It took eight weeks of hard slogging in the gym and on the ice before Morgan Rielly finally made it back from a broken foot — to play just one game.
Now it could be much longer down time than that before putting on his Maple Leafs sweater again.
But holed up in his North Vancouver house, Rielly does not consider the recovery period or the unplanned hiatus that’s followed as wasted energy.
“Yes, it was terribly long trying to heal, to keep yourself in shape,” he said Thursday on a conference call with Toronto media. “Eight weeks goes by and to come back and play one (game) is certainly not ideal. When you’re training at the gym and trying to get back to play, you’re picturing 12, 13 games and playoffs, not taking a pause again.
“But in that same breath, if I hadn’t came back and still hadn’t played since Jan. 12, I think it would’ve made things worse.
“You have to take the positives. I came back, played and we won (2-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, just before COVID-19 put the NHL on hold). Look at the big picture, you have to be happy you got one game in. I’d be going crazy if I hadn’t played since early January.”
The 26-year-old defenceman, the rest of the players and team management have slowly de-escalated, respecting that what’s going on around them is far more serious than sports, yet totally out of their element at home this time of year.
You can bet Pascal Siakam didn’t spend his 26th birthday the way he wanted to or has in the past. Siakam, a noted gym rat who likes nothing better than working on his game, would, in normal times, have been getting a few shots up at the Raptors practice facility on the bridge day between…
ou can bet Pascal Siakam didn’t spend his 26th birthday the way he wanted to or has in the past. Siakam, a noted gym rat who likes nothing better than working on his game, would, in normal times, have been getting a few shots up at the Raptors practice facility on the bridge day between games against NBA-leading Milwaukee, Toronto’s opponent in last year’s Eastern Conference final.
Instead, he was cooped inside like the rest of us. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire world and also put a pause on Siakam’s second straight breakout season. The league’s reigning most improved player took several more steps forward in 2019-20, emerging as Toronto’s top scoring option, as well as an ultra-elite defender.
The good news for Raptors fans is that there is no reason to think he is done improving and he’ll do it in Canada. Siakam signed a long-term, max-deal before the season, which should keep him in Toronto for at least four more years.
“(He’s) somebody we’re definitely going to keep for a long time here,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri had said before the deal was even signed. “And we see what the potential of that could be.” In a recent Instagram Live chat, DeMar DeRozan said Siakam had “the blueprint” to become the greatest Raptor ever in time.
It sounds like Kemba Walker just wants to play. It’s unclear when the NBA season will resume, but several team and league officials told SI.com that any chance of a traditional postseason is out, suggesting this year’s path to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy could get weird. NBC Sports Boston recently floated the idea of…
t sounds like Kemba Walker just wants to play. It’s unclear when the NBA season will resume, but several team and league officials told SI.com that any chance of a traditional postseason is out, suggesting this year’s path to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy could get weird.
NBC Sports Boston recently floated the idea of a single-elimination playoff format — a la the NCAA Tournament — to Walker, and the Celtics point guard acknowledged he’s open to such a change.
“I guess I wouldn’t mind it,” Walker said. “I love to hoop. At this point it doesn’t really matter because of the way things went and suddenly the season just got postponed.”
The NBA suspended its season indefinitely on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Several other players since have tested positive, including Celtics guard Marcus Smart, and a dark cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the entire sports landscape as the world fights the coronavirus pandemic.
But sports will return at some point, and the hope is the NBA will be able to salvage its 2019-20 campaign, even if that requires radical changes to the usual postseason format. If nothing else, a one-and-done tourney sure would be entertaining, and Walker already knows a thing or two about thriving under such conditions, having won a national championship with UConn in 2011.
“It would be fun,” Walker told NBC Sports Boston. “It would be different.”
