Thoughts on NBA In-Season Tournament

[Freddie_Freeloader]

I have so many thoughts on this In-Season tournament but would love to know how others feel about it.

[nazrmohamed]

I don't really understand what's going on except for ugly basketball courts

[NewlyKnicked]

The courts sure are hard to watch. I get they want the identity to flash but that’s just going too far. It even bothers the players. I hope they sober it up.

Otherwise, the players seem involved, si if it can give them extra fire, why not?

[big_j_NY]

It's more for the TV ppl 'cuz the tournament actually does little for NBA teams longer term playoff/post-season goals............although I heard that the winning team of the in-season tournament get a $500k bonus per player of the winning squad, so that may be why we are seeing players play a little bit harder for in-season tournament games than other regular season games (which is what Silver is most likely intending)

The customized courts are ridiculous though, I even heard that these new courts weren't even tested before the season started AND some players got injured "slipping" on these in-season tournament courts (possibly how RJ got a knee tweak earlier this season since our 2nd regular season game was an in-season tournament game)

[DrJ6]

Neutral. For me, it's like they could select some random November games from previous seasons and give titles a posteriori I assumed that teams would play it like regular games and start to focus if they qualify to semis. However, it was not the case actually, at least the teams cared if they qualify or not in last groups games. And IST courts are ugly as hell. Also, I have a question: Did the IST actually changed the list of opponents that we have play in the regular season? (to make it harder, that is) When IST was first announced, I thought that its schedule would only change the order of regular season games as that early in the season for each potential opponent there should be at least one game planned later.

[DrJ6]

Other observations:
1. Two recent former Knicks in the starting lineups of the IST final.
2. End of the GOAT debate: LeBron achieved something that MJ, Kobe, Kareem, Wilt could not.

[NewlyKnicked]

Yeah the IST f***ed our schedule. 42 road games, 5 Celtics and 5 Bucks.

This rushed up schedule and the ugly courts are the main flaws of the IST which was a success for the league. I hope it will be corrected in coming years