Should Play In Tournament Stay?

 

The highly anticipated NBA Play in Tournament starts on Tuesday, May 18th. The 4 teams from each conference that I predict will be inthe Play In. The Standings will be decided on Sunday which sees every team in the NBA play for the finale of the regular season. In the Western Conference you have the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonino Spurs. For the Eastern Conference you have the Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and the Washington Wizards. Once the matchup are finalized I will do analysis of each matchup. The question that has to be asked is should the Play in Tournament be a permanent fixture from this point

 

The play in tournament is designed to keep teams from tanking by providing the 9^th and 10^th seeds a chance at making the playoffs. I believe the league should come up with an alternative because it is unfair to the 7^th and 8^th seeds who fought all season to be a top 8 team but must fight to be in the playoffs. Also, if the 10^th or 9^th gets hot and win two games now, they are in the playoffs with a likely a losing record. The play in tournament does not deter tanking, you can look at both the Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City Thunder this season as teams who clearly were tanking. I believe only the 8^th seed should a play in spot available. It looks as though the Play in Tournament is here to stay so it will be interesting to see if any changes are made next season.