The Celtics (43-21) currently sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, trailing just the Milwaukee Bucks (53-12) and Toronto Raptors (46-18). All three teams have clinched playoff spots. Walker, an All-Star in his first season with the Celtics, also told NBC Sports Boston he’s “doing well” with his lingering knee issue during the current sports pause. More Celtics: How C’s Staff Prepares For NBA
Philadelphia 76ers center Al Horford reportedly is the latest professional athlete to pitch in for coronavirus relief, and he’s spreading his generosity all over, including Boston. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the former Celtics center is donating $500 thousand to fight the pandemic in his native Dominican Republic, along with every region in which…
Philadelphia 76ers center Al Horford reportedly is the latest professional athlete to pitch in for coronavirus relief, and he’s spreading his generosity all over, including Boston.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the former Celtics center is donating $500 thousand to fight the pandemic in his native Dominican Republic, along with every region in which he has played basketball.
Those places include Michigan where he played in high school, his college town of Gainsville, Fla., and his NBA stops in Atlanta, Boston and Philadelphia. Horford is one of the many athletes to help out amid concerns of the outbreak, with Kevin Love among the participants, and teams and entire leagues have stepped up as well.
Thursday it was also reported that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft bought and helped transport protective N95 masks to the United States using the team plane, and former Patriots tight end Rob Grownkowski donated masks to Boston Medical Center.
Marshall Leonard remains a capable defender in his new career. The former New England Revolution defender, who now works as an emergency-room doctor in New York City, delivered a gripping message to athletes Wednesday night during his appearance on on ESPN’s “SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt.” After acknowledging the paralyzing uncertainty many athletes feel as…
Marshall Leonard remains a capable defender in his new career. The former New England Revolution defender, who now works as an emergency-room doctor in New York City, delivered a gripping message to athletes Wednesday night during his appearance on on ESPN’s “SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt.” After acknowledging the paralyzing uncertainty many athletes feel as they wait to wait to resume play amid the coronavirus outbreak, Leonard explained to them why it’s so important for them to do whatever it takes to stay in shape. “… I’m a sports fan, I was an athlete previously before, and all the health care providers we’re missing sports just like everybody else,” Leonard said. “As an athlete, I can’t imagine not having a season all of a sudden. One day you wake up and you can’t finish out a championship, you worked so hard for that. “We’re not able to watch it on tv (as healthcare workers). That (used to) give us a lot of relaxation, we come back from a hard shift, we sit back and watch a game. I know I do, and I know a lot of my colleagues do. “… (athletes should) Use this time — and I know it’s completely awkward — use this time to keep yourself in whatever shape possible because when this is done, I’m telling you right now, we need you. We’re doing our thing now but after this we’re going to need you because we’re going to want to watch those games at a high level as well.” These words undoubtedly will resonate with players and fans alike during these unsettling times. Leonard played 63 games for the Revolution between 2002 and 2007. He helped New England win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2007 and finish runner-up in the MLS Cup final in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Anyone who has spent any time around Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri, knows his approach to a task. It’s identify the goal, get an understanding of the task at hand to the fullest, and then go at it with everything you have. It’s the kind of approach that landed the Raptors Kawhi Leonard for a season and ultimately pushed the franchise to an NBA championship. And while that approach applies to the basketball team he oversees, it also applies to everything else in his life. So it’s really not a surprise that in a 30-minute or so call with the media that covered his team, Ujiri had little to say about anything basketball related. As close as the game is to his heart, right now it’s just not uppermost of mind. His focus is on the current pandemic, just like it would be if the task in front of him were a Game 7, he wants a win. Typical of most of his responses was this one to a question about using this down time in his basketball work to perhaps address his own extension with the Raptors or even that of head coach Nick Nurse. “No, to be fair that’s not where our minds are at right now,” Ujiri said. “Me certainly, this is a crucial time I think for the world and those things will come,” Ujiri said. “I’m fine. We’re fine. Honestly those are the last things on my mind. I miss the game. I miss basketball. But I have concerns for my team, concerns for my family, and concerns for the world. I have concerns about this pandemic and how we beat it, how we fight it. We have to win this one. In the business