ROLL CALL: Who here is actually intrigued by the In Season Tournament?

[Naero]

Whether we care or not, odds are it's good for the league's revenue. We also scoffed at the NBA Awards ceremony during its inception, yet I'm sure they made a net profit off of that when it was all said and done.

I don't think the IST is just for hyping up early-season games; it's likely also meant to garner more sports fans worldwide by adopting one of soccer's business models. The hope is that more soccer fans—probably the largest audience in all of sports—will buy into the NBA because of their familiarity with the IST format.

Whether or not it pans out like that is anyone's guess, but what does the NBA have to lose? Sure, us long-time fans couldn't care less about the IST, but are we any less inclined to watch these games because of it? And even if we are, that doesn't matter in the grand scheme as long as the league is internationalizing its fanbase further.

Not saying the NBA necessarily struck gold here, but the potential rewards seem to outweigh the risks heavily enough.

[dankok8]

Teams seem to be playing extra hard which is always good. There's actual defense being played.

[dbugz]

Don't give an F about it.

I'm just looking at the team "real" standings and that's all that matters.

I hope they'll remove this non sense tournament next season.

[SATAN]

Teams seem to be playing extra hard which is always good.

This.

People will complain about anything.

[Dunaprenti]

I don't think the IST is just for hyping up early-season games; it's likely also meant to garner more sports fans worldwide by adopting one of soccer's business models. The hope is that more soccer fans—probably the largest audience in all of sports—will buy into the NBA because of their familiarity with the IST format.

That is the part that I don't understand. Soccer cup tournaments include teams from lower divisions. This creates a certain "David vs Goliath" atmosphere where smaller teams compete against the big boys. Cup tournaments will not be as popular as they are if they included only the top division teams. There are exceptions but that is usually how tournaments go in Europe.

I applaud the idea of making regular season games more competitive but this format does nothing for me. Looks like more of a betting thing than a basketball one.
Regarding the international audience, I believe something like the FIFA Club World Cup format will have a greater effect.

[Wally450]

I don't really mind it, since its basketball, but my god, the awful courts need to go. There also needs to be some tweaking of how teams make the next round.

[Baller234]

I see people trying to make the argument that the games are more competitive. I mean okay fine that's great but I don't think that was ever the issue. The issue wasn't whether or not regular season games were competitive enough, the issue was whether or not the games themselves had high enough stakes.

An extra $500k might raise the stakes for the players, but I don't see how it raises the stakes for the fans. Who really cares about winning this cup? Once it's over and the season resumes as normal, nobody is going to care. It's like you didn't win even anything.

Also, whichever team wins this thing, are they even allowed to celebrate? What's that post game ceremony gonna look like? Don't you kind of get the idea that these players and these coaches would be embarrassed if they're caught celebrating too proudly over this thing?

That post game ceremony will determine whether or not this whole thing was worth it. I predict it will end in a wet fart, but hey anything is possible.

[Phoenix]

They need to find a way to tie the winner into something more meaningful than an extra 500k for players already rolling in millions of dollars. That's a nice weekend in Vegas( or a night in a Houston strip joint for Harden), but I'm not sure why the average fan should care more than they already do.

[ArbitraryWater]

Teams seem to be playing extra hard which is always good. There's actual defense being played.

Theyre playing the same as always.

[ArbitraryWater]

This.

People will complain about anything.

Well, why change a good thing with something arbitrary?

[FultzNationRISE]

It’s not going away because theres nothing to lose by holding it. It doesnt hurt the product in anyway, so even if fan enthusiasm proves minimal theres still no reason not to keep trying it and seeing if it grows over time.

As a fan, you either like it or you dont really care. I dont see what reason anyone would have to specifically not like it (assuming they tweak the score differential stuff etc) compared to a regular season game. I personally dont give much of a shit about the event, but it also doesnt bother me. Why would it?

[Phoenix]

It’s not going away because theres nothing to lose by holding it. It doesnt hurt the product in anyway, so even if fan enthusiasm proves minimal theres still no reason not to keep trying it and seeing if it grows over time.

As a fan, you either like it or you dont really care. I dont see what reason anyone would have to specifically not like it (assuming they tweak the score differential stuff etc) compared to a regular season game. I personally dont give much of a shit about the event, but it also doesnt bother me. Why would it?

The barometer is if it tangibly increases fan engagement/ratings. If it doesn't then you're basically just giving the players extra money. My reaction so far is kind of whatever, if it's a game between teams I wanted to watch anyways then I will, but if it's between two teams I don't particularly care to donate 2 hours to, throwing on some special unis and adorning the court with ( in some cases) ugly tournament graffiti isn't going to make me tune in. I would imagine alot of people are in that boat.

[tpols]

I understand why they did it to promote competitiveness in the regular season but ultimately it's meaningless. The playoffs and real Champs decide who came out on top in the season.

[tpols]

I don't really mind it, since its basketball, but my god, the awful courts need to go. There also needs to be some tweaking of how teams make the next round.

The super bright court colors make it harder to follow the action. It's distracting.

[tpols]

They need to find a way to tie the winner into something more meaningful than an extra 500k for players already rolling in millions of dollars. That's a nice weekend in Vegas( or a night in a Houston strip joint for Harden), but I'm not sure why the average fan should care more than they already do.

If they really want to make it legit they should do what baseball used to do and have the conference winner claim HCA in the last round.