LA vs Indy. The clash of titans….. So the NBA want us to believe anyway. As much as I do like the Pacers and believe Haliburton is a genuine talisman player for Indy and as much as I appreciate what LeBron has done for the league throughout his tenured career, I can’t help but feel this whole in-season tournament project has fallen a bit flat. I don’t really think knockout style games have much of place in the NBA’s current setup. The playoffs are already there to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Saying that , it is nice to see the NBA try to innovate. Teams have been playing their starting fives for the most part throughout the length of the tournament and its been a pretty competitive affair, I just don’t see the point in it. Should LA or Indy be crowned ‘’In-Season’’ champs I doubt they’ll be rushing to hang any banners aloft the rafters in their respective arenas.
As with everything in life though, everything has to start somewhere and tradition is built upon history. So on the one hand its important the League innovates, yes. But on the other hand they can innovate needlessly. I don’t think many fans view this tournament as a step forward for the NBA. It seems to be Adam Silvers way of saying ‘’hey guys. Look at us doing something different!’’ the fact they had to create whole new court floor designs to differentiate between the regular season and the cup speaks volumes in my eyes. Fans had to literally be told ‘’this is a different game than the others based on the design of the floor.’’
In terms of the teams playing in the final and their respective standings in the traditional league table at the moment, LA are 5th in the West while their counterparts the Pacers are also 5th in the East. I don’t think this is a game that holds much significance in terms of telling us much more about the way the League will shape up come playoff time. Can LA really gloat an In-Season tournament chip if they fail to make the playoffs? I doubt many Lakers fans will be gloating if their counterparts, The Celtics go on to win it all come May.
There is a consensus out there to not fix what isn’t broke, and although I don’t necessarily agree with that sentiment as I feel there is always room for innovation, this just seems like the NBA’s way of making it look like they’re doing something different without doing anything at all. Cup tournaments in England for example have always been a way for teams in lower divisions to step up and achieve something magical by going far into a tournament and maybe beating a giant along the way. The FA Cup, for example, has been a prime example of this in effect. I just don’t see how a league comprised of 30 fixed teams that will never face relegation or promotion can capture the same magic feeling that the FA cup can bring to ‘small market’ teams.
Personally, I’m just pissed there aren’t more games on this weekend. That may well be adding to my displeasure as the regular season already brings us enough storylines to feast our teeth into. My one bit of advice to Mr Silver would be to move the cup tournament into the latter part of the year. Like how the FA cup works. Have the final one or two weeks before the playoffs, having the cup games all bunched into the start of an already busy regular season schedule seems a bit redundant. The games don’t really have much significance to them in the current format.
Although we are only in the infancy of this in-season tournament I do see a lot of potential in it. Hopefully they
tinker with the format a bit going into next season and make the tournament more interesting. I want to go into the weekend of the final excited for an interesting matchup rather than looking at it is an inconvenience to the regular season. Maybe do something about the floor designs next season though.
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