Melo Trade No Slam Dunk for Knicks Backers
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 2/23/2011
Finally. The deal is done. Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks. After one of the longest soap operas in recent NBA history, the question is no longer where Anthony will be traded but how he’ll do once he gets there.
The Knicks also acquired Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman from Denver in return for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick. There were other considerations as well but let’s not get bogged down in details.
Opinions are varied over whether this deal will work out for the Knicks, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2004. New York will go into Wednesday’s game at home to Milwaukee with a 28-26 record, a winning one, but are just 6-11 in their last 17. Clearly this is a team that requires a boost.
"Every team needs a 1, 1A punch," Knicks star forward Amare Stoudemire said in published reports after the Anthony trade news broke. "And so with the ways that we both can score....we're very versatile, so it's hard to guard us."
At Bodog we’ve got the Knicks at 30/1 odds to win the 2011 NBA title and have, not surprisingly, booked a good deal of action on them since Monday. New York now boasts two of the premier players in basketball so the excitement surrounding the team is understandable. Still, our oddsmakers obviously don’t believe this move puts the Knicks into the category of favorites. The Miami Heat are currently at 11/5 odds, followed by seven other teams before New York.
As for how the rest of the regular season will shake out for the Knicks, we’ve set their total wins in their 28 remaining games at 16. So far the betting has been split fairly evenly on both the over and under. Again, there’s plenty of optimism among New York basketball fans this week but there are others who have serious doubts that this was a smart move. Perhaps the biggest question among the skeptics is whether the Knicks will be good enough defensively to get the job done.
Finally, we’ve made odds on how things will end for New York this year. Will they miss the playoffs? Probably not (11/1). Will they lose in the first round of the playoffs? That’s the most likely according to us (4/9), followed by losing in the second round (3/1), losing in the conference finals (8/1) and losing in the title game (20/1).
I will be posting weekly articles about betting previews, matchups and the inside scoop from a bookmaker’s point of view right here at Doc's Sports. Read my past articles – Click Here, and learn more about Bodog sportsbook – Click Here. If you’re ready to set up an account and start playing I'd like to offer you a sign up bonus Click Here and enjoy our services.