NBA 2022 Season Futures Preview and Analysis | NBA Futures Predictions

Alex Christenson:

It’s great to be here. Skee, welcome to the show. It’s your premier here on the BetUS NBA show. Don’t worry, I’ll try to be nice, I won’t go after you too much like I did with Josh last week.

Skee:

It’s all good, I have a rapport with both of you guys, but it’s good to be on the show. We’ll talk some NBA, we’ll hopefully make everybody some money and I’m excited to do it.

Alex Christenson:

That’s good. We’ll hold off with the Lakers talk today, we’ll leave that for your second appearance on the show. But like I said, want to talk about some futures. We broke a little bit down the game ones, we’ll be back of course on Tuesday to talk about those games and Wednesday as we do for the regular season. But it’s futures time, we’ve got regular season win totals, divisions, conference, championship bots, all that stuff. So lot to get through, let’s jump in here first. Jay, I believe you’re up first on the list. Detroit Pistons, you like the Pistons win total here, over 28 and a half. We talked a little bit before the show about this. I love this one too, but why don’t you break it down for us.

Jay Money:

Yeah man. Liking the pistons win total here, obviously they already tanked to get their star and Cade Cunningham here. So it’s one thing that you worry about the bottom tier NBA teams, obviously you worry about the possibility of them tanking but I don’t see the Pistons as a suitor, especially with them going to get Bogdanovic from a tanking team in the Jazz. First off guys, it’s going to be pretty tough to out-tank the teams like the Jazz and the Spurs. It’s going to be really tough to out-tank them in my opinion. And so for the Pistons, I feel like they have a lot to play for, playing for the future. They got a lot of young guys over there as well, and so unfortunately, Bagley did just get hurt, he is going to be out a few weeks but still, he will be back and as long as they’re not looking to lose on purpose, then I think they could definitely get over this win total, I think it’s a few too many wins low in this one, give me the pistons over win totalness.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, tank is going to be huge, it’ll be one of the things we talked about on the show quite a bit, we’ll keep our list of tankers. But yeah, I mean you’ve got the Spurs, you’ve got the Jazz, you’ve got the Thunder, I mean, all of them are going to be really bad. The Pacers are going to tear it down, I wonder if the Wizards get another Beal injury if that gets ugly pretty quickly. But Skee, let’s jump into your pick here, looking here at the Celtics under 53 and a half wins, it’s been a rough off season for this team, at least the last couple weeks, but what are you thinking here? I mean is this the coaching situation maybe a little bit more than that?

Skee:

Well yeah we’re looking in the culture situation, obviously the drama with Udoka. But just looking at the number, it opened 56 and a half, its down to 53 and a half and I just think it’s too many wins, you look at them last year they won the division, they only made it to 51. And the east in general is a whole lot better, you have the Cavaliers, you have teams last year that had drama going on as far as Philly, Brooklyn with Simmons and Harden and you only had Kyrie playing half the time. This year it’s a different story, so when I look at the upgrades all around them and the drama, they’re now the team with the drama, so I feel like this is the division where we can make a lot of money and I think it’s too many wins here.

You look at Gallo, they’re not going to get his services, and a big reason why this team was even good last year is because they had their starting five and with Williams there to anchor the defense. Whenever they had all those five guys in the lineup, the defensive rating skyrocketed, without Williams there to start the season, they’re probably going to be allowing a lot of points. They have the sixth least scheduled wins, which means they’re going to be at a rest disadvantage majority of the season. And I’m just looking at who they’re starting against first 10 games, they play Sixers, the Heat, the Cavs twice, the Bulls twice, the Grizzlies, the Nuggets. I don’t see a lot of wins in their future, Boston win total under 53 and a half for me.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, I like that. Jay, I think we even talked a little bit with Josh. It’s going to be tough for the Celtics to match what they did last year. Anything to add there?

Jay Money:

Yeah, just real quick, I did want to add, I can’t really try to sneak the Bulls in there but the fact… You would know they don’t be good basketball team Skee, but the fact that they do, so I always say when a team makes it to the championship and they lose whether they lose or they win, they know what it takes to get there, so I would expect the Celtics to go a little bit lighter this season in the preseason knowing that it doesn’t matter what seed you get in the Eastern Conference over there, obviously you want to get home court advantage but that’s the real season when it comes to the playoffs. So maybe we expect them especially after hearing them speak how hard it was to get there, maybe we expect them to go a little bit lighter on the regular season. Maybe they wouldn’t have ran out of gas like they did last year.

