AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS

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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 FREE NBA PICKS AND COLUMN WEEK 3:

One tenth of the season has already passed and there are several emerging story lines: Are the Bucks for real? Can the Kings keep winning without Kevin Martin? Will the Nets win a game? Can Omri Casspi go a whole season shooting a higher percentage from 3 point land than from the free throw line (as of now he is shooting a stellar 47% from three and a horrific 20% from the line, and neither of those are typos)? Who is this Heat team and where did they get those role players? And finally, how did Chris Wallace not discuss with AI what AI’s role would be on the team before signing him?

For the record, the answers are no, no, yes, it would be incredible if he did, I am as dumbfounded as you, and that’s how Chris Wallace got his “The Destroyer of Teams” nickname.

But this week AC is not going to answer any questions, rather he is going to look at the four biggest disappointments early on in this NBA season.

1. The New Orleans Whorenets:

They won 56 games two years ago, 49 last year, and they have now started this season 3 and 6 (which puts them on pace for 27 wins). This offseason they shipped Tyson Chandler and his bad foot and even worse shot to the Bobcats for Emeka Okafor. Okafor has been the best unheralded center over the past few years, solidly averaging a double double and blocking shots. This trade should have been a no-brainer improvement as Okafor should be getting at least two to three more lay-ups a game playing with Chris Paul.

That said, this team has been dreadful in a way that makes it not even fun to watch them suck. There is no schadenfreude here. They have at least three major problems.

A. They run the wrong pace. With Okafor in the middle and David West able to play down low or run the pick and roll or pick and pop, New Orleans should be a half court team. Sure Chris Paul can push the ball, but because of their big men and their nearly dead small forward Peja Stojakovic, they need to slow the game down. Plus on defense, with Okafor playing the back line and able to block shots, forcing the other team to play at a slower pace should allow them to get stops.

B. Bobby fucking Brown. Ugh. This guy might be the worst basketball player I have ever watched get meaningful minutes and not have anything written about him. He makes Larry Hughes look like Larry Bird. The guy is averaging 9 shots per game in only 18 minutes and shooting 38%, and those rates are pretty much his career averages. He’s also shooting 28% from 3 and taking 3.5 3-pointers a game. That is fucking disgustingly atrocious, like a shit sandwich after eating two ears of corn. He has a 1.4 assist to turnover ratio and is getting 1 assist for every 6 shots he takes, and he’s a guard. According to John Hollinger’s made up PER stat, he is ranked 258th out of 300 players this year. His true shooting % is a dismal .444 which is also 258th out of 300 players. And yet somehow he is playing 18 minutes a night. The Whorenets would be better off having Chris Paul take a giant shit on the bench and then letting that giant shit play 18 minutes a game rather than continuing to run Bobby Brown out there. AC is not being cruel, but it is this guy’s prerogative to be the absolute worst shot chucker in the NBA.

C. They lack a consistent slasher other than Chris Paul, mainly because Mo Peterson sucks. You know how you defend the Whorenets? You stand right behind the player you are guarding because other than Chris Paul, they sure as fuck can’t dribble around you. Okafor is limited offensively to dunks and an ugly turnaround semi-hook shot. David West is a mid-range jump shooter. Peja Stojakovic is a 3 point shooter whose legs are more shot than a 50 year old NFL lineman’s. So other than Chris Paul, they have no creators.

2. Caron Butler:

His stats are down in every single category except rebounding. He is shooting 17% from 3 and yet still taking 2.4 per 3 pointers per game. He has 4 assists for the entire season. Let me write that again, he has 4 assists for the entire season. He has played in 7 games and is averaging 37 minutes per game and has 4 total assists. He averaged over 4 assists per game in each of the last two years. This stat is almost as bizarre as Omri Casspi’s shooting percentages. He’s scoring 4 fewer points per game on 1 less shot per game. Honestly, this statline makes absolutely no sense. Butler either completely forgot how to play basketball, has some kind of injury he is not disclosing, did a Freaky Friday body switch with Tony Allen, or is going to revert back to his mean any day now.

I’d have to go with him reverting back to his mean, but this bears watching, as do most Amateur Allure videos.

