Count me in as a believer in the In-Season Tournament.
Sure, the court designs are questionable for many teams, the city jerseys rolled out during the tournament are hideous, and I’m still getting questions from friends to make sense of the Tournament’s logistics.
But the NBA has succeeded in its original goal: I care about a mid-November game!
I’ll care (a little bit extra) about every Raptors tournament game. I’ll care about every game played by the other 4 teams in Toronto’s group. I’ll start thinking about playoff scenarios in approximately 10 days.
For the players, every single one of them — from young rookies to seasoned veterans — gets to experience a playoff-like atmosphere with extra stakes on the line.