Free Bets are Fun
Tonight the NBA starts, and to get people to actually bet on NBA team futures, Bovada is running a promotion for a free (up to) $20 bet: if the Miami Heat 3-peat (and they are favored to do so at 21/10), everyone gets their cash back.
Here are our choices:
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Brooklyn Nets
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I think the Bulls are always one Derek Rose injury away from disaster. They also have the weakest bench, but I think the strongest coach out of all these teams (including Doc, will get to that in a minute).
Indiana is very young and balanced and talented…..but they really need another superstar scorer/identity to match LeBron and Wade. I like Coach Vogel, he’s ornery and is defensive minded. I just don’t think they have the horses to beat Miami in a 7 game series (they may face them in the ECF again).
The L.A. Clippers got Doc Rivers in the offseason, who as a coach is leaps and bounds over Vinny Del Negro (who has helped build many-a-bankroll). The problem? It probably will take Doc a year to figure out which guys on this current Clipper team are “his” guys as well as who isn’t (he is very intense…and very impatient with young players)…..as well as waiting to sign KG/Pierce in free agency next year. I will say under Doc however, Chris Paul as an MVP candidate at 10-to-1 is not a bad play in any year.
The Spurs are old, and had their run last year. This year for them will be very much like the year the Patriots are having in 2013: lots of injuries to key guys, young players stepping up and getting the job done against teams of similar competition, them getting into the playoffs, and eventually losing to a really good team with younger talent in the 1st or 2nd round.
I forgot the Brooklyn Celtics when I wrote this, but they in my opinion are just too old for a long run. They will probably face the Knicks in the first round, though, and that should be fun.
Oklahoma City is an enigma; they have the worst coach out of this lot and Westbrook isn’t due back until 2014. They just haven’t been the same team since they traded Harden. They do have Durant however, the second best player in the league.
Who did I go with? Houston at 12-to-1. A speculative play, but I really like the way their GM Daryl Morey has built the roster. The lack a true PF, but with Howard in the middle it’s probably better if they played a little smaller to offset the lost offense (plus you can focus on geting Howard the ball in the post). IMO, their bench is the best out of all of these teams. And they maybe one of the teams interested in Rondo once he becomes available at the trading deadline (so will OKC, too).
I am also betting the Miami Heat/Bulls Over tonight (188) and teasing Miami (-5) with the Lakers (+10). Why? Because I hate money, that’s why.
