If Mike Miller gets hit with an Amnesty Clause, maybe things change. For now though, Las Vegas has the Miami Heat pegged as the odds on favorite to win this season’s NBA Championship according to BoDog.com. Coach Spoelstra was reportedly elated when he heard the news.
Slotted just behind the Miami Heat and their 9 to 4 odds are Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers at 5 to 1. You’d have to scroll down past the Chicago Bulls at 13 to 2 as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder at 15 to 2 before you’ll find that team who beat LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh last season too by the way. The Dallas Mavericks will defend their NBA Championship as the fifth most likely team to win it this time around with odds of 17 to 2.
Bulletin-board material, Dirk.
Assuming they use those in Canada, another team with bulletin-board material is the Toronto Raptors. Vegas believes the Rap’s will be atrocious this season, and has them picked to be alone as the League’s worst team. A ten dollar bet on the Raptors today could net you a windfall of $2,000 though if Andrea Bargnani and the boys do end up proving everybody wrong and cutting those nets down in June as a heads up. The other teams predicted as the biggest long-shots to win it all are the Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards, all with a 150 to 1 shot.
In a lockout-shortened season anything could happen, I suppose. There’s a part of me who is leaning towards thinking that could favor a veteran team to a certain degree. Maybe the Lakers are a good pick at 5 to 1 even though Kobe’s only getting older, and maybe even the Celtics at 12 to 1 are decent play. If I do find myself out in Vegas in the next couple weeks, I’d give throwing down a few bucks on the Grizzlies some consideration myself as well. At 25 to 1 that could be one of those way long-shot but still not completely impossible type picks. I don’t really gamble much though, nor will I be in Vegas, so I guess that’s besides the point.
I do enjoy the fact that the Heat are favored to win it all however. I really don’t think they will to be honest, but I like that they have that added pressure on them again. It’s interesting to watch them respond to that sort of thing.
