5 smartest bets to place for 2019-20 NBA championship

3. Philadelphia 76ers (Odds: +724)

You can actually get better odds on the Philadelphia 76ers to win the whole thing than you can on the previously mentioned Milwaukee Bucks and that just seems to good to be true.

If you compare the rosters of Milwaukee and Philadelphia, it really isn’t even close. The Bucks may have the best overall player between both teams in Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Sixers are just so much deeper.

The Sixers already had Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris, which alone makes them a serious contender in the Eastern Conference. However, this offseason they got to work to get even better.

The team acquired the young, talented guard Josh Richardson from the Miami Heat and they were also able to sign Al Horford in free agency. These two deals should help the team immensely.

Richardson is now a huge upgrade defensively on the perimeter compared to J.J. Redick, who they had last year, and is a very capable offensive player as well. As for the Horford deal they killed two birds with one stone, as they not only will get better with him now on the roster, but also pried him from a conference rival and contender in the East, the Boston Celtics.

The 76ers on defense will just be devastating, as all of the aforementioned guys are plus defenders and will tower over just about everyone they match up with during the season. Along with that, the player the Sixers drafted in this year’s draft will add to that.

With the 20th overall pick this year, they selected guard Matisse Thybulle out of the University of Washington. While in college, Thybulle put up  crazy steal and block numbers, and was a first-round prospect based on his defense alone.

It looks as though he will get a good amount of playing time for the 76ers and with him in the rotation that perimeter defense will be even more elite than it already was.

Now let’s talk about what everyone loves to mention — Ben Simmons’ jump shot. It has been well documented that up until this year he has not made or even barely attempted a 3-point attempt.

We have all been waiting to see if it would change, and this offseason we got plenty of footage of him shooting from deep and he even buried one in the preseason, which of course was followed by a standing ovation:

Simmons does not have to immediately be a great 3-point shooter. If he can just be consistent enough to make other teams respect him from out there or just remain in his vicinity, then it should really help open the floor up for everyone else on offense.

The 76ers are as talented and as deep as just about any other team out there. If the stars on the team continue to rise and play like they are capable of, then a parade could be in store for the city of brotherly love this summer.