Lloyd,
Thanks for posting this. Great information. A must read for every serious bettor.
It reminds me of a play I released on Lebron James to win the MVP for the 2008-09 NBA season at minus 400.
I dug up the write up and pasted it in below:
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Lebron James -400 to win the 2008-09 MVP.
Lebron James has been close to getting this award in the past. However, his team was not good enough to complement him. To win the MVP it helps tremendously if you are on a good team. When Dirk Nowitzki won the award in 2006-07, the Mavs finished the regular season 67-15. When Kobe Bryant won it last season, the Lakers were 57-25. When Steve Nash won it in 2004-05, the Suns were 62-20.
This season, finally, the Cavs have a few players around Lebron and they have one of the best records in the league. Only Kobe Bryant can take over a game like Lebron James and he won the award last year.
Anyway, this season, Lebron James has more points per game, more rebounds per game (7.5 to 5.4) and more assists per game (7.1 to 4.9) than Kobe. The only way that Lebron doesn’t get this award is if he is caught with illegal drugs or something like that.
Lebron is leading the league in points + rebounds + assists with 42.7 total per game. The Cavs are nothing without him. Take Kobe Bryant off the Lakers and they’re still pretty good, Take Kevin Garnett off the Celtics and they can win games. Miami, on the other had, would be terrible without Dwyane Wade, but they’re not very good with him. Chris Paul? No way, he had a better year last season when he came in second to Kobe. The only reason why Chris Paul got serious consideration last season is that the Hornets improved from 39-43 to 56-26. To get the MVP, it is important to improve the team’s regular season record significantly. The Cavs were 45-37 last season and Lebron missed significant time with an injury. Cleveland is at 50-13 right now and Lebron has started every game. They should easily win 60+ games this season.
All the competition has fallen away. Lebron should be something like minus 1500 to win the MVP. Laying minus 400 will give you a 25% return on your investment in less than two months.
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Lebron was first with 109 first place votes and Kobe Bryant was second with 2 first place votes. Note that this is not a bet that you can take a bad beat on. It is a vote.
Dr M.