Basketball betting expectations and excitement could not be lower for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they begin a new life, or is it death, without Lebron James.
A Feeling of Betrayal
The Cavaliers have opened at Sbgglobal as a +10000 longshot to win the NBA championship this season, a far cry and much higher price than when LeBron James was the headline star and the team was a perennial playoff contender. Those days are over and so too are the days when this franchise was among the most elite and intriguing in the NBA.
James went on a prime time ESPN production last summer to announce with much hype and fanfare that he was abandoning Cleveland for the Miami Heat. Cleveland fans and the Cavaliers owner took the entire episode as a total slap in the face and betrayal. James can expect a rude welcome when Miami visits Cleveland on December 2.
New Start
The Cavaliers have opened training camp with a new coach, Byron Scott, who has the unenviable task of trying to make lemonade out of lemons as Cleveland has no real ability to be a contender this year.
Scott has said the franchise must move forward and get over James to have any chance at NBA basketball betting success and that the slate should be considered clean heading into training camp.
Big Winners
With James the Cavs won 127 games the past two seasons and filled their home arena to beyond capacity. James averaged almost 28 points per game along with 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game. How the Cavaliers will replace all of that is the big question heading into camp.
Devastated Teammates
Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams were among the Cleveland players that took James’ departure extra hard as they saw their chances at a NBA title go out the door with James. They have since tried to recover and move on but it was a slow process. There is now a firm resolves to play the hand that was dealt.
Long Term Prospects
Realistically this is a basketball betting commodity in trauma. From ownership on down it will take time to get over the loss of “The Franchise” of Cleveland. The Cavaliers are now a virtual expansion team and with that comes the likelihood that handicappers will be looking to go against them for often than not.