While many people are getting excited about Halloween, there is another big reason to get excited about this week and it is all down to the fact that the NBA is back in action. The regular season gets underway on Tuesday the 28th of October and basketball fans all over the world will be counting down the hours. There is some excitement on Monday though and this is down to the fact that the final rosters have been concluded on Monday the 27th of October, which means that teams need to make the last minute cuts to meet league regulations.
On Saturday afternoon, Boston Celtics waived Jarell Eddie. The team took Eddie on board on Thursday to get a good look at him but in just two days, they decided that they didn’t need him for the campaign. At the moment, The Celtics have a roster of 16 players and all of them have guaranteed contracts. This means that there is still one more player to be waived and the rumour mill suggests that it is coming down to either Vito Faverani or Will Bynum, who has recently been acquired by the Celtics.
The Nets have made a move to sharpen up their roster
Another team that has waived a player is the Brooklyn Nets, and they have waived Casper Ware. The team only added Ware to their roster on Friday, snapping up the point guard in a trade for Marquis Teague. This move leaves the Nets with 15 players on their roster and the Brooklyn side is good to go for the new campaign. Now that the rosters are being finalised, the basketball betting opportunities are starting to take shape for many fans and you can bet that Monday evening will be a busy time online for fans and betting lovers.
The Charlotte Hornets had a busy Friday night, cutting three players. Brian Qvale, Justin Cobbs and Dallas Landerdale were all cut from the roster, leaving the Hornets with 15 players. All of these 15 players at the Hornets have a guaranteed contract, apart from Jason Maxiell.
Another team who have cut their roster to 15 players is the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Cavs achieving this after waiving on Shane Edwards.
The Mavericks had a lot of work to take care of
One team that had a busy Saturday was the Dallas Mavericks, cutting three players from their roster. Doron Lamb, Ivan Johnson and Bernard James have all been waived, and with James having a guaranteed contract of $915,000 with the team, this was a bit of a shock. However, the Mavericks decided to go ahead with Charlie Villanueva, who has been in impressive form during the team’s close season. These cuts mean that Dallas now have a roster of 15.
Another team that has a roster of 15 is the Golden State Warriors but this only the case after they waived 4 players. Jason Kapono, James Michael McAdoo, Michael Watt and Aaron Craft have all been waived.
One team that got a lot of their work completed early was the Houston Rockets who waived Josh Powell a number of days ago, and then followed that up by waiving Earl Clark off the roster. After this, they waived Robert Covington and then Geron Johnson, which left them with 17 players, which means that the Rockets still have two players to move off of the roster in time for the new season.
The Clippers made a big call when they waived Hoe Ingles while the Lakers from Los Angeles waived Jabari Brown and Roscoe Smith. There is every chance that these two players will be heading for the D-League.
The Memphis Grizzlies are actually down to 14 players at the moment after Patrick Christopher and Kalin Lucas were cut, and this means they look all set for the new campaign. The Heat are currently sitting on 15 players, with Shawn Jones, Khem Birch, Larry Drew II and Tyler Johnson all being waived.
The Timberwolves got rid of Brady Heslip on Saturday, cutting their squad to 16 and all indications suggest that Glen Robinson III will be the final player cut from the team.
There are plenty of other teams still looking to finalise their roster for the new season so no doubt some players and fans will be in for a torrid time on Monday.
At 3-1 down in the NBA Finals, many people predicted that the Cleveland Cavaliers would lie down, perhaps looking for the pain to be over and done with for another year. After all, they were facing the record breakers, the team that had shown themselves to be the best of the best by a good...