The Cavs, other non-contenders, return on September 14 under local bubbles

On Tuesday night, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced that they have finalized an agreement on a program for each of the eight NBA teams that did not participate in the resumption of the 2019-20 season to engage in voluntary group workouts at their team facilities while residing in a campus-like environment under controlled conditions. The agreement includes comprehensive health and safety protocols that will govern the program for the benefit of all participating players, coaches and other team staff.

This, of course, means Cavs basketball is back, baby!

Scheduled to take place Sept. 14 – Oct. 6, the program will be implemented in phases. The first phase (Sept. 14-20) will consist of the continuation of voluntary individual workouts at team facilities and the commencement of daily COVID-19 testing for all players and staff planning to participate in group workouts.

The second phase (Sept. 21 – Oct. 6) will consist of group training activities in market, which may include practices, skill or conditioning sessions and intra-squad scrimmages, and the continuation of daily COVID-19 testing. For this phase, each team will create its own campus-like environment in its home city. The “campus” will include the team’s facilities and private living accommodations for all participating players and team staff. To participate in group training activities, players and team staff must remain on the campus.

Player participation in individual and group workouts and training activities is voluntary. In addition to players under contract with the team, each of the eight teams may also include in the program up to five players who are not currently under an NBA contract, but who were under an NBA G League contract and assigned to the team’s NBA G League affiliate during the 2019-20 season.

For the Cavs, this means they won’t have to wait nearly 9 months to resume actual basketball activity. This is huge for the continued development of Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., Collin Sexton, and Cedi Osman. It also allows the team to introduce Dylan Windler into the frey after John Beilein broke him. This bubble camp also benefits Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who only has eleven games under his belt after taking over for Beilein and allows him to shape the roster in his vision. After this two week period, the Cavs can then focus on their next training camp and their quest to again reach the Eastern Conference Playoffs.