Lawrence "New" Engelland
Like Bogart waiting for Bergman at the train station, NBA fans suffered a huge letdown when teams decided that doing nothing was better than doing something.
*Blake Griffin, you’re still dunking for the Clippers.
*Al Horford, stick around in Atlanta at least until summertime.
*Dwight Howard, sit your goofball self down in Houston.
*Kevin Love, you better learn to love LeBron and the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
The NBA trade deadline has passed and the status, as they say, remains quo. Perhaps no one is more disappointed about that than me. Here I was, ready to overhaul the NBA futures in the wake of the blockbuster deals we were promised. Instead, I’m left crunching almost infinitesimal numbers. B-level actors like Jeff Green and Tobias Harris just aren’t game-changers. The big guns stayed put, and so did the odds, for the most part.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are still odds-on faves to get out of the East and the Golden State Warriors remain the favorite to win the title. Since none of the major awards contenders swapped jerseys, those odds remain unchanged.
See for yourself…
2016 NBA Futures (post-trade deadline)
Odds to win the 2016 NBA Title:
Golden State Warriors: 5/7
Cleveland Cavaliers: 12/5
San Antonio Spurs: 7/2
Oklahoma City Thunder: 10/1
Los Angeles Clippers: 25/1 (No change after trading Lance Stephenson for Jeff Green.)
Toronto Raptors: 40/1
Boston Celtics: 50/1
Chicago Bulls: 50/1
Miami Heat: 60/1
Atlanta Hawks: 80/1
Indiana Pacers: 100/1
Houston Rockets: 125/1
Memphis Grizzlies: 150/1 (No change after trading Jeff Green for Lance Stephenson.)
Washington Wizards: 150/1 (Up from 175/1 after trading DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries for Markieff Morris.)
Dallas Mavericks: 250/1
Detroit Pistons: 350/1 (Up from 375/1 after trading Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova for Tobias Harris)
Charlotte Hornets: 500/1
Utah Jazz: 600/1
Portland Blazers: 750/1
Orlando Magic: 900/1 (Up from 950/1 after trading Tobias Harris for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova; yes, both teams can win a trade.)
New Orleans Pelicans: 1000/1
Sacramento Kings: 1000/1
Milwaukee Bucks: 1500/1
New York Knicks: 2000/1
Brooklyn Nets: 10000/1
Denver Nuggets: 10000/1
Minnesota Timberwolves: 10000/1
Phoenix Suns: 12000/1 (Down from 10000/1 after trading Markieff Morris for DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries.)
Odds to meet in the 2016 NBA Finals:
Warriors/Cavaliers: 3/5
Spurs/Cavaliers: 9/5
Thunder/Cavaliers: 6/1
Clippers/Cavaliers: 14/1
Warriors/Raptors: 16/1
Odds to win 2016 NBA MVP:
Steph Curry, Warriors: 2/7
LeBron James, Cavaliers: 4/1
Kevin Durant, Thunder: 6/1
Kawhi Leonard, Spurs: 12/1
Chris Paul, Clippers: 15/1
Odds to win 2016 NBA scoring title:
Steph Curry, Warriors: 3/5
Kevin Durant, Thunder: 4/1
Russell Westbrook, Thunder: 5/1
James Harden, Rockets: 15/1
DeMarcus Cousins, Kings: 75/1
Odds to win 2016 NBA Rookie of the Year:
Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves: 3/2
Kristaps Porzingis, Knicks: 5/2
Jalil Okafor, 76ers: 12/1
Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: 14/1
Myles Turner, Pacers: 14/1
Odds to win the 2016 NBA Defensive Player of the Year:
Draymond Green, Warriors: 2/1
DeAndre Jordan, Clippers: 2/1
Kawhi Leonard, Spurs: 6/1
Hassan Whiteside, Heat: 12/1
Jae Crowder, Celtics: 60/1
(Photo credit: scott mecum (flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
