NBA Betting: 2009-10 NBA Season Preview

by Bodog Sportsbook | Oct 9 2009

We're just three weeks away from the start of the 2009-10 NBA regular season, and the release of the first NBA betting lines. This is the only time of the year when you'll be able to bet on all four major pro sports at once. The more you can brush up on the NBA now, the bigger your advantage will be in a very busy and distracted marketplace. Let's get things started on the right size 21EEE sneaker with a look at the championship futures.

Beat L.A.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the defending champions, and they're the 2-1 favorites to defend their title. The Cleveland Cavaliers have the shortest odds in the Eastern Conference at 10-3. It wouldn't surprise anyone if these two teams end up meeting in the NBA Finals this year. But there's a very strong threesome chasing after them, each member with a legitimate shot at the title:

Boston Celtics            9-2
San Antonio Spurs     15-2
Orlando Magic           8-1

It's very rare that a Cinderella team gets to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy at the end of the season, so if you're looking at betting the NBA futures, you're almost certainly looking at one of these five clubs. The Lakers and Spurs themselves account for eight of the last 11 NBA championships. No other major team sport sees this kind of dynastic success - in large part because there are only 12 men on a roster, and the starting five take up most of the minutes.

Kobe vs. LeBron

The Lakers and Cavaliers have separated themselves from the pack by surrounding supremely gifted individuals with highly capable secondary players. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, the 2007-08 MVP and the league's main attraction in the post-Michael Jordan years. The Cavaliers have Bryant's heir apparent and the 2008-09 MVP, LeBron James. These two were expected to clash in last year's NBA Finals, but the Magic spoiled the party by beating the Cavs in last year's Eastern final.

Orlando had the right combination of players last season to frustrate King James, but not to overthrow the Lakers. So changes have been made. The last two years have seen a sharp increase in player movement, both during the offseason and at the trade deadline, as the rich keep getting richer. The additions to the L.A. and Cleveland rosters gained the most attention and put them in prime position to finally hold that Kobe-LeBron summit.

You Say Good-bye, I Say Hello

Here are the most important offseason upgrades made by each of the five teams in question.

Lakers: Ron Artest in for Trevor Ariza
Cavaliers: Shaquille O'Neal in for Ben Wallace
Celtics: Rasheed Wallace in for Leon Powe
Spurs: Richard Jefferson in for Bruce Bowen
Magic: Vince Carter in for Hedo Turkoglu

The arrival of O'Neal in Cleveland naturally overshadows all the other changes. The Cavaliers had no answer for Orlando's Dwight Howard during the playoffs. Now they have the Big Aristotle himself, the premier center of this generation and a man who has aged a lot more gracefully than most players at his position. O'Neal gave the Phoenix Suns roughly the same production at age 36 that he gave the Miami Heat three years earlier, when he combined with Dwyane Wade to win the championship. The parallel between the Wade-O'Neal and James-O'Neal tandems is self-evident, except Cleveland has a much better supporting cast.

The parallel with Artest joining Bryant and the Lakers would be closer to Dennis Rodman joining Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in 1995. Artest is younger than Rodman was and a more prolific scorer, but he's being counted on to provide defense and toughness to a Lakers team too often accused of being soft. Their new frontline of Artest, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum is anything but soft. The only concern, as it always is with Artest, is whether he can keep his personality together.

Rookie Monsters

The good news for the other 25 teams is that it only takes one rookie sensation to start the rebuilding process, as Cleveland supporters can attest after the selection of James with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Here are the Top 5 rookies who'll have the best chance of driving their teams to the pay window this season.

Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings
Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks
Jonny Flynn, Minnesota Timberwolves