The Miami Heat are probably just as eager to resume play as the fans are to see it happen. Here’s why one potential plan may just mean a ton for them.
The Miami Heat, like all other teams in the National Basketball Association, are probably eagerly waiting on the day when something resembling normalcy returns. They are probably also eagerly following all of the news of when normal activities and sports leagues, including their own, will be able to return.
While that word is yet to concretely emerge, plans and possibilities for the potential return are starting to emerge. While nothing there is concrete either, one of the prevailing thoughts seems to revolve around the notion of sequestering all of the teams and their players in either one or a few places capable of housing them and facilitating the games.
Places like Las Vegas, such as the NBA’s Sumer League setup, have been mentioned, as well as places as beautifully obscure as Nassau, Bahamas. However, the option that has us the most intrigued is the one that would see the league resume play in Orlando, Florida, a place that could present the ultimate home-court advantage for a team like the Miami Heat.
In a piece written for Yahoo Sports by Keith Smith, a former 20 year Walt Disney World employee, he details why it would be the ideal fit. He speaks towards the park’s ability to house the teams, facilitate the games, to create a bubble of protection for the players, the ability to broadcast from the park, the already standing relationship between the NBA and the Disney family of business, and the fact that Florida officials have deemed pro sports “essential”.
Smith made massively convincing arguments and has many points. Here are his final thoughts from the piece.
"While Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Nassau and other cities are solid candidates to host a league like the NBA, none offers what Walt Disney World can, and it can do it all with relative ease.It’s a big task for any one place to pull off, but Walt Disney World has the infrastructure to handle massive events each day because it largely runs as a self-contained city already. To cordon off a section of its property when the resort is already closed isn’t the monumental task it would be for a public property in the middle of a big city.If the NBA is serious about a single-site location to salvage the 2019-20 season, Walt Disney World seems to be the only logical choice — whenever that will be."
Smith is exactly right. Back to the homecourt advantage for the Miami Heat though, it could be a massive win for them.
While home-court has just as much to do with the fans, who has the most of them in the building, and the ambiance of the building, the comfort of playing where you always play has to account for something. You would imagine that this advantage wouldn’t be as great as you would typically imagine an advantage being, because of the lack of ability to allow fans into the building, but it could still have a potential impact.
Regardless of how it happens though, we would like it to happen more sooner than later. We want everyone to remain as safe and healthy as possible too though, and if it takes a little longer to logistically navigate, then so be it. In either scenario though, The Magical World of the NBA seems to be closer to being back than it has been in the last few weeks.