With March Madness officially behind us and a little over two weeks left in the NBA regular season, the majority of sports gamblers turn their focus back to the NBA. Attacking the NBA futures market and NBA playoff odds before the regular season ends can be a very profitable way to walk into the playoffs. In this column, we are going to analyze some of the differences between what the futures market looked like a little over a month ago and
Pacific Division Fantasy Preview (Part I) So far this week we’ve brought you Jeff’s view on the Northwest (which I think is the division to own players in this season) and Kent’s take on the Atlantic. Today it’s the Pacific Division. This is a pretty good division fantasy-wise: there are three teams that play at a pretty good pace–Sacramento especially, who led the NBA in field goal attempts last season–plus the two Los Angeles teams who are very interesting in fantasy terms
I know, technically, this isn’t an NBA Draft trade, but technically, it is a “draft day” trade. So we’ll go ahead and file it here. The Mavericks could find themselves in all-out rebuild mode, and earlier, we saw them turn UNC’s Tyler Zeller into three prospects. Now, they’re on the verge of dumping Lamar Odom. After lasting only about four months in Dallas, the Mavericks are working hard to find a deal for him. As of late Thursday night, there were conflicting
All the drama surrounding Vinny Del Negro’s coaching situation evaporated during a five-game homestand that saw the Los Angeles Clippers win all five games. However, most of the team’s struggles have come on the road, where they have dropped five of their last six games. Things won’t get any easier for the Clippers, who play nine of their remaining 14 games away from the Staples Center. Seven of those contests are against teams with a winning record. Chris Paul and the Clippers hope
When Jeremy Lin sat out a playoff-implication game against Milwaukee due to a sore left knee on Monday, the absence was expected. When he sat out again two days later against Orlando, there was cause for concern. As teammates said, Lin is not the type of player to sit out games unless it was something serious. After avoiding the media prior to the game against the Hawks on Friday, it became clear something was amiss. Then suddenly, at least for now, the sensation
Two teams separated by percentage points jostle for playoff position Saturday when the banged-up L.A. Clippers host the finally healthy Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center. The outcome of this game is huge. Memphis (25-20) and the Clippers (26-21) are fourth and fifth respectively in the tight Western Conference playoff race, but just half a game ahead of 9th seeded Denver. The Clips have lost three straight games for the first time this season, falling three-and-a-half games behind the Pacific Division leading Lakers
The compressed offseason was supposed to be about hookups. On Friday, it was all about breakups. Hours after being chastised by Chauncey Billups, the New York Knicks began targeting his replacement at point guard. Billups met the media in Los Angeles on Friday, less than a week after he was surprisingly released by the Knicks via the amnesty clause. The five-time All-Star is still not over it. From Pedro Moura of ESPNLosAngeles.com: “Billups admitted he “contemplated” retiring after being claimed by the
By Chris Bernucca We all remember last year’s free agency extravapalooza – LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh heating up South Beach, Amar’e Stoudemire making the Knicks relevant, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce making career commitments to their teams and Joe Johnson landing the biggest contract of them all. Next year could be a quality sequel, with a star-studded cast that includes Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Ray Allen, Jason Terry, possibly Jameer Nelson and Gerald Wallace, and oldies but goodies Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Steve