of basketball, that one (a contract extension for Ujiri) is the last (concern).” Rather than stalking the next draft pick and doing his normally thorough due diligence on a player which is what he would usually be doing this time of year, Ujiri joked he’s spending his time stalking Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has had his hands full correcting the always-challenged president of the United States on the subject of the coronavirus. Even the question of whether or not Ujiri thought the NBA season could be salvaged and if so what that might look like was quickly brought back to the real crisis we’re all now facing. “I’m hoping (the season can be salvaged),” Ujiri said. “That’s all of our hope. We love our game and we love what we do. Honestly, for now, I think we salvage the NBA season is by abiding by the rules and doing everything that we have to do as people, as a community, everything we possibly can. This is not about the NBA, NBA players, NBA fans. It’s about the whole world. “This is something that hit globally,” Ujiri said. “This is not an earthquake that hit in only one part of the world or a disease that is only in another part of the world or a tsunami — pardon me for mentioning all of these things. But this is affecting the whole world. We can want to plan the NBA all we want, and (want) it to come back all we want. Because it affects the whole world, something is going to stall that one way or the other, because we have not played by the rules.” None of this is to say that Ujiri is ignoring his responsibilities as the president and CEO of the Raptors. He spends his days in his home on the phone — web calls, video calls with his players, with his management team, with other team heads and NBA front office types ensuring the people in his care are first of all healthy and the game he loves remains functioning. Then there are calls with various heads of state around the world ensuring his Giants of Africa interests and his work with Basketball Without Borders doesn’t fall by the wayside while the world deals with his pandemic. It’s a lot and it’s time consuming and to hear Ujiri tell it, it’s all just a little too much all at once. But he soldiers on and does what he can to keep the people he lives with, the people he works with and the game he loves in as good a position as it can possibly be in these trying times. And then just when you start to feel it might all be a little overwhelming for a man who does not get overwhelmed, Ujrii finds a silver lining in all of it. “It’s been a lot but it’s also been good to be able to go between phone calls to do my daughter’s homework with her or play with my son, you know, or spend time with the family,” he said. And just like that he makes you feel a little bit better about our irregular lives during these pandemic days. DIFFERENT TIMES If you’re sitting at home unsure even what day it is, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. “I’ve lost where the other world is,” Raptors president and CEO Masai Ujiri said when asked what he would be doing on April 1st in more normal times. “I’m so into this (pandemic) world right now and trying to adjust,’ he said. “April 1? I think, I might be wrong, but this might be time when (Raptors director of player personnel and assisant GM) Dan Tolzman is dragging me to the McDonald’s game and the Hoop Summit might be coming up now. “I think that these are the times when those (games) come up and we kind of start to round up our outside scouting,” Ujrii said. “It’s also a time we hit Europe, if I remember well. Final Four, we’re getting ready for the combine, those kind of things. Those are not there anymore.” No everyone’s normal is a little off these day. Ujiri was on the road scouting when the Raptors finished up a west-coast road trip in Utah against the Jazz and first official NBA positive test victim Rudy Gobert. Like his team, he came straight home and hasn’t left his house since, except to get tested as all the team did in those earliest of the pandemic days in North America. His days now are one phone call after another after another. At this point the day of the week really is irrelevant.
The Milwaukee Bucks remain confident the coronavirus pandemic won’t put a permanent halt to the season and they’ll get to resume chasing a league title.
MILWAUKEE — The NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks remain confident the coronavirus pandemic won’t put a permanent halt to the season and that they’ll get to resume chasing their first league title in nearly half a century.
The Bucks had a league-best 53-12 record when play was suspended three weeks ago. With Giannis Antetokounmpo having a a potential second straight MVP season, the Bucks seemed poised to make a run at the title that has eluded this franchise since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led them to an NBA championship in 1971.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst thinks they will get that opportunity.
“We believe that we’re going to play,” Horst said Wednesday in a conference call. “Everything that we’re doing every day in our communications, in our preparations, everything we talk about is being prepared to play at some point, finish out the season and have a resumption.”
That’s why Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer has spent part of this hiatus making sure the Bucks don’t lose their edge whenever they do get back on the floor.
