Cavs Now Title Favorites With Las Vegas Sportsbook
Comments
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They're clearly anticipating a lot of action on Cleveland.RoadDawg55 said:3-1. They need to get Love to even have a chance. If Melo goes to the Bulls, I'd favor the Bulls. Obviously with LeBron, the Cavs will make moves to be a contender, but this is jumping the gun. The Spurs would sweep the Cavs. The Thunder and Clippers would most likely beat them too. There are a few more teams in the West the Cavs would struggle with.
I agree they shouldn't be the favorites at this moment, but if the Love deal happens they might be.
If Houston can figure out how to sign Bosh and deal Lynsanity in time to keep Parsons they're right there, too, but I'm not optimistic that will happen.
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Already has - Lin + pick to Lakersdnc said:
They're clearly anticipating a lot of action on Cleveland.RoadDawg55 said:3-1. They need to get Love to even have a chance. If Melo goes to the Bulls, I'd favor the Bulls. Obviously with LeBron, the Cavs will make moves to be a contender, but this is jumping the gun. The Spurs would sweep the Cavs. The Thunder and Clippers would most likely beat them too. There are a few more teams in the West the Cavs would struggle with.
I agree they shouldn't be the favorites at this moment, but if the Love deal happens they might be.
If Houston can figure out how to sign Bosh and deal Lynsanity in time to keep Parsons they're right there, too, but I'm not optimistic that will happen. -
As for the Cavs to win the title, I'll take the Field.
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Still have to sign Bosh before the Parsons deadline, but assuming that happens as rumored, that's a hell of a starting five. One mediocre starter (Beverly), one above average starter (Parsons), one very good starter (Bosh) and two top two at their position starters (Harden and Howard). The parts fit together really well too.Tequilla said:
Already has - Lin + pick to Lakersdnc said:
They're clearly anticipating a lot of action on Cleveland.RoadDawg55 said:3-1. They need to get Love to even have a chance. If Melo goes to the Bulls, I'd favor the Bulls. Obviously with LeBron, the Cavs will make moves to be a contender, but this is jumping the gun. The Spurs would sweep the Cavs. The Thunder and Clippers would most likely beat them too. There are a few more teams in the West the Cavs would struggle with.
I agree they shouldn't be the favorites at this moment, but if the Love deal happens they might be.
If Houston can figure out how to sign Bosh and deal Lynsanity in time to keep Parsons they're right there, too, but I'm not optimistic that will happen.
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Agreed.dnc said:
Still have to sign Bosh before the Parsons deadline, but assuming that happens as rumored, that's a hell of a starting five. One mediocre starter (Beverly), one above average starter (Parsons), one very good starter (Bosh) and two top two at their position starters (Harden and Howard). The parts fit together really well too.Tequilla said:
Already has - Lin + pick to Lakersdnc said:
They're clearly anticipating a lot of action on Cleveland.RoadDawg55 said:3-1. They need to get Love to even have a chance. If Melo goes to the Bulls, I'd favor the Bulls. Obviously with LeBron, the Cavs will make moves to be a contender, but this is jumping the gun. The Spurs would sweep the Cavs. The Thunder and Clippers would most likely beat them too. There are a few more teams in the West the Cavs would struggle with.
I agree they shouldn't be the favorites at this moment, but if the Love deal happens they might be.
If Houston can figure out how to sign Bosh and deal Lynsanity in time to keep Parsons they're right there, too, but I'm not optimistic that will happen.
Add to that that they still have Terrence Jones who is better suited to play the bench and a D-League team that will furnish them with guys that can stand behind the 3 point line and bomb. They should also be an attractive destination for a player chasing a title.
IMO they would vault ahead of OKC in the West's pecking order right now. -
We'll see. Getting Bosh would be a good move, but he's not a world beater and he's been in decline. The Rockets lost in the first round last year. They were missing more than Chris Bosh.Tequilla said:
Agreed.dnc said:
Still have to sign Bosh before the Parsons deadline, but assuming that happens as rumored, that's a hell of a starting five. One mediocre starter (Beverly), one above average starter (Parsons), one very good starter (Bosh) and two top two at their position starters (Harden and Howard). The parts fit together really well too.Tequilla said:
Already has - Lin + pick to Lakersdnc said:
They're clearly anticipating a lot of action on Cleveland.RoadDawg55 said:3-1. They need to get Love to even have a chance. If Melo goes to the Bulls, I'd favor the Bulls. Obviously with LeBron, the Cavs will make moves to be a contender, but this is jumping the gun. The Spurs would sweep the Cavs. The Thunder and Clippers would most likely beat them too. There are a few more teams in the West the Cavs would struggle with.
I agree they shouldn't be the favorites at this moment, but if the Love deal happens they might be.
If Houston can figure out how to sign Bosh and deal Lynsanity in time to keep Parsons they're right there, too, but I'm not optimistic that will happen.
Add to that that they still have Terrence Jones who is better suited to play the bench and a D-League team that will furnish them with guys that can stand behind the 3 point line and bomb. They should also be an attractive destination for a player chasing a title.