And just one more, I could give you an honorable mention, The Hornets under, especially with the LaMelo ball injury, this team may have incentive to be one of those tanking teams I could see, well it’d be hard to move Hayward but I could see them trying to get rid of him, Rossier for sure and once they get rid of him, this horn is team is bad guys, that’s all I had to say.

Alex Christenson:

They are definitely one of those teams, again, I mentioned Washington a little bit, once it gets bad it is going to be ugly. In a similar but better vein, my team total under, give me the Miami Heat under 49 and a half wins here. This is a team that if we were talking about this roster two, three years ago, I would love this team, but Kyle Lowry looks old man. It’s tough being a short guard in the NBA especially when you rely a lot on your physical abilities. I love Kyle Lowry, watched him growing up playing in Villanova, even went to see some of his high school games here in Chester just outside of Philly. But just don’t know if he has them anymore, you look down the roster here, Jimmy Butler continues to be great in big moments but he continues to get older.

He misses more games every single year and if he misses any length of time, if Lowry misses any length of time, this is a really thin roster. I know Tyler Herro just got paid but just not the leader of a team and I don’t think there’s someone that’s going to be able to fill in for some of these older guys. Bam Adebayo continues to stall in terms of his attempt to become one of the best players in the NBA. And Skee, just like you said the rest of the east got better. You look up and down this conference, this is a much, much better conference and I just look at a Miami Heat team that is old and it’s going to have to start Max Strus over and over again. I don’t know why this roster’s looking like they’re going to be a top three, four seed and when you look at the market, so I’m happy to take the under, what do you think Skee?

Skee:

I did this win total maybe a month ago and I chose to over but I like the points you’re making. It’s not anything that I felt super strong about so I can’t talk you off Noops.

Alex Christenson:

What do you think Jay?

Jay Money:

Yeah it’s a tough one. One thing that could impact the total is if, well personally to me, if they do get Jay Crowder, I do think that it could bolster their lineup in my opinion and that could leave one of those bench players that could possibly be starting on the bench. So I don’t think that’s bad, may see Oladipo but the east is tough, it’s simple as that. And Lowry, I’m not real sure, can he stay healthy? Jimmy Butler, can these guys get some shooting going, guys like Duncan Robinson, so I couldn’t talk to you off and under there.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah I… Go ahead Skee.

Skee:

No, I’ll just say I do agree with Jay on that Hornets under though, I think that’s a real money spot.

Alex Christenson:

You toss that in there as a freebie there, a little tribe pick there for us. But yeah, unless Pat Riley can reach into his pocket, pull out some more magic beans to trade for something, I don’t know what’s going to happen in Miami here. Let’s get into some division bets, Skee and I have a bet in the same division but we’ll start with you Jay. You talked about how excited you were about this team last weekend, but let’s break it down a little bit more. Why do you love the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Jay Money:

Yeah, I think that the Bucks are a heavy favor in this one guys, but I think the Cavs are the team to beat in this division in my opinion. Just them versus the Bucks straight up, right, because that’s how we have to look up. I’m not worried about the Bulls, I don’t think they have enough guards or defense in my opinion. And we’re not going to even mention the Pacers and the Pistons there, but it’s the Cavs and the Bucks. But I think this price, people talk about value and I’m not too heavy on it because value doesn’t matter if you don’t win, but I actually think the Cavs are better than the Bucks this year, especially once they figured out, you got Garland, you have Mitchell, the closers and you have Mobley and Allen in there, that’s a really good tandem to stop Giannis from getting to the basket as well. And last year as well, those two teams faced off, he really struggled going up against Allen and Mobley.

So when those two are in there, full squad, if they struggle with the Cavs last year, they’re really going to struggle with them this year. They got Rubio back, got LeVert playing at a high level and added one of the superstar, MVP type of player in the league in Donovan Mitchell. When this team figures it out, I really think they have a high ceiling. Cavs, plus the 350 to win a division. I love it.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, I’m on the Cavs regular season wins over. What do you think of that team Skee? It looks like they’re pretty good. I don’t know if I’d say they’re the favorite over the Milwaukee Bucks, a little hyperbole from Jay there but this number should be smaller.

Skee:

Yeah I think you’re getting a great price on the Cavaliers and they definitely can get it done because you got those trees down low with Allen and Mobley to protect the paint and like Jay said, that’s why they match up well with the Bucks because that’s where they’re going to feast, Giannis going to go straight to the hole and if you got those two trees down there, it makes it hard for everybody in the league. So as Spida to the guard with Garland, I love the Cavaliers, I can’t talk you off that division winner at all.

