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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2009-2010 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 63 Losses: 67 Ties: 2
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 48%
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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 18:
Last week was the NBA trade deadline and teams swapped expiring contracts for cap room like those contracts were two girls and they were one cup, in other words, they were toxic. Good teams got better, bad teams got worse, and just about every fan lost as the annual expiring contract rodeo is as bad for business as lead paint is for Toys ‘R Us and a small ding dong is for any gentleman who wants to star in a Monsters of Cock video. Teams who have made awful contract mistake try to dump them for anything they can to try to get flexibility in order to once again make bad contract decisions. It is a vicious cycle where only the smart GMs prevail and continue to feed off the idiocy that is the average NBA GM. Oh well, it is what it is so AC will ignore the lunacy of it all and break down the trades as he is contractually obligated to do so (though in his contract, he is also supposed to be paid in blumpkins, and he’s still eagerly waiting for his first payment).
Washington trades Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, and DeShawn Stevenson’s beard to Dallas in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross:
Dallas clearly won in this trade as they now have one of the top three, albeit aging, rosters in the NBA. Their ability to revamp the team while keeping Dirk and staying competitive should be applauded, lauded, and anything else that ends in auded. Dallas is now the darkhorse team to win the championship. Yeah, they lost some salary cap flexibility but they don’t really need it with their current team. Butler is the slasher they have been missing and while he has had a very subpar year, he is still an upgrade and Haywood should give them some protection around the rim since Dampier is fragile and very mediocre.
As for Washington, what a fucking shitshow that team is. As if signing Gilbert Arenas for 1,000 years at $90B wasn’t bad enough, dumping Butler for the cap flexibility to not sign anyone (since what free agent is going to go to the Wiz?) is just laughable. Sure they got Josh Howard and his bevy of 40s (though to be honest, if being hungover really hurt one’s job performance, AC would not be the foremost NBA prognosticator in the world, barring this year of course), but Howard is turning out to be a pretty replaceable NBA player, especially now that he just ruined his knee. As for the rest of the flim flam, can anyone actually tell me the difference between James Singleton and Quinton Ross? They are the exact same role player in every single way right down to the fact that neither one of them has ever been in my kitchen.
L.A. Clippers trade Marcus Camby to Portland in exchange for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake.
Wow, this was just an awful anus raping trade talent wise. The Blazers were able to solve their center problem which has turned into a farce similar to the problem Spinal Tap had in keeping a drummer. Of course, they filled that injury ridden position with one of the most injury ridden players in the league but they gave up about zero value to do so. Once Camby adjusts, Portland should be able to challenge the top teams since he is basically what Greg Oden was earlier this year only a fuckload better and the Blazers were on fire when Oden was healthy.
As for the Clippers, yawn. They get more cap space which they can use to sign a free agent next year right before that free agent injures his knee for the season. AC does like Travis Outlaw’s potential, but an injured Travis Outlaw doesn’t really do much.
Cleveland trades Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the rights to Emir Preldzic and 2010 first-round draft pick to Washington for Antawn Jamison, Ernie Grunfeld’s self respect, and the ability to resign Zydrunas Ilgauskas when the Wizards buy him out.
L.A. Clippers trade Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland.
Washington trades Drew Gooden to L.A. Clippers
I think this was all the same trade but with all of the movement of contracts it harder to keep track of who went where for what than it is to keep track of newly retired porn stars or the ever increasing creepiness of John Edwards. In essence Cleveland dumped the likely last pick of the first round and Ilgauskus’ contract for the piece they needed to guarantee them a championship. The Cavs needed an in his prime front line scorer like Michael Chabon needed an editor. Adding Jamison, who can hit the mid range jump shot and clean the offensive boards while being able to play defense on more agile forwards like Rashard Lewis should give Cleveland their first title since they won “Crappiest City” for four years in a row in the late 1980s.
As for Washington, they now blew up the awful full of shit team they built in order to likely build a worse more full of shit team. It’s like if someone had allowed the designers of the Hindenburg to build the next blimp or Captain Hazlewood to captain Exxon’s next ship. This trade represents everything wrong with the NBA as the Cavs are just going to resign Ilgauskus when he is bought out by the Wiz (and AC would like to whiz on Ernie Grunfelld for ruining the competitive balance of the league) so they got Jamison for absolutely nothing.
It’s unclear how the Clippers got into this trade, but AC is more shocked that Sebastian Telfair is still in the league than anything else. Good for him. He’s like if Brandon Jennings hadn’t worked out.
Washington traded Dominic McGuire to Sacramento for future second-round draft pick and cash.
It’s not clear who Dominic McGuire is or why he is in the NBA but if Washington did this, I am sure it is bad for them.
Utah traded Ronnie Brewer to Memphis for a future first-round draft pick.
