Sportsbook fans of NBA basketball have seen the resurgence of the East. For more than a decade (since Michael Jordan’s retirement form the Bulls really) the West has been best, at least in terms of sportsbook online betting. But in the past few seasons, starting with Boston’s major offseason moves last year, the East has been on the come-up and now, arguably, four of the top five teams in the NBA sportsbook lines reside on the right side of the Mississippi River.
Sportsbook action in the NBA tends to be cyclical and the East is more than due for its moment in the sportsbook online spotlight. With the exception of the LA Lakers the NBA sportsbook powerhouses are now almost all in the East. The Magic represented the conference in the NBA Finals but they’re just one of a handful of Eastern Conference teams that sportsbook gurus like. Vince Carter will give them a huge scoring boost and some inside penetration.
The Raptors got considerably better this sportsbook offseason with the addition of Hedo Türkoğlu. With a superb point guard, superstar Chris Bosch and great role players, on paper this team looks as good as any in the preseason sportsbook odds.
The Boston Celtics have also re-armed and brought in big man Rasheed Wallace to bolster their postseason chances after falling short last year. Without Kevin Garnett in the paint the Celts weaknesses were exposed and signing a big man became offseason priority number one for Danny Ainge. Mission accomplished.
And let’s no forget about the Cavs. They already produced the best regular season record in the NBA sportsbook action last season but fell short in the playoffs. To prevent this from happening again the team went out and signed the largest human being in the NBA. With the big body they also get Shaq’s 15 points and 8 or so rebounds a game. Will it be enough to win the title? Hard to say, but it sure can’t hurt the team’s sportsbook online odds.
So which team is the best? When you look at this four team jumble it’s hard to say for sure. Most likely it will come down to a show down between the Celts and the Cavs. They seem to be the two deepest teams in the bunch. The verdict is still out on Shaq in Cleveland but on paper Wallace seems the perfect fit for Boston. If Garnett is healthy the Celts seem to be the team to beat in the sportsbook online odds in the East.