Category Archives: nba

How Did We Do?: 2016-17 NBA Season Wins Over/Under

It’s time to pop the champagne, guys!

Before the season began, we picked the NBA Season Wins Over/Under totals. We wrote out picks for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference before the 2016-17 season started.

We’ve always done really well with our NBA Over/Unders in the past and our results were solid this year.

We went 16-13-1 on the year. We hit on all the sleepers, but missed horribly on the Houston Rockets (I wasn’t sold on their depth). Vegas definitely cleaned house on a few teams since a handful of totals were won and missed by only a 1/2 win.

We list all the teams and what their over/under win totals were at the beginning of the 2016-17 NBA season. See which ones we hit and missed on this year.

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Stephenson is Back Doing ‘Lance’ Things for Pacers

The Pacers made a favorable move last week when they dropped the injured Rodney Stuckey and re-signed Lance Stephenson to a three-year deal.

Stephenson had a fairly acrimonious end to his career in Indiana a few years. He went on to sign a deal with Charlotte as a free agent. He struggled away from Indiana and even found himself bouncing around the league this year.

We still don’t really know what happened to the Pacers during the 2013-14 season. Some people pointed the finger at Stephenson, some at the Hibbert for being ‘soft’ and Paul George even got some blame. Team president Larry Bird wouldn’t have brought Stephenson back if he was to blame or maybe the ‘troublemaker’ is no longer on the team.

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Joel Embiid May Need Another Surgery

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was a breath of fresh air in the NBA this season. He is great at social media, loves to poke fun at the Sixers tanking by owning the nickname ‘The Process’ and he was really, really good at basketball.

He may have only played 31 games this year, but his presence made a huge impact. He was averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game before a partially-torn meniscus sidelined him for the remainder of the year.

Embiid had to sit out two seasons after undergoing two major surgeries on his right ankle. So the Philly fanbase is worried about Embiid possibly going under the knife again.

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The Kings Have No Idea What They Are Doing

The Sacramento Kings keep showing the world how NOT to run an NBA team.

Owner Vivek Ranadive was supposed to bring life to the stagnant Kings franchise, but since he took over ownership a few years ago, they just keep making huge mistakes.

The Kings agreed to trade potential franchise cornerstone DeMarcus Cousins (and Omri Casspi and a second-round 2017 pick) to the New Orleans Pelicans for rookie Buddy Hield, former Kings player Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and a top-three protected first-round pick.

I realize Cousins was a cancer in the Kings locker room, but I think he’s at a level that a team in Sacramento’s current situation should exhaust all attempts to appease him. I realize that the Kings were going to have to pony up a huge contract extension soon, but I think this trade was a huge mistake.

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2017 NBA All-Star Weekend Betting Odds & Picks

NBA All-Star Weekend is a fun time for NBA players to bask in their fame and rub elbows with celebrities. The game itself is usually high-scoring, but doesn’t get competitive until the fourth quarter, if it is close at all.

Some may even say the highlight of the weekend is the skills competitions that take place on Saturday night. The Slam Dunk competition has a few names in it, but nothing like the stars that would enter in its golden era. The three-point competition is probably my favorite competition of the night since there’s rarely ever something new tried in the dunk contest these days.

We list the betting odds for the All-Star Game MVP, Dunk Contest, Three-Point Competition, Rising Stars Game MVP and Skills competition winners. We also pick some winners for the prop bets.

Can D-League rookie Derrick Jones Jr. win the Slam Dunk Contest?

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Have the Pacers Finally Found Their Starting Five?

The Indiana Pacers have won four-straight games after defeating their former head coach at Orlando 98-88. They are now 26-22 and sit as the sixth-best team in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers started out the year with a starting five of Paul George, Myles Turner, Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young and Monta Ellis. The lineup didn’t change much the first two months, but Ellis went down with an injury. Glenn Robinson III took over his spot in the starting rotation and flourished in that role.

The Pacers eventually went on a losing skid with Robinson in the starting five, so Indiana turned to C.J. Miles. He has done well in the past when leaned on to start games. He has done the job during their winning streak.

Do the Pacers finally have a starting lineup set in stone going forward?

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Have NBA Referees Been Unfair to the Pacers?

Indiana Pacers star Paul George is getting frustrated and feels his team is being treated unfairly like a little brother by the referees. His comments came after a tough 90-85 loss to the Chicago Bulls.

George only made one trip to the free throw line the entire game. He only averages 4.3 free throw attempts per game, which is pretty low for a star player.

In regards to the Pacers not getting calls, he said, “Ever since I’ve been playing, ever since I’ve been in this jersey we’ve fought this battle. Maybe the league has teams they like so they can give them the benefit of the doubt. We’re the little brother of the league. We’re definitely the little brother of the league.”

Does George have a case or is he just mad the Pacers have lost three-straight games?

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‘2016-17 NBA Rookie of the Year’ Betting Odds

This year’s field for Rookie of the Year is wide-open in the NBA after #1 overall pick Ben Simmons suffered a season-threatening foot injury this preseason.

In order to be a true Rookie of the Year candidate, you need to be able to accumulate the kind of ‘sexy’ stats like points and rebounds. It also helps if your team improves by double-digit wins.

I don’t think defense-first players can truly win a rookie award, since voters are mostly just looking at the ‘back of the basketball card’ stats.

Will one of the Philadelphia Sixers win the Rookie of the Year award with Ben Simmons due to miss an extended amount of time?

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NBA: Season Wins Over/Under – Western Conference

The NBA regular season kicks off at the end of the month…and I can’t wait.

The offseason seemed to be gone in a blink of an eye. A ton of money was thrown around and some players are a few pounds of cash heavier.

NBA owners will want another ‘amnesty clause’ in the next CBA to bail themselves out from some of these deals. There are some guys who should have been wearing ski masks when signing their new deals.

The Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference last season and are early favorites to repeat this season. Any sleepers out there worth a bet?

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NBA: Season Wins Over/Under – Eastern Conference

The NBA preseason just kicked off and the regular season is not too far away.

If I had to describe the NBA offseason with one word, the word would be MONEY.

It goes without saying that a lot of bad contracts were signed. A ton of money exchanged hands after the salary cap shot up to $94.143 million, an increase of roughly $24 million. I have a feeling NBA owners will want another ‘amnesty clause’ in the next CBA to bail themselves out from some of these deals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference last season and are early favorites to repeat this season. Any sleepers out there worth a bet?

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Updated NBA Title and Conference Championship Odds

NBA training camps opened this week and the betting lines have bounced around since they were released soon after the start of the NBA Free Agency period.

It’s no surprise that the Golden State Warriors are the favorites headed into this season after signing megastar Kevin Durant. The defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t far behind, but then there is a huge gap between those teams and the rest of the field.

There isn’t much juice left on the bone if you feel that either Golden State or Cleveland will win the NBA title. There is place where you can still find some bets with some juice, the division battles.

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The Ten Worst NBA Contracts Signed this Offseason (So Far)

We knew this NBA offseason would have a lot of buzz since many top players would hit free agency on July 1st and the fact that the salary cap will hit a historic high of $94.143 million for the 2016-17 season.

Even though we expected a lot of money to be thrown around, it just didn’t really sink in until we saw the quality of players getting such huge contracts.

This list isn’t an indictment on the players getting literally a ton of cash, but an indictment on the owners spending frivolously. I guarantee their actions during the first few days of the 2016 NBA offseason will make them cry poor when this labor agreement expires. I have a feeling they may need another amnesty clause if spending continues this recklessly.

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