NBA Betting Free Picks – Chicago Bulls vs. Toronto Raptors

While the Bulls are overcoming the injuries that nearly derailed their entire NBA betting season, the Raptors are piling up a set of their own. The timing couldn’t be worse for Toronto as they prepare for the final stretch of the season which will include Sunday’s tilt against the very team that is trying to bump them out of the playoffs.

Earlier this week, Gary Payton joined us at BetFlix to chime in about all this huge NBA betting weekend. You can check out the entire video over in BetFlix, of by following this link, and I agree largely with everything Payton has said except for one thing.

The Raptors do not deserve to be in the playoffs. They’re a finesse style team that doesn’t exactly have finesses style players. All year long they’ve been waiting for rookie DeMar DeRozan to blossom in to an NBA caliber player, when he wasn’t even a strong college player to begin with. Now that DeRozan is playing on the bench, Sonny Weems has seen more playing time and his 14-5-3 average throughout the last couple weeks has steadied the Raptors.

Second of all, the Raptors have inexplicably paid Hedo Turkoglu, Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani over fifty-percent of the salary cap (about $10 million each). Was this the corps of “stars” that was supposed to keep Chris Bosh in town? Listen, I like Bosh. Toronto loves him. But he was never going to stay. Why wouldn’t they trade him to Chicago for some prospects or draft picks? To lose him for nothing seems like a waste.

Chicago Bulls vs. Toronto Raptors
Sunday, April 11th — Air Canada Centre — 6:00pm EST
NBA Betting Trends: Toronto is 8-2 SU/ATS versus Chicago

Of course, Chris Bosh isn’t worth much right now. With a fractured face that is going to take “several weeks” to heal, the chances of Toronto having the scoring muscle, or defensive prowess, to survive the home stretch seems pretty far fetched. Even if they make the playoffs, without Bosh they’re going to get slaughtered by the Cavaliers.

When McGrady left, they had Carter. When Carter left, they had Bosh. Now that Bosh is leaving they have…right. Nobody. It will be a haunting kick in the groin when Chicago rolls past Toronto on Sunday afternoon to jump in to sole possession of eighth place. When Bosh signs in Chicago this summer to play with Noah, Rose and possibly LeBron James, it will be a double-whammy to the nth degree.

Furious Free Pick: Chicago Bulls -3.5 or less