Very disappointed the Suns don't have an opportunity to participate in a play-in game. It definitely gives the league something to think about moving forward. Some sort of round robin between 8, 9, and 10 would be a very cool permanent solution. This gives the fans an early taste of playoff basketball, and hopefully leads to a more entertaining matchup for the #1 seed.
There would definitely need to be some sort of qualifier for the tournament to take place. For example, the #9 and #10 teams in the West last year finished 9 games worse than the #8 Clippers. Who knows what the correct gap would be, but I'd suggest no more than a 4 game seperation in order for a #9 or #10 to qualify for the play-in tournament.