3. Little Nate Robinson:

We all know Nate is a role player at best, an energy guy who can come off the bench and give your team a spark. That said, in the Knicks system of no defense and shoot first, shoot second, and shoot third, Robinson should be able to put up numbers. In the same system last year, he averaged 17 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds. In the 3 games he has played this year, he is averaging 9 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds, and turning it over the same amount of times. His issue is that he is shooting 29% from the floor and 20% from three point range.

Now AC knows Robinson has only played in three games, so his stats are more likely an anomalous blip than a long term trend, but 29% shooting is 29% shooting.

4. The Big Lazy Al Jefferson:

This was the year he was supposed to be an all-star, right? AC has been short Al Jefferson for five years now and it appears The Big Lazy has hit a major bump in the road. While he averaged 23 points and 11 boards a game last year, this year he is averaging 15 points and 6 rebounds per game. In fact, he has averaged 11 rebounds a game for three years in a row.

So why the step function drop off?

If Kevin Love hadn’t missed the whole season so far, one could argue that Love was stealing some of Jefferson’s rebounds, but that is not the case. I am truly flummoxed by this one. The Big Lazy should be in his prime at 24 years old so physically he should be ok despite the lower leg injury he complained about in preseason. His team is winning at an Al Jefferson usual 15% of the time, so it’s not like he is spreading the ball around better to get his teammates open shots to try to win games.

There are only three conceivable reasons why his numbers are so significantly down and the Wolves wins are exactly as few and far between as usual:

A. Kurt Rambis’s triangle offense has taken him out of his sweet spot on the floor. Plus having Al Jefferson try to grasp any offense more complicated than stand on the low block and shoot is almost like asking an earthworm to calculate pi to the 5th decimal (just through luck an earth worm could probably get 4).

B. He cares even less than usual.

C. He really is injured.

I have no idea but The Big Lazy is never going to make an all-star team if his offense struggles like this since his defense is worse than the work of Shauna Sand’s plastic surgeon.

Friday Night Picks:

AC is at .500 after his first two weeks of picking games and we all know he hates to lose like Rihanna hates wearing bras so tonight he will get back in the win column and get you all some money to buy that lovely lady at the club a cab ride home in the morning.

Utah -1.5 at Philadelphia:

Here are the teams the Jazz have defeated this year: The Clippers, a healthy Spurs team, and the Knicks. They are 3 and 5 and less consistent than Celtics owner and Massachusetts Senate candidate Stephen Pagliuca’s stance on a military draft (really Steve? You can’t even figure out your position on that? It does explain the Tony Allen experience quite a bit).

On the other hand, the Sixers have been very consistent, but consistently bad. They have lost to every good team they have played with their four wins coming against the Knicks, Bucks, and twice against the Nets. While Marreese Speights finally getting time in the middle and thus pushing Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert to the bench is a positive (and if Olajuwon and Sampson were the Twin Towers, Brand and Dalembert are the Twin Golden Showers because opposing big men are peeing all over them), it won’t be enough tonight against a motivated Jazz team. If Utah can’t pull out a victory here, they need to blow things up immediately and finally acquire a shooting guard.

The game will be close, but we’re only giving 1.5 and while the Jazz are a horrific road team, Philly is a horrific team.

Houston at Sacramento Under 209:

The Kings have won three in a row since leading scorer Kevin Martin went down and are averaging 108 points thanks to Tyreke Evans and Jason Thompson. I am more confused about this than I am about Lady Gaga being a sex symbol (seriously, she looks like she didn’t just lose a fight with an ugly stick, but that she was anally violated by one). So AC is short the Kings scoring here. That’s really what we’re playing for tonight. If Houston can let the spirit of Battier run wild on defense, they should be able to hold the Kings to under 100 and Houston isn’t breaking 110, so the under should hit as long as Omri Casspi doesn’t go nuts from 3.

Toronto at LA Clippers +3.5:

The Clippers suck, Eric Gordon is hurt, Mike Dunleavy can’t coach, blah, blah, blah. Well guess what? AC couldn’t be more off the Raptors bandwagon. Kaman and Camby can contain Bosh and Bargnani (and that is actually kind of alliterative, so look out Nabakov and your didactic katydid) while Calderon is so overrated he makes Ray Romano almost seem funny. It is never wise to take the Clippers but we’re getting 3.5 points at home to a mediocre at best east coast team making their first stop out west and coming off a big win in Chicago. Take the Clips but don’t tell anyone about it, it makes me feel dirty even just typing it.

