How NBA Free Agency Changed Vegas Championship Odds

Free agency is nearly coming to an end, with all of the players worth mentioning just about taken.

This also signifies the time where you can begin making your bets on who is going to win the 2013 NBA Championship.

Obviously, the Miami Heat are the favorites to take home a second consecutive title, especially after their acquisitions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. However, they'll face stiff competition in a growing Oklahoma City Thunder team, a Los Angeles Lakers team that has gotten considerably better since last year and a Boston Celtics team which has constantly given them problems in the past.

Those four, as well as the San Antonio Spurs, Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers, could all be considered legitimate choices as to who will win next year's title. Recent free-agency moves have vaulted Brooklyn near the top of the East, while the Pacers have improved several key weaknesses to their game that they were forced to deal with last season.

You could even possibly say the likes of the Dallas Mavericks or Memphis Grizzlies are title contenders as well. However, I'd be more inclined to agree with the person placing his bets on the Heat, Thunder or Lakers before those two.

We take a look at how free agency has shaken up the championship race and how the odds have reacted as a result.

The Brooklyn Nets Now Have a Team

For over a decade, the Western Conference has usually reigned supreme as the dominant conference in the NBA.

There have been winners out east, but in terms of the all-around structure, the West clearly has the superior teams. Unlike in the East, where you will see a 37-45 Indiana Pacers team make it into the postseason as an eighth seed, it's more than likely that a 45-win team out in the West could be on the outside looking in.

This may not be the case any longer. With teams like the Brooklyn Nets emerging as contenders, the East could finally start to boast some actual talent throughout their eight seeds.

The Nets not only managed to re-sign Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and Gerald Wallace, but also brought in All-Star Joe Johnson while keeping promising athlete MarShon Brooks in the process.

Needless to say, this is going to cause a shakeup near the top of the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. Other postseason contenders in the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks will all be receiving legitimate competition from a new source within their division.

It'll be a significant chance of pace from having to face a Nets team and a Toronto Raptors team that was out of the postseason before the season started.

With the Nets now stacked and with a lineup capable of securing a top-four seed, the odds have shaken up in Brooklyn's favor as it finds itself amongst the league's few elite teams.

The Los Angeles Lakers Are Back in the Mix

The Los Angeles Lakers have been legitimate title contenders since the acquisition of Pau Gasol.

Sure enough, that idea was proven with three consecutive NBA Finals appearances and two championships as a result. However, since defeating the Boston Celtics for their 2010 championship victory, the Lakers have been kicked out of the second round twice, going 1-8 in both series, including a sweep at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks the year after they won.

After a 4-1 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder this past postseason, the Lakers saw their odds drop when it came to winning the 2013 title. Even with the three consecutive Final appearances and still possessing an excellent three-man core, the Lakers losing in uncharacteristic fashion for two consecutive season hurt their Vegas odds.

However, now equipped with arguably the league's top pure point guard in Steve Nash and a reliable forward in Antawn Jamison coming off the bench, the Lakers find themselves as one of the hottest teams to bet on heading into the 2013 NBA season.

While we have yet to see the Lakers play with their new-look roster, they would have a tremendous advantage over the Miami Heat, the odds-on favorite out East, with Gasol and Bynum down low. Adding Nash and Jamison may have just been the spark to put the Lakers over the top and near the top of the West again.

Pitting L.A. and Miami together may lead to the Lakers pulling off an upset and possibly ending a second consecutive title due to their size, which Miami doesn't stand a chance at matching.

The Miami Heat Have Only Gotten Better

There's little doubt heading into the 2012-13 season that the Miami Heat are the favorites to win an NBA title.

However, the Heat still had some fierce competition brewing out west and within their own conference. Out west, they'd have to most likely go through either a young and motivated Oklahoma City Thunder team, a tall Los Angeles Lakers team or a deep San Antonio Spurs squad.

Out east, they'll more than likely have to deal with the Boston Celtics, a team with a point guard who cannot be stopped.

Still, with the moves they have made, the Heat have become the overwhelming favorites to win next year's title.

Unlike their defense of their 2006 title, the Heat have actually made the necessary moves to improve by signing premier shooters Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. These two fit perfectly into the Heat's offense, as they'll be able to thrive off the constant drives of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. It will also open up the floor for those drives.

With those two joining the team, Wade and Chris Bosh resting their ailments and LeBron James continuing his path of destruction in London, the Heat have only improved exponentially as they look to make a third consecutive NBA Finals and attempt to win a second consecutive title for the first time in franchise history.

The Chicago Bulls Have Regressed

Once lauded over for their incredible bench—one that had multiple players worthy of starting—the Chicago Bulls have found themselves not only without Derrick Rose until March, but also without a few key bench players.

