 |
AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
|
AC's 2005-2006 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 52 Losses: 43 Ties: 3
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 55%
Record updated Saturdays and Mondays
Contact AC at ac@wagercom.com or post your questions/comments on the Wagercom Message Board
Read AC's Bio
AC's outlook on the NBA is an entertaining original column featured here at Wagercom. If you are prone to NBA betting or even just an NBA fan, make sure you come back often to read his articles and free NBA Basketball picks against the spread. AC will be providing us with a weekly outlook during the basketball season including free NBA Basketball picks on some of the weekend games each Friday and Saturday.
Our NBA expert AC wrapped up the 2003-2004 NBA betting season with a 51% winning percentage against the spread on his basketball picks after 190 games and has improved that to a 57% winning percentage against the spread completing the 2004-2005 season.
NBA WEEK 12 COLUMN & FREE PICKS:
We are almost halfway through the NBA season so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at how the top 5 draft picks have panned out so far (and I suggest you brush up on my NBA draft recap which has won several internet awards such as “Least likely to be confused with journalism” and “Most dick jokes per paragraph”). I know 40 games is a bit premature to judge draft picks, but it is enough time to get a flavor for what they can be. Plus, if I write one more column about Isiah’s dopey moves, Danny Ainge’s inability to sign quality free agents, or my admiration of Andre Kirilenko’s game, I think both my readers and I will be nauseated.
So without further ado:
1. Andrew Bogut: I said Bogut would average 10 points and 7 rebounds (really I did, check it out) and he is averaging 9.0 points and 7.8 rebounds so I wasn’t too far off. There are two things that have surprised me about Bogut though, his 59% free throw percentage and his 2 assists per game average. I thought he would be much better in both of those categories but otherwise he is about what I would have expected which is a potentially more mobile Joe Smith. He’s also had an easy adjustment to the league due to playing with Jamaal (the extra “a” is for airballed freethrow) Magloire and not having to be the focal point of the Buck’s offense. I think his ceiling is likely 17 points and 10 rebounds, which is decent for a big man. I guess the bonus is that Milwaukee players get to make The Shrimp on The Barbie references, which is always enjoyable and one of late night HBO’s most rewatchable bad movies.
2. Marvin Williams: I thought this was a dubious pick at the time and so far it has proved to be about status quo for Billy Knight. I wonder if Knight, Billy King, Rob Babcock (I said Babcock, huhuhuhuh), and the great Isiah Thomas are in some kind of betting pool to see which one can get fired first because that is the only way I can explain their moves. Anyway, Marvin Williams is averaging 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, .7 assists, and 13 references per game by opposing announcers to their disbelief that he was drafted so early. Interestingly enough I have been doing a lot of studies on Slavic languages and it turns out “Marvin” is Serbian for “Darko” and “Williams” is Serbian “Milicic,” weird how that happened. Perhaps the Hawks should have hired a linguist before the draft. Perhaps now Billy Knight can trade Williams and 3 draft picks for Joe Johnson. Oh wait, he already did that only used Boris Diaw instead of Marvin Williams. I guess Knight looks at winning as optional. Either way I still think Marvin is going to be a bust even though it is too early to know for certain.
3. Deron “Darin” Williams: Deron was getting a lot of minutes early on and has seen those trimmed recently. Still, he is averaging 10 points and 4.4 assists though shooting only 38%. Playing point in the NBA is not easy but Deron has shown enough to make me think he will be a solid pro in a couple of years. I think he will max out around 16 points and 7 assists which is respectable. Still, Kevin O’Connor the Jazz GM may have pulled a “Kiki Vandeweghe” by taking Williams over Paul just like Kiki took ‘Melo over Dwyane Wayne Wade a few years ago.
4. Chris Paul: I have to admit I was wrong about Chris Paul. I thought he was immature and would not be an all-star but I was definitely wrong. If the draft were held again he would likely be the first pick based on his performance. While his stats have been solid, I have been most impressed by his leadership and drive to win. He has a crappy New Orleans/Oklahoma team (and by crappy, I mean crappy with a capital poop) at almost .500 which is quite and accomplishment. He’s probably the best point guard to come into the league since Steve Nash (assuming Wade is more of a 2) so kudos to the Hornets who will now be competitive for the next 10 years due to Mr. Paul.
5. Raymond Felton: Feltion is averaging 8 points and 4 assists in 23 minutes per game while shooting a Scalabrine-esque 35% from the floor. His stats are actually fairly similar to Deron Williams’ but I just get the feeling that he is still a notch below Deron. I mean, Brevin Knight is averaging 8 assists playing with the same players and we all know Brevin Knight is very average (though this is his second good year in a row). Unfortunately, I don’t think we have enough info yet to judge Felton but I think it is unlikely he will ever be an all-star.
So there you have it. An unspectacular draft has led to one all-star (Paul), 2 solid pros (Williams and Bogut), and 2 on the fence players (Felton and Williams) in the top 5. Somewhere, Greg Oden is waiting.
So without further ado, on to this weeks picks:
NBA FRIDAY FREE PICKS:
I believe it was our great modern poet Big daddy Kane who once wrote the wonderful couplet:
Friday night ain't a damn thing funny,
bitch better have my money
And in honor of that, I hope your bitches (or is the correct plural bitchi? somebody call Strunk and White and find out, and if you do call them, please tape the conversation because I would love to hear it) get you your money so you can double it on my picks tonight.
Memphis -2.5 at Philadelphia:
Here's the deal, I am not on the Memphis bandwagon as I believe they have first round playoff loss written in Espanol all over Pau Gasol's Grizzly Adam's beard, however, Philly blows. This pick is more against the Sixers than for the Grizzlies. The only way the Sixers win is if AI goes for 50, which he may. If the Memphis can contain Iverson at all, this should be a laugher. Take team Pau and hope Fratello leaves him on the court for over 30 minutes.
Milwaukee -2 at Atlanta:
My second road favorite of the night can only mean one thing, I love lesbians. Ok, that is totally unrelated but the point is, well there is no point. Just take the Bucks because the Hawks are not only inconsistent but they blow.
Houston at Chicago +4:
No Yao, no McGrady, no way.
Indiana at Minnesota Under 179.5:
Making this picks hurts me in ways you will never know.
NBA SATURDAY FREE PICKS:
2-2 last night but I picked against the Rockets as I had read McGrady was not going to play and the Grizzlies blew a lead of 4 points with the ball and only 37 seconds to go, so I’d like to thank them for that. I guess that is why they call it gambling. Oh well, tonight should be better.
New Orleans/OKC at New York -1.5:
Yep, I am taking the Knicks. Nope, I am not on crack. Yep, I hate this game.
Charlotte at Milwaukee Over 197.5:
I know, Milwaukee should be tired after dropping so many points last night but neither team likes to play defense. Just hope Michael Redd goes off and the Bobcats find at least one player to score 20.
Cleveland at Utah -4.5:
Cleveland has lost 6 in a row which shows how important Larry Hughes is to this team even though he put up sub-par numbers. Regression to the mean says that Cleveland should pull this out but Kirilenko says Nyet. LeDong will drop 50 but the Jazz will prevail.
Chicago at Indiana Over 186.5:
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
contact AC at ac@wagercom.com or post your questions/comments on the Wagercom Message Board
To sign up to receive this column each week by email simply click on: info@wagercom.com, put your email address in the message box and hit send.(Note we recently lost our mailing list due to a technical glitch...if you had signed up prior to 11/25/05 please sign up again to receive our newsletter)
Check the current point spreads and game lines.
|
