Pelicans’ Matt Ryan: In-Season Tournament ‘Not That Difficult’ to Understand

Count Pelicans forward Matt Ryan among the latter.

“I know some (NBA players) said they don’t know what’s going on, but it’s really not difficult at all (to understand),’ Ryan said, via Jim Eichenhoffer of Pelicans.com. “We know what’s at stake. We treated Tuesday like a playoff game. We’re going to treat tonight the same.”

While Ryan seems to have a firm grasp of what’s going on, others have come out and said they do not. Others have suggested the NBA Cup is a silly idea.

But no matter how you feel, it is creating extra dialogue about the NBA during a time when the league is otherwise mostly ignored by sports fans. Teams are about a dozen games in, with 70 more to go. So it’s hard to get too fired up about what takes place in the middle of November.

The In-Season Tournament has changed that, at least a little bit, with its brightly colored courts and an extra incentive to play well in the early part of the regular season.

So while some are brushing it off, it’s serving its intended purpose — and that’s to get more people talking about the NBA regular season.