He’s been studying the Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets — the Bucks’ two most likely first-round playoff foes — as well as other Eastern Conference teams Milwaukee could see later in the postseason. He’s tried to learn from his experiences as a San Antonio Spurs assistant coach during the NBA’s most recent work stoppages.
“One of my reference points with the coaching staff has been lockouts,” Budenholzer said. “Sometimes when you come out of a lockout, things have been kind of slow, you haven’t been able to maybe do your normal routines and preparation, and things happen really fast. Whether it’s three games in three nights, or playoff series are shorter or the time between the end of the regular season to the first playoff game, everything can be shorter or can happen quicker.’’
His instructions to his players have focused on conditioning while understanding they might not have as much time to spend working on their basketball skills.
“I think that we feel that there are things they can continue to do as far as continuing to stay strong, continuing to maintain a conditioning level and really just put a lot of time and effort and energy into their bodies,” Budenholzer said.
After blowing a 2-0 lead to the eventual league champion Toronto Raptors in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, Milwaukee appeared to have all the elements in place to make a serious championship run this year before the pandemic struck.
The Bucks had just returned from a winless three-game trip west when the hiatus occurred, but that was the first time they had lost as many as two straight contests all season.
Despite their optimism and their confidence that league officials will do what’s best for the safety of everyone, the Bucks realize that play might not resume. However, Budenholzer said they aren’t thinking about what impact canceling the season might have.
“If for some reason this season is not played or there’s nothing to look forward to or to complete, I’ll process it then,” Budenholzer said. “I would add that I don’t think it’s being totally head-in-the-sand. I think hopefully watching news, listening to the commissioner, listening to whether it be Tony Fauci or Dr. (Deborah) Birx or whoever it is, it does feel like there is I think some realistic hope and belief that we will get through this.
“I know that there are some negatives, some less optimistic modeling, but literally all we think about is we are going to play and we want to be the best team when we do play so how do we prepare for that, how do we get better? It’s a great way to get through this.’’
Earlier this week Major League Baseball announced that it will make payments of $400 a week to each minor leaguer through May 31. That’s helpful for minor leaguers who, as everyone knows at this point, mostly live on a shoestring.
Texas Rangers DH/OF Shin-Soo Choo is pitching in with some supplemental help, however, and is going to give each of the 190 players in the Texas Rangers minor league system a check for $1,000. That’s according to South Korean news service Naver Sports. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has confirmed the report.
The horses at the Woodbine Racetrack backstretch will continue to be cared for throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.Woodbine Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it remains committed to stabling horses on its backstretch, even though the start date for the 2020 thoroughbred racing season has been postponed.
“These horses need a home and our land and facilities were created exactly for the purpose of caring for these animals,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of Woodbine Entertainment.“Furthermore, horse people have requested that we keep our backstretch open and we have only done so in accordance with the government deeming stabling an essential business. We have also followed strict government direction to minimize the risk in the spread of COVID-19.”
The Woodbine season was supposed to begin on April 18. No new start date has been announced. To date, there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in the Woodbine backstretch.
Santa Anita will remain closed for racing, at least through the upcoming weekend, as a result of last week’s order by the Los Angeles County Health Department, according to a track press release Tuesday. The $1 million Santa Anita Derby and Santa Anita Oaks, the track’s premier races for 3-year-old colts and fillies, were scheduled for Saturday but will be rescheduled once racing resumes. …
Maple Leafs captain John Tavares has been trying to keep himself occupied at his Toronto home with the National Hockey League season on pause in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but there’s one part of his life that takes precedence.
“I’m just really enjoying spending time with my son,” Tavares said on Monday during a video conference call organized by the NHL. “When you’re travelling through the season, you’re in and out so quickly, you don’t get to experience that consistency.
“Just having that time to be around on a daily basis and be able to help out and spend time with them has been fantastic.”
Tavares and his wife, Aryne, became parents last September with the birth of their son Jace.
During the call — which included fellow Atlantic Division players Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings and Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators — Tavares made it clear he’s not taking the time off from the game for granted.
