The NBA needed something in the first quarter of the regular season. Opening Day matchups are hot with anticipation. Christmas Day games are fun slugfests leading to the fight for All-Star votes, All-Star weekend, the NBA trade deadline, and the playoffs. But what about the gap from Opening Day to Christmas? The first 20 games required some Red Bull to give it wings. How does the NBA steal eyes away from pigskins and turf fields while maintaining its core audience? Enter the NBA In-Season Tournament.
Each game is strategically scheduled on NFL off-days. The Lakers and future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James won the tournament in Vegas. Hopefully, the added interest gives the NBA a leg up in the upcoming television contract negotiations. What did the NBA In-Season Tournament get right? What can be improved? Let’s explore.
Shameless plug: If you haven’t checked out my Hall of Fame articles, check them out here:
Hall of Fame Spotlight- Dwyane Wade
Top Three Reasons Andre Iguodala Belongs in the Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame Spotlight- Dirk Nowitzki
Hall of Fame Spotlight- Gregg Popovich
Pros of the NBA In-Season Tournament
I loved the renewed interest at the start of the NBA season. The player intensity in the games was evident. The audience watching live was into it more than usual for November games. The players and coaches get a monetary bonus. Lots of intrinsic value to the growth of the game. Here are the main pros of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
The NBA In-Season Tournament Courts
This is a controversial pick as a positive to the In-Season tournament, but hear me out. The court that the players play on changes to a dramatic design whenever a regular season game is on the In-Season Tournament schedule. The court change is a brilliant way to differentiate the game, signifying its’ added importance. But it is also a differentiator that isn’t capital intensive. New courts don’t require marketing and sales effort as you would need for things like new uniform designs.
If you didn’t like the designs this year, guess what? They can change every year.
“I would like to see better designs for the courts. That’s one thing.”
Damian Lillard
Look for the NBA to make some tweaks, but keep the idea.
Highlighting New Superstars
One of the best things about the tournament was the coming out party for lesser-known names in the league. Tyrese Haliburton is a name familiar to NBA circles, but the general public witnessed him (by and large) for the first time. The Indiana Pacers don’t get on national television often, and Haliburton seized the opportunity to demonstrate extraordinary talent.
Everyone knows LeBron, but how many people knew his Laker teammate Austin Reaves? Reaves played tremendous basketball and thrilled the fans with his dribbling and shooting.
The New Orleans Hornets’ Brandon Ingram and Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner were among the other standouts in the tournament.
Playoff Feel/Playoff Prep
For young players who have never experienced the playoffs, the In-Season Tournament provided a taste of the intensity you must reach to continue playing in May and June. General managers better understand team needs as the trade deadline approaches. The tournament was an interesting November dress rehearsal for the playoff race.
Cons to the NBA In-Season Tournament
Some things I didn’t like about the NBA In-Season tournament include explaining how it works (not easy to articulate), and the extended breaks knocked-out tournament teams received. An outsider could see this tournament as a gimmick that doesn’t add weight to anyone’s legacy. Here are the main cons of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
The Name
NBA In-Season Tournament is not something you want to say over and over again. It could be more catchy. It is new, so it conjures up no images or memories. The general audience still can’t explain what they were watching, and the long name doesn’t help. The NBA should brand it with a long-time sponsor and give it a simple name. Think Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or The Masters presented by (insert sponsor).
Tiebreakers
Point differential was a universally hated tiebreaker by the players. If teams in the same pool finished the round-robin portion of the tournament with the same record, ties depended on the final scores. Some blowout games had starters on the court, and points scored when the game was already out of reach. An easy fix would be to cap the tiebreaker points for each game. A 25-point cap, for instance, would mean a team up 30 with a minute left can take their foot off the gas. I’m guessing the league finds a different tiebreaker, though.
Does it Matter?
The NBA is doing its best to convince us that the NBA In-Season Tournament matters, but they better try harder. The players get money and a trip to Vegas. Good for them. Tournament ticket prices were the same as those of any season game. Awesome. The best team in the NBA by record is the Minnesota Timberwolves, yet they didn’t make the knockout stage of the In-Season Tournament. If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would not have home-court advantage. Yet the Lakers are hanging a banner on December 18th. What did they really win? The NBA has great bait on the hook, but are they catching the right fish?
The statistics for the championship game do not count towards the players’ career stats. The reasoning is that the teams playing in the finals are playing an 83rd game, and NBA seasons are typically 82 games. Ok, so you’re saying that Anthony Davis threw up a 40/20 game, and it was essentially a tree falling in an empty forest? Make it matter!
If the NBA adds something to make the games matter more than your average regular season game, they have something that will stand the test of time.
Photo Credit for featured cover image: Getty Images.
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