Alex Christenson:

It’s one of the biggest advantages I think in the league. Not only having one shot blocker but to have two of those guys. It’s just one of the most underrated factors in the league. But let’s get to the most important division in basketball. My Atlantic division where Skee thinks one team’s going to win and I hope he is wrong but I’ll let him start first.

Skee:

Yeah, I know you weren’t going to like this one but I have to go with the Brooklyn Nets to win the division at, what is it, $2 there. So when I start this handicap, I look at what they did last season, they got embarrassed, they got swept, that’s the last thing that happened to the Nets. They got swept and you heard Kyrie talking about it, he said it was meant to happen like that, it’s motivation bro, we needed that humbling experience. I look at that and I look at last year they had 44 wins, it was a stretch during that season when KD went out and this team lost like 10 games in a row. Also, you got to think about Kyrie wasn’t playing home games. We already talked about the trade situation, drama and all that stuff. Harris was hurt, Seth Curry wasn’t there for a full season.

I just see a lot of ways that this team gets better and we talked about this division being one where we can make some money because the Celtics do not deserve to be favorites. So it is going to be either me or you Noops, I believe in that. I look at this Nets team, I think they’re really deep, I talked about Harris and Seth being back. They have Cam Thomas who’s a bucket, he can give you 20 on a night. Patty Mills who’s a veteran, TJ Warren, we’ll see what we get from him. And the big thing for me is Warriors, we saw them go out there with that death lineup and that’s the small ball. The Nets have a chance to have a death lineup of their own, with Ben Simmons at the five, he brings a lot of versatility to this team and obviously he’s going to boost their defense. So I think the Nets get a lot better than last season, they already have 44 wins, I think they can win this division at $2.

Alex Christenson:

I think you’re definitely right about the fact that it’s not going to be the Celtics. My only concern with the Nets is just from a leadership perspective. I wonder who is the loud voice, not locker room pushing everybody, but you’re right, those are adult professional men who got absolutely embarrassed, had to sit in that stool all summer. And this is a video game roster, I mean you put Seth Curry and Joe Harris shooting 50% or whatever number it is from three point on wide open attempts. You’ve got Kyrie creating, running pick and rolls with Kevin Durant. Ben Simmons can just run around, set screens, rebound, do all the stuff that he wants to do. So that could be fun, but I am way too optimistic on the team led by Glen Rivers, but giving my Philadelphia Sixers here, they’re plus 300 to win this division.

I just love this team, Joel Embiid is one of if not the best players in the NBA. James Harden I think is going to really enjoy taking a step back from a usage perspective and I think we’re going to see a ton of Tyrese Maxey highlights. I assume Sports Center still does the top 10 I haven’t watched in years, but if they do it is going to be a lot of Maxey highlights every week, that guy is just really special. I love some of the additions they made, Daryl Morey did a great job bringing in De’Anthony Melton who’s just going to be an absolute total energy guy coming off the bench. PJ Tucker’s going to bring in some attitude and toughness that this team lacks, but I will say I do agree with you Skee, give almost anybody but the Celtics who win this division. What do you think about the Atlantic Jack?

Jay Money:

Yeah, that’s a good point. And talk about value, you could take both of your bets if you guys are strong believers that the Celtics don’t win. Let’s say if you put a hundred on Philly and Brooklyn, if one of those win, you turn a profit regardless. So I like the looks of that, if you’ve really that strong that the Celtics don’t get it done, you take both of those and if you think it’s one of them, you definitely going to turn a profit there, I couldn’t talk anyone off of that.

Alex Christenson:

Love that. So that’s what we got for division bets, let’s jump into the conferences, we’ll start this time with the Western Conference. Jay, there is a particular team you like and you seemed pretty close to home, although you might have a new home, but what do you think about the Western Conference and looking at 11 to 1 here, how about those Mavericks?

Jay Money:

Yeah man, I think they can get back there. I think if they were healthy as well, we know that they lost Brunson, right, but they do get Tim Hardaway Jr back. They basically keep all of their centers, basically still have their main core, right? Reggie Bullock, you still got Dorian Finney-Smith, two defensive stoppers two 3-and-D guys. We know they have enough offense with Luka, he’s the MVP favorite of the league. So him with Dinwiddie as well, you have the bench, you added McGee and Christian Wood, some size, that was the main thing they were missing. I just feel like this team has the perfect balance of offense and defense and one of the better players, the new face of the NBA as well. So give me a long shot here, I feel like if you’re betting futures, take a little long shot man, take a little flyer. I think the Mavericks can win the Western Conference and get to the finals here.

