The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - NBA Scorekeeper Kevin Johnson Gives Us A Look In The NBA Bubble

Episode Date: July 14, 2020

NBA Scorekeeper Kevin Johnson Gives Us A Look In The NBA Bubble

Back to Matt Thomas. This is Sports Talk 790. Home of Astros baseball. It is 117 of the Matt Thomas show. I have a very good friend of mine. That is going to be a first-time guest on the show, and he's going to be like our de facto correspondent. He doesn't know this yet, but he is.

Kevin Johnson is the man who sits about three seats from me at Totta Center for Home Games. He keeps the official scorebook. The scoreboard is really cool inside NBA arenas, but nothing is official until Kevin Johnson or anybody else in the NBA puts it in the scorebook. And Kevin has been invited by the NBA to do work on the stack crews during the rest of the NBA season. And he joins us right now from Orlando. KJ, it's Matt.

How are we, thanks, friend. How are you doing, Matt Thomas? Well, I really want to know about you. Explain where you are right this very second. Well, right this minute, I am inside the bubble, but it has been a very fluid situation. As you can imagine, there's been a whole lot of behind-the-scenes planning and changing and things going on. A group of us were flying out on Sunday morning, and we were supposed to fly straight into the bubble and get tested, but on Sunday morning they changed that. and they sent us to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Orlando, which was absolutely fabulous. We all got put up in suites, overlooking the golf course. What? Yeah, it was neat.

So then we get put on a bus and we get taken to a all-site testing facility, and we had to all get negative tests before we were able to come over and enter the bubble. And then we did that process last night. Okay, so you left on Sunday. You go to Waldorf Astoria where they're serving you really good food, I'm assuming, right? Yeah, and it was funny, the Waldorf Astoria was not prepared for us to all be quarantined. So the room service was overwhelmed. We could not go to bar areas or restaurants.

And there was, I don't know if there were any other people in the hotel, but there's probably about, there's 40 with the stats crew. So I would say there's a toll of about 80 to 100. people total. Some people from basketball USA and from other teams that are doing like the ball boys and things like that, the equipment people. So we all kind of ride in the same time. But yeah, we all are told to stay in our room. So we started ordering room service. And room service quickly went from a 15-minute wait to a two-hour wait to get your food and stuff, which it was still fabulous. It was amazing. The staff was just extremely overwhelmed because the NBA, I don't know what had happened. I'm not sure what caused that last minute change.

I mean, the NBA has good reasons for everything they do. So obviously they saw a reason for that to take place. So, yeah, it was a little bit of an adjustment, but, yeah, we all made it through it. Then last night, we check out of the hotel. We get our temperatures taken there if everybody had a negative test, which I don't know anybody that had a positive test. Good. And then we were brought to the bubble.

I'm not going to say which resort we were at, but there's three of them, and I am at the same resort with the rockets and the Mavericks and all those teams. So then we were given our wristbands to show that we are in a seven-day quarantine, and then we were given a wristband to have access to our rooms and stuff like that, and we are in our rooms, and meals get dropped off at 8 in the morning and noon, and I think 5 o'clock for dinner, I'm not sure. And the rooms are pretty much stocked up with everything you would need for about, seven days. But it's a very unusual situation, that's for sure. Visiting with Kevin Johnson

works a stack crew with me at the Rockets Games, and he has been selected by the NBA to work the stack crew for the resumption of games, which obviously will be starting up next week. So when they say seven-day quarantine, basically you get to go outside and walk around a little bit and they have to go right back to your room. Is that accurate? No. We are not supposed to come outside of our rooms at all. We are in. We are in the hotel room. They are doing testing. They will have somebody come in the room and test us, and all of our meals are getting dropped off at the door with a little knock, and you just open up the door and grab them. They've got bags for us to set our laundry outside. They've got

bags for us to set trash outside. But we are not to leave the room at all for the next seven days. Now, I think the players have a little more flexibility than that, and I think they're only quarantine for like two days. But as far as us, and especially us stats guys, we are going to be one of the only few people that have access to the court. We're going to be down there, obviously, at the scorers table. So they are making sure that we are definitely quarantined and tested and everything is clear before we get around the players. All right. I hate to ask this, but could you give us the approximate number of square feet your room is? Oh, I don't know, but it's not as big as the Waldorf.

worry you. So basically, you're in a regular-sized hotel room for seven days. That's right. I've got two queen beds, you know, a decent-sized TV, bedroom. I mean, it's a decent-sized room, and I'm kind of fortunate. Some of my coworkers are looking at a parking lot. I'm actually up on the third floor, and I have two windows. One looks out at the lake, and one looks out at the swimming pool, so I'm okay. But, yeah, some of them are looking at the parking lot, some are looking at other things. It's a huge complex. And there are people that have been here for seven or ten days already, and they're starting to come out of quarantine. But for our group of about 100 that arrived last night, we were just now entering the quarantine.

So day one hasn't been bad. It's just, yeah, I don't know. It's unusual. Let's just say that. Well, you are now our de facto correspondent. Let me ask you this. When you get past this quarantine, how much freedom do you? Not what do you think you'll have.

I mean, will you feel like you can get around comfortably and not feel like what you're going through right now, which is basically in this hotel room exclusively for like seven days? So once the quarantine is over, we still are in a bubble, which is the three facilities. But we can walk around. I actually bought a telescope fishing pole that we can do some fishing. We can do swimming. We can go to a workout facilities that we have here. So once the quarantine is over, we'll be pretty much free to roam the campus as much as we need to.

