NBA Notebook: 5 Takeaways from Adam Silver's conference call on potential return of season

The NBA took a very small first step towards an eventual resumption of NBA play later this summer or fall by allowing teams to open up their practice facilities for the first time since suspending the regular season on March 12th. The bigger story this weekend though was an extended conference call held by commissioner Adam Silver with members of the NBPA on late Friday. While there was nothing concrete in the call, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com was first to report several revealing nuggets that were confirmed by players in the Q-and-A session. Let's take a closer look at that information and how it could impact the Celtics if the NBA is cleared to resume this summer.

—40 percent of NBA revenue comes from fans in attendance: A significant chunk of lost revenue for the NBA is no surprise but there was some thinking that the NBA’s attendance impact would be a little less significant than other pro sports due to their massive TV deal with Turner/ESPN. Adam Silver’s declaration on his conference call with players indicates that’s far from the case.

That shortfall is going to set the stage for some critical negotiations with the player’s union and the owners for future seasons. There won’t be a huge impact on player salaries for this current year with nearly 70 games already in the books but an entire season without fans in 2020-21 is going to have to result in both sides giving in a lot. The question is where will the burden come from the most?

Will players get a certain percentage of their guaranteed salaries purely based on total league revenue? Will the salary cap take a massive hit next offseason, leaning to hundreds of free agents scrambling with limited money to spend? Will luxury tax rules be adjusted so ownership doesn’t have to face a huge bill for their pending cap commitments? All of these issues will need to be sorted out before the 2020-21 offseason can begin, particularly if fans aren’t expected for some or all of next season.

—The league is focusing on restarting in one or two locations (Orlando, Las Vegas) as opposed to empty arenas around the league: This has been widely reported in recent weeks but makes the most sense for the NBA. Major League Baseball is reportedly considering travel between teams to their own empty stadiums when their season potentially kicks off in July. The NBA is trending towards a more controllable option with all players and league personnel centralized in one or two spots, depending on the conferences.

The lack of a homecourt advantage could be a major factor for the postseason matchups, but it will also allow for the NBA to have quick turnarounds for a regular-season or postseason schedule without having to worry about travel risks or fatigue due to travel. How the league will handle a full resumption of a full regular season from a schedule standpoint will be a fascinating question if coronavirus risks remain just as prevalent heading into 2020-21. At that point, some kind of adjustment based on geography (heavy on division games?) but without the full bubble city control could emerge.

—There will be 3-6 weeks of training camp if the season resumes: This falls in line with what Celtics like Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter said to me and others in the last month. Two NBA teams reopened their practice facilities in the last week and several more are expected to follow suit next week with specific safety protocols in place.

The Celtics are still at least a week off from a potential return to the Auerbach Center since Massachusetts’ stay-at-home order lasts until May 18th but these voluntary individual workouts other teams can hold will not be considered as part of the ramp-up training camp that Silver refers to here. The league is not authorizing any kind of contact between head coaches and players at this point so it appears that the earliest any kind of training camp could take place is June when all teams are authorized to be back in their facilities and necessary increased testing is available for players getting back into contact workouts with each other.

—A fallout plan for a player testing positive during play is emerging: The worry for any pro league that is cleared to resume during this pandemic is the likelihood that some player or staff member tests positive after games resumed. Would one positive test derail months of planning and send a league back to square one? While there will be significant risk involved for all parties going in without a vaccine available for at least another year, Silver hinted on his call that the league would proceed with potentially a brief delay in the fallout.

Anyone testing positive would be quarantined for 14 days, while the rest of the league could be delayed for two days to allow those who had close contact with the person who tested positive to be monitored and tested themselves. It’s not a perfect system by any means (what happens if it spreads throughout a team?) but enforcing a bubble city/controlled environment and close monitoring by medical professionals would help the league protect against this. The NBA will be watching other sports leagues closely as they start games up (would expect MLB to be first) but there will be an added element of risk with the body-to-body contact that is more prevalent throughout any game or practice session.

—Some players are feeling pressure from teams to show up for voluntary workouts: This was a concern voiced by Chris Paul, one of the reps for the players union on the call. It’s fair to see both sides of the situation. A lot of players traveled out of their teams’ market back to hometowns or offseason homes once it became clear that the league suspension would last months.

While there is no question that players will need to be back in their home market once a training camp resumes, there is probably some degree of nervousness by players to have to separate themselves from families to return back or have their whole family travel again before its absolutely necessary.

