Cancel the in season tournament

[GameOver25]

I could do without the IST. I think the play-ins is enough to keep the regular season competitive for most teams.

[ConSarnit]

It continues to be bizarre that people have such a hard time grasping the concept of a cup tournament most sports have them. The best of the best will try to win all available trophies and it gives more teams something to play for and win. Teams will want to do the double, and the effort and intensity was notably higher than in typical regular season games, what's not to love? I know I'd rather watch it than anonymous games in December.

If we remove europe and individual sports...do they? Also...cup? Cups are for drinking water and beer out of!

Having two awards in a season is just stupid. And it'll be seen as stupid as long as it's stupid. Even if EVERY sport does it.

On it's face it's just a pure cash grab and is actually worse because it's covering up the real problems with the regular season.

-why do we need an in-season champion when that's what the playoffs are for? If they were bringing in outside teams it might make sense but we already have a tournament to determine which team is best: it's called the playoffs.

-"making players try harder" is the biggest cop out. These guys are paid millions of dollars and should be trying hard every game. They don't because an 82 game season is too taxing. The play-in is just covering up the fact that the season is too long and that players/teams lose interest because a) they know it's beneficial to rest guys to have them healthy for the playoffs and b) it's just too long.

The league knows the season is too long and instead of trying to fix the competitive issues they slapped together a "tournament". If they really cared about making the season as competitive as possible they'd reduce the number of games which would keep players healthier (and more available) and therefor increase the quality of the product across the entire season. Not just until December.

[Domejandro]

The IST is kinda silly, but also harmless. I see no reason to cancel it unless the players decide they don't care about it and it starts looking like the All-Star game.

The play-in is awesome in that it has added several inflection points that motivate teams to improve their record. It has virtually eliminated any "coasting" down the stretch of the regular season - except maybe for the top 1-3 seeds.

I agree with both of these points, and I honestly think the In-Season Tournament can be refined. If the qualification stage was eight games, instead of the current four games, I think it would pretty strongly improve the quality of the product. Even if teams don't care about winning it, integrating it into the existing regular season was a solid way to ensure that teams are still incentivized to win the qualifying games. I'm not crazy about it, but I legitimately don't see a solid argument for why it could be detrimental, beyond potentially leading to teams playing 1-2 more regular season games against better opponents.

[Vonneguts]

Thanks to the in-season tournament, Haliburton and the Pacers gained great exposure. It's not all about big markets and LeBron.

[SNPA]

There are just regular season games with ugly courts. Silver will try to link it to playoffs somehow (HCA/seeding/something).

[dhsilv2]

It continues to be bizarre that people have such a hard time grasping the concept of a cup tournament most sports have them. The best of the best will try to win all available trophies and it gives more teams something to play for and win. Teams will want to do the double, and the effort and intensity was notably higher than in typical regular season games, what's not to love? I know I'd rather watch it than anonymous games in December.

If we remove europe and individual sports...do they? Also...cup? Cups are for drinking water and beer out of!

Having two awards in a season is just stupid. And it'll be seen as stupid as long as it's stupid. Even if EVERY sport does it.

On it's face it's just a pure cash grab and is actually worse because it's covering up the real problems with the regular season.

-why do we need an in-season champion when that's what the playoffs are for? If they were bringing in outside teams it might make sense but we already have a tournament to determine which team is best: it's called the playoffs.

-"making players try harder" is the biggest cop out. These guys are paid millions of dollars and should be trying hard every game. They don't because an 82 game season is too taxing. The play-in is just covering up the fact that the season is too long and that players/teams lose interest because a) they know it's beneficial to rest guys to have them healthy for the playoffs and b) it's just too long.

The league knows the season is too long and instead of trying to fix the competitive issues they slapped together a "tournament". If they really cared about making the season as competitive as possible they'd reduce the number of games which would keep players healthier (and more available) and therefor increase the quality of the product across the entire season. Not just until December.

Agree, but at the end of the day. They're just regular season games so whatever. My biggest issue were those hideous courts. Even highlights were an eye sore on half the courts.

