Well the beginning of the 2011-2012 NBA season will be starting soon. Although its a little late this year, I am feeling optimistic about the new season to begin. There are so many questions to be answered, like will the Miami Heat finally get it together and bring Lebron home his first championship (or do his team mates secretly hate him so much it will never happen?).
Or will the Celtics try for one last run with their senior’s squad. Meanwhile other teams have a lot to look forward to, such as the Clippers with their new all star PG Chris Paul. Will Kobe play harder this year since half his money will be gone? Will the Hawks stop sucking?
Yes, for many teams it is a season of new hopes and opportunities to excel; for players to have an exceptional year. But for some teams, it will be the same old, same old. And for that I am very thankful. When it comes to handicapping the NBA, these teams are reliably terrible:
Teams to fade in 2012:
Toronto Raptors
By far, this could be the worst team of the NBA this year. Although I wish this wasn’t true, but the Raptors have no chance of making the playoffs or nothing much for that matter. The fact that they have no 1 true star and a roster full of ok to terrible players doesn’t help. If I was the GM, I would bring Vince Carter back to Toronto just to piss off the fans. Here’s the good news though. You would be wise to bet against them on the road and at home, they may cover the spread. The thing about bads teams is that the good teams are never up to play their full potential against a bad team. So what happens is there is no effort to win until maybe the end of the game, in which they clamp down and try to win, or will lose by a small margin. Their new coach won’t help them. Bargnani should be traded because he is useless as the main offensive player. Did you know the highest paid player on the Raptors next to Mr. Bargnani is Jose Calderon and then Leandro Barbosa??? Respectively their salaries are 9 Million, 9 Million, and 7 Million. Did you also know that Michael Beasley makes 6 Million for the Wolves and he’s better than any player on the Raptors? I feel sorry for Toronto fans because they are fed crap and still enjoy it.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Looking forward to watching Rick Rubio play. Other than that, this is still a bad team. Not sure if Rubio will be sitting on the bench mostly, but if he can’t score, the Wolves scoring will suffer as well. He might be a good passer, but a good pass is still not worth any points in the NBA. Michael Beasley, Kevin Love and Darko (choke) Milicic are the next top players on this team. I would bet mostly over the game total on the Wolves because they also play poor defense. Sometime I wonder who’s worse, the Raptors or the Timberwolves.
New Jersey Nets
OK, so now the Nets have D-Will on the back court. GREAT!! They will still have a losing record. This is a situation where the Nets have become so desperate to upgrade that they signed a star player but have no one else to play with him. I remember when Steve Nash decided to play for Canada. I was hoping that he would put Canada at least into the next rounds, but they promptly got destroyed. To their credit, they work hard, but a horse works hard as well. As far as betting goes, I thing they will have more close games so will cover the spread most of the times (only is D-Will plays)
Washington Wizards
I don’t understand who decided Andray Blatche is worth all that money, but I guess that’s why the Wizards are on auto fade this year. Rashard Lewis will make 22 Million this year (because he’s worth it?). Here is another bad team that will remain so for at least 5 more years. Expect high scoring games when they play other bad teams. This is the only time they get to feel good about themselves.
Charlotte Bobcats
I don’t know what happened to the Bobcats. They were getting better and was on their way to respectability. Then one day they decided to trade their best player away (Gerald Wallace) It doesn’t matter how many young prospect you get, a prospect means it could happen, but then again maybe not. Gerald Wallace was their BEST player. Now they have no one. It’s ok though, it just means we can bet against them.
Cleveland Cavaliers
I wonder if Lebron will have a mercy game for them this year – you know just to calm the betrayed fans. Now that I am in the middle of this article, I am starting to get depressed seeing how overpaid and yet terrible the players are this year. With back to back to back games, Baron Davis and Antawn Jamison will need wheelchairs by the third night. I think the most exciting game will be between the Raptors and the Cavaliers. It will be an exercise in seeing who has the most desire to lose! I’m not sure the Cavs will cover the spreads, so on low spreads, I would take the favourite.
Milwaukee Bucks
Welcome to the most whitest team in the NBA. Andrew Bogut, Carlos Delfino, Mike Dunleavy, Drew Gooden, Ersan Ilyasova, Beno Udrih, Jon Brockman round out the roster. Brandon Jennings and Stephen Jackson are the top ummm non-white players. On paper it looks like they will score a lot. They will have no to little defense, but lots of offense. Jennings and Jackson love the 3’s. Also Delfino, Dunleavy like to shoot first pass later. I would take them any time they play the Raptors. In fact, this could be the strongest of the weak teams of the NBA. They are definite underdog plays against the better teams.
Altanta Hawks
The Hawks hold a special place in my heart. No team has lost me so much more than this team. They are the definition of enigmatic. Here is a team that is loaded with talent. They could compete with the top teams and consistently crush the worse teams. At least that’s what they are supposed to do. The Hawks are all that is wrong with the NBA. This is the most laziest team in the entire NBA. They are delusional and I think most of the players must be hipsters. I don’t really know what can fix this bad accident but it needs to be thrown in the rework bin. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford are the main culprits here. Joe is good, but can disappear. Josh Smith and Al Horford are pretenders and think they are better than they really are. I am feeling sick talking about this team. So my advice is fade this team against good teams, and look for a back door cover against poor teams. They are so lazy that they will probably lose to the worse teams. Here is an example of a typical Hawks game. 1st quarter – winning, 2nd quarter – looks like a blowout, 3rd quarter – What the hell are they doing? 4th quarter – They were up by 20 and still lost!
So with that in mind, I wish you a happy and profitable 2012 NBA season. Look out for teams that are too tired to play on a 2nd or 3rd consecutive night.
Happy Betting!!
