Shoot The Rock! Feb. 5 NBA Edition – Latest Betting News and Tips

Feb. 5 NBA Edition – Latest Betting News and Tips

Here is what people are talking about in the NBA this week.

The NBA Trade Deadline Absolutely Nuts!

Saturday night the Dallas Mavericks traded Luke Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. Yes, other players and the Utah Jazz were involved but that didn’t matter to anyone unless they were involved in the trade.

With rare exceptions, the consensus was the Lakers made out unbelievably well and Dallas will live to regret this day. It is hard to argue with that premise, knowing what we think we know.

For this to be a success for the Mavericks and its new ownership, they need to win an NBA title with Davis or the trade will end up as most suspect, a bust.  One can make a case the Mavericks will be more defensive-oriented, but they still made The Finals last year. Going forward, they need a bigger scoring guard to go with Kyrie Irving, who is 32 and a smallish 6’2.

If Dallas can win a championship in the next three years, that will chase away the naysayers, and it will be before Luka wins one in L.A.

Luka and LeBron could be fun, but at best that goes through just next season. Doncic is the centerpiece of the Lakers’ future, but now that idea is to find the right parts and there are not enough useful ones in Los Angeles right now if the thought is to win championships.

The one burning question that leads to another is, what compelled Dallas to trade one of the best players in basketball in his prime? And why didn’t they get more in return? Whether the Mavs organization knows something other than all the NBA beat writers don’t, which is possible, they or the GM believed Luka was not going to be the leader they needed.

A remarkable trade that will be talked about for years.

The Undercard Trade

The Spurs, Kings, and Bulls made a deal that seemed minor by comparison. Here are quick thoughts on each team.

San Antonio now has a “star” player in De’Aaron Fox who adds scoring, defense, and maturity to further help Victor Wembanyama’s growth. The best part, they kept all the best players they liked and remained in a position to be the next great team in the West.

Sacramento did the best they could in moving Fox who wanted out and replaced him with Zach LaVine. LaVine is a better offensive player and not nearly as good defensively. The Kings still look like a play-in team out West for the next few years.

Chicago can now go into full rebuild mode and has serviceable parts for now and maybe in the future.

NBA Betting Odds Fallout

The Lakers were running around 40-1 odds to win the NBA before the trade and went to 16-1 by Monday and Bovada had them at 10-1 on Feb. 4.

Dallas was sitting at 25-1 before the trade and slid to 33-1. As of Tuesday evening, the Mavericks were edging downward to 28-1 also at Bovada.

The other teams were nominally affected if at all.

Crazy Trends of the Week!

On Wednesday, Boston and Cleveland met for a second time. Cleveland has the best record in the East and Boston is second.

Here is their record in conference play this season.

Cavaliers 26-7 SU and 20-13 ATS
Celtics 26-9 SU and 15-20 ATS

The Cavs have one of the best ROI in the NBA for conference play and the C’s have one of the worst. Being the hunter vs. the hunted has made a difference this season.

The Three Worst Nonconference Teams

>Phoenix 4-15-1 ATS
>Washington 7-15-1 ATS
>Philadelphia 5-13-1ATS

Our best guess is not too many are shocked to see Washington and Philadelphia make this trio. The Wizards are not anything but a rudderless franchise headed nowhere. The 76ers stumbled out of the gate and Philly fans have seldom seen Joel Embiid and Pual George on the floor at the same time when they have, the effort was questionable, and their 2-21 SU record supports their ineptness.

But Phoenix? Maybe a 9-11 SU record against the East is possibly correct, yet, to barely sniff covering spreads less than 30% of the time is an abomination for three brand-name players like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. It’s hard to think of a head coach who could make this roster better, they don’t blend and those star players are not vocal leaders.

Get more NBA betting advice from Doug Upstone here and purchase Doug’s Premium picks here.