The 2008-09 NBA regular season begins in a little more than a month as the Boston Celtics get ready to defend their championship.
Last year the Los Angeles Lakers came in to the 2008 NBA finals as 2-1 favorites to win the title but it was the Boston Celtics who stole the show, winning their 17th NBA Championship in six games. The Celtics closed out the Lakers with a dominating 131-92 win in the series clincher.
The Lakers are the favorite to win the 2009 NBA Championship at +335, slightly ahead of the Boston Celtics at +350 and the San Antonio Spurs at +850.
Los Angeles finished the season with a 57-25 record and NBA experts predict the Lakers to possibly win 60+ games this season.
The Lakers are also obviously favored to win the NBA Western Conference at +145 ahead of San Antonio +375, New Orleans +600, Houston and Utah at +675 and Phoenix at +800. Kobe Bryant, who helped bring the Gold Medal back to the USA in this past Olympics is one of the two favorites to win the NBA regular season MVP award at +350. His Olympic teammate Lebron James is also +350 with Chris Paul +145, Dwight Howard +850 and Tim Duncan next at +1000. The rejuvenated Dwyane Wade and Kevin Garnett follow at +1300.
Boston was predicted by many to get to the NBA finals last season when they acquired Kevin Garnett in a blockbuster deal as well as bringing in Ray Allen to go along with long time Celtic Paul Pierce but they were not expected to beat LA and win the title by many NBA experts. The Celtics are favored to win the NBA Eastern Conference Finals again at +135 followed by the Detroit Pistons +400, Cleveland Cavaliers +575 and Orlando Magic +800.
The Miami Heat finished with the worst record in the NBA last year and are predicted by Las Vegas oddsmakers to make the playoffs this season. They are +1700 to win the East and +4500 to win the NBA Finals. Miami drafted Michael Beasley with the second pick after Chicago selected hometown hero Derrick Rose. Beasley is favored to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award at +175 with OJ Mayo +285, Rose +425, Eric Gordon +675 and Kevin Love +700 next in line.
Could there be some value in the Chicago Bulls who disappointed in 2008 but now have a point guard to team up with Luol Deng? The Bulls fired Scott Skiles in the middle of their 33-49 grueling season but this year Chicago is +1300 to win the East and +3000 to win the NBA Championship.
According to the oddsmakers, the biggest longshot on the board belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies who are 35000 to win the NBA Championship, just ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder +25000 and Sacramento Kings +20000.
