Predicting The NBA Basketball Eastern Conference Champion

31

Aug 2015

POSTED IN Basketball Betting + NBA Basketball | no comments

2015-16 Basketball Eastern Conference champion predictions

Fans, as well as sportsbooks, are already getting ready for the upcoming basketball championships; more specifically, the Eastern Conference championship. ESPN is currently asking fans for their opinion on which teams have the best odds of winning the Eastern Conference for the 2015-16 season. Many believe that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will take that spot again, but what other NBA teams have good odds of taking their spot.

The fan predictions so far are:

Spot Team Projected Record Points
#4 Washington Wizards 46-36 15
#5 Atlanta Hawks 50-32 14
#6 (tied) Indiana Pacers 39-43 3
#6 (tied) Toronto Raptors 44-38 3
#6 (tied) Boston Celtics 40-42 3

It seems like fans are favoring some teams over others, and they certainly are right to do so. If the last season, as well as current performances, is any indication on future performance, this would be good guesses. Let’s compare these fan predictions against the NBA futures made by a professional sportsbook like Bovada:

Spot Team Odds
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers -300
#2 Chicago Bulls +800
#3 Miami Heat +900
#4 Atlanta Hawks +1800
#5 Indiana Pacers +2500
#6 Milwaukee Bucks +2500
#7 Toronto Raptors +2500
#8 Washington Wizards +2500
#9 Boston Celtics +4000
#10 Brooklyn Nets +7500

It looks like there are some big differences with how fans and sportsbooks calculate which teams have the best chances of winning the Eastern Conference. The Wizards are in spot #8 compared to the fan pick of #4, although the Hawks seem to have pretty good odds, as they were predicted very close to accurate. Overall, the fan predictions were pretty good, but all were missing now are spots #1, #2, and #3. We may still see that the Cavaliers take the #1 spot, as their basketball performance so far has been outstanding.