Marcus Smart – NBA Bubble Was a Blessing

Upon entering the NBA’s Orlando ‘bubble, Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart admits he was ‘ready for it to suck’.

The Boston Celtics went as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they lost to eventual finalists the Miami Heat.

The isolation of the postseason had some unexpected benefits, Marcus Smart wrote in the Players Tribune.

“Not the food, necessarily, or the atmosphere, or us not winning the whole thing in the end, but just the actual bubble part of it — the quiet.”

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“After only four or five days down in Orlando, I realized that the bubble was a blessing because it gave me the opportunity for some genuine downtime.

“Lots of stuff I had to worry about before — family drama, promotional stuff, places I had to be at such and such time — that was all out the window. I could actually just sit there alone and….Think!

“And it may sound corny or whatever, but over those few months, I was really able to step back and take some time to learn more about myself — what I truly care about, what matters most to me.”

It wasn’t the same for everybody. Eventual champion LeBron James admitted many times that he struggled with the environment. LeBron said that being removed from his usual game routine was affecting him mentally. 

However, the downtime afforded to players wasn’t the only unintended positive of the bubble.

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Several coaches and General Managers found that the lack of air travel improved recovery and performance. So much so that Adam Silver said that reduced travel is something the league will take into consideration in the future. We will – hopefully – never see the likes of the bubble again. However, it’s legacy could live on permanently in the NBA.