NBA Odds: 5 best win totals bets

Tuesday, Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas posted its projected NBA win totals for the upcoming season. Westgate believes the Cavaliers will be the best team this season, opening their win total at 58.5. Right behind them are the Oklahoma City Thunder at 57.5, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs at 56.5, and the revamped Chicago Bulls at 55.5. The Philadelphia 76ers are projected to be the worst team in the league for the second consecutive season, with their win total opening at just 15.5.

Projecting win totals is always difficult in the NBA, especially for teams like Chicago whose fortunes are significantly hedged on superstars with histories of injury. Each year there are teams like last year’s Cavaliers, projected to win 40.5 games, who have a lot of young talent, but don’t put it together and fall short of Vegas’ expectations – they won just 33 games. For teams like Miami and Indiana who have lost major pieces of their teams, it’s hard to accurately evaluate just how much worse they’ll be.

When it comes to placing your bets, there are always teams that should clearly be kept away from. A good example of this is the Knicks, pegged at 40.5 wins. They’re a total wild card. Having traded Tyson Chandler, their defensive anchor, they should be even worse defensively than last year, when they were awful at defense. But they replaced Mike Woodson, the worst coach in the NBA last season, with Derek Fisher. We have no idea if Fisher is going to be good at coaching basketball. Phil Jackson is in charge, but wasn’t able to overhaul the roster thanks to the lousy cap situation left behind by the previous regime. These Vegas guys are really good at their job and 40.5 wins seems just about right for the Knicks. Keep away from them.

And yet, there are always good value bets to be had with teams either under or overvalued. Here are five teams you should be betting on, if you’re into that sort of thing.