Dallas -11 at Minnesota:

This is either the easiest or stupidest bet ever made (and unfortunately, the easiest bets are often the stupidest). The TerribleWolves™ are not only terrible, but their key scorer Al “The Big Lazy” Jefferson will not be playing due to an extreme case of the lazies (or a sick relative, take your pick). The Mavericks should be able to run all over Minnesota who defend as poorly as Bernie Madoff gives investment advice. This has all the feel of a trap game and a sucker bet, especially if Dallas goes into extended garbage time, but the TerribleWolves™ are so bad that they might not even be able to cover trap games. Take the Mavs and hope they decide to give effort.


Saturday Night Picks:

First of all a big AIDS ridden fuck you to the Clippers. The Clips were up 17 after one quarter last night and 22 in the second quarter and they managed to lose by 15 fucking points. How does that happen? AC, and likely all of his readers, had the Clips +3.5 so we were up essentially 25.5 in the second quarter, and could already taste the warm butter from the lobster tails we would soon be imbibing and already felt the small pangs of loneliness we get in the mornings when our paid for “friends” have to leave, never to be seen again. Oh it was going to be glorious. It was dulling the pain of the Houston-Sacramento push on the over which also seemed like a lay-up until a ridiculous 17 total points were scored in the final three minutes (ugh). So a bad beat and a kind of bad push kept us all from a 4 and 0 night and therefore the lap dances were flowing like a small tributary, or brook if you will, as opposed to the tidal wave that usually occurs on weekend nights.

So for that, we will have to do better tonight because in this economy, we need all of the lap dances we can get.

Portland at Charlotte Over 172.5:

Yeah, I know Charlotte sucks at scoring like Shawn Kemp sucks at wearing condoms, I get it. But this is still the NBA and over 172.5 points is almost impossible not to hit. Sure Portland is playing their second of back to back nights, and sure, Portland and their opponent last night (New Orleans) didn’t combine to score over 172.5, but there is no way Portland is playing in two ridiculously low scoring games in a row. It’s not happening. Yes, this Whorenets team is very bad, as noted by Nazr Mohammed leading them in scoring in their last game which is the first time Nazr Mohammed has led anyone in anything other than “times first name misspelled.”

This does feel like a trap game with the over/under so low, and it will certainly be ugly, but if they don’t go over 172.5 David Stern should disband both squads and give the fans a refund (that is if there are any fans in Charlotte tonight).

Boston -6 at Indiana:

The Celtics played a horrible, apathetic game last night against a Hawks team who wanted to win. It happens. Tonight vs. Indiana if the Celtics are what they claim to be, and what AC thinks they can be, they will beat the Pacers by 10, even if Paul Pierce sits out with a banged up knee. The Pacers are off to a bad start even though the have some talent, and Granger can go for 35 any night (especially if Pierce is not there to guard him), but a champion steps up in games like this. Rondo takes one in every five or so games off and last night he took off, so tonight look out. Take Boston and root for them to be motivated and root for Eddie House to find his shot.

Minnesota at Memphis Under 202:

They should call this the Contraction Bowl because the losing team should be banished from the NBA. These teams are so bad at what they do that even Bill Carmody wouldn’t coach them. This line is a bit nonsensical though. The TerribleWolves™ will be playing without The Big Lazy, Al Jefferson, and when they did that last night they managed to only score 77 points against a defensively deficient Mavericks team. Could Memphis score 120? Sure they could, as they have guys who love to shoot and eventually one of them is going to get hot. That said, the Wolves leading scorer is going to be Ryan Gomes, and I have seen Ryan Gomes, I have rooted for Ryan Gomes, and I can tell you with 100% certainty, Ryan Gomes sucks.

Take the under and hope these teams try on defense for at least five minutes.

Golden Shower State at Milwaukee Over 209.5:

The Warriors have played exactly one game that ended with fewer than 210 total points being scored, the Bucks have played exactly one game in which more than 209 points were scored. Something has to give here and we’re betting on the over because NBA players like to score a heck of a lot more than they like playing defense. Therefore when a run and gun team comes to town, like the Warriors, the opponent is more likely to run and gun than stick to their half court sets, even if Scott Skiles is their coach. If you’re feeling adventurous, tease this with the Warriors +7, and if you’re feeling really adventurous, tease Mike Tyson in an airport.

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