3 musings
I feel like the NBA did a lot more to showcase the In-Season Tournament last year before they got the Emirates sponsorship. Maybe it's a second season bias. But the innovation this year seems marginal, from similar courts to last year's to LL Cool J's "Mama said knock you out" returning as the official tournament song. Last year, I thought the Cool J track was that year's song. Now it seems like the official NBA Cup song in perpetuity lol. Our ears have a 2-day break
Scottie Barnes is having an injury prone season that could cost him about $50 million under the new 65-game-minimum rule for seasonal awards. His injuries will disqualify him from All-NBA under that rule - which is a stretch but not a wild take this year - thus taking about $50 million off his rookie max deal. Tyrese Haliburton is another story (and did returning too early on account of the 65-game rule screw up his recovery?). Both examples expose the influence of all-NBA awards on NBA contracts as a flawed system.
David Thorpe on the TrueHoop podcast this week mentioned how the knockout stage of the In-season tournament is a chance for the NBA oligarchy to see how more exciting the sport can be if they reduce the number of games, so that each game matters more - a reference to the possibility of shortening the NBA season. It's true, but I don't think those greedy bastards will ever do it ;P