Obviously, Suns have a lot going on. Lakers, a bit older team, Nuggets coming back from injury. But I really do think the Mavs have a shot and I think the price should be shorter than it.

Alex Christenson:

It’s similar to what we just talked about in the Atlantic Division. Not that there’s one team that I want to cross off because look at everybody at the top of that list. The Warriors just had one of their teammates punch another teammate. They’re coming off a championship season, that’s always tough. Phoenix seems like it’s quietly a mess down there. The Clippers are playing basketball for the first time in a year, year and a half. There’s just a ton of question marks about those team at the top, so I’m going to take another flyer in the west but give me the Denver Nuggets. I think what Jokic did last year playing with the Washington Generals was incredible. I mean to drag that team to the playoffs and into contention and nobody wanted to give him that MVP award but you just had to, there was no other choice.

He’s really incredible, I love what they did, bringing in some wing depth, bringing in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, he’s going to be a nice piece there. Bruce Brown was just a great glue guy for the Nets, he fits in perfectly. Jamal Murray’s going to be back and maybe Michael Porter Jr’s back will hold up for 40, 50 games, I don’t know. But even without Porter Jr, this just looks like a great team. They have good depth, Mike Malone is a solid coach, so give me the nuggets here to win the West. Skee, what do you think about the West?

Skee:

I plead the fifth, no, I’m just kidding. But I like both of those teams, my list, I’ll say this, you guys have number two and number three from my list as you guys pick, saying they’re both at a good price so I can’t talk either of you off. For Dallas, Jason Kidd showed he’s a good coach, he can put up a scheme as a series goes on and really throw teams off, so I like what they have over there. And they have one of, if not maybe the best player in the league in Luka, so I like that pick there. In Denver, a lot healthier, we haven’t seen Jamal Murray in how long, and PJ was out for the entire season. Joker finally has some help so watch out. I like both of those NBA picks.

Alex Christenson:

Let’s jump into the Eastern Conference where there was a team that stuck out to you Skee. I like this pick quite a bit and I’ll talk a little bit more about them when we get the championship odds, but who do you like to come out of the Eastern Conference? It’s not the Boston Celtics I assume.

Skee:

Yeah, we start right there and just because of that, Celtics don’t deserve to be the favorites. We have to look around and process of elimination for me, you’re not going to like this but for the Sixers I have to talk about Embiid’s health because it’s been a big thing over the years. Can we trust him to be available when the playoffs start? I don’t want to wish anything on anybody, but that’s a big question mark for me. And then the second question on the Sixers is, is Harden and trustworthy in the playoffs and answer to me is definitely not. I’ve seen him on the Rockets and I’ve seen him on the Nets and until he shows me, he’s untrustworthy in my opinion. I look at the Heat, you already talked about how down you are on them and I’ve seen this Bucks team sweep them already. I don’t think they have the rim protection to stop this Bucks team.

And just looking at the teams that actually have that big, have the paint protection that can defend Giannis. Cleveland, like Jay said, that’s the scary one, I think they got to avoid them in the playoffs. And Boston if they’re healthy maybe with Robert Williams, but I think a healthy Bucks team. Middleton missed the last 10 playoff games, you add angles in a little bit during this year, you got the best player in the East in my opinion and he’s going to be available. I feel like out of everybody there in the east, this team has the most chemistry and they have the most experience winning because they’re the only team I see that’s been together for a while that actually won a championship. So if I can get them at a better price than Boston, I’m willing to take the Bucks here.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, I can dig that, it makes a ton of sense to me. I think there’s a lot to be said about how different last post-season would be if Middleton were healthy. What do you think about the East here Jay?

Jay Money:

Yeah, I don’t know. I think maybe I’m feeling vastly different than everybody with the Bucks. I felt that way when I thought they were going to win the championship. Now I think they’re literally one year away from breaking the whole team up. I hadn’t heard that from anyone else, but that’s how I feel. I think Giannis is kind of close to maybe… I mean he’s talked about it as well talking about playing with the boys in Cali man, the Lakers or the Warriors, but I’m just saying, the Bulls, he just keeps talking about these teams that he may play for. But anyway, I digress, I think the Bucks are close to breaking it up but I guess with my championship pick, I guess I have to look towards the Sixers here in this one. Obviously coaching wise they do have to get over it, but it’s the 76 anniversary right? So I’m going with the Sixers, but yeah I think it’s going to be out of the Sixers and the Cavs, those are the two teams to beat in the East in my opinion.

