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Joe and Erie to myself,
it's Friday. This is what we do here.
Even though there's nothing going on on the court right
now in the NBA,
there's a lot going on off the court,
which again, includes free agency is awesome.
I can't wait for that to start up.
Why? Sometimes you just take a look at as a
fan,
I'm a Philadelphia 76ers fan.
We partied once the Sixers actually lost in their playoff
game.
Like why the heck would you do that?
Because there's a player that I will not name whose
contract is up that was making Max contract money,
who now we can spend elsewhere and maybe improved the
Philadelphia 76ers.
I'll let you guys find out who that player on
the Sixers actually was.
Let's take a look at the NBA championship odds,
Joe Ranieri, because even before free agency,
they are on the move.
We really had a focus on the early line the
past couple days when just the Eastern Conference because of
how many moves the New York Knicks were actually making.
And of course, the reigning NBA champions,
the Boston Celtics. Let's get that broadview here.
Bring in the Western Conference,
the Celtics still the favorite at a three to one
Price,
the Nuggets at a + 750 and look at the
Knicks now under 12:50,
actually at a + 850.
Price currently at the FanDuel Sports book to win the
NBA Championship,
followed by the Thunder, T,
Wolves, Mavericks, Bucks, Sixers, Clippers,
and Heat. Let's just take that look right now.
Do we agree that the Celtics still should be a
heavy favorite to win next year in the NBA?
Well, I don't know about heavy favorite,
but they should certainly be the favorite
here given the fact that for the most part,
the entire nucleus of that team will be back.
I know Porzingis just had surgery.
There are five to six months he'll be back.
Shocker. We're talking about Porzingis
being on the shelf for a while.
But they will. And I think the cats out of
the bag though,
right, the style and the and how they put 5
all these monster guys with,
you know, with on here being able to shoot threes
from all over the place with Tatum and Brown.
Oh, well, that's all. This is a copycat league.
So you and I both know what's going to happen
here is that there are going to be a ton
of other teams and the Knicks are already doing it.
The Knicks just spent a whole lot of money and
put a team together that they think,
uh, can be the antithesis to that and cause all
sorts of problems for Boston.
So congratulations. Now you're the haunted instead of being the
hunter.
Let me know how that works out here.
They they did something rare too Donnie this year.
Don't forget they were the preseason favorites who actually,
yeah, won the title. This and there's only been a
dozen or so of those
in the history of the game.
So the chances of them doing that back-to-back
not great as far as I'm concerned.
Valid point you bring up because also even though you
win championships,
you know what you're doing you're playing months longer in
many more games than anybody else just to get to
that point.
It was interesting to say like,
hey, Porzingis is going under the knife.
Ah, it's got the whole offseason yeah,
he's going to be down six months and my goodness,
man, talk about a surgery and hopefully he comes back
and being healthy.
That's a long way. But if we do take a
look and also those high risers right now because we're
reacting to when the season ends and what you did
to the roster. And what I mean by that is
the New York Knicks have improved the roster and spent
a lot of money as they now it again under
a 12:50 price to win the NBA championship at a
+ 850 price.
If we take them out of the Eastern Conference and
just include them with the Western Conference,
are we buying into the hype for the next year
or near?
Because I can't fault them for doing what they're doing.
They're a better basketball team,
but they actually did enough to be warranted.
The third overall odds favorite here at the FanDuel Sports
Book.
Well, I mean, listen, they were they were close last
year and played with,
you know, basically three guys in the
in the in the playoffs there.
And we there was no doubt that the Knicks were
a different team with Anna Nobi on the court versus
him off the court,
right? The nucleus is there.
Now you've locked him up if he can stay healthy.
And this is a big if because Ananovi has got
a much like Porzingis,
when he's on the court,
he's a difference maker. But if he's not available to
the Knicks,
they just spent $200 million on a guy that's going
to be on the bench and hurt.
And that's the biggest concern.
But outside of that, you got to love the draft
for them.
You got they built this roster to beat
Boston, exactly what they did,
much like Minnesota put a roster together to beat Denver.
They did. The problem is that roster wasn't good enough
to beat Dallas.
Yeah, no, we'll see how that certainly plays out.
But again, I can't fault what the Knicks are doing
with that front office.
They're spending money. They're getting their fan base excited that
a nice run last year.
If they can stay healthy next year,
we'll see what they can do.
And also to Joe's point,
which is maybe the best point overall,
man, it's hard to go
back-to-back when you have that target on your chest because
you right,
they had day number one.
They were the best right up.
The Thanksgiving Day were the best New Year's,
they were the best. They were the best the entire
season long and proved in the playoffs for the whitewashing
of basically everybody that they played.
Let me ask you a question about one of these
teams that's popping up here just outside of 12:50.
That's the Milwaukee Bucks at 11 to one.
You saw last year going through coaching changes and now
Doc Rivers I guess is the answer because he signed
a long term contract and a very lucrative one here
to be the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Are we sleeping on them a little bit because they
were injured last year?
Dame came over, he wasn't obviously happy,
but now at least one year acclimated in Milwaukee.
Should they be 11 to one price or be higher?
And also, are they on your radar for next season?
No, they're not. And the reason they're not is
tell me, if they could do it all over again,
would they somehow figure out a way to keep Holiday?
And you know why? Because he was the glue.
He was the guy that was the defensive Stallworth of
that team.
You know what you're going to get from Dame and
it ain't defense.
And if you can't play defense,
then you get beat by the Indiana Pacers.
And that's, I don't see how that changes here,
Donnie, at all. Not to mention
everyone's getting older and everyone's a little more injury prone
now.
So they are, I think,
priced where they should be.
There will be some people think there's value there.
I mean, there's no doubt they're going to be good,
but are they good enough to beat those top three
teams at that board?
I don't think so.
And also the part about this too is last year,
like Dame, for six to seven months,
Joe was like, I'm going to Miami,
I'll force my way there.
It's the way the NBA worked.
Eventually both teams will come to an agreement and we
were expecting that.
And I was on the radio live on Money Line
last year when it all went down.
It blew me away because nobody was talking about him
going to the Milwaukee Bucks and shows up there.
No. And Dame Lillard over the parts of the season
basically was telling us,
yeah, I go to practice,
I play games, I play video games at home and
then I'm bored as all get out.
I should have been in Miami,
out at the clubs, enjoying the good scenery and all
that other stuff.
So that certainly played a big deal into this also.
But if we are looking at other teams and quickly,
only a couple seconds left,
the Dallas Mavericks had a 12:50 price.
Do we expect them to take another step next year
or was this the best of The Mavericks this year?
No, I I think they're going to make some adjustments.
I think they learned a lot.
You got to lose before you can win in the
NBA.
Just ask Boston. I think Dallas will do what they
need to do as long as they have those two
guys on a roster.
And how about this? You know,
we saw the Knicks improve it.
But when free agent kicks in,
the Philadelphia 76ers odds will change from 15 to one.
They could go higher or they could be bought down
lower if they put together a couple good players in
the city.