With the NBA implementing stricter health and safety guidelines amid a series of positive coronavirus tests and close contacts, Oklahoma City Thunder guard George Hill questioned some of the logic behind the protocols after the 112 home defeat -102 for the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
“We want to play the game … but I don’t understand some of the rules,” said Hill. “We can sweat 48 minutes with a guy by our side for 48 minutes, but we can’t talk to them afterwards. It doesn’t make sense.”
Within the improved rules, pre-game and post-game interactions with opposing players are limited to elbow or fist strokes only, with “prolonged socialization” to be avoided. Which means that no postgame will reach a former teammate or friend, previously a standard practice after games.
Also in the new guidelines: hotel rooms are now closed to guests who are not part of the team on the road. Along with this, the movement of players and staff is limited on the road, both of which are now prohibited from leaving the hotel for outside team activities. Previously, players were allowed two guests in their rooms, including family and longtime personal friends.
“I am an adult man. I will do what I want to do. If I want to see my family, I will see my family,” said Hill. “They can’t tell me that I have to stay in a room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If it’s so serious, then maybe we shouldn’t be playing. But it’s life; no one will be able to cancel a lifetime for this games. “
The NBA postponed four games this week because of problems with the COVID-19, including three that involved the Boston Celtics. Along with the Celtics, the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls are all dealing with significant problems in allocating the required eight players due to positive tests and contact tracking.
Players must now also wear a mask whenever they are not playing. There is a brief “cool down” period in an area designated for when they have just left the game, but masks are required on the bench and in the locker room.
“It is what is needed and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of this COVID thing,” said guard Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “If that means I have to wear a mask on the bench all the time, it is what I am and I will do it. I want to get back to normal life, and whatever it takes to get back, I am going to do it.”