 Welcome back to yes, we're here with me today teammate Ryan Ruko Ryan great to see you We're gonna talk a little NBA and as we know the league is about to open Facilities with government approval at places that stay-at-home orders have eased. What does that tell you about the state of the game? Well Nancy, you know, I think first and foremost the good thing is that at least it means that you know, we are Seeing the league move in a positive direction, right towards towards basketball. So Is it the ultimate step? No, that will be you know, we actually you know get to see Meaningful games again, or is it as meaningful a step as when we see an outline of a schedule when games will return? No, it's not quite that either, but it is you know, the most I'd say concrete step of Progress that we've had since the season was suspended back on March 11th, so I for from my perspective I think it's a great thing and I also think that the league is still showing appropriate caution As they you know sort of open up incrementally How concerned should we be how concerned do you think teams are about the competitive balance issue? Yeah, that's a really good point Nancy because Obviously, you know in certain cities Where a case totals are significantly lower and the spread is not as rampant The orders and the restrictions are either, you know, not there at all or lessen Compared to say, you know, we live in the tri-state area, right? Where you know, if you're the Knicks or the Nets, you know, you still have much more significant stay-at-home orders than you do in some other places in this country, so You know, I think that it is significant You know from a competitive balance standpoint just as far as access to facilities go But the the thing is like I think we're all sort of understanding that Not everything is going to be on the same level surface playing field that we're used to right the same way that we may have to compromise the amount of games or the you know, the Structure of a postseason or whatever it might be We all get that there are going to be certain compromises made that if everything was normal in the way usually is we wouldn't have to worry about Well, I just look at it in the same game like yes, ideally you would have every single team going back to the practice facilities at the same exact time However, because of the circumstances we're in I think the benefits outweigh the negatives as far as opening up for those You can open up for and you just sort of deal with you know The competitive balance issue it may present and the one other thing I'd say about that Nancy is you know for you know Those places that are opening up. They're still not allowed to have right group activities or you know their entire coaching staff there So it's not as if teams will be running completely organized practices while other you know players have to stay at home on other teams It's more so about just having facilities for individual work So true Ryan, it's very much a learn as we go situation it's going to be that way every step of the way and With the opening so many other questions again, that's to be expected like how many weeks of preparation do guys need How have they been able to maintain preparation? Yeah, those are real legitimate questions I know one of my close friend Sue Bird who was gearing up for the WMBA season She talks about how and we thought her on guess we're here, but she talks about how She has had to play on outdoor courts for the first time and you know She can't even remember how long like you know, just because she's you know needed to you know get her shots up and and And obviously there are a lot of players who are in that situation Of course, you know, there are some players throughout the league who either have indoor courts at their homes Or you know have access to indoor courts nearby that are not shut down facilities They can still access but you know for a lot of people. Yeah, they've had to get incredibly creative with just keeping their game You know up to speed and you know, I think that but you know, the longer we go, you know, the You know more necessary it is to have At least somewhat significant chunk of time for players to ramp back up Especially in the case of the NBA where you know, you might be going right into the playoffs, right? Or you're gonna be just playing a handful of regular season games before you go into the playoffs So I mean, they were already full tilt, you know, three-quarters of the way through the regular season So I do think you're going to need and I think the athletes will be able to give a fair gauge on exactly how much time They'll need but I do think you'll need, you know, a few weeks just to get their bodies In position to play Meaningful games and perhaps like the most meaningful games playoff basketball And the end even play to begin with is to be expected. I don't think that should be too big a level of concern, right? No, I don't think so. I mean because you know what Nancy? I just feel like if you're if you're any of these leagues right now, right? Like you just want to be able to get your sport back on the court or on the field or in the arena, right? like that is the primary focus and Being able to do so and this goes without saying but I'll say it anyway in case anybody thinks of skirting this Being able to do so with health and safety as the first issue in