Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat have game plan in place
Screenings are complete and workouts resume Wednesday
Because it is the Miami Heat, even the informal, optional, voluntary workouts amid the NBA shutdown are meticulously planned.
So starting Wednesday, those who opt to participate in the team’s reopening of the training facilities at AmericanAirlines Arena have been given schedules for their report times, for what the team has decided will be three such sessions per week.
Fourteen of the 17 players under contract are in South Florida and available to participate, a group that includes two-way players Kyle Alexander and Gabe Vincent.
Forwards Jimmy Butler, Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill remain away from the team, in California, awaiting greater clarity on the league’s overall plans.
The NBA currently is limiting the sessions to four players in a team’s practice facility at a time, each working with a personally designated ball and a coach spaced at least 12 feet away while wearing gloves and a mask.
The league is allowing the sessions where permitted by local government ordinance, with Miami-Dade officially granting such clearance last week.
The Heat already have conducted prescreening tests with the players participating, including antibody tests but not COVID-19 tests, with the local supply not considered ample enough for such usage. Temperature checks will be mandatory in advance of participation, as will quarantine for players returning from beyond South Florida.
The NBA has stressed that the sessions are voluntary, with the league still
expected to hold extended training camps, likely in the three-week range, before any potential resumption of play.
The NBA has been idle since March 11 because of the coronavirus outbreak, with practice facilities closing the following week.
Last Friday was the first day the NBA permitted teams to reopen training facilities, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers doing so that day. Several other teams have joined in the process, although the majority of the league’s teams remain with their practice facilities shuttered.
Like other teams, the Heat are not expected to release lists of those who participate, with the sessions of other teams featuring reduced attendance in ensuing days after opening. Scrimmaging and group play is prohibited during the sessions.
Nonessential parts of the team facilities, such as the locker room, remain closed, with players not allowed to shower at the arena after their workout sessions. Players also are asked to continue to refrain from utilizing public workout facilities such as gyms and health clubs.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, by NBA rule, is not allowed to attend or view the sessions, but his assistants can participate, as can members of the Heat training and conditioning staffs. Heat trainer Jay Sabol has been designated as facility hygiene officer by the team to implement, oversee and maintain the league’s disinfecting standards at the practice court, which sits along Biscayne Bay, to the east of the arena bowl.
The Heat already have been conducting conditioning sessions by video conference, led by strength coach Eric Foran.
Commissioner Adam Silver told players last week that no return plans have been put in place, with the league possibly going into June before such a decision.
Any NBA return this season is expected to occur at a neutral site, in the absence of fans.