Does the In-Season Tournament matter to Pistons’ Fans?

The Detroit Pistons will have at least one chance to win a title next season.

The NBA announced a new in-season tournament where teams in groups of five will play one another on specific nights beginning Friday, Nov. 3 through Tuesday, Nov. 28th. Eight teams will advance to knockout rounds and then the semis and championship will be played in Las Vegas.

The groups of five teams are separated by conference, and they were chosen from five plots based on their records from last season. The idea, it appears, was to keep the groups evenly selected, to give a boost to the regular season with tournament nights, and to keep the tournament competitive.

If the best teams played in the same bracket, the odds of the two best teams playing in the semis or the championship game would be low. Using a knockout round format, it will already be lower than in a best-of-seven series, which does give the Pistons a fighting chance.

But should fans take this seriously?

Detroit Pistons: The NBA In-Season Tournament

Winning anything would be great, and the stakes are low risk/high reward. Detroit is in East Group A, which consists of the Pacers, Hawks, Cavaliers, and 76ers, so it’s another reason to root against Indiana.

Philadelphia and Cleveland are projected to be contenders, and Atlanta looks to take a leap with a new coach after several disappointing postseasons. For rebuilding teams like the Pistons, this group doesn’t really provide much opportunity for success or excitement.

Detroit will be the underdogs in their group, though any team could get hot at the right time and go on a run, so it will give the team the chance to build some positive momentum heading into the later stages of the season.

Why didn’t the NBA make this a divisional tournament?

One reason could be the scheduling difficulties. By randomly selecting interconference teams, the NBA can build out their Tuesday/Friday schedule for games in-conference and spread out travel. This might simplify what I assume is an arduous task of fulfilling broadcasting needs without loading small-market teams with bad schedules.

I, however, am a fan, and I don’t worry about scheduling difficulties.

Divisions already contain rivalries, and why not give extra meaning to games against the Bulls? In the Central Division, the teams would stack up about the same as the random selection. Detroit, Cleveland, and Indiana would still play one another, and the Bucks would take the place of Philadelphia as the team to beat, and Chicago would take the place of Atlanta as the team trying to take a step forward.

Other divisions might be stacked and others weaker, but the rivalries would remain. The divisional champions could then play one another in the tournament format, and fans could debate who had the best division.

So the NBA didn’t fully capitalize on some natural rivalries, and the Pistons may be the worst team in their group, but the novelty of the first tournament will ultimately draw in some extra fans and create an initial buzz. We’ll have to wait and see if it lasts.