Alex Christenson:

There’s a lot to unpack there because the thought of Giannis in a Lakers jersey literally makes me want to wretch. I feel kind of sick but then you reminded me it was the 76th season of the NBA. So what better team to pick for the championship Jay than maybe the Philadelphia 76ers?

Jay Money:

Last thing I’ll say, Silver coming out saying about the Warriors as well. Oh look, this is what team should do. You know what I’m saying? Basically what he was saying was how they basically built the team through the draft or whatever started from the bottom. Who’s another team that did that? The 76ers literally, I mean they were just came from tanking now they kind of got couple draft pieces, we know they traded way Simmons or whatever, but maybe that’s the next team that they want to see win the championship that started from the bottom and show that NBA teams can actually do that and actually profit or gain off of tanking.

Alex Christenson:

So let’s jump into our championship pick winners because not that I just gave away Jay’s pick but he hasn’t pick from a team from the Eastern Conference, I would love to hear about this.

Jay Money:

Yeah man, the Sixers. Oh the 76th season man. The huge NBA odds, right, you got to go with a flyer man, you got to swing for the fences here. I don’t see the Warriors back to back, I don’t see the Celtics even possibly getting back there as well. Don’t think the Nets have the coaching, obviously the 76ers would have to get over that coaching thing as well. But he still won a championship before, see what I’m saying? Regardless of the players helped him out or not. Adding guys like PJ Tucker over there is really going to help as well to be like a player type of coach in my opinion. So go with a flyer here, I’ll go with the Philadelphia 76ers, like I said again showing maybe the NBA wants them to look good in the championship to show that you can tank but you can still build a team from the bottom and still get there at the end of the season. So give me the 76ers and the 76th anniversary of the NBA.

Alex Christenson:

Now I love that pick but this might surprise Skee. I’m going to pick a different Eastern Conference team because as much as I love the Sixers, I think they are a great team, should be one of the title favorites. Given what Embiid can do, you have some great questions about James Harden, I wonder if maybe some of his lower usage during the year will finally give my chance to be healthy in the playoffs. But give me those Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis is the most consistent player in the NBA, especially for one of the two, three best players that are in the league. I love the depth of that team, I love the experience of it. Every single year they seem to just make a few tweaks, adding Joe Ingles is going to be a really great piece and I think they finish the season with kind of a sour taste in their mouth. Looking at that Celtics team knowing that they almost beat them anyway without Chris Middleton, to know if they can get through the series and they still have their three guys, they are probably the best team in the east.

Again, maybe my Sixers will give a run in the conference finals, but I just love that number that you’re looking at on the screen there. Bucks plus 750. I don’t understand why that’s the same number as the Clippers, a team that we’ve never seen make a conference finals, let alone make an actual NBA finals here with the way they’re put together. The Bucks should be up closer to the Warriors and the Celtics there as those top two numbers, but as we’ve said before, thanks to the [inaudible 00:22:08] for hanging some bad numbers here at the top because we get a chance to poke around and take advantage of some numbers in the middle. Now Skee, what was your pick to win the championship and I think I just set you up poorly.

Skee:

No, no worries. I disagree with what Jay said in the beginning. I like the Warriors, I think to start off, I got to start with this Draymond situation just because it’s been made a humongous deal but I think it’s going to blow over. It happens all the time, I’ve had it happen in my practices. I know somebody who’s in the NBA listen-

Jay Money:

That does not happen all the time.

Alex Christenson:

Hold on, you had somebody cold-cock somebody during a practice?

Skee:

Listen to me, I’m not going to say any names, but I know somebody who’s in the NBA who during the practice the same exact thing happened to. And they continue to play on the same team throughout the rest of the season. So this happens all the time and in my opinion, if it’s going to happen to any team, I think Golden State has great leaders to deal with it. I like Steve Kerr and I like Steph Curry, so I’m not worried about the Draymond situation. I think he’ll be back with the team soon and everything will be fine.

