any details on what the purpose would be of an in-season style tournament?
This in-season tournament idea is so freakin’ stupid and is going to tank my interest in the NBA as a whole.
The only way I see the in-season tournament being effective is if:
The winning team is guaranteed something when it comes to the postseason.
With that being said, here is my proposal:
Have every team in the league participate in this tournament.
The winner of the tournament has a direct impact on postseason seeding.
IF:
The winning team finishes outside of the top 10 at the end of the regular season, they have to play against the 10th seed for that final play in spot.
If they finish within the top 10, they get to keep their position (i.e. seed). Maybe add an extra incentive for finishing in the top 3 - 5 (Maybe finishing with the #1 seed gives you the opportunity to hand pick your round 1 opponent out of all of the postseason qualifiers. Once that matchup is set, the rest of the teams are seeded accordingly (i.e. 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5).
Just a thought.
Another option is to give the winning team a guaranteed top 5 or top 10 draft pick, regardless of their record at the end of the season.