Since the offseason began, the Bulls have lost C.J. Watson, John Lucas III, Kyle Korver, Omer Asik and Ronnie Brewer. Each of those players have played a key role in each of the past two seasons. Watson and Lucas were tremendous backups to Rose, Korver was a consistent perimeter threat, Asik was a huge defensive body and Brewer was an outstanding perimeter defender.

All of those players are now gone. The Bulls bench, the strongest part of their team, has now become incredibly weak after several questionable moves. Chicago has hardly taken advantage of free agency and have signed a few players who will have nowhere near the impact its former bench stars brought to the game.

In return, it's picked up Kirk Hinrich, Vladimir Radmanovic, Marco Belinelli and Nate Robinson. Those are hardly the answers to maintaining status as one of the Eastern Conference's best teams.

Even with Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer set to support the team until Rose returns, the Bulls will be a middle-of-the-pack team until otherwise.

Because of this abysmal offseason, the Bulls have seen their championship odds significantly drop, as Brooklyn, Miami, Boston, New York and Indiana only continued to improve.

Dwight Howard Keeps the Orlando Magic in Contention

Believe it or not, the Orlando Magic still have a legitimate chance at making the NBA championship.

As long as they have Dwight Howard on their side, they still have a chance. The 6'11" center is still the best big man the league has to offer and is still a commanding presence on both sides of the court. No matter which team he's on, that squad will have a legitimate chance at winning a title because of Howard's ability to shut down the paint.

The only problem is that Orlando barely did anything to improve. While it still might have Howard, all it's done over the offseason is trade Ryan Anderson for Gustavo Ayon, a power forward from the New Orleans Hornets, and re-sign Jameer Nelson. Otherwise, it's mostly been wasting time either finding somewhere to trade Dwight to or attempting to keep him in Orlando.

Dwight has most recently stated he still wants out. Even if he is the best in the league at his position, is it worth the headache he'll cause later on if there aren't positive results soon enough for him?

For now, Dwight is still with Orlando. Because of that, the Magic still find themselves as one of the top teams in the East and could still be considered title contenders due to the fact that there isn't a team in the East with a player who can defend Howard.

If he's capable of getting on a roll and if his teammates are making their shots, the Magic could crash the party late in the season.

Parity Is Growing Larger

With another offseason nearly done with and players adjusting to their new locations, it has become apparent in this league that there are only a handful of legitimate championship contenders.

Steve Nash jumping ship to the Los Angeles Lakers has vaulted them near the top of the West, while the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City have improved. Outside of those three, the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics and possibly the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks, there are no real teams capable of winning a title.

That league has certainly gotten more exciting, but it's also created parity between the upper tier and everyone else.

The Heat, Thunder, Lakers, Celtics and Spurs are odds-on favorites to win the title, which is hurting the odds of just about every team outside of those prestigious five. There aren't many others teams that are capable of matching up with the talent, athleticism and deep possessed by the league's elite, which has led to this phenomena of only five teams being legitimate contenders.

Vegas is affected by this because of the lack of teams that nobody is betting on. Who would place a bet on a borderline team like Memphis or Indiana when they could just as easily place their bet on one of the surer picks in the aforementioned five? As a result, payoffs are less due to the high traffic of betters placing their wager on the same team.

The Indiana Pacers Are Quietly Moving Up

Give credit to the Indiana Pacers; they have managed to do the impossible by building up a formidable team and having them as legitimate contenders to sneak in for a possible title berth.

It's not that far-fetched of an idea. Even though the Miami Heat were playing without Chris Bosh, the Indiana Pacers were still a tough team before bowing out in six games. They have key players all over the roster to become one of the East's top squads, but they fail to involve 7'2" center Roy Hibbert as much as they should.

As good as Hibbert is on the offensive end, he's only averaging 13 points per game, despite having a tremendous height and length advantage over his defenders. With those kinds of physical attributes, the Pacers should be making it an issue to get the ball to Hibbert on every possession in order to create a presence down low and allow him to get into a rhythm early.

Once they start double-teaming, you can begin relying on your outside shooters in guys like Danny Granger.

The Pacers' offseason has been quiet, but effective. They replaced Darren Collison with an even quicker point guard in D.J. Augustin, traded for a big man in Ian Mahinmi and had a solid draft with selections in Miles Plumlee and Orlando Johnson.

The best part of the offseason, by far, is the acquisitions of Mahinmi and Plumlee. The Pacers were in dire need of reliable help off the bench once David West and Roy Hibbert hit the bench, and they picked up two young talents who should prove useful later on.

While the Pacers are still behind Boston and Miami, their odds have increased with the regression of the division-rival Chicago Bulls.