The first and most critical problem with NBA betting on name brand should be fairly obvious; that is what the general sports betting public is doing. All of the “NBA fans” and “casual” sports bettors who simply as their NBA Betting Picks the popular and highly publicized teams with the big names and even bigger hype. This is a common tendency in NBA Betting.
When betting on the NBA and choosing the NBA Picks this, of course, drives up the price/pointspread and drives down the overall betting value, which, naturally, will already take away from your potential profit margin. Since a sports bettor must lay the 11/10 vigorish each time that he does basketball betting on his NBA Teams, it is of paramount importance to always look for the best values and for solid plays that quietly slip under the radar screen of the general sports betting public.
This happens with basketball betting teams like Miami Heat, Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and the New Jersey Nets. Nevertheless, the best example of NBA on popular “name brand” teams would be Los Angeles Lakers. In their last great title run of 2003-04, when they were still fully loaded with Kobe, Shaq, and Phil; Los Angeles Lakers were absolute money burners as they covered the point spread just 40 out of 104 games in both, NBA betting regular and post season combined. Even more alarming was their 27-42 mark against the point spread as favorites that season according to Basketball Betting Statistics.
Los Angeles Lakers are a “public” team even now, if there ever was one, and are as close to a hometown team as the city of Las Vegas could have. Laker paraphernalia can be seen all over the strip and at sports books in Las Vegas and that popularity is directly reflected in the NBA line. The same happens with the Miami Heat, Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and the New Jersey Nets.
Even last season, without Shaq and Phil and in a tumultuous NBA season of chaos, confusion and obvious hopelessness, Los Angeles Lakers were STILL an overpriced overvalued team on the basketball betting odds board and payed off for sports bettors just 35 out of 82 times. This is a graphic illustration of how popular and well notarized NBA teams such as Los Angeles Lakers should be avoided as much as possible, only until they come up against another “name brand” or popular team when the NBA value has the potential to return.
NBA is very similar to picking a stock. NBA fans must “buy low and sell high” and pick spots to get on or off any team. What separates the winner from the loser more often than not in NBA betting is that the winners can see past the hype and names and see value. NBA fans should be careful when betting on “name brand” teams.