Outside of that, for a lot of these guys, how old is Steph Curry? How old is Draymond Green and Klay Thompson? That championship window for some of these guys is getting shorter and shorter. So I think they’re still hungry and they still have that same core. What’s Jay talked about earlier, the stretch when the Warriors were hurt and injured, it allowed them, they didn’t necessarily tank, they just weren’t good, but it allowed them to get those draft picks to get some of these young players to beef up their roster, that’s why it’s so stacked right now. That’s why you can have a Jordan Poole come off the bench and all of that stuff.

So you still have those same things, this team does the three things I like for teams to win. They shoot the three well, they defend the three well, and they rebound. So one thing I’ll say that I do not like is they don’t have Payton anymore and he’s somebody who could defend the guard position, although Steph, I give Steph Curry credit, he’s got to a lot better on defense, but they need a guy who can is going to be guarding the Ja Morants for the entire game. I do like though that they get Wiseman, because he can create some vertical space and gives them another bigger body. Warriors, everybody knows you hear Warriors basketball, it’s really hard to defend when you got that spacing when you’re sharing a ball like that and just playing unselfish. That’s why they’ve been successful, that’s why they’ve been winning for so long, I don’t see that changing this year.

Jay Money:

I’d like to bet that the Warriors won’t win the championship. I need to find a bet that they won’t, just that simple, field against the Warriors that they will not win the championship this year.

Alex Christenson:

I bet if you go to Circa they have that up at like minus 9, 10,000, something like that. So you have to lay a lot of juice, but the one thing I will say Skee is, now is the time to buy, if you like the Warriors now, because everyone’s like you said, they’re having all these big reactions to everything that’s going on, there’s tons of distractions. That’s the time to go buy it when it seems like a distressed asset when everything’s fine. So I think now is definitely the time to buy and you’re right, they might be able to put it together but do worry a little bit about their defensive plays there.

Let’s jump into some Q and A here and we’ll wrap up with a recap of our best bets. Starting off here, Halt asks, what are some of your favorite looks for six man of the year? Jordan Poole pretty much the favorite at this point, he seems to think he’s vulnerable. Reading some of the other names on the list Tyler Herro’s up there, he probably starts honestly, so you cross him off, Christian Wood maybe is interesting. The name at the top of the list I like the most honestly is Malcolm Brogdon, 11 to 1 really consistent player, I think he’s going to come off the bench for the Celtics now, you think he starts Jay?

Jay Money:

Yeah, I was talking about that the other day. That was the main problem they need to fix is having a point guard. You get Brogdon, there’s no way that they can bring him off the bench. Who’s going to run the point guard? It can’t be Smart, right, because we just saw that, it didn’t work. So in my opinion, I feel like they got Brogdon, only to have him to start point guard. And it does worry me that they hadn’t been really running him with the starting offense and so I think Udoka missing, maybe impactful right now. Brogdon should come in to be the starter, simple. That’s what they brought him in there for.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, so looking down the list there maybe another name to think of because if you think Brogdan’s a sixth man, how about Norman Powell? If the Clippers are going to be pretty good, Powell’s going to come in, be kind of an instant offense type guy. I mean you’re looking for sixth man, that’s what you’re looking for. Instant offense off the bench, the guy who wins this award every year is 16 to 18 points per game off the bench and Powell sticks out like that. Skee, were there any names on the list that maybe stuck out to you?

Skee:

I’m an honest guy and I did really good on future bets last season, but I did not do very good on Player Bets so I didn’t really look at that Sixth Man of the Year Award too closely. I assume Jordan Poole is the favorite.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, 4 to 1.

Jay Money:

That’s where I would look.

Skee:

Yeah, I think Jordan Pool but I mean I know we try to beat the favorite.

Alex Christenson:

Jordan Pool is the deserving favorite. I wonder if 4 to 1 is a little big, curious to see how that number moves around. Another question for Mr. Erky here, what do you guys think about the Atlanta Hawks? The win totals at 45 and a half. I kind of lean under here, this team sort of has the feel of almost like the Utah Jazz last year where we’re just trying the same thing for a third season in a row. Murray should bring in a nice little element to it but it’s still going to be a lot of Trae Young and Clint Capella pick and rolls, and I just worry about what the ceiling is for this team and unless Okongwu gets to be really good coming off the bench, I worry about the depth of this team. Jay, do you have any feelings one way or the other on the Hawks?

