NBA Picks: Expert Picks Against the Spread, NBA Player Props, Best Bets & Parlays.

2018 Golden State Warriors Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

Seriously, is there anything more boring than reading a Golden State preview at this point? I can think of one thing - writing one. They are a stunningly dominant team with four all-stars in their prime on the roster, and they kept everyone and added another all-star for good measure. They were the best team in the league by a wide margin last year - at least when it mattered - and they probably will be again. The West is deep and getting tougher, but they are still well positioned to come out on top.

2018 New Orleans Pelicans Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

This feels like a really, really important year for the New Orleans Pelicans. Of course, we said the same thing last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. But this time it feels different. They have escaped the DeMarcus Cousins diversion without too much pain, and they have the most talented - or at least most logically assembled - roster they have had in a long time. Maybe ever.

2018 Utah Jazz Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

This past spring, we took my son, who is eight-years-old, to a Utah Jazz game. It was his second NBA game, but the first was in Orlando, so that barely counts. As we sat there gorging ourselves on snacks, I was struck by one thing above all else - this team is so easy to like. They have star power and they play selflessly. And they really seem to like playing together.

2018 San Antonio Spurs Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

How you feel about the Spurs right now depends on your perspective. If you just look at the headlines then things could be seen as really, really bleak. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were longtime cornerstones of a championship franchise, and now both are gone. Seeing Parker in San Antonio wearing a different jersey will take a whole lot of getting used to.

2018 Denver Nuggets Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

Like scoring? Find defense to be a waste of time? Then the Nuggets are your team. A precocious young team that missed the playoffs just because they lost their final game last year, this team has taken steps to be even more explosive offensively this season. And they certainly aren't going to waste a lot of time playing pesky defense. This team should be much improved and is just another example of how good and deep the West is right now.

2018 Portland Trail Blazers Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

Portland won 49 games to take the Northwest Division last year. And they deserved it - this is a good team. But when they were swept by New Orleans in the opening round of the playoffs - in lopsided fashion - it was as if all of the team's issues were exposed, and suddenly hope was lost. This team can be a solid regular-season team as built, but in the Western Conference being pretty good isn't good enough, and it is tough to see a path from where they are now to somewhere better - not without tearing things down and finding a new path.

2018 Phoenix Suns Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/8/2018

Want to know how to judge if a franchise is in a good place? Here's a simple test - they're not if they fire their general manager eight days before the start of the regular season. Now, I'm not shedding too many tears for Ryan McDonough. He took over in 2013 charged with rebuilding in the post-Steve Nash era, and five years later they are not much further ahead than they were.

2018 Los Angeles Lakers Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/5/2018

This is not going to be the most positive preview of the Lakers you will read. If you want rainbows and unicorns then you will have to go somewhere else. I obviously respect LeBron James immensely. He's the best player in the league and probably the best player ever. And the consistency with which he goes to the finals is remarkable. He's a phenomenon, and we are lucky to be witnessing his career.

2018 Toronto Raptors Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

Things have been weird since the regular season ended in Toronto. Bold, but weird. They won 59 games to become the No. 1 seed in the conference in the playoffs, but once the playoffs started things went downhill fast. They struggled far more than they should have to get past Washington in the first round in six games and just rolled over and died against the Cavaliers.

2018 Oklahoma City Thunder Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

The Thunder made some big moves heading into last season, assembling their own Big 3 to try to contend with the Warriors and the rest of the arms race in the league. And it didn't really work out. Paul George worked well, but Carmelo Anthony was a mess who never fit in, and the team was a disappointing first-round loser - albeit to a Utah team that is very good, so there was not a ton of shame in the loss.

2018 Detroit Pistons Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

The Pistons are the latest team to prove one of the biggest truths in sports - that hiring a genius doesn't always, or even often, lead to brilliant results. It seemed like the Pistons had solved all of their problems when they hired Stan Van Gundy to coach and run the team four seasons ago. But he could never recapture the magic of year's past, and the team never took a step forward.

2018 Indiana Pacers Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

It's amazing how much things can change in just one year. No one expected much of anything from the Pacers coming into the season last year. The playoffs seemed almost impossible. They looked like an also-ran. But then Victor Oladipo, to the shock of everyone, including his own mother I'm sure, suddenly turned into a legitimate superstar, the roster around him evolved nicely, and suddenly the team not only won 48 games, and not only took Cleveland to seven games in the first round of the playoffs, but very nearly beat them in the decider. It was the most surprising positive result in the league last year.

2018 Cleveland Cavaliers Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

It's obvious what is going to happen with the Cavaliers this year. They will endure rough spots during the season when they seem doomed, and in the playoffs as well, but when it matters LeBron will rise up, put them on his back, and carry them to the finals where they will lose to the Warriors. That's how it always happens. Oh wait, the old and reliable script doesn't work anymore.

2018 Chicago Bulls Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

I'm not sure that I understand the Bulls right now. They have taken a bunch of players, thrown them together, and hoped that they will turn into a core to build around. And it could work - they certainly have amassed a lot of offensive talent. But in the NBA the whole is often much less than the sum of the parts, and there is a good chance that that could be the case here. There is some upside - not a ton, and probably not enough to get into the playoffs, but some.

2018 Boston Celtics Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/3/2018

The Boston Celtics basically didn't do any roster moves of note this offseason. They took care of Marcus Smart's contract, which was the highlight, but mostly they stood pat. Yet they are going to be one of the more changed contenders in the league. Kyrie Irving is healthy and should be able to play more than the 60 games he played last year.

2018 Washington Wizards Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/3/2018

The Washington Wizards are proof of just how random and meaningless divisions are in basketball right now. Unless the Heat land Jimmy Butler and don't give up much in terms of current talent to get him then the Wizards should be in the driver's seat to win the Southeast Division. Yet, despite being one of just three division winners in the East, if they were to finish better than sixth in the conference it would be a fairly significant surprise.

2018 New York Knicks Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/3/2018

The good news for the Knicks is that things are not nearly as bleak as they have been for a long time now. Now, that's not a very high bar - this team has been a walking joke, so they could be much improved and still be embarrassing every day. But there are actually things to like. They have remade the roster significantly, they have their best coach in a long time, they have some nice young talent to build around, and they could position themselves to be a free agent destination again as soon as next summer.

2018 Brooklyn Nets Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/3/2018

It is tough to think of a team in any major sport that has done more to cause their own pain than the Nets. The mismanagement, poor decisions and bad gambles of the former leadership team has dragged the team down to ugly depths. Finally, though, there is an end in sight. They own their own first-round pick in the coming draft in the first time in a long time.

2018 Philadelphia 76ers Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/2/2018

Are the Sixers one of three, or a clear third? That is the question that they have to answer this year. There is no question that they have talent, and after winning a playoff series last year they have a foundation of success to build on - finally. But Boston and Toronto are both going to be very good in the East, and both are in the mix to win the Conference - and lose the Finals to Golden State. Philadelphia has the potential to be shoulder-to-shoulder with those two. But there are a lot of questions with this team, and it is also possible that they are not yet ready to make that step and that they will just be the best of the rest - Milwaukee's biggest challenger.

2018 Charlotte Hornets Predictions with Futures Odds and Expert Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 10/2/2018

What are the Charlotte Hornets? It is tougher to answer that question than most in all of sports. They aren't a bad team. But they aren't a good team. They aren't the least-talented team in the league. But they aren't the most-talented, either. They have some upside going forward. But it is far from impossible to imagine them going anywhere. They could be a playoff team. Or they could miss out. We don't know any of that. But what we do know is that none of it matters.