Somebody sell me on the play-in...

[Karate Diop]

Somebody sell me on the play-in... I get that it's great for casuals and generating money, but in what world does it make sense for the Timberwolves to have a chance to miss the playoffs when they've accumulated 10+ (possibly more) wins than the 9th and 10th seeds?

The Wolves and even the Clippers have put in the work and grinded this regular season it'll be a travesty if a team like the Lakers or Pelicans makes it on instead of them just because they won 2 games at the end of the season...

(Out east where records are bunched up the play-in is sufferable, but if the play-in is here to stay, and it is $$$$$$$$$, there really needs to be some sort of tweak to the system so that a play-in is only triggered in certain situations...)

[IllMagic04]

Technically its not fair but it makes for a more interesting product down the stretch. The Wolves are a game behind the Nuggets for the 6th spot. So every game those 2 teams play from here on out is important as 6th avoids the play in. Also at the bottom it makes teams have motivation to not tank since at 10 you have a shot. So I agree that its technically not fair for the 7th seed. But its fun so its here to stay I think.

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[Pachinko_]

NBA did not invent fairness and they're not playing all those bazillion games for fairness purposes. They play them because they can, and because people want to watch them and pay for them.

If you're a better team win the game. That's fair enough.

[antonac]

they're still 14 games back on the 1st seeds, they don't have a contenders record and won't be a huge miss if they don't make it.

but, given how close they are to the Nuggets, we still get to see them take the final stretch of games seriously so they can make that automatic spot. It also means the Nuggets, Mavs and Jazz have to keep up the effort. The alternative would be all four teams entering cruise control already as there is no way the Lakers can catch any of them.

we want more meaningful games, it's always gonna be hard to get with more than half the league getting PO spots, this at least cuts it down from 16 teams getting safe passage to 12.

[Johnny Tomala]

It's not fair, it should have been just like in the buble - if 9th seed is within four games of 8th seed then they play play-in games (9th seed needs to win 2 games, 8th seed one). 7th seed should be automatically in the playoffs, especially Timberwolves who play good basketball.

[Godymas]

to be honest if Minnesota cannot beat this Lakers roster or the Pelicans to get in they have no business being in the playoffs

the play-in sill looks like it should be really easy for the 7th seed this year.

I mean hell I expect unless the Clippers get Kawhi and PG back for the play-in, they should 100% just make it in the first game

[Zeno]

I like that there is some tension to try to avoid the play-in much more than the play-in itself. As much as I like the idea of eliminating teams from the play-in based on being really far back, what if all the teams 7-9 are close and only the 10th seed is really far back for example?

Need to make it a greater prize to get the top seeds also. Top two seeds should get to pick who they play as has been discussed.

[shangrila]

As far as I understood it initially there were thresholds. Like if teams 9 and 10 were a certain number of games back they'd be dropped automatically. Or it would only be for the 8th seed, things like that. If not...well, maybe put something like that in. It wouldn't make sense if we had a repeat of like a decade ago when everyone playoff team in the West had 50+ wins and then some 30 win team got hot and knocked one of them out.

But while it would suck for the Wolves in particular to lose out...if they can't win at least one game against these 9/10 teams then they don't deserve the playoffs get it. I'm not all that concerned anyway; the Pels, maybe, since they seem to match up against us fairly well. But the Lakers aren't scary, even if Davis even gets healthy.

And overall? I love that it's kept teams trying late in the season. Way too often were teams just selling off any useful players and sleepwalking through the rest of their games. I love that Sacramento is still going for it and didn't ship Barnes off for capspace and a protected 2nd. I love that the Pelicans might be rewarded for hanging in there and turning their season around. That stuff is interesting.

[rand]

Well the play-in is perfectly fair since by default it gives no advantage or disadvantage to any particular franchise and is known by all competitors beforehand, but that doesn't bear on my disliking it. But we've all heard the pro/con fan arguments and it simply boils down to the play-in makes $ for the league so it stays. Even fans like me who dislike the play-in will watch the games because they're somewhat consequential.

[KayDee35]

If you want regular season games to be more competitive, the play-in accomplishes that. Teams don't want to be the 7th or 8th seed so they're fighting more for the 6th and 7th spots. Even teams that would given up because they were too far out of the 8th spot will now fight for 9th and 10th.

Most of us agree that the regular season could use more excitement and more meaningful games. The play-in does that to some extent. The league needs to keep looking at other options to make the regular season games matter more.

[elias808]

Anytime something is done STRICTLY for $$$, the outcome is usually trash.

[Eagle4]

It makes regular season more interesting period.

[itrsteve]

Not saying it's not without cons, but the gleaming pro to me is that you have a handful of teams who would be out of contention and racing to the bottom at this point of the season, now kicking and clawing to get into that 7-10 or stay above.

Sure, it may come at the cost of fairness or something but the more fanbases that are vested in winning, the better the final output of the collective NBA product (in my opinion).

Even looking at this season as of where it sits today - the 11-13 seeds in each conference have a fighting chance of making it. Where normally at least 10-15 would have mailed it in with a month to go.

Pro #2 - do or die games are f'ing sweet.

[bradybunch]

It's absolutely terrible.

Punishes actual playoff teams.

But gives LeBron a chance.

Probably created for LeBron.

[old skool]

Would the play in seem more "fair" if historically only 6 teams made the playoffs and the league added the tournament to give 4 more teams in each conference a chance to advance?

A lot of things are pretty arbitrary. Is it fair that the corner 3 is shorter than a straight on 3? That contenders can sign players late in the season via the buyout market? That home teams hand out Styrofoam French Fries for fans to distract opponents at the free throw line? That coaches only get one challenge per game? That teams can advance the ball to the front court by calling timeout in late game situations?

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[76thBearCub]

It makes regular season more interesting period.

Completely disagree. I feel it does the opposite.

[ElectricMayhem]

It makes being a top 6 team more meaningful. There's always been a line. Now there's two. If you're not top six, it's on you for putting yourself in that position to lose a game or two and go home. I like the fact that there is a hard line (get top 6 to guarantee you're in) and a soft line (get 7-10 to give yourself a chance).

[cpower]

its ridiculous. If you want to make it interesting, why dont you play 1 game between 1st seed and 10th seed, winners gets 1st seed and losers get eliminated from the PS?

[duppyy]

It's absolutely terrible.

Punishes actual playoff teams.

But gives LeBron a chance.

Probably created for LeBron.

I thought it was created for Zion

[Mavrelous]

It makes regular season more interesting period.

Completely disagree. I feel it does the opposite.

How so? Do you think the Wolves and Raptors aren't trying extremely hard to jump one spot? Didn't the Pelicans make a trade and overpay to push for a play in spot?
The RS games are much more meaningful now, hell, even SAS/Wizards are fighting for the play in spot.