When I tried to tie a bow on the NBA season last week, our partners at BetOnline.ag instantly put out odds on where Bradley Beal would end up if he left Washington.
The Boston Celtics were, of course, the favorite at +300 – and the rumors are already flying. I wrote about this yesterday:
I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly what I want Boston to do. On one hand, they have a superstar budding in Jayson Tatum, a glorified star in Jaylen Brown, and the Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Smart.
On the other hand, they threw up a complete dud in the NBA Finals, were clearly not ready for the series, and the path isn’t going to get any easier.
During his press conference this morning, Brad Stevens said that “You’ve got to be able to score in movement. I think (Ime and I) would prefer to play with a little more movement. Those are conversations we’ll have down the road. Ime did a really good job of fitting the pieces together and creating and identity.”
Beal will certainly help you to score, and score in movement. We’ll see if Boston tries to bring him in.
Now – the NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, so we’re back to writing about basketball again. Check out BetOnline’s odds for who the top five picks will be:
Jabari Smith -800
Paolo Banchero +275
Chet Holmgren +1600
Though the sharp money has came in on Paulo Banchero over the past few days, it seems like it’s too late for the former Duke star to make the leap to number one overall.
Jabari Smith (-800) from Auburn has this one on lock. The Orlando Magic bring in an uber-talented front court presence to try and mimic what Dwight Howard gave them for so many years.
Chet Holmgren -1000
Jabari Smith +400
Paulo Banchero +1000
Jaden Ivey +3300
This is where the draft gets interesting. With rumors of Banchero potentially being taken number one – shouldn’t he naturally fall to number 2? Not necessarily.
Chet Holmgren (-1000) becomes the first true center to be drafted out of Gonzaga since Kelly Olynyk in 2013 – and makes the Oklahoma City Thunder a very happy franchise.
Paolo Banchero -1200
Jabari Smith +800
Chet Holmgren +900
Jaden Ivey +1600
Keegan Murray +2500
Shaedon Sharpe +4000
Taking away Holmgren and Smith here – Paulo Banchero (-1200) is the only pick that makes sense. He’s arguably the best player in the class.
The former Blue Devil joins Jalen Green in Houston to try and turn around the horrendous Rockets.
Jaden Ivey -225
Keegan Murray +145
Shaedon Sharpe +1800
Dyson Daniels +1800
Chet Holmgren +2000
In what is being called a three-player draft, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey (-225) falls right into Sacremento’s lap. The Kings are bound to get offers from other teams to move up, but I think they should stick and pick.
Mike Brown gets to build his new team around the former Boilermaker – hopefully this is the year they actually improve.
Keegan Murray +140
Benedict Mathurin +190
Jaden Ivey +275
Dyson Daniels +600
Shaedon Sharpe +1400
Chet Holmgren +6600
The first four picks seem to pretty much be locks, but pick five is where we go away from the chalk.
Iowa’s Keegan Murray is the favorite to be the fifth overall pick at +140 – but I see the Pistons going in a different direction here.
Arizona’s Benedict Mathurin (+190) goes to Detroit to team up with Cade Cunningham and hopefully put the Pistons on a better track for the future.
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @CelticsCLNS for the latest up-to-date Celtics news!
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