Jay Money:

They are a little top heavy but watch out. I mean they got too young stars, as long as Young or Murray don’t get hurt for a extended period of time. Watch out for your Hawks, me personally, I wouldn’t bet the under. I think this is the type of team that’ll try to go all in and get the best possible seat that they can obviously to possibly falter out in the playoffs. But Dejounte Murray against second team defenses guys, just keep an eye on that, Dejounte Murray, because I’m telling you I used to do this as well in high school. I was the shooting guard whenever the point guard went out the game, then I was the point guard and then you’re going up against the second team for the team. Murray will absolutely eat, I’m telling you this.

Alex Christenson:

Skee, what’d you come out on The Hawks?

Skee:

I like this one over when I looked at the Hawks before the last season when they made it that deep run in the playoffs. You heard the guys talking about, it’s hard to get up for the regular season, they just want to make it to the playoffs and then they get to the first round and get bounced easy. So I feel like when they beef up the roster getting Murray over there, I feel like they have motivation and they’ve gotten a little bit better. They have the third easiest schedule, number two on scheduled wins, which means they’re going to be well rested versus teams on a back to back. They got 43 last year, you’re only asking for three more. I think you get up and over to win total of 45 and a half, I did bet this one.

Alex Christenson:

Yeah, good point on the schedule there, so we’ll see. We continue to be opposite side on stuff and that’s fun, I like being that. Barry Barger here pops in, Brooklyn odds Nets look a little too low to him. If you miss that section of the show go back, Skee did a great job of breaking down why he likes the nets. Jay, I can’t remember if you popped in at all during that segment. Anything you wanted to add about the Nets quickly? Again, I think you and I are a little pessimistic given the leadership vacuum, but the roster’s great.

Jay Money:

Yeah, was my thing about the Nets, KD is older, he’s not the young KD anymore. I think we saw that in last year’s playoffs. Defense, I mean you can get a good defense playing up against them, but regards that coaching, the coaching is going to hold this team back, it simply put. I like the Nets roster, I know most aren’t a fan of Kyrie Irving, I like him, I like KD, Ben Simmons, all the guys. This team, they have the guys to do it, but the coaching, I think this is a prime team that you will see that coaching really can make you or break you. So you can’t necessarily rely on the players all the time, this is the type of team that relies on the players, the coaching is horrible.

Alex Christenson:

Now we might have an answer to this. I was too lazy to try to look it up here real quickly, do we know who’s coaching the Celtics this year?

Jay Money:

Yeah, I think it’s like Joe Mazzulla or something.

Alex Christenson:

Oh so it’s Joe Mazzulla.

Jay Money:

He hadn’t done a bad job so far to be honest with you, but other than not having Brogdon start.

Alex Christenson:

He’s one of the assistants from last year, right. So some familiarity there, that’s a pretty decent job. Looking here, now Skee, I know you’re not big into the player stuff, so I’ll skip you on this one. Jay, was there any other award markets you were looking at? Why are you thinking that? There’s a couple that stuck out to me, Most Improved Player, I love Tyrese Maxey in this spot. Again, I just see this season setting up for him, taking that big step in counting stats. Most Improved Player, you’re looking for somebody to add like five to six points to their points per game, add assist, add a rebound per game and hopefully make the All Star team, but at least compete for that.

Maxey looks really great to me in that regard. Anthony Edwards and I know those are the two favorites, but that’s one of the award markets. I really like the top, and maybe going down a little bit, if you wanted a bigger number. Jalen Brunson at 22 to 1. I love that MIP market, I think that’s probably one of the ones that the most value, but were there any other word market stuff that stuck out to you Jay?

Jay Money:

Yeah, you stole that one from me man. You heard me talking about Maxey the other day, man. You know I’m super high on Maxey but no, I’m messing with you. No, we did the show the other day, I was talking about Maxey, he looks really improved. I know the fact that some of the guys started to do this step back three, Harden’s kind of rubbing off him a little bit, but Maxey has really stepped up his game, I’d be looking at him for Most Improved Player

Alex Christenson:

Now, you scared the crap… Go ahead Skee.

Skee:

Really quick, what are the odds on Haliburton?

Alex Christenson:

Haliburton most improved, he’s 14 to 1. That was another look that I liked, I just worry about that Pacers team. I don’t know, that thing could be really ugly, but you’re right, he just fits the absolute bill for that. So if not this season, next season, that’s a good look for sure. Now you terrified me talking about this earlier Jay, is Giannis really talking about leaving the Bucks? Is this something that I’ve apparently missed because he seemed like he was pretty happy being the guy in Milwaukee, but everybody visits California at some point in their life.

