[Sports] Cavs Preach Personal Responsibility, Safety with COVID-19

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Cavs preach personal responsibility, safety with COVID-19 as NBA season set to begin

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL | 3 MONTHS AGO | 4 MINUTES, 27 SECONDS READ

The NBA successfully used a "bubble" to ensure it could safely complete its 2019-2020 playoffs while the COVID-19 pandemic raged. The execution was flawless.

But with the 2020-21 regular season looming, an extended bubble format for that length of time is an impossibility. Instead, it's now as much about personal responsibility and safety as anything else.

Major League Baseball successfully put together a 60-game regular season and an expanded postseason, though it came with some serious schedule shuffling to make it all work after a few outbreaks ran through some teams.

Likewise, the NFL has successfully gone through 12 weeks of the regular season with some schedule shuffling of its own.

In order to make the NBA season work, personal responsibility becomes as important as basketball X's and O's, mimicking the message that came from the Indians and Browns earlier this year.

"I mean, I think that's kind of the largest questions that loom is, right now, we've got 20 people in camp or on the roster. And that's a lot of people that have to be responsible," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said on a Zoom call Saturday. "Not to mention, the 15 coaches and front office folks, as well.

"So I think their concerns that I've heard are just like everybody else's - how do we keep each other safe? And the responsibility that comes with us having to do what's right for an entire group, and not always just thinking about ourselves in that moment."

The NBA released the first half of the 2020-21 schedule on Friday. The league will try to utilize back-to-back home games against the same opponent whenever it can in an effort to cut down on travel and exposure as much as possible.

"As coaches, as front office and staff, we have to show that we're willing to do the same things that we're asking our guys to do," Bickerstaff said. "I believe we have good dudes here who are about the right thing. We have intelligent guys here who understand the magnitude of what we're facing.

"This is not going to be easy by any means. I think baseball has showed us that, football has showed us that, pros and college sports have all showed that this is not going to be easy. But, again, we just have to be as responsible as we can be with the idea of, '[I'm] doing something for the person next to me, the organization and the league as a whole,' and keep that in the back of our mind with every decision that we make." Back at it

For a player like Dylan Windler, it makes the time he can get on the court with the team even more crucial.

Windler was taken with the 26th pick in the 2019 draft but then missed his entire rookie season dealing with a stress fracture in his leg and the complications that came with it.

But now he is in camp, able to participate in full team drills. It's invaluable time for him, as he can't exactly go anywhere else to play because of COVID-19 concerns.

Windler certainly hopes to be able to challenge veteran Cedi Osman and rookie Isaac Okoro for time at the wing, but getting to this point was a mountain already climbed.

"It just makes you appreciate the game more, for me," Windler said on a Zoom call. "Whenever you're without it for a year and a half or so, it's just difficult. So when you finally get it back, obviously it's going to be hard right away, getting right into the mix of things, not playing organized 5-on-5 NBA basketball for a year.

"So, mentally, you just gotta take it step by step. You know you're here for a reason, [so you] just gotta keep improving, keep getting better."

Windler and Okoro have been working out together, teammates in relatively similar positions with Windler missing all of last season. Windler said it's "easy" to play with a guy like Okoro.

"We're kind of a little duo," Windler said. "He's a defense-first guy and he can shoot a little better than people may think. Just continuing to feed him confidence. I know it's hard coming in as a rookie, being that young and stuff, so I'm trying to feed him confidence and just allow him to play the game he plays. It's easy to play around him because he gets in the right spots and [you can] feed off the energy." Quick turnaround

Because of the condensed offseason, free agents around the league didn't have much time to make plans. That goes for Damyean Dotson, who was recently signed by the Cavs.

Dotson signed on a Tuesday and had to travel to Cleveland on a Friday, which just so happened to be Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Dotson got a nice meal in with family and packed his bags. "[It] was pretty quick," Dotson said. "Had to tell my parents and everybody I was leaving on Friday and I think Thanksgiving was Thursday, so it was like a great last supper. Kind of like, 'I'm leaving and I will see y'all when I see y'all.' Kind of quick."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Cavs at www.beaconjournal.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

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INFORMATION BOX

Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift". [Wikipedia]

Kevin DotsonKevin Dotson is an American football offensive guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He played college football at Louisiana. [Wikipedia]

Demar DotsonDemar Dotson is an American football offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Southern Mississippi. [Wikipedia]

Justin BieberJustin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Bieber was signed to RBMG Records in 2008. With Bieber's debut EP My World, released in late 2009, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100. [Wikipedia]

Cedi OsmanCedi Osman is a Turkish-Macedonian professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He plays the small forward position. [Wikipedia]

Jack BlackThomas Jacob "Jack" Black is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his roles in the films High Fidelity, Shallow Hal, School of Rock, King Kong, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, The Holiday, the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Tropic Thunder , Gulliver's Travels, Bernie, Goosebumps, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Jumanji: The Next Level. [Wikipedia]

Elaine PaigeElaine Jill Paige OBE is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16. [Wikipedia]

Dylan WindlerDylan Windler is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Belmont Bruins. [Wikipedia]

ThinisThinis or This was the capital city of the first dynasties of ancient Egypt. Thinis is, as yet, undiscovered but well attested by ancient writers, including the classical historian Manetho, who cites it as the centre of the Thinite Confederacy, a tribal confederation whose leader, Menes, united Egypt and was its first pharaoh. [Wikipedia]