Q: Ira, one thought on compensating teams in the future for winning the In-Season Tournament: Rather than guaranteeing a playoff spot (which has been thrown out there, but could lead teams to take their foot off the gas if they secured a spot midseason), what if the team reward was something like a “plus 3 games in the standings at the end of the season and automatically owning all tiebreakers”? So, a team that finishes 46-35 would adjust to 49-32 for the purposes of playoff seeding and have the tiebreakers against another team with the same record. This would provide a significant incentive for everyone to want to win the tournament, without leading a team to say, “Well, we have something automatically secured.” – Dan, Baltimore
A: This I like, a lot. (Although I’m sure the metrics folks would come up with a specific “added-win” total to make the math best work.) But this might be the best I’ve seen. Another idea floated has been another first-round pick, perhaps immediately after the lottery. But that would have players fighting to win the In-Season Tournament to then add another competitor for one of their roster spots. But wins-added works on many levels, including a lottery-bound team having the option of turning down the added wins as to not impact their lottery seeding (perhaps “added losses” in that case). As the league has said, the entire In-Season Tournament process has been a work in progress. But your idea sounds like progress in the right direction.
Q: Ira, can it be possible that one can be both a great player and just not a good fit from a team chemistry perspective? That’s what it seems with Tyler Herro. In a salary-cap league that really matters. – Jim, Columbia, S.C.
A: But who is to say the Heat wouldn’t have been even better with Tyler Herro in last season’s playoffs? And who is to say that this season’s Heat would not have been more emphatic during this seven-game streak with Tyler? Yes, there was the uneven record during the 2022-23 season with Tyler as a starter, but the playoff Heat featured a different rotation and this season’s Heat are still evolving. Let’s not baby/bathwater so quickly. There remains ample time to see what still could work.
Q: Kevin Love continues to grow on me. – Wes.
A: Former All-Stars often find themselves at a crossroads when less is asked. Some bristle and become problematic. Others age gracefully. Kevin Love appears to be doing the latter, much to the Heat’s benefit. The fit at backup center appears to be benefiting both Kevin and the Heat.
