> I understand the winners get money, but what about the losers? The Grizzlies just got eliminated, do they now play less games this season?
The losers do not get anything. They do not play fewer games. The games that are part of the tourney are also part of the regular 82-game season. Basically, it’s an 82-game season like any other season, except some of the games double as tourney games. Imagine if last season they just changed the court on some games and said they counted towards a tourney but nothing else changed. It’s like that. They just made sure that when they made the schedule, the teams that needed to play each other in the tourney do so.
>Will the winner of this thing have to play more games this season?
Yes. 28 teams will play 82 games this season, but the two teams that make it to the Tourney Championship will both play 83 games. The championship game is the only added game that is not part of the regular season.
>Do those wins end up on the regular season standing table?
All of the games except the championship game count as regular season games too, so yes. The wins and the losses, before the championship, are still also regular season games.
>Is it just me or does no one care about this thing except the marketing people?
This is incorrect; people do care. But you are not alone in not caring, or in dismissing it. Other people feel that way too. But myself and many others feel it is fun. I can’t say for certain but I feel like more people are digging it than not. I can’t prove that and it may very well be the reverse; it’s just the sense I get. But whichever is the more popular opinion, there are definitely a variety of opinions, positive and negative, about the tourney.
Well, the first thing they are likely to do is give it a better name now that they know its a success: something like the David Stern Cup or the Kobe Bryant Cup or whatever, not necessarily them, but something that makes it stand out more and less generic. I think they were holding off an attaching a good name to it in case it failed and was trashed before next season.
Frank Isola, who does Brooklyn Nets halftime postgame commentary on YES Network, suggested that there should be more trophies and awards and ceremonies, for instance giving a trophy to whichever team has the best regular season record, before the playoffs. More pageantry is fun and more teams than the Champs getting some kind of award, of lesser importance but still commendable, will please players and fans alike, I think.