“Are you concerned Nikola Jokic isn’t with the team yet?”
Brandon Ewing (@B_Skip1717): No, I’ll only be concerned if he’s not on the court when the Denver Nuggets scrimmage on July 22nd. At that point, you start to get a little worried, but Jokic’s absence — at the moment — is not a concern to me at all. When the Nuggets big man finally does return to full health, I fully expect him to dominate the NBA bubble and hopefully lead the Nuggets to a deep playoff run.
Ryan Blackburn (@NBABlackburn): Absolutely not. The NBA policy specifically states that any player with a positive COVID-19 test has to travel separate from the main group before undergoing isolation once more. This is a preventative measure, and Jokic and the Nuggets are merely following the rules. Sooner or later, Jokic will be back in the bubble. He means too much for the Nuggets and a lot of money for the league. Everyone wants him there, so he will be back shortly.
Daniel Lewis (@minutemandan): No, because he was asymptomatic. He probably just needs to figure out how to get over to the United States, and he’ll rejoin the team soon. I’m more worried we’ll see another video come out of shirtless Jokic dancing in the woods now that he has already tested positive. Stay safe, Nikola!
Gage Bridgford (@GbridgfordNFL): I’m not concerned because, as Dan said, he was asymptomatic, and he’s waiting to be completely cleared to be able to travel with the team. Unless news starts coming out that he’s dealing with symptoms or has another positive test, I have zero concern that he won’t be able to rejoin the team.
“What did you make of Troy Daniels’ dinner on the first night of hotel isolation?”
Ewing: I thought it didn’t look terrible, but it also looked like something I’d eat back when I was in college. Find all the cheap items in the store and hope it fills you up enough until you get your next meal, which is likely to be something similar. I’m sure the food options will get better over time and the Nuggets certainly hope that’s the case since they plan on being in Orlando for awhile.
Blackburn: Given that we found out after the fact that there were additional pieces to the meal, any answer here has to come with the caveat that we aren’t seeing the full picture; however, the picture we did get wasn’t great. Food packaged individually rather than appearing on a plate together automatically looks less appetizing, and the styrofoam didn’t help matters. The food will eventually move to something more appealing, but until then, those in the bubble will have to take what they can get.
Lewis: We need actual basketball to start as soon as possible. I just ate a brownie even though I found a hair in it. My tolerance level for food that has been given to me at no charge is like ISS-orbiting-the-earth-high. Unless it’s kale – I’d rather die.
Bridgford: I don’t know what all the surprise was about personally. Anyone that was expecting the players to roll in and have five-star meals like they would normally receive were crazy. They’re having to cook and deliver hundreds of meals all at the same time. It’s not going to be overly luxurious. As Ryan said, we found out that there was more food that went along with the meal, but it’s still not a great look. The tray made it look like something out of a college mess hall, but I expect it to improve as they get the kinks worked out of the system.
“If you could bring one thing to your quarantine hotel room, what would you bring?”
Ewing: I would bring my dog Kovu because he’s the best company around. I would have said Caitlin — love you sweetie — but I don’t think brining another human into the bubble would be a great idea. With Kovu, I would have an awesome companion to come home to every night and it would take the loneliness aspect out of the bubble. Shoutout to Kovu, the G.O.A.T!
Blackburn: I’m definitely bringing my computer, but outside of the mandatory stuff, I’m bringing my Xbox One and hoping it magically turns into a PlayStation 4 with all of the exclusives available.
Lewis: I’m going with a material thing, because people aren’t things (I love my family, I swear), and that material thing would probably be an Xbox. How many Call of Duty games have they put out now? Twelve? I’m sure I could pick up the new maps pretty quickly.
Bridgford: Shoutout to Brandon for wrecking my dog pick. I’m bringing my computer. It gives me access to everything on the internet I need such as movies, games and other forms of entertainment. I can still communicate with everyone that’s outside of the bubble using social media, Skype, Zoom or whatever. That makes it the pretty easy call for me.