On the flip side, teams would clearly love to have players back in a controlled environment during this stretch, assisting them firsthand in any workouts and knowing they aren’t putting themselves at risk by working out in areas that don’t have the necessary protections. The commissioner is siding with the players for now but with the league not authorizing the use of private jets to allow teams to bring back players to their own markets (in order to create a level playing field), air travel will eventually be required for those out of market in time for a training camp in June/July.

Other notable tidbits from the call

—A play-in tournament for the postseason seems unlikely and the usual format sounds like a priority for the commish: The resumption of regular-season games is probably the most ideal scenario from a financial standpoint for the league, while allowing for some games for players to ramp up into the postseason. However, if the schedule forces cancellation of regular-season games, reports indicate that the idea of a play-in tournament would be too extreme to happen on the fly during the season. Given the separation in the standings for the No. 8 spot in both conferences, it’s hard for lottery teams to put up too much of a fight about it due to the extreme circumstances.

—The league doesn’t need to make a call about a potential return until June: As a willingness continues to permeate about pushing back the start of the 2020-21 season further into the winter to allow for a full postseason and a better chance at fans returning to arenas in 2021, that gives the league more leeway in making a call about the current slate of games. With this timetable, training camp could start as late as July, with the playoffs happening in August-October before a brief offseason occurs leading into a December or January start to the 2020-21 season. All of these timetables get thrown to the side if the season can’t resume at all (due to safety/a lack of readily available testing for the public). However, even if the league doesn’t resume this summer, postponing next season could still happen anyway for revenue purposes.

Brad Stevens discusses life without basketball, potential return scenarios

The Celtics head coach had a lengthy chat with some Celtics season ticket holders on Friday afternoon in which he discussed what he’s been up to during quarantine and what he envisions for the team if they are able to return to action this summer. A few of the highlights:

Stevens on playing without fans: “I guess playing without fans would be much more like a typical practice environment, and I think that the one thing about these guys is they don’t compete any less hard in practice. In fact, sometimes in those quiet gyms where you can hear everything somebody else is saying, it gets even more feisty. And so, I think that it would be great basketball if we’re able to do that.”

With that said, Stevens is very eager to get back on the TD Garden floor when its deemed safe.

“I can't tell you how excited we’ll be when we do get a chance to play and I can't tell you how much more exponentially excited we’ll be when we get a chance to play at TD Garden in front of our fans,” he said. “I think we're all looking forward to that moment and the ability to feel free to do that and feel able to do that.”

On preparing for a resumption of the season: "We’re basically on call," Stevens said, "and so our talking point with the team has been trying to stay a week away from your best shape at all times because when we do come back, and ultimately are going to practice, we're going to have to plan those practices with our sports science group appropriately.”

Life without basketball: “Like everyone else, you have a feeling of uncertainty just about when we're all going to be back and what the new normal will look like. You have a feeling of uncertainty for what you watch on the news every day and all the people that are dealing with this head-on while we're sitting in our homes. Obviously (with the players) being off their feet, anytime that you can do that to an extent is a positive when you're talking about guys that put as much on their bodies as our guys do. But I think that the challenge that comes with it is maintaining the appropriate conditioning, the appropriate focus, the appropriate ability to pick right back up where we left off, through a really unsettling uncertain time.”

Adjusting to the uncertainty in today’s times: “As far as routine goes, one of the things we talk about all the time is that if you have a routine that's great. But you can't be like married to it because the bus could break down on the way to the arena, you could get stuck in traffic, you may be sick that day and you may feel better by game time. Like you have to be able to compartmentalize that this is the game, this is the task. We want to be as routine-oriented as we can, but it's just not always feasible. And so, this particular situation, as COVID-19 shut down more and more businesses and shut down our league, became more real to all of us, then it affected everyone's routine. It's not an athlete thing, it's not a coach thing, it's an everyone thing. And so everybody is dealing with that, and I think that as an athlete, the different curveballs that come out of left field that you get used to hitting I think are good preparation for times that are going to challenge you like this.”

Other NBA News and Notes

—The Cavs and Trail Blazers were the first two teams in the NBA to open up their practice facilities on Friday. Several other teams are expected to join them in the upcoming week.

—The new Bulls front office is leaning towards a coaching change according to the Chicago Sun-Times. This comes as no surprise with Jim Boylen widely regarded as one of the worst head coaches in the league by executives. He’s 39-84 in his two years at the helm in Chicago.

—Jeff Van Gundy has emerged as a potential replacement for Mike D’Antoni in Houston after the season ends if the two sides do not come to terms on an extension, according to Sam Amick of the Athletic. Van Gundy has not coached in the league since 2007.