“With the uncertainty, it’s a good time to disconnect and relax and slowly build yourself back up, as hopefully some positivity comes around the corner,” Tavares said. “The first couple of days I just tried to get an understanding of where things are at and what has hit us. Since then, (you) try to develop some type of structure to create some normalcy.”
No one has a true idea of when we’re going to see professional athletes back on the job, never mind those in the NHL, but that wasn’t at the forefront for the players on the call.
For Tavares, it was about recognizing those he knows in New York from his days as an Islander, as well as Leafs fans.
That the Leafs were inching their way toward clinching a playoff berth when the NHL went on pause doesn’t matter a heck of a lot now.
“I know a few people who are right in the fire of it, and seeing how it’s spreading and really making the impact that it is in New York, I really hope everyone there is staying safe and following the health recommendations,” Tavares said. “Whether it’s former teammates, staff and people I know very well, the fans down there, people I interacted with there, I wish all the best to them and hope it can get better.
“In Toronto, we certainly miss playing in front of our fans and going to Scotiabank Arena and competing to play in the playoffs and the opportunity that we had in front of us.
“It’s a really special thing to be a Maple Leaf, and we never take that for granted and miss it. People have been really good in my area understanding (to follow the advice of local authorities and health professionals), we’re all here supporting each other, helping each other to do the best we can to get this back to normal as quickly as possible and (to) help everyone on the front line who are making a lot of sacrifices to keep everyone safe.”
There was some levity during the call. Chara got a laugh when he said that Tuukka Rask would be the teammate he would least want to be quarantined with because of Rask’s flatulence issues.
If he had to pick a teammate to be in quarantine with, Tavares said it would be Mitch Marner or Justin Holl.
“The type of energy they bring around the locker room, how much fun they have every day is something anyone would enjoy,” Tavares said. “Two guys who are a lot of fun to be around.”
Who among teammates is Tavares glad he is not in quarantine with?
“Good question … can’t think of anyone right off the top of my head,” Tavares said.
Among the way the Leafs are keeping in touch with each other is via group chat.
“We can’t leave each other too long without giving it to one another,” Tavares said. “You miss being around the guys.”
Unlike many, Tavares hasn’t been glued to Netflix to watch the documentary Tiger King, though his wife has been watching it and the small bits Tavares has seen are “pretty mind-boggling.”
If Tavares could have one album to listen to during the time at home?
“I like a lot of 90s stuff, so whether it would be Dave Matthews Band or Goo Goo Dolls or U2, something like that,” Tavares said.
We’re in the midst of unprecedented times. So, with the NBA doing everything it can to try to salvage its season, while still attempting to do so with a sense of normalcy, the league could look to a familiar location. CNBC’s Jabari Young reported last week the league could venture to Las Vegas and thus accomplish both.…
NBA Rumors: Las Vegas Has Emerged As ‘Best Location’ If League Returns — NESN.com We’re in the midst of unprecedented times. So, with the NBA doing everything it can to try to salvage its season, while still attempting to do so with a sense of normalcy, the league could look to a familiar location. CNBC’s Jabari Young reported the league could venture to Las Vegas and thus accomplish both. “According to NBA executives and agents who discussed the matter with CNBC on condition of anonymity, the league remains focused on a return after suspending operations following Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. Las Vegas has emerged as the best location to resume the season, according to league executives,” Young wrote Thursday. Why Las Vegas? The NBA has held summer league tournaments on the campus of UNLV. Over the past two years, all 30 NBA teams have participated, which depicts how organizations have found ways to play at one central, and determined, location. CNBC added how the decision could help the NBA “retain some of its revenue domestically and perhaps in China,” which The Washington Post reported could cost the league $1 billion. An NBA spokesperson told CNBC the league has “considered many scenarios,” but it is not close to unveiling a plan yet. NBA commissioner Adam Silver had previously said he’s ‘optimistic,’ but added that he didn’t have a good sense for how long it could be.
The view from left field 