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NBA win totals recap: I actually took the Warriors over

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I recommended betting five NBA win totals once the summer began. If you can read the headline, spoiler: There's at least one bad pick in there.

With the season suspended for the foreseeable future, let's recap which totals I recommended and how bad those picks were.

Lakers under 54.5

Unbelievable start here, folks. The Lakers had the West's best record and the second-best odds to win the title before play was suspended. They only needed six wins in their final 19 outings. I think they would have been fine.

Reasoning: "It's an exciting time for Lakers fans, but there are obvious reasons to pump the brakes: (LeBron) James turns 35 in December and (Anthony) Davis' injury history is extensive; Kyle Kuzma is a negative defensively; there's no depth behind those three whatsoever."

James was second in the MVP race and Davis played 55 of the team's 63 games. I'll admit, this pick was gross.

Magic over 36.5

I remember this was the first one that jumped off the page. The Magic headed into the hiatus with a 30-35 record, needing just seven victories over the final 17 games to cash the total.

Reasoning: "As the Magic continue their youth movement, it's tough to pinpoint their ceiling. They don't figure to morph into a perennial contender, but this is still a franchise on the upswing that could surpass the total by winning five fewer games than its breakout season."

Coming off a playoff berth with virtually the same roster, in the East? I think Orlando's win total would have been safe.

Jazz over 52.5

The Jazz were the bandwagon team I didn't mind buying. Utah was one of the busiest franchises during the offseason, bringing over both Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic to a roster that was fresh off a 50-win season. At 41-23, the Jazz were on pace for roughly 53 victories.

Reasoning: "After crushing their win total by eight games in 2017-18, the Jazz were once again slept on in the futures market this past season, cruising past their benchmark of 46.5 with 50 victories. You can make the case 52.5 represents too big of a shift in the market's stance on this team. However, Utah actually under-performed last season, finishing with an expected win-loss percentage of .689 percent (56-26), which ranked No. 4 in the NBA."

Utah's expected win-loss record for this point in the season? A win worse, at 40-24. The Jazz are so weird.

Warriors over 47.5

Reasoning: "A torn Achilles for Kevin Durant and a torn ACL for Klay Thompson currently leaves the Dubs thin on talent for the 2019-20 season. However, this number is criminally low for a team whose championship window is still far from shut. The Warriors should have no problem finding players through free agency or the trade market to complement Steph Curry and Draymond Green and ultimately meet the 48-win mark."

Well well well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions.

76ers under 52.5

The quarantine has given me a lot of time to think, and one of my reoccurring thoughts is that the 76ers are the NBA's most overrated team. How do they not have a top-5 seed in the East?

Reasoning: "The 76ers won 51 games during the regular season but played like a 49-win team based on expected win-loss. Also, it's not set in stone the franchise will retain both Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris for next season. Given the question marks around how the roster might look in 2019-20, we'd lean toward the under here."

Jimmy Butler did, in fact, leave, and both Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid were dealing with injuries once the season shut down. The layoff could help those two get healthy, but Philly was on pace for just 49 wins.

Alex Kolodziej is a betting writer for theScore. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 12 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AJKolodziej.

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