BRADENTON, Fla. – The Cleveland Cavaliers were hitting golf balls into a lake and some people couldn't figure out why. Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat played dominoes in the Bahamas until the wee hours of the morning. The Golden State Warriors sprawled out on a Hawaiian lawn for some morning yoga.
No, NBA training camps are not all about basketball.
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With about half the league going on the road for at least part of their training camps that started this week — destinations include the Bahamas, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Nashville and Montreal — it can seem like the first few days of the season have a vacation feel to them. Hard work in the gym is happening, of course, but teams obviously are seeing value in bonding and experiences off the court as well.
“I was honestly sick of traveling from the summer," Warriors guard Stephen Curry, part of the team that won gold for the U.S. this summer at the Paris Olympics and then spent time last month in China, said after he got to Hawaii. “But this is not a bad vibe, for sure.”
Sentiments like those are being heard in plenty of NBA camps this week — whether it was after the Warriors did yoga to start a morning, some members of Cleveland's camp got some fishing in or after Boston and Denver got settled in Abu Dhabi for preseason games this weekend.
The Cavaliers, who are in Bradenton on Florida's Gulf coast for camp, have four courts and tons of amenities available to them for practices at IMG Academy — a sports training high school. But being at a posh Florida resort also gives the Cavs the opportunity for things like team meals outdoors, including one where passers-by wondered why players were splashing golf balls into the water. (The golf balls were biodegradable, with no harmful effect on the environment or marine life.)
“We're obviously working, working hard, but doing a lot of team-building stuff,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It's been really cool.”
The Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers are in Hawaii. Miami and Philadelphia are training a few miles apart in the Bahamas, at different resorts. Dallas headed to Las Vegas for a few days at UNLV. Toronto went to Montreal, where the Raptors will eventually be joined by Washington for a preseason game. Memphis and New Orleans both went to Nashville.
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse’s hat this week has the image of palm trees embroidered on the side, a nod to the tropics. It seems entirely possible that those are the only palm trees he's seen so far this week; it's no vacation for him.
“We really like to just get out and get away and get on our own. That's the big thing,” Nurse said. “I think the Bahamas had been on the radar for a few years in the organization and it was the turn to come here. The main thing is, ‘Can we get away? Can we get a great facility where people are really going to welcome us and give us everything we need?’ ... I haven't done anything except go back to my room and do stuff. I haven't even walked outside yet.”
Milwaukee is having camp in California — it was something coach Doc Rivers started planning shortly after he took the Bucks job midway through last season — and Brooklyn will have the second half of its camp out there as well. New York went to South Carolina, while Atlanta and Charlotte both hit the road but kept it drivable; the Hawks went to Georgia's campus in Athens, the Hornets went a couple hours away to Duke.
“Sometimes it’s just good to be somewhere else,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. "There’s no magic other than the fact that you get a chance to be together and have kind of a change of scenery.”
The Heat have been in the Bahamas for camp multiple times and this year, that meant Butler got to be in three countries, on two continents, in the same day. Travel issues kept him from leaving France — the last stop of his summer journeys — until Monday morning, but he got to Miami that afternoon for medical tests and other duties, then made it to the Bahamas that night.
Evidently, all that travel didn't tire him out. He said he didn't go to bed Monday night (or Tuesday morning) until 4 a.m. because he was playing dominoes, a game he is openly and happily obsessed with.
“The people are so great here,” Butler said. “The food, the cuisine, off the charts. They play dominoes at a high level. ... And I won.”
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