To say that the transactions that beat the trade deadline were crazy is an understatement. Everyone’s still catching their breath. The Adrian Wojnarowskis and the Ric Buchers of the world must be feeling like they’ve just finished a week-long drinking binge. But after the dust of the trade deadline apocalypse have settled, let’s take a look at the odds of the some of the league’s favorites, sleepers, and long shots to win the NBA Title.
The NBA season’s second half is underway. Read a preview of the Cavs vs. Wizards’ game tonight here.
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Which Teams are Favored after the NBA Trade Deadline?
Favorites: Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks
[sc:NBA240banner ]The Cavs, Warriors, and Hawks didn’t make much noise in the trade deadline, but remain as favorites to go all the way and win the NBA Championship.
The second half of the season will begin the same way the first half did: with the Cavaliers being declared as the favorites to win the NBA Championship. Cleveland’s dream of raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy was at some point put in question when the team went on an ugly 1-9 rut from late December to January. LeBron James and company, however, were able to turn their ship around just before the All-Star break, closing the season’s first half with a scorching 14-2 record over their last 16 games.
To underscore how dominant the team has been of late, Cleveland was able to go 12-4 ATS during that stretch. Cleveland, which has a price of +275 to bring home its first ever league championship this June, has a very challenging set of games to start the season’s second half, as the Cavs will play 15 of their next 20 games on the road.
Golden State (+300), meanwhile, ended its first-half schedule with three-straight wins over D-League teams masquerading as NBA franchises AKA the Knicks, Sixers, and the T’wolves.
The Warriors have the best defense (42.1 opponent’s FG%) in the league yet that aspect of their game is, to some extent, overlooked. Maybe that’s what happens when a team’s offense (110.6 PPG) fires on all cylinders on an almost nightly basis. Stephen Curry is among the frontrunners to win the MVP award, and together with Klay Thompson, forms a titanic backcourt duo that is bound to lead Steve Kerr’s team to a likely No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Over in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks (+500) remain as kings. Being the leaders in the East may not hold as much swagger as say, the Warriors’ claim of superiority in the West, but to be ahead of the Cavs and the Chicago Bulls at the season’s halfway mark speaks volumes of Atlanta’s success. And that’s as if the rest of the league need any more reason to respect Atlanta after the Hawks went 17-0 back in January.
Led by four players recently named as All-Stars and with Mike Budenholzer, who’s in the driver seat to win the Coach of the Year award at the helm, the Hawks are in perfect shape to take home the Eastern Conference crown this season. They are the favorites at +200 to win the East this year.
Sleepers: Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers
James Harden (+3,000) is doing one heck of a job in keeping the Rockets afloat despite the absence of Dwight Howard. Harden is the league’s top scorer, burning the hoops for 27.4 PPG. He’s also Houston’s leader in assists (6.8 APG) and steals (2.0) and his 27.5 efficiency rating is among the NBA’s best. Harden, however, obviously can’t do it all alone. Make no mistake about it, the Rockets still need a healthy Howard if they are to make a deep playoff run in the Western Conference.
General Manager Daryl Morey got Harden and company some help during the trade deadline, shipping three second-round picks, Isiah Canaan, and Alexey Shved out of the team in exchange for K.J. McDaniels and Pablo Prigioni, two guys who can be considered as upgrades to the backcourt and wing depth of the team.
The Clippers (+2,000), on the other hand, stayed idle throughout the trade deadline. The team has been bugged by depth problems, an issue compounded even more by the absence of Blake Griffin due to a staph infection. The Clips’ front office whiffed on the Amar’e Stoudemire “sweepstakes” and didn’t move Jamal Crawford—often mentioned in trade rumors— to another team. With basically an intact roster, the Clips’ only recourse for change is to sift through any buyouts and available players for 10-day contracts. Despite failing to sign quality players, the Clips should still be a dangerous team to face in the playoffs granted all their key pieces are healthy.
Any list of trade deadline winners should include the Heat. Any NBA power rankings should also promote Miami. All these demands should happen because Pat Riley just pried Goran Dragic (and brother Zoran) away from Phoenix. Although the Heat (+5,000) sacrificed a little bit of their future (2017 and 2019 first-round draft picks), and gave up roster fillers in Shawn Williams, Norris Cole and Danny Granger, the acquisition of Dragic makes Miami a far more dangerous team than it was before the blockbuster deal.
Based on how things worked out for Miami, its starting unit will now be composed of a backcourt combo of Dragic and Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng at small forward, and a frontcourt tandem of Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside, who’s having a Linsanity-esque season.
That sound you just heard is the collective gasp of other Eastern Conference teams.
On the other end of the spectrum of the trade involving the Dragic brothers are the Suns. In the process of this deal, Phoenix (+15,000) got Brandon Knight, a combo guard who can make things happen on offense either by scoring by the truckload or by simply finding open teammates. Knight averaged 17.8 PPG and 5.4 APG in 52 games with the Bucks this season. The Suns also traded Isaiah Thomas to the Celtics for Marcus Thornton.
The Suns didn’t stop there in reconfiguring their backcourt as they also shipped rookie guard Tyler Ennis to Milwaukee. Losing both Dragic and Isaiah Thomas gives the Suns chemistry problems. How the Suns’ offense will run moving forward will largely depend on how quick Phoenix can find a way to mesh all these brand new backcourt pieces together. The Suns are currently tied for eighth place in the Western Conference with a 29-25 win-loss record.
