This Toronto Raptors season is a rarity for an innumerable number of reasons, but one of the strangest happenings from this campaign is the fact that Nick Nurse, Fred VanVleet, and the rest of the squad might be better off trying to miss the postseason for the first time in almost a decade.
The Raptors, a team that won one game in the entire month of March, is regularly sitting key players in favor of the likes of Paul Watson, and is currently in possession of a 23-34 record, is just a half-game away from the postseason, as the NBA decided to create a play-in tournament that gives the No. 9 and 10-seeds in the conference one last crack at the playoffs.
The Raptors currently possess the No. 8 pick in the draft and a 26.3% chance of earning a selection within the first four picks. Those numbers would evaporate if they made the postseason, which would likely end in a waxing at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets or Philadelphia 76ers.
Nurse cast doubt on the validity of this tournament, saying that a bunch of NBA teams could potentially win some games due to the borderline random nature of these play-in games.
The best argument against the play-in is that the 23-34 Toronto Raptors are sitting key players nightly and are currently the 10-seed
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) April 17, 2021
"“If you can get it ironed out and pick up some momentum and get healthy or whatever, I think a lot of NBA teams could probably move on out of that thing,” Nurse said."
Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors don’t sound too happy.
VanVleet is a bit skeptical of the NBA’s intentions with this tournament, and he isn’t sold on it being the best options in terms of practicality, either.
“I will say I do think the play-in made more sense for the Bubble with the way that the season was suspended, but we’ll see how it goes this year,” VanVleet said. “I hope they make all the money they were hoping to make.”
VanVleet is not the only player who expressed concerns about this tournament while underplaying the importance of it, as Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, who is on a team fighting for a spot in the playoffs, claimed that he doesn’t see the tournament as added motivation to finish strong.
The tournament might help the raptors extend their playoff streak, but in practice, all it will do is throw four average, equally talented teams into a blender, and the only prize is getting a very lopsided matchup with Brooklyn or Philadelphia out of it.
In a sport that already sends more than half of the league to the postseason in non-pandemic years, the play-in tournament is a blatant cash-grab. Unfortunately, it’s a cash grab that could mean the difference between the top four and a mid-teens draft pick. VanVleet and Nurse are not the only NBA personnel that have some doubts about the necessity of this whole charade.