NBA Betting: Top 10 NBA Players from a Pointspread Perspective

Article courtesy of Ted Sevransky, an award-winning professional sports handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are betting NBA basketball this season, be sure to buy Teddy Covers expert NBA basketball picks

Here is a list of my Top 10 NBA players from a point spread perspective.  The key here is hot how good the players actually are—it’s how replaceable they are. That’s why Kobe doesn’t make the list, or Kevin Garnett, for that matter—Boston and LA can win without their superstars. 

These 10 guys are simply irreplaceable.

1) Chris Paul, Hornets. In 5.5 quarters since Paul got hurt, New Orleans has been outscored by 39 points at home against the Blazers and Bulls. ‘Nuff said.

2) Dwight Howard, Magic. He’s yet to miss a single game in his five-year career.  I don’t think Tony Battie could fill his shoes for five minutes, let alone 48.

3) LeBron James, Cavs. He’s the best all-around player in the league on a team loaded with good role players, but no other go-to guy. The Cavs went 0-6 without him in the lineup in the six games he missed last year

4) Dwyane Wade, Heat. Wade could easily be No. 1 on this list. Miami won a championship riding him in ’06. He got hurt in ’07 and wasn’t healthy in ’08, as the Heat sunk down to the worst record in the NBA. He’s healthy in ’09, and voila, Miami is pretty darn good again.

5) Tim Duncan, Spurs. Greg Popovich might be able to coach a win or two out of San Antonio if Duncan was hurt for an extended stretch, but let’s be realistic. No Duncan equals no playoffs for the team that currently stands as the second best team in the West.

6) Steve Nash, Suns. Phoenix split their four games without Nash this season. Good thing two of them were against bottom feeders Sacramento and Memphis. If you’ve watched the Suns without Nash on the court this year, you’ll understand why I have him ranked this high.

7) Al Jefferson, Timberwolves. He leads Minnesota in scoring, rebounds, free throw attempts and blocks.  Do you really think that Kevin McHale wins the ‘Coach of the Month’ award in January without Big Al dominating the low post?

Andrew Bogut, Bucks. When he went down with his back injury in early January, the Bucks were one of the four best ATS teams in the NBA. They’ve gone 3-10 ATS in the 13 games that he’s missed. 

They went 1-3 ATS without him last year.  They went 4-11-1 ATS without him in ’06.  That’s worth including him on this list

9) Devin Harris, Nets. If this list seems a little heavy on point guards, it is intentional—point guards are the engine that drives the team, and the Nets leading scorer and assist man is absolutely irreplaceable. The Nets are 1-5 without Harris this year, able to beat only the lowly Grizzlies without him

10) Gilbert Arenas, Wizards. C’mon – everybody knows that if Agent Zero was on the court for the Wizards this year, they wouldn’t be the worst team in the Eastern Conference, not by a long shot.

His injuries in ’08 and ’07 were the reason that Washington got bounced out of the playoffs in the first round both times.