by AAA Sports
Friday, Nov 29, 2024In any NBA season, maybe 10 teams go after it hard and shell out enough capital – in salary and draft choices – to make a deep run and maybe catch enough breaks to get to The Finals.
10 to 15 more are hanging around, maybe can figure out enough things to get into the second round of playoffs before water seeks its own level and they go home for the late spring and summer.
The rest may or may not be in complete tank mode, but they know that unless personnel changes drastically, they are who they are, and hopefully enough fans will be fooled for the team to turn a profit.
Amid that mish-mash, there are opportunities for bettors. Perhaps find teams that don’t have the talent to win a title, but on any given night play hard enough to cover generous numbers. Here are a few:
BROOKLYN NETS (9-10 SU, 13-5-1 ATS) – It seems only yesterday that Kyrie Irving was declaring himself the co-coach with Steve Nash after Irving and his BFF Kevin Durant had fired Kenny Atkinson. Irving, KD and James Harden were the new Big Three, and ready to take over the NBA. Not quite. Things quickly imploded, Harden begged out, and the Nets decided to start over. Good move. Although under .500 heading toward December, the re-tooled starting lineup including Dennis Schroeder produced back-to-back-back road wins at Sacramento, Golden State and Phoenix. The win over the Warriors came after Brooklyn – which entered the game as a 13.5-point underdog -- had fallen behind by 18 and won by outscoring Golden State 70-53 in the second half when it would have been easy to cash it in and blamed tired legs.
TORONTO RAPTORS (5-14 SU, 13-6 ATS) – When you lose your opener, at home, by 30 points as the Raptors did, you have a pretty good idea of which direction your team is headed. There are no illusions in Toronto, where the Raptors are still existing on the goodwill generated by their only title in 2019, made possible by renting Kawhi Leonard. The current group still plays hard, even if contending is a long way off. Half of their losses have been by six points or fewer, and even playing short-handed they were one decent two-minute overtime stretch away from beating the defending champion Celtics in Boston. The business model of late has been to deal away talent (VanVleet, Lowry, Siakam) before they age out and/or demand too much money. No one seems certain if that will continue if no real progress is made.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (7-12 SU, 11-7-1) – Yeah, the sample size is not great, but the Blazers appear to be better than last year. They seem to be somewhat of an afterthought since trading away Damian Lillard (and then Jrue Holiday, who came over – briefly – in the Lillard deal). But there are small signs that Portland might be climbing out of a steep hole. They own back-to-back wins over Minnesota (no small feat), and they have shown that they will play hard and compete on the road, something not all sub .500 teams are willing to do. Yes, the team is young, and the learning curve is still substantial. But, Scott Henderson is showing signs that he is figuring things out, and Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan have been impressive. They also are hoping center Robert Williams can stay healthy for a change. The Blazers are probably too good to have any more than a puncher’s chance at winning the lottery and getting Cooper Flagg, but the arrow is finally pointing upwards again for a change.
10 to 15 more are hanging around, maybe can figure out enough things to get into the second round of playoffs before water seeks its own level and they go home for the late spring and summer.
The rest may or may not be in complete tank mode, but they know that unless personnel changes drastically, they are who they are, and hopefully enough fans will be fooled for the team to turn a profit.
Amid that mish-mash, there are opportunities for bettors. Perhaps find teams that don’t have the talent to win a title, but on any given night play hard enough to cover generous numbers. Here are a few:
BROOKLYN NETS (9-10 SU, 13-5-1 ATS) – It seems only yesterday that Kyrie Irving was declaring himself the co-coach with Steve Nash after Irving and his BFF Kevin Durant had fired Kenny Atkinson. Irving, KD and James Harden were the new Big Three, and ready to take over the NBA. Not quite. Things quickly imploded, Harden begged out, and the Nets decided to start over. Good move. Although under .500 heading toward December, the re-tooled starting lineup including Dennis Schroeder produced back-to-back-back road wins at Sacramento, Golden State and Phoenix. The win over the Warriors came after Brooklyn – which entered the game as a 13.5-point underdog -- had fallen behind by 18 and won by outscoring Golden State 70-53 in the second half when it would have been easy to cash it in and blamed tired legs.
TORONTO RAPTORS (5-14 SU, 13-6 ATS) – When you lose your opener, at home, by 30 points as the Raptors did, you have a pretty good idea of which direction your team is headed. There are no illusions in Toronto, where the Raptors are still existing on the goodwill generated by their only title in 2019, made possible by renting Kawhi Leonard. The current group still plays hard, even if contending is a long way off. Half of their losses have been by six points or fewer, and even playing short-handed they were one decent two-minute overtime stretch away from beating the defending champion Celtics in Boston. The business model of late has been to deal away talent (VanVleet, Lowry, Siakam) before they age out and/or demand too much money. No one seems certain if that will continue if no real progress is made.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (7-12 SU, 11-7-1) – Yeah, the sample size is not great, but the Blazers appear to be better than last year. They seem to be somewhat of an afterthought since trading away Damian Lillard (and then Jrue Holiday, who came over – briefly – in the Lillard deal). But there are small signs that Portland might be climbing out of a steep hole. They own back-to-back wins over Minnesota (no small feat), and they have shown that they will play hard and compete on the road, something not all sub .500 teams are willing to do. Yes, the team is young, and the learning curve is still substantial. But, Scott Henderson is showing signs that he is figuring things out, and Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan have been impressive. They also are hoping center Robert Williams can stay healthy for a change. The Blazers are probably too good to have any more than a puncher’s chance at winning the lottery and getting Cooper Flagg, but the arrow is finally pointing upwards again for a change.
