Presenting my NBA spread beaters by The Gaming Today’s, Ted Sevransky

This week we identify and isolate the influence of individuals on their respective teams’ ATS results.

Spencer Hawes, 76ers

Considered a first round bust in Sacramento as the tenth overall pick back in 2007. Last year, in a backup role with the Sixers, Hawes was certainly not an impact player on either end of the court. But as a starter this year, the Sixers were 13-1 ATS in good part behind his solid defense and rebounding.

Hawes has been battling a lingering Achilles injury and the Sixers have gone just 6-12 ATS in the 18 games that he’s missed.

Marcus Thornton, Kings

Sacramento is an NBA afterthought – rarely on TV, never in the playoffs and without many marketable stars on the roster. Their owners, the Maloof Brothers, have severe financial restraints these days and the franchise is in real danger of leaving town at the end of the year.

That certainly doesn’t mean that there is no value supporting the Kings, particularly when Marcus Thornton is on the floor. The team’s leading scorer (not Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins or Jimmer Fredette) missed seven games in January. Sacramento went 1-6. Since his return to the lineup Feb. 2nd against Portland, the Kings are 4-6 SU, but 7-3 ATS.

Jason Kidd, Mavericks

We don’t think of Kidd as an impact player at this late stage of his career. But one thing he has been is extremely durable, playing at least 80 games every year since the ’05-’06 campaign. When he missed six games in late January and early February, the Mavs struggled mightily.

Roddy Beaubois was not able to distribute the basketball effectively as the starting point guard in his absence nor was Delonte West. Dallas went 2-4 ATS without Kidd. One cover was against Phoenix without Steve Nash, the other against Denver without two thirds of their starting frontcourt. When Kidd returned, Dallas reeled off five straight victories, going 4-1 ATS.

DJ Augustin, Bobcats

To say Charlotte tanked when point guard DJ got hurt is something of an understatement. Augustin got hurt in the first quarter of a late January game against the Nets. The Bobcats proceeded to lose that game by 10 (as five point underdogs). They proceeded to go 0-11 SU with eight coming by double digit margins. Augustin returned last Friday against Toronto and Charlotte won SU on the road for only the second time all year, It was an easy ATS cash as seven point underdogs.

Steve Nash, Suns

Phoenix takes its cues from the Hall-of-Fame point guard, but it hasn’t been easy for the 38 year old. Nash has missed three games this year. Those three became a 10 point home loss to New Jersey, a 23 point home loss to Dallas and a 17 point road loss at Denver. Nash’s teammates haven’t brought the same level of energy or intensity on either end of the court without their fearless leader in the lineup.

Anderson Varejao, Cavs

Cleveland’s best player prior to his injury, a broken wrist suffered against the Bucks last weekend. In my mind, he was a legitimate All Star, averaging a double double and bringing tremendous energy to the floor every game. Without him, the Cavs suffered a pair of non-competitive losses and a non-cover in a one point win against the Kings. Varejao’s replacement in the starting lineup, center Semih Erden, had barely played 100 minutes all year before Varejao got hurt. Erden’s backup, Ryan Hollins, is now sitting with a knee injury, leaving the Cavs rather depleted in the frontcourt.

Andrea Bargnani, Raptors

Has never quite lived up to the hype when entering the league as the top overall draft pick back in 2006. Was by far Toronto’s best player the first month of the Dwane Casey era, but a calf injury in January kept him out of the lineup for six games. Toronto went 0-6. He returned for a short period, but re-aggravated the injury and missed the last 13 games. Toronto went 3-10 with two of the wins against Washington and New Jersey. The Raptors are 6-7 SU with Bargnani, 3-16 without him!

Danilo Gallinari, Nuggets

Earlier in the season, I mistakenly called Denver “virtually injury proof” because of its tremendous depth. Only Al Harrington and Andre Miller have played every game. At one point last week, four of their five starters were out along with missing a couple of key cogs off the bench. Gallinari’s injury had the most impact. The Nuggets were 2-5 SU without him. One win was home against Phoenix in a three-game-in-three night’s stretch without Steve Nash or Grant Hill in the lineup

George Hill, Pacers

Hill is a backup at either guard position. He’ll never have an impact on a point spread, whether he’s healthy or not. But he played major minutes behind Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio in 2010 and 2011. At Indiana, Hill is the first guard off the bench behind Darren Collison and Paul George. Most bettors haven’t noticed the enormous ATS dichotomy. Indiana was 11-8 ATS with Hill, 3-9 without him.

Brandon Bass, Celtics

Boston is not blessed with particularly strong frontcourt depth. When Chris Wilcox and Greg Stiemsma are getting regular playing time, it’s a testament to the Celtics lack of quality depth in the paint. Bass has been Boston’s first big man off the bench, averaging a solid 11.6 points and 6.1 boards in 29 minutes. Bass hurt his knee last week and the Celtics have no suitable replacement. The Celtics are 1-3 both SU and ATS without him.

Steve Blake, Lakers

A mediocre point guard whose career has mostly been coming off the bench. The career numbers won’t wow anyone: seven points and four assists per game since 2003 when breaking in with Washington. But the Lakers have no one to replace Blake when he’s out. Starter Derek Fisher, nearly 38, is on pace for career lows in minutes and points. When Blake he missed 13 games with a rib injury, the Lakers began 0-6 ATS. They wound up 4-9 ATS total.

Come to www.aasiwins.com for all of the Gaming Today’s, Ted Sevransky’s free NBA winners and articles.