The Toronto Raptors don’t know where they’re going but with the season nearing and case counts rising, it’s time to figure it out.
When the NBA governors and the players’ association formally agreed late Monday night to start the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22 — a full month sooner than even the most optimistic projections when the league was trying to finish to 2019-20 season in the bubble on campus at Walt Disney World Resort this past summer — it sent a jolt through the entire league.
All of a sudden there is a target date to focus players in their off-season training; all of a sudden there is a deadline for a to-do list that normally takes months to complete but will need to be checked off in a manner of weeks, days even.
The off-season will unfold like a track meet: the trade moratorium will be lifted shortly before the Nov. 18 draft and free agency negotiations will likely open Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. with signings allowed at 12:01 p.m. on Nov. 22, leaving barely a week for teams to sign players and get them into market for Dec. 1.
For the Raptors there is another significant wrinkle — where is training camp, as in, what country?
That’s the matter with even more urgency than where they’ll be playing in the regular season, although it’s obviously a parallel issue.
“This has to be the week it gets sorted out, timing-wise,” said one source familiar with the issues.
If they’re lucky they’ll be able to get ready for the season in the same place as they’ll be playing when games start for real.
And if they’re really lucky, they’ll be in Toronto.
That remains far-and-away the Raptors’ preferred option, according to multiple sources.
Not only does it get their players in their home market but it means not having to pack up their entire basketball operation for an undetermined length of time — conceivably six months — and it means their non-basketball staff can remain in touch with the team and work at something close to business as usual, not to mention avoiding significant family disruption.
But no one within MLSE — and how the Raptors navigate the next few weeks will be closely watched by the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto FC and MLS — is unaware of the larger context.
With new case counts setting daily records in Ontario it could be difficult for the various levels of government to justify waiving the current 14-day quarantine requirements for inbound travellers from the United States. The Toronto Blue Jays couldn’t get an exemption when the case counts in Toronto were levelling and receding in the summer months, for comparison’s sake. After ‘bubbling up’ for training at Rogers Centre they eventually had to play their season in Buffalo.
But it’s too early to rule out an exemption entirely.
Professional sports have proven a fairly low risk bet when it comes to community safety, and MLSE has played its part.
They were able to open the OVO Centre for individual workouts back in May, followed strict protocols and didn’t report a positive test. In July and August, they hosted 12 NHL teams and roughly 600 personnel and successfully created a bubble that encompassed Hotel X on the CNE grounds, BMO Field, the Royal York Hotel and Scotiabank Arena without recording a single positive test.
The additional tests required to help pull it off were purchased by MLSE and the processing was done at labs outside of Ontario to make sure local capacity wasn’t adversely affected.
“We’ve shown we can do this,” said one MLSE source.
Throw in some of the other examples of corporate citizenship the Raptors and MLSE have taken such as using SBA and BMO Field kitchens to feed frontline workers and contribute to food banks at the peak of the pandemic, not to mention Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s long-standing friendship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and there is a case that the Raptors could get the benefit of the doubt.
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But the Raptors aren’t in a position to cross their fingers and hope for the best.
Toronto may be their preferred option, but it can’t be their only hope.
There have been a number of reports about the Raptors inquiring about potential temporary homes stateside. Some — Louisville and Kansas City, for example — were never seriously, or even briefly, considered.
Among the key criteria for a temporary home is the ease of travel to Eastern Conference cities in what is expected to be a schedule heavily weighted towards in-conference play. The standard of practice and training facilities will also be heavily factored into any decision.
“Those are probably more important than where the games are played,” said one source.
Because the G-League season is uncertain and the Raptors may not have access to their own practice facility, the team is loath to fall behind in terms of player development — one of the franchise’s core principles.
It is interesting to consider reports that came out Monday linking the Raptors to Tampa and Nashville in that context.
There are a couple of plausible venues in the Tampa area that could easily host an NBA team for training purposes, at least.
The University of South Florida is home to the Muma Center, a 51,000 square foot facility that features multiple practice courts, player lounges and a theatre-style film room, among other amenities.
Another possibility is the newly-opened Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus — a 98,000 square foot facility with eight courts in the Tampa suburb of Wesley Chapel.
In Nashville, an intriguing option might be the facilities offered by Vanderbilt University where former Raptors assistant coach and Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse runs the basketball program.
In both Tampa and Nashville there are NHL arenas that can easily support NBA requirements — Amalie Arena is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning and has hosted NCAA Tournament games while Bridgestone Arena in Nashville regularly hosts the SEC tournament.
The dates for the 2020-21 season are now in written in ink and the calendar is advancing with all the subtlety of a high-speed train.
The Raptors know the why and the when but are running out of time to decide the where.
