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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2008-2009 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 73 Losses: 64 Ties: 0
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 53%
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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 6 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 2008-2009 NBA FREE PICKS WEEK 18:
As promised, this week we will look at the trade deadline and buyouts to see how the teams who were active either improved themselves (Boston and Orlando) or made themselves worse (just about everybody else).
Boston Celtics: Traded Patrick O’Bryant and Sam Cassell for two conditional second round picks they will never get and then signed Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury.
With the Celtics bench thinner than a dieting anorexic, they had to acquire some actual NBA talent. They cleared roster space by dumping Cassell and Mrs. O’Bryant and brought in Moore and Marbury. While I am not too high on Mikki Moore since he is Mark Blount without the jump shot (which is kind of like being a flat chested Morganna), the Marbury move is intriguing. If you take out the fact that Marbury hasn’t played in over a year, is a 31 year old point guard, and has made every team he has ever been on worse, this is a fine gamble. The Celtics desperately need a guy who can dribble on their second team and can find his own offense and Marbury can be that guy. As long as they cut him the minute he goes nutso, it is worth a shot. Of course their biggest need was to find a wing defender and they were unable to address that.
Charlotte Bobcats: Traded Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown to the Lakers for Vlad Radmanovic.
Radmanovic is the best player in this trade so I guess that’s a good thing for Charlotte’s push for the 8th seed. Though I wonder if Charlotte will retire Adam Morrison’s insulin monitor now.
Chicago Bulls: Traded Larry Hughes, Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Michael Ruffin, and Thabo Sefolosha, for Anthony Roberson, Jerome James, Tim Thomas, Brad Miller, John Salmons, and a conditional first round draft pick.
Wow. John Paxson was busy acquiring solid veterans for a playoff run. The only problem with that is that the Bulls aren’t even clearly a playoff team. These are the kinds of moves a 6th seed would make to shore up their bench and get a big man in order to win a playoff series or two, not the moves a 10th place team should be making just to get into the playoffs. The positive spin is that the Bulls got the better players and picking up a first round pick for the Sefolosha was a nice little move. However, these moves are largely inconsequential as Chicago is still starting Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah in the front court.
Houston Rockets: Traded Rafer Alston, Adonal Foyle, and Mike Wilks for guard Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook.
Apparently Kyle Lowry brings the intangibles to teams he is on, which I am pretty sure is coach speak for “he can’t shoot.” Rockets GM Daryl Morey uses statistical methods to find undervalued talent, so perhaps that is why he values Lowry, but if you get too many Kyle Lowry/Shane Battier’s, you’re not going to score enough points to win. Getting rid of Alston shouldn’t be that big of a deal though if Aaron Brooks is ready to fill in for him.
Los Angeles Lakers: Traded Chris Mihm, and Vlad Radmanovic, for Adam Morrison, Shannon Brown, and a conditional draft pick.
The Lakers save some money, lose a shooter, but gain Adam Morrison’s sex appeal.
As an aside, Chris Mihm is still in the league?
Memphis Grizzlies: Traded Kyle Lowry and a conditional draft pick for a first round draft pick, Mike Wilks, Adonal Foyle, Chris Mihm, and cash considerations.
Chris Wallace gets another draft pick for him to mess up. I don’t care which players were involved but in any trade made by the Destroyer of Teams, Chris Wallace, I am sure he got the short end.
Miami Heat: Traded Marcus Banks, Shawn Marion, and cash for Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon, and a conditional draft pick.
This is worth a try for Miami as long as they don’t care about the cash implications. The Heat needed a big man and while Jermaine O’Neal isn’t nearly the player he once was, largely because he seems to be playing on one leg, he is a definite upgrade from Joel Anthony and Philip Michael Thomas. Marion just wasn’t a good fit in Miami because he stopped defending, wasn’t the right kind of complementary player for Dwyane Wyane Wade (Wade needs to play with defenders, think of AI and the Sixers Finals team), and apparently he hates basketball. Sneaking in Jamario Moon while dumping the always awful Marcus Banks, who plays pg like a chicken with its head cut of, was the icing on the cake. Moon can be a very poor man’s Shawn Marion.
Minnesota Terriblewolves™: Traded Calvin Booth and Rashad McCants for Shelden Williams and guard Bobby Brown.
Minnesota gets rid of the ugliest player in the NBA and receives the second ugliest player in the NBA. I guess that’s a good trade.
No word yet on if they plan on trading for Michael Bivins to reunite with Bobby Brown.
New York Knicks: Traded Jerome James, Tim Thomas, and Malik Rose, for Larry Hughes, Anthony Roberson, and Chris Wilcox.
Hey, how would you feel if I traded you three malodorous logs of poop for two slightly less stinky logs of poop? Unless you really had a dookie fetish or were filming a scat film, you’d probably be fairly content. In theory Larry Hughes is a great fit for the Knicks system. He can run the floor, he gets a bunch of steals, and he loves to shoot (though his shooting % may be consistently lower than Marcus Banks’ basketball IQ). Chris Wilcox is a 3 year member of the all overrated team as GMs continue to think he will be good and yet he never really does anything. The good news for Knicks fans is this might be the first trade since the Isiah Thomas error in which the Knicks did not clearly get abused. So congrats for that.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Traded Chris Wilcox and a conditional first round pick for Thabo Sefolosha and Malik Rose.
