The play in tournament has solved some things and created other issues

Too many words to fill ESPN air time. "It's a marketing ploy" is all that's needed. The question is: will it work? This type of stuff is designed to get the casual fans engaged. It's not for us Clutchfans types.

 

I think it is too embedded in the regular season to make the causal fans care.

It's kind of like, "These are regular season games, and BTW they also count for the in-season tournament." The casual fan is like: "What? How does it work?" And by the time you finish explaining to them, they already have lost interest.

What they should have done is to block out about 3 weeks to do an Olympic style tournament. Every game in that period is tournament game. There should be a dedicated website for fans to follow the progress. So it's the other way around: "This is the in-season tournament, and BTW the games also count toward the regular season standings."

 

As good as NBA product is, it would never reach the level of Champions League soccer around the globe.

King Football rules everywhere else... American Football rules here.