mind, right? Like you have to be able to do it in a way where you feel like health and safety is not compromised Or is such a minimal risk that you and your constituents believe that the reward outweighs that risk And and and then you just want to be able to do it in a way that gives you the closest proximity to the competitive playing field That you normally lay out in a leaves landscape and if that means it looks a little different or it's a little bit You know more compromised than what you're used to I think that's a fair trade For you know players and teams to make just in order to get the sport back Let's dive into some nets talk specifically shall we and Sean Marks Several interviews lately some lengthy ones and of course everyone's going to be asking about Kevin to read and how his progress is Where is he with regard to perhaps coming back? And you know Sean Marks has not closed the door on us seeing KD in action this year Yeah, he he he has not completely closed it, right? So I mean that in itself is definitely an exciting headline for net spans And you know you had you started to hear rumblings Towards the middle of March that Durant was physically ready in back to being Kevin Durant And I think you know it just Given what had happened with Kyrie Irving with his shoulder surgery It just wouldn't have made sense for the nets to throw Kevin back into games. However If Kevin is totally physically ready now and Kyrie is totally physically ready And there's you know, no more added risk of having them back in games. Then I would say yeah, why not do it? You know, um you'd rather uh Perhaps then get a little bit of a runway into next season If they can get on the court plus. Yeah, I mean, you know They're both such dynamic players that all of a sudden what you could accomplish this year Obviously, uh, the ceiling gets pushed up, you know through the sky if they're both on the floor Um, I would say this though one thing. I don't think we keep in mind often enough With this period of time is yes All of a sudden the days and the weeks and the months have gone by since the injuries and and during what we thought was going to be You know the appropriate rehab time before these players would be back But they also have not necessarily had the same access to You know trainers or performance staff or facilities to be able to keep their rehab ramping up as it would have been normally So, you know while the time that's gone by I do think makes it possible that these guys could be back playing And I certainly want to keep that, you know possibility open. Um, and I'm excited about it I also think we have to throw a little cold water on it just to say It's also possible that these guys didn't have the necessary access They needed to keep their rehab on a steady incline Yes, we are in learning mode for sure and Sean marks us also said He doesn't want to put too much pressure on them with regard to having to lead the team either He likes that to be more of a group thing four or five guys showing the way Yeah, and I think that kind of you know, uh, co-aligns with the spurs philosophy, right? Where Sean comes from and and also the culture he's tried to create here in brooklyn I remember, you know, one of the big things for Sean When jeremy lin was the next star and I know jeremy unfortunately did not get on the floreton Although he did play very well when he did In brooklyn, but I remember a big thing for Sean was hey, like I don't want to make every press appearance every, you know Media appearance every pr appearance every community appearance every billboard every article I don't want to make it all jeremy like we need to do this as a team You know when we have a billboard up of brooklyn that's players I want to make sure that there's two or three guys with jeremy when we do that when jeremy goes to an event Because you know, we feel like we need our highest profile, you know, net's player there I want to make sure there's two or three guys with jeremy because I don't want it to be all about him Now obviously kevin doran and kairi Irving are stars of a completely, you know different stratosphere than jeremy lin But I think the point is, you know, the same that you want to sort of Distribute the responsibility Of being a spokesman for the team as much as you possibly can there obviously limits Uh to how much the eighth man can be a spokesman for the team versus, you know You know one of the top players in the league like a kevin doran ken or a kairi irving ken But it helps everybody out Including the culture but also those individuals if you can divvy up the responsibility to at least a certain extent So it's baby steps facilities are starting open. We can't assume kd is coming back But we can enjoy the thought of it, right ryan Absolutely. Hey, nancy. We're looking for as much good news as we can possibly get right now, right? I mean, we will take any little shred of positive evidence out there So just the fact that the door is slightly ajar on that Is exciting and encouraging and something to look forward to and the fact that mba teams are going back to their practice facilities At least, you know, uh, some franchises are is certainly, uh, some positive news as we all are just joneson for some live sports Yes, joneson indeed Great You and the family are safe. See you soon. Thank you. Thank you, nancy. So good to see you as well