This was an overlooked little move that shows exactly how much NBA owners are worried about salaries. Brewer was on a reasonable contract and was an important cog in the Jazz’ system, and yet they dumped him for pure salary cap relief. Utah has been making a big run in the West and now must rely on Kyle Korver, Wes Matthews, and Ronnie Price to take Brewer’s minutes.
I’d call this a good move by Memphis, but since Chris Wallace made it, I am sure there is something colossally bad with it since he is to ruining basketball teams what Jon Barry is to ruining NBA broadcasts or clothes are to ruining any appearance by Alice Eve.
Philadelphia acquired Jodie Meeks and Francisco Elson from Milwaukee for Primoz Brezec, Royal Ivey and a 2010 second-round draft pick.
The Sixers screwed up this trade deadline worse than Tara Reid’s doctors screwed up her stomach. They had to get rid of Elton Brand or Samuel Dalembert in order to cut salary to have some flexibility this offseason. Instead, they made this little move which means they will be equally irrelevant next year. The Sixers draw fewer people than a blind handless person and there is no reason for that to change next year.
As for Milwaukee, Royal Ivey is a nice bench piece for them to have as they make a run for the playoffs and the second round pick will be low enough to give them a chance at a potential player to at least make their roster. This Bucks team is feisty, and depending on the match-up, could win a first round series.
Houston received Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong from Sacramento for Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey.
Sacramento received Larry Hughes from New York for Sergio Rodriguez.
This may be two different trades, this may be one trade, but this is likely the same story over and over again. A good GM (Daryl Morey) was able to take advantage of bad GMs who made poor contract decisions and thus was able to get a valuable asset. Kevin Martin fixes Houston’s biggest problem (other than being in Texas, and all of the crime) in that it gives them the scorer they were hoping Trevor Ariza would be. Martin can flat out put the ball in the basket and he should take a ton of pressure off of the rest of the Rockets on offense. While they gave up the very valuable Carl Landry, Landry is the kind of role player who is infinitely replaceable. Sure he put up good numbers but any smart player in Houston’s system should be able to put up at least 80% of Landry’s numbers and AC is pretty sure Morey can find a smart player.
The Kings got out of Martin’s contract because somehow they felt he couldn’t play with Tyreke Evans, which makes perfect sense because winning basketball is much much more difficult with two all-stars in the back court than just one (and yes that was sarcasm). Geoff Petrie is usually a pretty good GM, so AC will give him the benefit of the doubt here, but it is still a bit of a head scratcher (though AC wished it were his head and Faye Reagan were doing the scratching).
Somehow the Knicks got Sergio Rodriguez here, which probably had nothing to do with this trade but whatever. They were able to dump Larry Hughes, so I guess that’s good for them, but AC will bet a pair of old school hip hugging Sergio Valente jeans that Sergio Rodriguez will never be a contributor on a contending NBA team.
New York acquired Tracy McGrady from Houston for Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, a protected 2012 first-round pick and the right to exchange first-round picks in 2011. Traded Nate Robinson and Marcus Landry to Boston for Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker and a future conditional second-round pick.
Wow, there is a lot to like about this trade for everyone involved, except maybe Celtic fans. The Knicks finally cleared enough cap room for two max free agents while getting the carcass of Tracy McGrady to be able to sell that one extra ticket for this year. The Rockets finally dumped McGrady and got a first round draft pick, the rights to swap picks (which will be very valuable should the Knicks miss on LeDong and Wade), and the Knicks first round pick from this past draft (who may suck but if Houston took him than perhaps he has some upside). Oh yeah, they got the overpaid, but perfect fit for the Rockets, Jarred Jeffries. Jeffries is the kind of player AC was talking about who could easily fill in for Carl Landry. As for the Celtics, they gave up brilliant draft talent evaluator Danny Ainge’s 2008 draft class as well as fan and AC favorite Eddie House for the 2010 Lilliputian version of Vinny “the Microwave” Johnson in Nate Robinson.
The Celtics definitely needed a spark off the bench and House wasn’t consistently providing it, but Boston needed to do more than this to stay competitive. This was their chance to use Ray Allen’s expiring contract and get an asset before locking themselves into a summer with little cap flexibility and an aging team. Danny Ainge has consistently said he doesn’t want to turn into the late 1980s Celtics and hold on to aging players too long but he struck out in his first big opportunity to do so. The Celtics desperately need an infusion of young talent and energy and while Nate Robinson should allow them to win maybe one more game than they would have with Eddie House, this in no way does anything to change their place in the NBA pecking order. Oh well, at least KG didn’t have major surgery so he should be rounding back in to form any day now.
Chicago traded John Salmons and 2011 and 2012 second-round draft picks to Milwaukee for Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick.