The Wilcox for Rose trade seems like a mild brain fart while the first round pick for Sefolosha seems just like a smelly fart. Maybe they are trying to draw Oklahoma City’s big Swiss population to the arena by getting Sefolosha. Otherwise, a meaningless trade.
Orlando Magic: Traded Brian Cook and a first round draft pick for Rafer Alston.
This is probably the only relevant trade of the whole trade deadline. Every other trade was either a salary dump, involved a team barely in the playoffs, or didn’t improve a playoff team by all that much. This trade however keeps the Magic in contention. While Alston is not as good as Jameer Nelson, he is better than Tyron Lue and has been on a contender for years so will be bringing some experience. While it sucks to lose a first round draft pick to replace an injured player, the Magic have solidified third place in the East and will now officially get to lose to the Celtics or the Cavs.
Sacramento Kings: Traded Brad Miller, John Salmons, Michael Ruffin, cash, and a conditional second round draft pick for Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Ike Diogu, Michael Ruffin, Will Solomon, and Sam Cassell.
They saved money, they got Andres Nocioni, and they were able to trade for and then trade Michael Ruffin all on the same day. They couldn’t have made themselves any worse than they are so I guess the fact that the owners now have more money to pour into the Palms casino is a good thing. But hey, they are in contention for the first pick of the draft so that’s something (except for the fact that this may be the worst draft in history).
Toronto Raptors: Traded Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon, two conditional draft picks, and cash for Marcus Banks, Shawn Marion, Patrick O’Bryant, and cash.
The good news is that the Brass Rail in Toronto should get a bunch of new business with Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks in town, the bad news is they probably won’t get any of Patrick O’Bryant’s business. These were decent moves by the Raptors. They essentially gave up on this season but are saving money for next year by dropping Jermaine O’Neal’s salary for Shawn Marion’s expiring contract. I don’t quite get why they would even bother taking a chance on Patrick O’Bryant, but if the Celtics were willing to pick up the tab, why not?
So there you have it. A ton of trades and 95% of them completely irrelevant. This trade deadline was more meaningless than a Michael Crichton novel. The only marginal winners were the Magic and maybe the Celtics depending on Marbury’s ability to keep the crazies to himself.
FRIDAY NIGHT FREE NBA PICKS
Detroit +9.5 at Orlando:
I know Detroit has lost 8 consecutive games and has not figured out that starting Rip Hamilton is the best way to win games. That said, they are due for a win, or at least a close game. The Magic have clearly been playing well and Rafer Alston seems to be fitting in to their line-up as well as Brooklyn Decker fits into a bathing suit. Orlando will likely win but not in a blow out, Detroit needs it too badly, like the US banking system needs more cash.
Portland -4.5 at Minnesota:
Behind the stellar play of Kevin Love and the rejuvenation of Randy Foye and Mike Miller, the Terriblewolves™ have been playing decently without the Big Lazy Al Jefferson. However, Portland is just too good. They are well rounded and have a player not afraid to take games over in Brandon Roy. This game should be a blow out so take the Blazers and avoid the cold.
Oklahoma City +9 at Dallas:
Remember when Oklahoma City was playing well and the Mavericks were crapping their pants like a new born after a bottle of ex-lax and prunes? I do. And it was only 2 weeks ago. Things don’t change that much over a two week span so look for both teams to revert to their means. In other words, no way Dallas routs Oklahoma City. Durant is going for 40+ which means the rest of the team just needs to score ~50 points to make this a cover. Take the Thunder and watch Russell Westbrook run by Jason Kidd for 40 minutes.
Chicago -5 at Washington:
Is AC really taking 4 road teams? Wizard, please.
SATURDAY NIGHT FREE NBA PICKS
Orlando -2 at Philadelphia:
Both teams playing on the second night of back to back nights but the Magic are coming off an embarrassing loss to the Piss-dones while the Sixers are flying high off of a win in New York. While I hate giving points the Sixers tonight, they have no one to stop Dwight Howard, no one.
Oklahoma City at Memphis Under 197.5:
Durant is out with a sprained ankle so the Thunder’s high flying offense should struggle a bit. Since Memphis is an abomination of an NBA team, expect a low scoring affair, like an impotent man hooking up with virgin.
Sacramento Kings +16.5 at Utah Jazz:
We always take 15+ points in the NBA unless the Spurs, Celtics, or Cavs are involved. It is that simple. Sacramento could be rolling out Emmanuel Lewis, Jaleel White, and Patrick O’Bryant, and I would still take the 16.5 points. Utah is a tough team to play in Utah, I know that, but when you can get two touchdowns and a safety in the NBA, you take it.
Houston at Chicago Under 196.5:
First of all, thank you Chicago for losing to the Wizards last night. You are now officially dead to me. As for this game, the Rockets have been slowing it down since they traded away Rafer Alston and the Bulls front court shoots as well as Stevie Wonder does at skeet shooting. Take the under and hope Tyrus Thomas puts up over 10 shots.
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