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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2007-2008 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 91 Losses: 89 Ties: 4
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 51%
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 has had 4 consecutive winning seasons picking NBA games against the spread making you money including the VIG. AC does this out of the kindness of his heart and for the naked pictures of your girlfriends you send him as a token of your appreciation. So enjoy the columns and the picks..
AC'S NBA 2007-2008 WEEK 23 FREE NBA PICKS & COLUMN:
With the season coming to an end, it is time for AC’s annual NBA Awards.
MVP (The Bird Award):
This is a highly contested race this year with a number of players putting in MVP type seasons. Kobe and Chris Paul have led their teams to the top of the West while sharing the ball and making the players around them better, LeDong has once again taken a putrid Cleveland team and made them the sleeper in the East, and even Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard deserve a vote or two.
However, the unquestioned MVP in this, one of the best years in NBA history, is none other than Kevin Garnett. Garnett has not only led the Celtics to the biggest turn around in NBA history, but his defensive intensity is more contagious than small pox and his drive to win is more infectious than Hepatitis B. He treats every minute of every game as if he failed he would be forced to watch reruns of Mad About You, even when he is on the bench.
The problem with MVP voting is that you can’t measure Garnett’s intangibles like you can LeDong’s scoring, passing, and rebounding, or Chris Paul’s assists and shooting percentage. The way Garnett came to Boston and changed the attitude of the team is deserving of the MVP alone. Add in the fact that the Celtics have the best record in the league, and he is clearly worthy of the award.
Again, he may not have the best numbers, but this award is not for best individual player, it is for the most valuable. Anyone who can get Paul Pierce to play defense, clog up the middle to allow Rajon Rondo to gamble on steals, and bring fans back to the Garden/Fleet Center/Shawmut Center/Whatever it is called Center, is the MVP in my book (or column, the book should come out sometime next year).
Least Valuable Player (The Mokeski):
Like the MVP, there is a lot of competition for this award. Wally Szczerbiak has averaged a career low 8 points while shooting 35% from the floor since being traded to Cleveland (and his career field goal % is 49%). His performance is the only thing keeping Ben Wallace from being the Least Valuable trade acquisition, so great trades all around by Danny Ferry. Perennial least valuable players Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry once again sunk the Knicks but this time they had help from Zach “two times anal” Randolph, so it would be hard to give just one of them the LVP. In fact, I have disqualified any Knick from getting this award simply because it’s like fighting a one-legged man in ass kicking contest, just not fair.
Therefore, this year’s LVP has to come from the Chicago Bulls who were a bigger disappointment than the Segway. The most amazing thing about the Bulls is that they all were bad, it wasn’t just one or two players. Given that, for the first time in www.wagercom.com history, we are giving co-LVPs to Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich.
Deng was poised for a breakout year after averaging 22 points and 7 boards while shooting 50% in last year’s playoffs. Unfortunately, he let that get to his head as he was featured on every NBA offseason television promotion and made a world tour during the offseason. This year he regressed in every single statistical category except three point shooting percentage and number of times being called an idiot for turning down a huge guaranteed contract of five years and sixty million dollars which would have bought a lot of kielbasa for his World Food Programme charity.
As for Hinrich, he has always been a favorite of AC’s. Before this year, he always seemed to make the right pass, play good enough defense, and generally make those around him better. You could not say that about him this year and as the point guard he was the leader of the AwfulBulls and thus he must go down with their sinking (or stinking) ship. Not only did he barely shoot 40% from the floor, but he was among the league leaders in playing without passion. Much like Deng, Hinrich should be progressing, not regressing, and that is why the two of them now share the LVP trophy (and of course the LVP trophy is one of Shawn Kemp’s broken condoms).
Most Improved Player (The Michael Redd Award):
For the second year in a row Monta Ellis is a nominee as he just gets better and better. He is freakishly athletic and has improved his shooting and his rebounding. If he ever learned to play defense, he would not only win this award, but could contend for MVP. Other most improved player candidates include Danny Granger who dropped 19 and 6 for the Pacers and LaCrapage Aldridge who has done his best to make AC drop the LaCrapage moniker. In fact, from now on we will refer to him only by his given name, Crapage (just kidding). This is the first time this venerable scribe has banned a nickname but LaMarcus deserves it. I am sure he will sleep better now.
This of course brings us to the most improved player who has also had his name altered in this column many times. Once known as Rajon Wrongdo, Rajon Rondo escalated his game from the worst pg in the Eastern Conference to among the best in the span of fewer than 80 games. While his stats have been better across the board from his rookie year (except for free throw shooting), it is really the intangibles that stick out. He has managed to not only run the point on a 60+ win team, but after Kevin Garnett went down with an injury earlier this year, he truly broke out by going aggressively to the hoop and becoming more of a leader. He has become one of the best rebounding guards in the game and can break down just about any defender when he drives the lane. He has managed not to wilt under the pressure of Garnett’s intensity, Paul Pierce’s ball-hoggery (which has greatly diminished), and even the addition of Sam Cassell. He is not the reason the Celtics have won 60+, but he is certainly a big factor and will be the wild card in their playoff run.
