On Tuesday night, the NBA and NBPA announced that they reached an agreement that will allow the eight teams left out of the Orlando bubble to conduct voluntary group workouts as soon as September.
Several franchises have continued to call for some kind of formal group activity to help slightly make up for the “competitive disadvantage” created by the initial restart plan. And as plans for a second bubble crumbled over the past couple of months (rightfully so), the idea of in-market bubbling seemed to stand out as the appropriate alternative.
According the a split press release, teams will be able to hold these voluntary activities at their local facilities from September 14th to October 6th. The concept is to create an in-market bubble, where the league will provide alternative housing to the players and team personnel involved. Of course, everyone will be tested daily.
Bulls have some group workouts coming. Here’s announcement from NBA/NBPA: pic.twitter.com/EFWqDHY4jR
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) August 19, 2020
NBA and NBPA essentially forming in-market bubbles for the eight non-restart teams, Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, sources say.
Phase 1: Sept. 14-20: Testing begins, individual workouts
Phase 2: Sept. 21-Oct. 6: Group training in campus setting; private living accommodations for all. https://t.co/774ZkM0xVz— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 19, 2020
Arturas Karnisovas has been plenty vocal about his desire for the league to pass some kind of resolution on this front and now he gets his wish. The Bulls new front-office leader has yet to see the team altogether and in action, as players have only been able to practice individually thus far.
The Bulls new front office can now use this time to further evaluate talent and establish a new culture. Not to mention, this could now create an incentive for Karnisovas to light a candle under his coaching search. While I’m completely fine with him taking his time on this one, it would certainly be advantageous to have the Bulls new head coach in the building for these OTAs. A new coach could get a head start on implementing his system, and I think we can all agree the more time he has to work with this roster ahead of the 2020-21 season, the better (Michael: Maybe Karnisovas knew this was coming and it lit a fire under him with respect to Jim Boylen?).
I’m sure we’ll talk more about this in bullets tomorrow, but I’m very happy to hear these guys can get back on the court soon.