Odds to win the title for teams in the West: Lakers 7:2 OKC 15:1 Utah 18:1 Denver 20:1 Dallas 25:1 San Antonio 25:1 Houston 28:1 Portland 35:1 So not only are we not expected to get out of the first round this year, we are expected to finish 4th in our division.
I am starting to come around on Nate, but I still don't like his offensive philosophy. We'll see how he handles the minute crunch this season, I feel that is where he has failed miserably in the past.
http://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/ Bodog has us slightly better but still not getting out of the first round Lakers 5/2 OKC 15/1 Dallas 20/1 San Antonio 25/1 Denver 25/1 Portland 30/1 Houston 35/1 Utah 35/1 http://sports.bodog.com/sports-betting/basketball-futures.jsp
Amazing that they honestly think the Thunder have the 2nd best chance at winning the title in the WC. But than I look at the rest of the WC, and if we're not top 3 by the end of the year (no injuries), we don't deserve to be in the WC.
That's because they know that the title is pre-determined to a large extent by the league, and team/talent makeup has little to do with it. It's all about promoting the league through it's "marketing stars", and OKC just happens to have one of the main marketing pawns.
Odds are based upon what bettors bet as much as reality. Nevada odds are biased toward the biases of Californians. In turn, Californians' biases are caused by the bias of the national media, which enthuses about OKC, not Portland. Anyway, let's get out of here and kick some ass. Where are those Nate critics hiding? Then I'll suckle my darling Nate at my breast.