[Clemenza]

Who cares if it doesn't translate into the post season. Its a competitive world and landscape. Other sports leagues, the mighty NFL, streaming services, video games, etc. They have to stay relevant. Don't like the play in or the IST, don't watch.

[Rich Rane]

Season is so long, I almost forgot about these.

[Nate505]

Compromise: Keep it but burn those horrible eye sore courts out of existence and play on regular courts like normal human beings.

[AlexanderRight]

It's easy to keep making jokes but in all seriousness, if they're gonna do it, make it a full two consecutive week stretch in the middle of the season and have your seeding impact who you face. A few of "randomly selected" games that concludes less than 2 months into the season is such a rig. Raising a banner because you beat a few sorry teams in November is a joke.

[YogurtProducer]

I'll die on the hill that the IST and play-in have made games more enjoyable, that's all I care about. Made random regular season games and end of season playoff races more exciting too. Don't care about cash grabs or whatever. People were previously complaining about the regular season games not having any stakes at all, having players sit out.. now people get angry about the games missed requirements for rewards and hate things that produced some good ball. Why? Because some people don't feel comfortable unless there's something to complain about. You will always find something even if there's no good reason.

People just really enjoy being miserable, man... investing enough time and effort following an NBA team already gives me enough of that.

And wtf is this thread? If the NBA champion does not win the IST it makes it useless?

[Kobe187]

Leave it, it’s fun for kids under 10.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

The IST and the play-in both fail in their stated purpose of bringing significance to the regular season. They're lousy cash grabs but they'll remain because the NBA makes $$$ off them.

This is nonsense, both have been great, in particular the play in

[Michael Bradley]

The IST and the play-in both fail in their stated purpose of bringing significance to the regular season. They're lousy cash grabs but they'll remain because the NBA makes $$$ off them.

Exactly. This was never about making the regular season more important or anything like that. They can sell the IST and play-in as extra premium content on their next media rights deal. That’s the only reason they exist.

[Repeat 3-peat]

Season is so long, I almost forgot about these.

They should not do that again. If anything made the whole IST feel like a gimmick, it was the courts. So unnecessary.

[Free Rider]

True Hoopers like Silver know more then you Nephew.

Adam Silver couldn’t score a layup in an empty gym. He probably couldn’t name every team in the league if you gave him 10 minutes. He’s an Ivy League educated lawyer. A suit. He’s taken a league that peaked in the 80’s and 90’s and turned it into a carnival freak show.

What kind of nonsense take is this. I’m not a Silver apologist and I agree that he’s done plenty of things that I don’t agree with but suggesting he knows little about the NBA is absurd. He’s been an executive in the league since the early 90s and was pretty much the point person for negotiating the CBA even during the Stern era. He not only knows every team in the league but he personally knows each owner and he could probably break down the financial situation of each team. And since when do we expect sports commissioners to actually be athletes themselves? An Ivy League educated lawyer turned executive is exactly who you want running a business as big as the NBA.

[Yoshun]

Why do people hate it so much? It was a fun little competition in the early part of the season.

[Residual-Heat]

I have a genius solution to this. If you dont like it, dont watch.

[Nate505]

Why do people hate it so much?

I only hated the courts. They were hideous, horrible, no good, very bad, colossal mistakes.

The tournament I was indifferent to.

[WentzerWuver]

I'll die on the hill that the IST and play-in have made games more enjoyable, that's all I care about. Made random regular season games and end of season playoff races more exciting too. Don't care about cash grabs or whatever. People were previously complaining about the regular season games not having any stakes at all, having players sit out.. now people get angry about the games missed requirements for rewards and hate things that produced some good ball. Why? Because some people don't feel comfortable unless there's something to complain about. You will always find something even if there's no good reason.

People just really enjoy being miserable, man... investing enough time and effort following an NBA team already gives me enough of that.

And wtf is this thread? If the NBA champion does not win the IST it makes it useless?

These type of thread are pointless like many others to create chaos along with those who participate in it. None of our threads are pointless cause it's a waste of space.