Again, it's my understanding that we are going to have credentials that have a sensor on them. And when we are within six feet of somebody, that sensor is going to buzz. And if we stay within six feet for a certain period of time or if we walk closer, then the buzz is going to do something different. So they're really trying to keep us separated. And again, I was trying to prepare myself for this wearing a mask around the house the last week or two, especially when I was doing work at home and things like that because wearing a mask, you know, for four, five, six hours a day gets to be a little much. And, of course, when we leave the rooms, we have to have masks all times unless we're outside around the pool area. Will you have to wear a mask on game on the floor of the arena?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, that's another thing, too, because, you know, if you have to wear glasses, there's a couple of older gentlemen. Even myself now, when keeping the book, I wear glasses and keeping those things from fogging up, it is not an easy task. So we've learned a little few cheat things here and there. And the NBA is supposed to be providing all that for us now. We all have our own mask that we brought from home and things like that, but everything is supposed to be provided. But, yeah.

So you tell your wife and your children, hey, dad's going to take off a little trip to Orlando. And you said, I'm gone. You're committed at least, what, about eight weeks, I think, in the very minimum? Yeah, yeah, there was a six to eight-week commitment, and there was a 14-to-16-week commitment. And, you know, I do the All-Star Games. I've done that for 15 years, so I was talking with people a little higher up to kind of work this out. And it's really just, hey, let's make sure we get off to a smooth start. Let's make sure we have everybody scheduled.

Let's get the people with the most experience here as possible, because it is going to have to be very fluid. Who knows what could happen? You know, there is a schedule right now, but anything can change. So I think they really want people here that are going to be able to adapt to that and move forward. So, yeah, I mean, I've got a 50th birthday this week. My daughter turns 20 at the start of August, and then I've got an anniversary in August, too. So I'm going to be missing quite a few things. But just, you know, part of it.

A lot of people travel with their jobs and things like that. And this happens just to be an opportunity. to do something that I love and help the NBA hopefully get off to a good start here. Well, I got to tell you, you're going to hear my voice at some point because I'm recording a bunch of names of rockets and things that I would say in Houston. So even though I'm not there with you and I wish I was, I'll be there in spirit and I'll be on voice record because if James Harden makes a big basket, they may be using my voice to announce that he made the basket, even though I'm not going to be there.

Absolutely. Yeah, we talked to some graphic guys. I mean, they're going to be doing a lot of graphics and arena stuff. They've got a lot of neat stuff for the TV audience. So there's going to be some cool things going on. I'm excited to see how it goes. Hopefully, we're going to be able to get over to some practices as soon as this quarantine is over and kind of see how things are going.

You know, there's a lot of rumors circulating about players and what's going on and what's not going on, that we're kind of just keeping our head down, staying out of that news and just taking care of ourselves until it's game time. So you've seen no one since you've arrived and you got to your room, You've seen no one, correct? Except the people that drop off your food. I've seen no one, and there's no one peeking out of their rooms. I mean, there's nothing.

It's like, I would say it's like white-collar prison, kind of just stuck here. I see maintenance crews. There's a lot of people working on the grounds. Of course, you know, Disney keeps everything spotless, so there's a lot of activity. But as far as other people, no, I haven't seen anybody. All right, well, my friend, this is needless for me to say. Please stay safe. We're going to call you in a couple weeks.

And just check on you. Make sure you're not going completely stir crazy. Are you watching TV shows you wouldn't normally watch because you're stuck in this room? Not so much. I mean, one of the guys downloaded a prison workout thing and sent it to us. So we're all kind of working out in our rooms. We're still doing our daily jobs also. And then the NBA has sent us like 19 different apps that we've had to download.

And oh, my gosh, it's so much information they are piling on us. And again, things continue to change every day. So we are constantly on Zoom calls and this meeting and that meeting. So, yeah, they're keeping us pretty busy, believe it or not. I have it. Matter of fact, yesterday, I didn't turn the TV on at all today a little bit. But, again, I'm at Disney, so there's a lot of kids shows and things like that also. But I can, they have where we can access our phone to our TV.

So I'll have Netflix and things like that we can watch. I got you. And do you think you'll be able to go on rides eventually or that's just not a possibility? I don't know. I mean, once we get out of quarantine, I think the NBA is going to be extremely strict until we get things going until the playoffs start to make sure that there's not an outbreak where things have to shut down. They are being so cautious with this. And, I mean, I really can't say enough about how professional they are about everything that's being communicated and how the process is going. And, again, it's changing, but when it changes, it is very effectively communicated.

So hopefully they get this thing going. There's no kind of outbreak here inside the bubble. And then I think we will have a little more flexibility as things move. They did talk about they are going to set up events for us, private events. There may be some golf. There may be some fishing trips. There may be a night at the park. But nobody really knows at this point because they just can't tell what's going to happen

to make sure nobody gets sick. Well, Kevin, you are representing the Rockets and the city of Houston. very well as I know you will. Behave, stay safe. And like I said, we'll check in a couple weeks if you don't mind, because I want to see if you're not going to bat block. Once we get out of 14 and we get over to the facilities, let's talk again. That sounds great.

Thank you, Kevin, very much. Be safe, my man. We're rooting for you. All right, Matt, see you. Talk to you later. All right, talk to you soon. That's Kevin Johnson, our good friend from the Rocket Stack crew, one of the official scores that will be scoring games,

not only Rockets games, but any of the NBA games they play down. in the bubble. I think it's just fascinating stuff and we'll hopefully check it with him in just a couple of weeks once the games are getting underway. 1.30 is the time. It is the Matt Thomas show. We take this program until 3 o'clock. We're halfway home. If anything sparked your interest from that conversation, let me know what that is.

And does it make it, did he make it sound more or less appealing? He is in his room for another 6 to 7 days and cannot leave it at all. 131. 131. The Matt Thomas Show, Sports Talk 790.