Online betting players have never seen anythinglike it: the summer of 2010 promised to be the biggest free-agent frenzy in NBAhistory, and it pretty much was. One team made out like gangbusters, while therest of the league was left to fend for scraps. Here’s what we all “witnessed”.

Did you think we were going to start with another team? Theycan send Pat Riley the 2011 Executive of the Year award for what he pulled off,managing to persuade Dwyane Wade to stay with the Heat….but that’s not all. ChrisBosh came from Toronto, and then the crown jewel in this year’s free-agentclass, LeBron James, broke the hearts of everyone in Cleveland when he decidedto join the group in South Beach. This move may have been in the works for awhile, as the trio played for the gold-medal-winning United States team inBeijing two years ago, and not only that, they may be taking discounts so Rileycan flesh out the rest of the roster. There are also rumors that Riley mayreplace Erik Spoelstra behind the bench as well. The NBA season just got a lotmore interesting.

The Bulls realized they weren’t getting James or Bosh, sothey signed Carlos Boozer to a big-money deal, and it’s not like they’re comingaway completely empty handed. Boozer averaged 19.5 points and 11.2 boards lastyear, which were both above his career averages, and he’ll be a much-neededlow-post offensive presence to go with Derrick Rose. The best bet that the Bullshave for this year is to crack the top four in the Eastern Conference, whereit’s likely Cleveland is now out, and includes Boston, Orlando, and possiblyAtlanta. But they’re going to be a solid NBA Odds darkhorse this season, even without Jamesand/or Bosh.

Their entire existence since Donnie Walsh took over aspresident of basketball operations, was to clear as much cap space as possible,and the Knicks succeeded in that respect. However, all they ended up with wasAmare Stoudamire in what could be the riskiest move of the summer. First,Stoudamire and coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t get along too well when the pair werein Phoenix together, but apparently everything is fine now. Second, does thisreally improve the Knicks? We know they can score, and so can Stoudemire. Butthey can’t stop anyone….and neither can Stoudemire. The rest of the roster isD-League status, and they just shipped David Lee off to Golden State, saysreports. If you’re a Knicks fan, anything less than LeBron James was going tobe a disappointment, and really, this is where he should have gone.

For all the recruiting, all the camera crews, all theESPN specials and Twittering (tweeting?), the best move of the offseason mayprove to be Oklahoma City wrapping up Kevin Durant before he became a freeagent after next season. The Thunder and Durant, the youngest player to everwin a scoring title, did their work quietly and inconspicuously, and everyoneis saying they did it “the right way”. Now, the Thunder can go about locking upthe rest of their young players, and you can expect them to be a trendy NBAbetting pick during this upcoming season.  

Just joking. These are the teams that are starting overafter their stars deserted them to join the Empire….we mean, the Heat…..inMiami. It’s going to be a long, cold season for the Cavaliers and Raptors, andwe don’t expect much from their sports betting odds. However, we do expect a showwhen James and Bosh return to Cleveland and Toronto, respectively.