Jay Money:

Personally, I think that the Bucks are pretty close to breaking up the team in my opinion. I really think that Giannis will start to test the other markets. We know these NBA players, he stayed there and got a championship, so they’re not going to say that he is not loyal for leaving. I just think that he’s going to want to get out and test some of these other big markets. He loves spending time in California every off season, he’s in California the whole off season. He loves talking about playing with Steph. I hope it doesn’t happen, but he loves talking about playing with Steph and stuff man. But I do think that they’re pretty close if they get bounced in the first, second round, I think it’s very possible man.

Alex Christenson:

Well if Giannis is listening, there’s a lot of teams in California, you could play for the Clippers, you could play for the Kings, you could play for the Warriors. That’s plenty, that’s your list, don’t look any further, right Skee? There’s not any other teams in California that might be able to acquire Giannis and make me cry.

Skee:

It’s okay, we’ll get one of these guys, we’ll get there.

Alex Christenson:

Of course, he’s talking about the Lakers and that scares the bejesus out of me. Last question here from Marcus Johnson, which team do you think is going to tank the most.

Skee:

Spurs.

Alex Christenson:

Who do you think is the tank artist, Skee’s going to take the Spurs. What do you think Jay? Who’s your most tank team?

Jay Money:

It’s out of those two, Jazz heavy. I don’t think they win 10 games. You know what, something interesting to look at guys, Jarred Vanderbilt was a really good player right, over there for Minnesota. I noticed a guy taking step back shots and threes and stuff now. So that just kind of shows you, I don’t know what the jazz are doing over there, but Vanderbilt, he shouldn’t be shooting the ball at all, but definitely shouldn’t be shooting threes or taking step back shots. I’m just watching the preseason and seeing, this team is going to be horrible and that’s the only thing I’ll say.

Alex Christenson:

I’m going to have to look around and see if anybody hire Brett Brown, he should have a job this year going around and teaching some of these guys what to do and try to enable him. I think you guys are right, those are probably the two worst teams. Don’t sleep on Oklahoma City, Chet Holmgren’s out, but I think the Pacers are going to be the team that does the most effort to tank because they have a decent starting five. We just talked about Halliburton, he’s a really solid player. Duarte is good, Myles Turner when he is healthy for 30 or 40 games a year is pretty good.

Buddy Hield is a solid player, maybe Jalen Smith will be okay getting out of Chris Paul screaming at him in the locker room all the time. But that’s the team that is going to just start, they’re going to make a trade that doesn’t make any sense. They’re going to be benching players. You’re going to see Halliburton stumble a little bit and he’ll be out for six to eight months with some sort of knee injury you’ve never heard about. So I’ll take the Pacers to be the most obvious tank, but yeah, it’ll be big for us to go through that list.

Thanks everybody for the questions. Those were great and I believe here we’ve got a logo, let’s go through our best bets here. Again, we each gave out a win total, a division bet and a conference bet. Jay likes the Pistons over 28 and a half wins. The Cavs to win the central division there, plus 350. Maverick’s to win the west and my Philadelphia 76ers, that’s right, I own them, to win the championship. I’ll take the Miami Heat under 49 and a half wins, my Sixers to win the Atlantic Division, Nuggets to win the West and Bucks to win the NBA title. Skee likes the Celtics under 53 and a half wins, Brooklyn to win the division, Milwaukee to win the East, Golden State to win the title and it’s an unofficial pick, but we all will take the Hornet’s team total under there for regular season wins. Believe that’s just about it, Jay, anything to add here before we wrap up?

Jay Money:

Yeah, that’s it for me, my guys. Love doing the show with you guys and can’t wait for the next one.

Alex Christenson:

Skee, did you have fun on your first show?

Skee:

Yeah, great rocking with you guys. And only thing I’ll say is that Hornet’s under is definitely an official pick for me.

Alex Christenson:

Okay, let’s make it official. We’ll have a graphics team put something out in the tweet when we finish the show. Maybe they can just paste it on our foreheads for the entire show or something, hornets under, but thanks everybody for watching. It was really great talking with you guys, make sure you check out BetUS. It’s where we the at, the game begins, there are our sponsor, there’s all sorts of great links and stuff. You get a bunch of bonuses for signing up and we’ll be back next time, I believe this coming Tuesday to talk about real stinking NBA basketball. It’s happening, it’s almost here, it’s the best time of the year. We’ll see you soon folks, bye.