If you are a person who likes to bet on the NBA then you have some time to kill before the action gets rolling again. Most of you will likely use the time to do the obvious – bet on football. While that’s always a good idea, this is also a good time to prepare for the NBA season so that you are ready to kill it right out of the gate. The more prepared you are to handicap games from the start, the more of an edge you will have over the average bettor, and the better your bankroll will look as you’re able to parlay your preparation into winning bets. Here are nine things you can be doing now to get ready for NBA domination:
Re-live the draft – The draft was a long time ago, so it’s quite possible that you have lost track of some of the details of what happened. Spending some time going back over the draft now will make it fresh and ultimately more useful. You need to do more than just look at who was picked and in what order, though. You also need to think about whether the players are going to play for the NBA team that drafted them this year, what role they are going to play, how much playing time they are likely to get, and the impact their presence will have on the team. As an example, does the team really need a point guard and did they get a great one?
Review summer leagues – You can get in trouble if you pay too much attention to the summer leagues because the caliber of competition is far less than it will be when the real games start. Stats can be very deceptive as a result. There are several things you can learn by looking at what happened, though. Did a second year player who underperformed in his first NBA season show new confidence and poise in the summer? Was a player with injury concerns able to participate at full strength? Was there a NBA rookie or two who looked like men among boys? Was a player logging heavy playing time at a new position, maybe moving from power forward to center?
Track the movement – Everyone knows what happened to the big name free agents in the summer, so there is no edge to be had there. A lot of public bettors won’t have nearly as good of a grasp on the role players who landed on new teams, though. If you have watched a lot of basketball then you know that a couple of key role players can make a huge difference for a team.
Predict rosters and roles – Once you have a sense of the newly drafted players and the free agent moves you can look at the rosters that NBA teams will be entering the season with. From the roster you can start to predict who will be starting, who the key backups will be, what roles players might play, and what that all means for the chances of the teams. For example, a team that has upgraded their point guard significantly might enjoy a fast start because of the better ball movement, fewer turnovers and more assists.
Watch the world championships – If you don’t want to watch the games you should at least check out the basketball boxscores and read the game summaries. Players who play in the summer can have an edge early on in the NBA season because they are sharper and in better game shape. Players who play particularly well against top competition at the tournament might be ready to take a step forward in their regular jobs.
Ignore the Heat and the Lakers – Everyone knows that the Heat are going to be good. Everyone knows that the Lakers are always good. The press coverage of both teams is virtually endless. There is nothing to be gained from looking closely at these teams – unless for some reason you think that they are going to be much worse than people think they are – because the betting action is going to be heavy, and value will be very hard to find.
Improve your game fundamentals – The better you understand basketball, the more insightful you can be about what may give a team an edge, or what impact a particular transaction could have on a team and how that team will do ats. That means that any time you spend learning to understand basketball better is time well spent. There are a bunch of good ways to do this. One of my favorites is to read coaching books or websites that teach particular approaches to offense or defense. Devouring some x’s and o’s now can lead to dollars and cents later on.
Set your goals – You have a much better chance of ending up in a good place at the end of the professional basketball season if you have an idea of where you are trying to go. Now is a very good time to set some goals. How much time are you going to spend handicapping each day? How much do you want to win? How many basketball bets a day are you aiming to make? What kind of a winning percentage do you want to hit? You don’t have to be locked in to these goals, but if they are attainable yet they challenge you they can be excellent motivation.
Examine your bankroll – Do you have enough money set aside to accomplish what you want to accomplish? What’s the ideal unit size for you to use? Can you afford to lose your betting bankroll? Do you have a money management strategy that makes sense? Can you stick to that sports betting strategy even if things start to go badly?
