Through two weeks, we've learned a few things, none of which make it look like the playoff races will be any less crowded than we thought before the season.
It's too soon to tell. A five game winning streak could move a team 3 or 4 spots. We still don't have enough data on how the scheduling is affecting competion: does playing the same team two games in a row negate home court advantage? Also there are 10 fewer games - would those 10 games have allowed a team to make up ground in a tight race?
What about injuries and trades? Will the gap in time off for last year's playoff teams versus the extended rest of the bubble teams make a difference? How will rotations be affected: stretch to 10 or 12 man rotations to preserve player health? Or schedule preventative maintenance to give veterans 7 to 10 days to recuperate?
The first 10 maybe even 15 games in a season like this are not enough to identify playoff candidates beyond extreme records. It will probably take 20 - 24 games to really separate the upper echelon of teams from those with no shot at all.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have attained Covid Parity!!
It's too soon to tell. A five game winning streak could move a team 3 or 4 spots. We still don't have enough data on how the scheduling is affecting competion: does playing the same team two games in a row negate home court advantage? Also there are 10 fewer games - would those 10 games have allowed a team to make up ground in a tight race?
What about injuries and trades? Will the gap in time off for last year's playoff teams versus the extended rest of the bubble teams make a difference? How will rotations be affected: stretch to 10 or 12 man rotations to preserve player health? Or schedule preventative maintenance to give veterans 7 to 10 days to recuperate?
The first 10 maybe even 15 games in a season like this are not enough to identify playoff candidates beyond extreme records. It will probably take 20 - 24 games to really separate the upper echelon of teams from those with no shot at all.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have attained Covid Parity!!