, meaning that the players put their bodies through 60-plus games basically for nothing, would be brutal, especially for the older players.
Take LeBron James for example. He's still one of the NBA's Top-3 players at age 35, but sooner or later, Father Time comes for everyone. After missing the playoffs with the Lakers last season, LeBron went all-in on this season, knowing his chances to add another title to his resumé are now limited.
As a worst-case scenario, if this pandemic keeps us all in our houses longer than expected, the NBA could at least shave off the remaining month of regular season games and jump straight to the playoffs. This wouldn't be the most ideal scenario for the Mavs, since they'd be matched up against Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers in the first round, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. It'd be better than nothing.
Say the NBA does resume its season, as many around the league hope to do. Can we all agree that this hiatus could potentially end up being a good thing for the Mavs on the the court?
Bri: I don’t see how resting and getting back healthy would hurt the Mavs. This is assuming the players are still staying in shape and the NBA allows ample time for teams to practice together to find their groove again. Before the hiatus, the Mavs were running out of steam. A healthy Luka Doncic (thumb), Kristaps Porzingis (knee), Seth Curry (ankle) and Dorian Finney-Smith (hip) would go a long ways for the Mavs to try to make a playoff run.
Fish: Our very own Eternal Optimist, Dalton Trigg, is the first person who I ever heard bring up this notion. And as long as we stay in respectful context ... yes!
Luka Doncic is the top reason for that. His ankle, wrist, thumb and probably psyche could use a rest.
Same thing for Kristaps Porzingis, unless ... we jump right into the NBA Playoffs and the games are crunched more closely together. Dallas has “load-managed” KP all year; the Mavs should hope a post-coronavirus schedule allows him rest without sitting.
Matt: On the court, to a degree, yes. The rest is welcomed for a team that was beat up and tired. On the other hand, the part that scares me is the rust factor. Taking any amount of time off from anything can cause that to happen. Hopefully they can return to team workouts sooner rather than later, to help prevent that problem.
Either way, this team, assuming the season returns, seems locked into the seventh seed, so taking a month or however long off to prepare for the stretch run and ultimately the Clippers, is hardly a bad thing
Postins: Yes. Theoretically the Mavs should be plenty healthy by that point (I'm assuming no start until at least May). That's another two months for Luka Doncic to rest his ankle, another two months for Kristaps Porzingis to heal up and any other Mavs that had short-term injuries to get right. The one player that is lost period is Jalen Brunson, who had surgery for his torn labrum this week. This team should be healthy and ready.
Dalton: As much of an eternal optimist as I can be at times, as Fish notes, it doesn't take much optimism here to know that the obvious answer is 'yes'.
It's no secret that, as good as the Mavs have been this season (40-27 record and just 2.5 games back of the Jazz for home-court advantage), they could've been even better had the injury bug not hit them so often throughout the season. I've said this so much since January that I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but last time the Mavs were completely healthy this season, they ended up winning 10-out-of-11 games from mid-November through the first week of December.
So, yes, Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and Seth Curry all getting back to 100 percent can only be a good thing for their potential playoff appearance. And although my guy Matt says the rust factor scares him, I think you could say that for pretty much every team, especially if things don't resume for two months or longer. Hopefully, if we can "flatten the curve" on this pandemic, we'll get to find out the answer to this question with our own eyes at some point.
