First, literally nobody is comparing winning this tournament to winning the NBA championship. Literally nobody. And that was never the point of it anyway.
The Celtics will now have 4 regular season games (Nets, Bulls, Magic, Raptors) in which they will be incentivized to play with their regular lineups. So unlikely we would see Kormet and Pritchard starting against the Magic to allow for a maintenance day that would get chalked up as a "schedule loss". There will still be maintenance days and schedule losses, but at least now there are 4 identified early season games which will have more meaning to the players, coaches, and the fans shelling out huge $$$ for tickets.
If the Celtics advance they get a nationally televised quarterfinal game against a likely upper tier ECF team with a chance to earn an in-season trip to Las Vegas. Understandable why players are overwhelmingly in favor.
Is it a cash grab? Sure. So are all the various All Star games and their various formats. Or MLB's 3rd wild card team. So is the asinine 17th NFL game. Or the even more gimmicky NHL shootout. This one at least doesn't involve greater injury risk or major changes to the rules.
The Celtics will now have 4 regular season games (Nets, Bulls, Magic, Raptors) in which they will be incentivized to play with their regular lineups. So unlikely we would see Kormet and Pritchard starting against the Magic to allow for a maintenance day that would get chalked up as a "schedule loss". There will still be maintenance days and schedule losses, but at least now there are 4 identified early season games which will have more meaning to the players, coaches, and the fans shelling out huge $$$ for tickets.
If the Celtics advance they get a nationally televised quarterfinal game against a likely upper tier ECF team with a chance to earn an in-season trip to Las Vegas. Understandable why players are overwhelmingly in favor.
Is it a cash grab? Sure. So are all the various All Star games and their various formats. Or MLB's 3rd wild card team. So is the asinine 17th NFL game. Or the even more gimmicky NHL shootout. This one at least doesn't involve greater injury risk or major changes to the rules.
