For close to three months since the coronavirus pandemic hit the US, the NBA season has been on pause. With hopes of the season finally starting back up in Orlando, teams are excited to get back on the court. In a recent interview with Jim Sann, my uncle and an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors, Jim reflected on the Raptor’s experience in quarantine and how coaches and players have tried to make the most of this unprecedented situation.
The Raptors were the last team to play the Utah Jazz just before the first player in the NBA, Rudy Gobert of the Jazz, tested positive for Covid-19. After receiving the news, members of the Raptors were sent to the hospital in Toronto for testing, and afterwards to quarantine for 14 days. Thankfully, no one in the Raptors organization tested positive. But suddenly, the NBA season was put on an indefinite pause by the league. Sann explained that while there have been game stoppages in the past due to labor disputes and strikes, this hiatus felt different as it came so unexpectedly and there was no visibility on how long it would last and whether the current season would restart. This left the coaches with the challenge of how to try to spend the time productively. The Raptor’s coaching staff discussed how to move forward without the ability to have players in the gym or together both during the quarantine and afterwards with social distancing guidelines. Sann describes the essential challenge, “How do we keep our players engaged so that if the season restarts we are in an advantaged position?”
One strategy employed to keep the players focussed was to assign a couple of players for each coach to keep in touch with regularly. Sann was assigned two players, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam, for which he sends game film to discuss ways in which they can improve and what adjustments they can make. Sann states, “Even though they could not be on the court and we could not be around them, this allowed us to keep our players improving their games during the hiatus.” Sann emphasized, “For the first time in their lives, players have not been able to just go to a gym, pick up a ball, and work out. Most of our players have not shot a basketball in over two months and that is really hard for them.” Like the coaches, the players have also had to get very creative during this quarantine to remain mentally focussed, but for them it also involves staying in top physical shape. With around half of the players in Toronto and the other half back home in the United States, they have had to essentially turn their living rooms into their gym.
When the season was first put on pause, the team delivered all players an exercise bike, dumbbells, kettlebells, and other exercise equipment. The players were also sent basketballs to perform dribbling drills. Three times a week the players have a zoom call with the team’s strength coaches, who put them through workouts in their home gyms. Overall, these efforts have enabled the players to maintain strength and agility and stay in good cardiovascular health. Jim stresses that the creativity that has been involved in keeping the players in shape is important so that when the season does come back, the players avoid injuries and are ready for the physical challenge of professional basketball.
For coaches, there is not a lot of time off even when the team is not playing in the off-season. A silver lining of the hiatus has been the extra time to focus on the coaches own development. Jim explains, “We tried to use this time for professional development, meaning to get better at our jobs as coaches. I have time now to really think about how I want to coach my players without the distractions of practice, games and always having to catch a plane. The schedule during the season is so crazy that you have very little time to focus on yourself because the focus is always on your players. So that has been a positive, and it has also forced me to be very creative on how I go about communication and teaching remotely.”
Assistant coaches were also given projects by the head coach, Nick Nurse. For example, one task Jim was assigned was to study both successful and unsuccessful strategies of other teams that have come back from previous stoppages. Sann has also used time during the quarantine to speak to other coaches in the league to trade ideas on what they do with their players. Sann adds that, “This gives me an opportunity to learn more about the profession and new ideas that I may want to try with my players.”
Currently on a limited basis NBA practice facilities are allowed to open. For the Toronto Raptors, one player can be in the building with one coach, who has to wear a mask and gloves, and the two have to social distance. “It’s not ideal, because there’s usually at least two coaches with every player, sometimes three, but it is a step in the right direction and that’s where we’re at right now, trying to adjust the workouts so that one coach can handle it with one player.”
And, with new hopes for the season starting back up in Orlando, both the coaches and players on the Toronto Raptors are looking forward to the future.