Least Improved Player (The Kedrick Brown Award):
First of all, we need to give some props to Kedrick Clown for making it back to professional basketball in the US. Kedrick averaged 15.5 points and 6 boards for Anaheim SuckyPlayers of the NBDL which is about 15 points and 6 rebounds more than he ever averaged in the NBA (you can read all about his overall crappiness and Chris Wallace’s as well in this recent feature).
Coincidentally, the least improved player is the guy who actually took over for Kedrick Clown as Celtic’s athletic hope, Gerald “The Scarecrow” Green. Gerald was so bad that he couldn’t break into the TerribleWolves™ rotation this year despite Minnesota being one of the worst teams ever, and that’s not the worst of it. After being traded by the Wolves in mid-season to his home town Rockets (for a case of old pickles and a free prostate exam), the Rockets cut him for some guy named Mike Harris who was an undrafted player from the basketball hotbed of Rice University. In two years Green went from huge upside first round pick, to likely flipping burgers at Wendys. He has more talent than 99% of the NBA players but unfortunately he has the IQ of a donut, and not the doughy part, but the hole. It’s too bad too, because he seems like a nice enough guy, but when someone has trouble spelling NBA even when spotted the N and the B, that doesn’t bode well for their career. But hey, we’ll always have the birthday cake dunk.
Rookie of the Year (the Jordan):
Al Horford and Luis Scola both had good years, and even lesser lights like Carl Landry and Thaddeus Young contributed, but there is only one player deserving of this award and that is Kevin Durant. Did Durant live up to all of the hype? No. Does Durant have a lot to work on like passing and defense? Certainly. But he has improved his scoring and shooting percentage in the last two months and is even averaging four assists in the six games he has played in April. It wasn’t a perfect year, but he’s not even twenty yet and averaged twenty points per game. He can still be a stud, he just needs to put in the work.
Worst Highly Drafted Rookie (The Chris Washburn Award):
I don’t even know where to begin here. Brandan Wright, Julian Wright, and Spencer Hawes barely played while Corey Brewer, Jeff Green, and Mike Conley underwhelmed like Natalie Portman’s nude scene in Hotel Chevalier. However, the worst draft pick goes to the overhyped Yi Dingaling. It was so obvious that Dingaling was going to be a bust that I couldn’t even bet on it in Vegas. Dingaling was given a starter's spot and has successfully played his way out of the rotation averaging 9, 10, 12, 7, 6, 6, and 4 points over the seven months of the season. His scoring average has fallen more than Christy Canyon’s boobs. He’s just not that good, sorry Milwaukee, but Larry Harris screwed you again.
Best Coach (The Auerbach):
A lot of people think this should go to Byron Scott or Doc Rivers, but Phil Jackson is more deserving than either of them since he had to calm Kobe down, get Andrew Bynum to grow a sac, and then integrate Gasol into the line-up. However, the most deserving of this award is Mo Cheeks.
The Sixers roster is every bit as bad as Milwaukee’s, Memphis’, or even the Knicks'. Heck, even Charlotte has a better roster when healthy. Mo Cheeks somehow got his team to play hard every night (insert your own Viagra joke here) and when you do that in the NBA, you win an extra seven to ten games since most teams take every other night off. Seriously, the Sixers front court is lacking more than an ending in a Kafka novel or civility in American society. So Mo gets the Best Coach award for taking a bunch of mediocre players and getting them into the playoffs.
Worst Coach (The Isiah Award):
It is my distinct pleasure to give this award to the man it is named after, Isiah Thomas. While the GM (some guy named Isiah Thomas) gave Isiah awful players to work with (Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph, really?), Thomas the coach directed them horribly. They didn’t play defense, didn’t pass the ball, and didn’t get along. Robinson and Randolph had a fight in the huddle, the team lost by 50 points to the Celtics, and the Knicks are on their way to their worst record ever. If this award weren’t already named for Isiah, I would have to rename. Isiah is to coaching what Vince Carter is to heart or PacMan Jones is to restraint.
Best GM/President (The Auerbach II):
For the first time in www.wagercom.com history, the winner of this award won the Worst/GM President last year. It’s a turn around rivaled only by Kobe Bryant becoming marketable again after Zach-Randolphing a hotel worker.
The winner this year is none other than the Celtics’ Danny Ainge whose every move this season and offseason was perfect. He is on a bigger roll than David Spade is with young Hollywood actresses or Nipsey Russell was with the ladies of the 1980s (I guarantee he double teamed Nell Carter and Morgan Fairchild).
While I deservedly demolished Ainge last year, I applaud everything he has done with this team since then. The trades for Garnett and Ray Allen followed by the signings of Posey, House, PJ Brown, and Sam Cassell not only brought more talent to the team, but quality individuals.
