“Nothing mimics NBA basketball except NBA basketball. Everybody’s going to lose that conditioning.”
Drew Hanlen, trainer to stats like Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and Bradley Beal received a flood of messages from players seeking answers immediately following the NBA season’s Covid-19-related suspension.
“I had to call them all back,” laughed Hanlen. “And they all asked the same question:
“‘How do we handle this break?'”
Of course, this has been a huge adjustment for the players. No longer do they have access to their team facilities, equipped with coaches, trainers, top-tier basketball courts and the industry’s best equipment.
So what do the players do now to maintain their physical fitness and skills during quarantine, at a level they’re accustomed to — and with no yet decided NBA return date in mind?
“The tough part is what you don’t know,” said Keith Jones, senior vice president of operations for the Houston Rockets and longtime trainer.
“You don’t know how long the runway is going to be before you’re full speed. A process that took 10 weeks [at the end of the offseason to ramp up to the regular season] might be compressed into 10 days. Getting their bodies conditioned to play again, we’re going to need some time.
“Nothing mimics NBA basketball except NBA basketball. Everybody’s going to lose that conditioning.”
Things will certainly feel a little different for the players once they return to the NBA courts, predicted to be in mid-to-late June as a best-case scenario.
But one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be getting through this together.
Sources: ESPN, NBA
