Betting: Avoid the Lakers without LeBron
Jared Quay, Preston Johnson & Matt Moore of the Action Network look at Preston's current Top 10 NBA power ratings and break down why the Lakers are not part of the list without LeBron and Anthony Davis.
Video Transcript
MATT MOORE: Let's take a look at Preston Johnson-- we mentioned his projection. Let's get Preston's ratings for the top 10 in the NBA right now as we head towards tip-off here in just a few minutes. You see the Jazz and the Nets up there, obviously. The Bucks, the Clippers, the Suns, the Nuggets, who are 3 and 0. Been very impressive since adding Aaron Gordon.
The Heat still hanging in there at seven. The Mavericks at eight. Nine, Celtics. 10, Sixers without Embiid. No Los Angeles Lakers due to all those injuries, Preston. They've got to be pretty undervalued because of how the adjustment has been made. But it does seem that on a game-to-game basis, the Lakers have been pretty rough.
PRESTON JOHNSON: It has been rough. I'm trying to support the team. I'm from LA. I'm trying my best.
But Jared called me out on it. He did. Pre-show, we were talking, and he said, they're not even in your top 10 anymore. You're wearing a Laker shirt on the show. What do you think you're doing?
So I'll say this. There were a couple of times I thought there was value on the Lakers, and they still haven't even been really meeting expectations in these games since LeBron's injury. So I've had to kind of adjust them down. And they were outside the top 10 last week when we did the broadcast anyway, and they've backtracked some.
And now adding Drummond, is he gonna help a ton? Probably not. I don't think he moves the needle, ultimately, too much. So I think that's deserving.
The biggest note to make, by the way though, is that even the Nets without Durant just keep winning games. They even didn't have Harden the other night, didn't have Kyrie a few nights before that, and they keep finding ways to-- all of my underlying numbers are improving on Brooklyn, and Durant hasn't even played yet.
The Bucks were number two last week. They've dropped back. Brooklyn's passed them up, which makes you now think, OK, potential playoff series, Bucks versus Nets. With Kevin Durant in the lineup, I think it's now Brooklyn a pretty big favorite at that point.