IMO they would vault ahead of OKC in the West's pecking order right now. -
I disagree with Bosh. I don't think he's in decline as much as he's changed his game playing w/ LBJ. He's turned to being more defensively focused and more of a complementary offensive player.
In Houston, he'll allow Howard to stay at the rim and provide better floor spacing than what Jones could offer.
Losing in the 1st round of the Western Conference Playoffs doesn't mean that you're a bad team. The difference between losing in the 1st round and getting to the conference finals is very slim. -
Bosh will improve their team and he's a good fit. I agree with that. He's declined in scoring and rebounding every year in Miami. You are buying a little too much into free agency hype IMO. The Rockets aren't bad, but they are more than Chris Bosh away. They lost to the 96 Sonics in the first round. The 96 Sonics went on the get plungered 4-1 by the Spurs in the second round. The closest game in the Spurs 4 wins was 15 points. Such a slim margin.Tequilla said:I disagree with Bosh. I don't think he's in decline as much as he's changed his game playing w/ LBJ. He's turned to being more defensively focused and more of a complementary offensive player.
In Houston, he'll allow Howard to stay at the rim and provide better floor spacing than what Jones could offer.
Losing in the 1st round of the Western Conference Playoffs doesn't mean that you're a bad team. The difference between losing in the 1st round and getting to the conference finals is very slim.
The Rockets also need to fill out their bench. Who do they have after Terrance Jones? Lin and Asik are now gone. They aren't going anywhere without a couple good rotation pieces. They could really use a PG for their 2nd unit. It's hard to rank the teams in the West because they are loaded. Even San Antonio got taken 7 games by Dallas. Golden State and Memphis almost won their series' too. I'm just not buying Houston. -
I'm much higher on Houston (and Bosh) than you are, but awesome'd for the 96 Sonics drop. Well done.RoadDawg55 said:
Bosh will improve their team and he's a good fit. I agree with that. He's declined in scoring and rebounding every year in Miami. You are buying a little too much into free agency hype IMO. The Rockets aren't bad, but they are more than Chris Bosh away. They lost to the 96 Sonics in the first round. The 96 Sonics went on the get plungered 4-1 by the Spurs in the second round. The closest game in the Spurs 4 wins was 15 points. Such a slim margin.Tequilla said:I disagree with Bosh. I don't think he's in decline as much as he's changed his game playing w/ LBJ. He's turned to being more defensively focused and more of a complementary offensive player.
In Houston, he'll allow Howard to stay at the rim and provide better floor spacing than what Jones could offer.
Losing in the 1st round of the Western Conference Playoffs doesn't mean that you're a bad team. The difference between losing in the 1st round and getting to the conference finals is very slim.
The Rockets also need to fill out their bench. Who do they have after Terrance Jones? Lin and Asik are now gone. They aren't going anywhere without a couple good rotation pieces. They could really use a PG for their 2nd unit. It's hard to rank the teams in the West because they are loaded. Even San Antonio got taken 7 games by Dallas. Golden State and Memphis almost won their series' too. I'm just not buying Houston.
Whatever happened to MossterFS anyway? -
First off, I hate the Rockets. Never have liked them. Olajuwon scared me because he was a bad, bad man. Other than that, I hate just about everything about Houston. Harden and Howard are easily in my Top 5 for guys in the league that I hate. Hate just about everything about both of them.
My point though on Houston though right now is that the pieces fit. Howard is a stay in the paint big that quite frankly there aren't a lot of them left in the league now. He creates matchup problems offensively (when he's committed to being big and dominating the glass) and has the ability to cleanup defensive shortcomings. You'll never win a title with Howard if he's your #1 offensive option and you are asking him to do too much. He averaged 18 and 12 last year. If you can bump up the rebounds to the 14 range and get his blocks back up to the 2+ level (which should happen with Bosh guarding the opposing team's best big), then you are getting what you need from Howard. Harden is Harden and orchestrates - but he needs someone with championship experience to get in his face about his defense and this could be where Bosh helps them. Parsons spaces the floor but needs to get better defensively. Beverley is a great "in your face" type of player that that roster desperately needs. I like Jones coming off the bench because he's good enough to play 30 minutes a night and make sure that you don't tax Bosh or Howard. Bosh will be helped by getting the opposing team's 2nd defensive big on him. His jump shooting game is a perfect fit with Harden. Add to that that Bosh is a very good passer for a big and has the ability to play some high-low action with Howard. Houston very easily could be the best offensive team in the league. I like Isaiah Cannan and think that he can very easily turn into a decent player off their bench. I really like the Nick Johnson draft pick because if nothing else he'll be able to come in and play defense right away for them. They will never have a shortage of wings able to play given how they play with their D-League team. And I would expect that they'll be able to sign a free agent or two at mid-level exceptions or at veteran minimum's to help round out their roster.
Regarding Portland, I thought that they were just happy to win a series last year and really didn't have any expectations of beating San Antonio. The reason that they beat Houston was driven by the fact that Houston has nobody that could guard Aldridge - Bosh can do a credible job there.
This roster fits and fits about as well as any roster in the West. My personal opinion is that the 4 "best" fitting rosters in the West are (in no particular order) San Antonio, Houston (assuming they round out the roster with these deals), the Clippers, and Golden State.
