DeMar DeRozan has admitted he’s not happy with the rules the NBA’s set for the bubble in Orlando.
Teams and players received a 113-page health and safety handbook from the league last month which outlines protocols, such as social distancing outside of games and practices. The way DeRozan sees it, the rules are pretty ridiculous given that players can basically do everything they would in a normal basketball setting, such as go body to body when defending, scrapping for loose balls and setting screens, yet they can’t play doubles in a game of ping pong.
“The ping pong thing is ridiculous, to be honest,” the San Antonio Spurs guard said via ESPN on Thursday. “Guys can’t do this, but we can do this and battle over each other? That part just don’t make no sense to me. I got through 10 lines of the handbook and just put it down because it became so frustrating and overwhelming at times, because you just never thought you’d be in a situation of something like this. So it’s hard to process at times.”
DeRozan’s point is well taken. While the NBA is understandably planning to do everything it can to minimise the threat of players contracting and spreading COVID-19, players are going to Orlando to be situations where the closest possible contact is going to be made. An earlier report claims nine more players tested positive for the respiratory disease late last month.
DeMar DeRozan helped the Spurs to a position where they’re within a long shot of qualifying for the playoffs and it will be interesting to see how they perform relative to the other teams vying for that last spot in the West.
For the time being, he’s pretty sick of that health and safety manual.