AC likes this trade all around. The Bulls finally cleared the cap space to make major improvements next year while the Bucks picked up a nice player for their playoff run. This Milwaukee team is getting more interesting and more frisky by the day and AC is getting more excited about their odds of pulling off a first round upset. More than anything, it’s just nice to see another team making smart moves and trying to be competitive. The Bulls aren’t going anywhere this year and losing Salmons should have almost no effect on their win total. They needed to do this and if they can now sign a big name this offseason, this will go down as a potentially franchise changing move for them. Of course they still have the ghost of John Paxson running things, so AC is sure they will screw it up somehow by not signing any free agents and re-acquiring Eddy Curry.
Charlotte acquired Tyrus Thomas from Chicago for a future first-round draft pick, Flip Murray and Acie Law.
A nice move by Charlotte to acquire an undervalued, underdeveloped, underbrainpowered, overtalented project for not a high cost. Thomas is an athletic freak but a mental midget when it comes to basketball. That said, Charlotte needs the athleticism and he can give them exactly what Tyson Chandler does, only without the constant injuries. The Bulls clear some more cap room and pick up a future first rounder and Flip Murray who is probably 70% as good as John Salmons, so a nice little move for them.
Charlotte acquired Theo Ratliff from San Antonio for a future second-round draft pick.
Theo Ratliff is still alive?
New York trades Darko Milicic and cash to Minnesota for Brian Cardinal.
Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This may be my favorite trade ever. AC only wishes Joe Alexander had somehow been involved to make this a three-way.
Friday Night Free NBA Picks:
Cleveland -5.5 at Toronto:
When historians write about the 2009-2010 NBA season they will hotly debate which team was the most full of shit between the Raptors and the Bobcats. That said, they will clearly agree that the Cavaliers are less full of shit than an anorexic with an overactive gag reflex. The Cavs should win by 15, even considering their marginally tough game in Boston last night. This is LeDong's world and we're all just living in it.
Dallas at Atlanta Under 194.5:
Playoff intensity equals defense and these two teams should bring the intensity of a coke fiend looking for a fix. The Hawks actually can play some pretty good lock down defense when they want and with the addition of Brenda Haywood the Mavs have greatly improved around the rim. Dallas has a lot to prove even though their roster is as talented as any, so look for them to try to push the ball for easy scores early but this game will come down to the wire. Take the under and hope Jason Terry is held to fewer than 15 points.
Charlotte at Memphis -3:
Since we already know Charlotte is full of shit, the question is how full of shit is Memphis? The Grizzlies have definitely cooled off and now must rely on the veteran leadership of Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay (and the one Grizz fan out there just threw up in his mouth). In a game of two not so great teams, always take the home team and give the three points. I wonder how Chris "The Destroyer of Teams" Wallace is feeling about picking NBDL bound Hasheem Thabeet over Tyreke Evans and oh, just about every other player taken in the 2009 draft. Wallace never fails to disappoint.
Philadelphia at LA Lakers Over 199:
Philly hates playing defense and LA loves playing offense. Seems like the combination one would want to break 199 on the over. Plus now that AI is not playing, Lou Williams is back and he can be unguardable. As long as he breaks 20, this game should hit the over with four minutes to spare.
Saturday Free NBA Picks:
New Jersey at Boston -11.5:
Danny Ainge called out his starters in the press yesterday after they blew their 11th double digit second half lead in the last two months (and no that is not a typo). There is no better way to take out one's aggression than having the historically bad Nets in town for a random Sunday afternoon game. If Boston has any pride left (which may be questionable), this should be a 20 point victory. A lot will be told about Boston's heart after this game. AC will give the Celtics one more chance because if they don't come out firing today, they might as well just pack it all up and stay home for the rest of the season.
Portland -3.5 at Minnesota:
The TerribleWolves™ are sinking so fast that their franchise player Al "the Big Lazy" Jefferson is now losing minutes to Darko Milicic. Just read that sentence again to learn all you need to know about this game. Sure Portland is playing for the second night in a row on the road, but you read the first sentence, right?
Houston +9.5 at Utah:
The Rockets have lost six of their last eight games and have been playing poorer than a southern rapper's diction. That said, they pulled out a big win last night against the Spurs and Kevin Martin may be finding his role on the team (hint Kevin: score the fucking ball). Utah will probably win, but AC will take 9.5 points and the Rockets all season long (unless the Rockets are injured).
Detroit at Golden Shower State Over 208.5:
AC's eye light up like he just saw Alexis Texas' behind for the first time whenever he sees a point total under 210 for a Warriors game. Detroit has been scoring much better as of late thanks to a rejuvenated Tayshaun Prince and the Warriors continue to play defense like it was an English test and they were Dexter Manley. Take the over and hope the Pistons are as interested in this game as AC is interested in the Winter Olympics (other than the lovely Julia Mancuso, AC just wishes the whole thing would go away).
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