NBA betting online expectations is low for the Washington Wizards as they are coming off two of the worst seasons in franchise history and have a disgruntled star. Washington opened at Sbg sportsbook as a +5000 futures choice to win the NBA Championship this season.
Arenas in the Arena?
Gilbert Arenas is supposed to be the franchise player that will lead Washington back to NBA respectability and prominence. A series of injuries and immature behavior has prevented that from happening and the time has arrived for Arenas to prove he is worth the considerable investment that the Wizards have made in him.
Arenas showed up at the first meet and greet event for the team at their Verizon Center home and was sporting beard while he moped and pouted for most of the evening that was meant to improve relations with a dwindling fan base. Arenas claims to be all business this year and focused on results on the court, which is not a bad idea after last year’s NBA betting season in which Washington finished 26-56 straight up while paying out just 35 times against the spread.
Part Timer
Arenas played just 32 games last year due to injury but did average 22.6 points per game. It was the third consecutive NBA betting online season in which Arenas missed considerable amounts of playing time. He played just 2 games in 2008-09 and 13 games in 2007-08. His inability to answer the bell is emblematic of the franchise’s woes as a current laughingstock in the league with fans and with serous betting handicappers who have wanted nothing to do with the Wizards in recent seasons.
A More Serious Approach
Arenas had the well deserved reputation of being something of a class clown and cut up in the past. He enters the 2010-11 NBA betting season frustrated with the past 3 seasons of injury and team futility and with his loss of stature as an elite player in the NBA. Head coach Flip Saunders said that Arenas has a lot to prove to everyone. Players have stated that Arenas is far more subdued and serious than in the past. Arenas also have significant image problems due in large part to his argument with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which guns was pulled. Time will tell whether the new Arenas are the same old Arenas.