PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The 2020-21 NBA season will be here before you know it. This time, however, basketball won’t be played in a bubble at Disney World — it'll be back to home arenas for each team.
The first part of the regular season schedule has not officially been released, but games are expected to begin Dec. 22. The Sixers are expected to play their first preseason game on Dec. 15.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers acknowledged the freedoms that come with not being kept in a bubble, such as being close to family and friends and having more food options.
"But the freedom is a concern,” Rivers said. "I guess I’m very concerned if we can pull this off."
Rivers referred to issues that Ohio State college football and the NFL have run into.
"The difference in football — they play once a week, and they have 1,000 players, so when you miss three or four players, you can still get away with it," Rivers explained. "If we miss three of four players, we’re in trouble."
Rivers thinks the coronavirus could mean trouble for professional basketball teams that play several games a week with smaller rosters.
"So, if one of our guys or two of our key guys get the virus, and they miss 10 days to 14 days, that could be eight games in a 72-game season. That could knock you out of the playoffs," Rivers said.
Training camp challenges
That said, there’s no doubt Rivers is excited about this Sixers roster and the moves they made from NBA Draft night to now.
"That front office team — so far, we’ve worked phenomenally well together," he said. "And we’ve had some tough debates. Giving up guys … We had some really long, hard debates, where the room was split and we had to come to an agreement on things, and we did."
That team — comprising President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, General Manager Elton Brand, Rivers and other members of the front office — pulled off trades for Seth Curry and Danny Green (the latter of which isn’t official yet), signed Dwight Howard, and drafted Tyrese Maxey. Curry and Green, along with second-round pick Isaiah Joe, possess a skill that Rivers believed this team needed: shooting.
"I needed to create space for Ben (Simmons) and Joel (Embiid). I want Ben to play and be able to go downhill and play, and I want Joel to work in space," the head coach said.
Rivers said he is looking forward to coaching the two All-Stars. Yet despite his ethusiasm for the roster, Rivers knows it won't be easy to prepare for the season with so little time.
"Taking a job during this year of COVID is brutal,” he said.
Right now, the Sixers are going through individual workouts through Dec. 5. After that, Rivers will finally have a chance to get his team into “the lab,” as he likes to put it.
"We haven’t had a chance to be in the gym with our guys. We can’t even put in our stuff or nothing. And then you got, like, a week and a half and you’re in action," he said. "So, we’re gonna simplify things as much as possible. It clearly wouldn’t be what I would do if it was normal circumstances, but it is what it is."
Rivers said his training camp checklist includes making sure his guys are in shape, then defensive philosophy, followed by installing the offense.
He said some of the Sixers' toughest opponents -- such as Boston, Milwaukee and Miami -- have an advantage because their coaching staff have not changed.
"We’re fine with that," he said. "We just have to make up the deficit. And we probably have to do it through work."
Carrying the human rights message forward
Rivers was a prominent voice in the NBA last season on social issues. He is a board member on the newly formed National Basketball Social Justice Coalition.
He was influential in the NBA's get-out-the-vote efforts. And he spoke at a rally in South Philadelphia for then-candidate Joe Biden right before Election Day.
Calls for racial justice and police reform were propelled by unrest over inequality and the rhetoric of the presidential election. But now that the election is over, and the NBA is no longer gathered in the Disney bubble, Rivers emphasized the importance of coaches and players staying engaged and not backing off any progress made.
"We gotta hold people accountable for some of the promises that were made," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Rivers said he prefers the term "human rights" to "social justice."
"There's some things that just shouldn't happen, you know, because of the color of your skin. That's just a human rights issue. And so we have to keep our eye on the ball," he said.
"We have to stay engaged. The players have to stay engaged. We can't be -- as I told a couple of our players today -- Milli Vanilli. We can be one-hit wonders that aren't true. We have to stay with it and follow through."
Sixers second-year guard/forward Matisse Thybulle carried that message forward in a press conference on Wednesday.
He said the last six months have affected how engaged and outspoken he wants to be on social issues because of the platform he and other players have been given.
"It kind of feels more like an obligation," he said. "It's something obviously I care about and I'm passionate about, but I feel like, being in the position I'm in, ... it's like our duty to stand up for the things that people struggle with, our country struggles with, and I don't know, try to be a voice for those who don't have one."