As the final dog days of summer dwindle down upon most sports fans, the NBA community has started stringing together projections for each respective team.
While some of these numbers can be extremely close to what Las Vegas Oddsmakers project at their main sportsbooks, there can also be a huge variance in win total projections based off of offseason additions, losses, coaching changes, personnel swaps and front office shake-ups. For those who notice these extreme variances quickly, you can scrounge up all of the loose change you can find under your couch cushions and head on down to your nearest legal Sportsbook and lay it all on the line. Of course, it would be smart to have some concrete reasoning and viable data in order to support the thesis of betting a team’s win total whether it be over or under.
The New Orleans Pelicans had quite the offseason to remember this summer as not only was David Griffin hired as the new head of basketball operations and general manager of the team upon conclusion of the regular season, but also what then followed which was a series of trades, draft picks and free agent signings that have unexpectedly put the Pelicans in a position to potentially compete for the postseason.
According to VegasInsider.com, the New Orleans Pelicans projected win total this upcoming season sits at 38.5 while Sportsbooks such as WestGate and PointsBet have the Pelicans Over/Under total at 39 wins. The Pels finished last season with a record of 33-49, good for 13th place in the Western Conference, tied with the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks. While the Anthony Davis drama and absence played a huge role in this underperforming season for the Pelicans, they will look forward to bouncing back this year with a new look roster hoping to take the NBA world by storm. With one of if not the best young cores in the entire Association lead by freak of nature number one overall pick Zion Wiliamson out of Duke University, the Pelicans now have a team of young low risk, high reward assets that can bring an exciting brand of basketball to the state of Louisiana. With these additions and savvy free agent signings and trades in J.J. Redick and Derrick Favors respectively, this team has a balance of veteran leadership and young talent the city has never seen. This is why the Pelicans are primed to go OVER the total this season and win 40+ games in the Western Conference.