Plenty of evidence from the discussion in this thread and elsewhere that the play-in is good, actually. Yes, you lose the in or out stakes at 8 vs 9. But instead of that one race, you have meaningful stakes at 6/7, 8/9, and of course 10/11, and arguably 7/8 and 9/10 in terms of home court. We have a Houston team at 5 looking like they could slide into the play in, and a Portland team at 12 not giving up. You could argue it makes the regular season more interesting, if anything.