The throne may be heading back down south this season. After a few months of moves and acquisitions, the San Antonio Spurs appear to back in front of the pack as the frontrunners for the 2016 title. Golden State is not far behind but they seem to be keeping the status quo by the Bay.
After a summer of moves and speculations the NBA championship odds at topbet.eu have shifted enough to unseat the defending champs. It’s hard to blame the odds makers though, the Spurs have been busy. Their aging veteran core desperately needed a youthful injection and their management team worked fast.
Not even a month after Steph Curry and the Warriors lifted the trophy, the Spurs added former Portland Trail Blazer LaMarcus Aldridge. They then persuaded David West to take a massive pay cut and accept the veteran minimum of $1.4 million dollars. Their title odds went from +1200 to +200 in a matter of months.
The runner up for championship odds at the moment is the Cleveland Cavaliers (+225), followed by the Warriors (+575), Thunder (+850) and Clippers (+850). Again, not a shocker. With the Cavaliers putting a healthy squad back on the floor, they’ll have a vastly improved look from the team that competed for the 2015 title.
The Cavaliers took their championship loss in stride and realized that lack of depth was their biggest detriment. First, they resigned their biggest question marks this offseason in Kevin Love, LeBron James, and Iman Shumpert. They were also able to resign James Jones to the veterans minimum.
Once they had their core reinstalled, they went shopping for backups. The team landed Mo Williams from the Timberwolves to backup Kyrie Irving. Veteran Richard Jefferson was then acquired as a hybrid substitute to fill in on the wing.
There is still one big question mark on the Cavs roster and that’s the return of Tristan Thompson. Contract talks continue and all we can do now is wait to see if he’ll be in Ohio for the start of the season.
The bottom line though is you can expect a much deeper Cavaliers team and a dramatically improved Spurs squad to fight for title rights this season.