I will never forgive Ainge for the past three years, and will never believe this was some sort of masterplan, but I do applaud his ability to keep trying until he found something that worked.
So kudos and Hizzah to the first perfect score ever in the history of GMing.
Worst GM/President (The Chris Wallace):
It is my distinct honor to bestow this award on the man for who it was named. After ruining the Celtics for years, Wallace moved on to Memphis where he gave the LA Lakers a shot at the title by giving them Pau Gasol for less than nothing. I was tempted to give Wallace best GM for his work for the Lakers, but of course he is Memphis’ GM and not the Lakers’.
The fact that he got another job after torching the Celtics is reprehensible and shows the idiocy of most NBA owners (you can read his Celtics’ resume here http://www.wagercom.com/nba_08_14.html). Memphis deserves to lose for years and years for being dumb enough to hire this assclown. The best part about Wallace now having so many draft picks and cap space is that he is the one who is going to get to use them. This means a likely long contract for his old favorite Kedrick Clown and taking Tyler Hansborough at #1. Memphis’ owners deserve to lose their franchise for what Chris Wallace has done and is about to do to this team.
FRIDAY NIGHT NBA PICKS
This is going to be a tough weekend to pick games since most good teams will be resting their players and most bad teams will be playing their players, so in other words, buyer beware.
Minnesota +12.5 at Orlando:
The Magic have the third spot in the East all wrapped up so there is no reason for them to give their starters big minutes. On the other hand, the TerribleWolves™ are only one win ahead of Seattle to get the second most amount of ping ping balls in the lottery. So the question is will the TerribleWolves tank for those extra balls? I think not. I think Minnesota will play to win tonight since there is no clear cut number one pick, the Wolves need to go into the offseason with some kind of positive feeling, and tanking didn’t necessarily help anyone out last year. Is a motivated Wolves team enough to lose by fewer than 12 points to an unmotivated and likely second string Magic team? The answer is yes, barely. So on this, the last weekend of the NBA regular season, AC Titticock IIIi Esquire is taking the TerribleWolves™ and the points. A momentous occasion for a momentous season.
Milwaukee at Boston -14:
The Celtics will likely only play their starters for 20 minutes each but 20 minutes of KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce is worth 20 points over the Bucks. So the Celtics reserves just need to be 6 points worse than the Bucks starters. The last time these two teams played the Celtics destroyed the Bucks with Ray Allen out of the line-up. Add in that the Celtics have to be pissed about mailing it in against the Wizards the other night and you could see a 35 point Celtics win. KG hates losing.
Phoenix at Houston Over 202.5:
McGrady is supposed to be playing so the Rockets should be able to score and we all know Phoenix loves fill it up like TT Boy. Shaq has been playing a bit of defense lately so you have to hope that stops tonight. As long as Nash gets 30 minutes of run, this game should see 210 total points.
Atlanta -5.5 at New York:
If the Hawks, who are fighting for a playoff spot, lose this game to the Knicks, who are fighting for the offseason to begin, they should be thrown out of the NBA, or at least not be allowed to participate in the playoffs (and yes I know that was a 5 comma sentence, deal with it). Take the Hawks and hope they have some heart.
SATURDAY FREE NBA PICKS:
It’s the last night of the regular season that we will be giving you free winning picks against the spread, but fear not, AC picks throughout the playoffs so there is still time for you to turn your weekly salary into a Rolex, Porsche, or a night with Ashley Dupre. So fear not, we will all get paid, and remember your boy AC when you check the time on that snazzy new watch or you show Ashley the bow tie you got in Cleveland.
Boston -2 at Atlanta:
I don’t care that Celtics may be resting all 12 of their players. I don’t care that the Celtics played last night and have zero reason to try tonight. I don’t care that Atlanta is still sort of fighting for a playoff spot. Most of all, I don’t care about American Idol, Britney Spears, or anything written by Jane Austen. What does that have to do with tonight’s game? Absolutely nothing, and that is exactly my point. Take the Celtics and watch their second and third string destroy this absolutely nothing of a team.
Minnesota at Memphis -3:
They both want to lose, but Memphis is just a better team. The TerribleWolves™ had a huge come from behind victory last night in Orlando (which we all got paid on, thank you very much) so expect them to come out flat this evening. Memphis also won last night but they played the NIT bound Miami Heat, so they should be well rested. Take the Grizz and enjoy the wins we’ve had this season betting against the TerribleWolves™ and giving the points. Ahh the memories.
Dallas at Portland Over 183.5:
Why the F not? Seriously, Dallas is just starting to fill it up again and the Blazers will try to push the tempo as the young guys need to put up some numbers. Just hope Dallas doesn’t rest their starters too much because their bench is Sarah Jessica Parker’s face awful.
Denver at Utah Over 225:
My last pick of the regular season is also one of my least favorite but picking games tonight is almost impossible with everyone resting their starters. That said, I can’t think of one reason for either of these teams to play defense tonight, not one.
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