Even the NBA’s Western Conference has witnessed a massive shakeup at the top and for the very first time in four times, the Golden State Warriors are not the favorite to represent the West in the NBA Finals. That distinction??belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers, that created the biggest splash in the offseason from nabbing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Online sportsbook??BetOnline has the Clippers as +225 faves to win against the Western Conference and progress to their first NBA Finals in business history. Are ” the Los Angeles Lakers, the Staples Center roommates , at +300. Next on the oddsboard will be the Houston Rockets (+400), Golden State Warriors (+800) and also Utah Jazz (+900) to round out the top .
After being fairly insignificant for the past couple of seasons, the Clippers and Lakers stole the spotlight back and have four of the top 10 NBA players to their rosters. Both of these franchises fully reshaped the NBA landscape with their offseason moves and will likely be in the thick of this come playoff time.
The Clippers are stacked because they had been a 48-win team without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and did not need to sacrifice any roster thickness to bring these two studs. And while I will praise Kawhi and George because the explanations for why they are the faves, the fact that they can still roll out Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell against opposing minute components makes them quite dangerous.
As for the Lakers, they can’t be dismissed as liver. They’ll have an extremely motivated LeBron James, who missed the postseason for the first time since his second season in the NBA, and now have arguably the best centre in the league at Anthony Davis. But if I needed to make a selection between the two teams, I would still need to go with the Clippers because I’m dubious of the Lakers’ supporting cast.
The Lakers had to scavenge through the garbage heap of staying free agents after holding out hope for Kawhi to sign together and ended up??settling??somewhat mediocre players. Do not get me wrong, I believe Danny Green, DeMarcus Cousins and Jared Dudley are good players. But while you pile up this roster vs??the Clippers or a number of??the other contenders from the West, ” I feel as though they’re one injury away to having the house of cards fall on itself.
The reigning Western Conference champions for five consecutive seasons, this is actually the best price (+800) that bettors’ve observed for the Golden State Warriors to win the West in a long time. And personally, I believe that they can still easily win their summit since they have Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Steph is likely going to have a enormous season offensively (second-best chances to Win NBA MVP) and Draymond is still a monster defensively, therefore I believe discussion about the Warriors’ death is a bit premature.
The X factors for just how far they could go return to when Klay Thompson can return from his ACL tear and how well D’Angelo Russell meshes using their crime. Thompson isn’t expected back till February or March and if you’re the Warriors, then there’s no purpose to rush him back since you need him for the postseason.
In terms of Russell, I am actually much higher on this acquisition compared to most and he’ll be a superb scorer/playmaker to incorporate into Steve Kerr’s offense. Russell averaged 21 points per game last year with not nearly the amount of high-end talent in Oakland and I think he could initiate the offense??to take some pressure off Curry and allow him come off screens and unleash the three-pointer.
I believe that the Warriors in +800 really are a steal and these odds will fall significantly once the season gets mad.
The apparent two groups that have great price and??rosters that could contend are the Denver Nuggets (+1000) and Utah Jazz (+900). Both groups made the playoffs last year and made some roster tweaks that can only help their opportunities to make the NBA Finals.
The Nuggets flamed out of the second round following a tough seven-game show with the Blazers however, the??natural growth within the organization is challenging to fade, especially with the growth of centre Nikola Jokic to a top-10 NBA participant.
Jokic directed all centers in assists per game and the Nuggets have depth at every position to produce a deep postseason run. My favourite movement was their acquisition of??Jerami??Grant from the Thunder to perform up alongside Jokic.
Too many times last year the Nuggets were also a casualty of a Paul Millsap defensive miscue and??it cost them against the Blazers. I believe Denver’s in an upward trend and it would not shock me to see that the Nuggets at the peak of the Western Conference standings when the season finishes.
In Comparison with the Nuggets, the Jazz made the splashier moves in the offseason by trading for Mike Conley from the Grizzlies and registering Bojan Bogdanovic in the Pacers. Conley will be the Jazz’s best point guard because they exchanged Deron Williams at 2011. Guard play has been a source of frustration for Utah if they played the big boys in the playoffs since this trade.
Conley’s shooting and defense doubles down on what the Jazz do best as they were already one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and they will be a insect to play . I am not as large on these when compared with the Warriors or Nuggets but I do believe they have a fantastic shot to make it into the Western Conference final.
Odds as of August 14 at BetOnline
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