Every summer, teams do everything they can to give their teams the best chance to win an NBA championship. Sometimes that means a big free agent signing, other times a cap-clearing move to set up future success. Sometimes teams are patient and let their assets develop.

Through it all, Vegas watches. And judges.

Immediately after the end of the NBA season, betting sites popped out their odds for winning the 2009 title, which we told you about before.

Since then we've had Elton Brand go east, Baron Davis go south, Josh Childress head to Greece, and the Cavs do absolutely nothing of note. As a result, Raptors blog Cuzoogle clues us into at least one sports book making significant movement on their lines.

The highlights?

The Sixers moved up considerably (+4000 from +6000) after acquiring Mr. Brand. The Heat move up a bit (+3000 from +4000) since, you know, they're not a MASH unit anymore, hopefully. And the Wizards move up (+4000 from +6000), despite essentially returning the same squad as last year.

On the downer side? Well, two you can probably guess, both the Clippers and Warriors' odds get worse. Cleveland drops as well, since they haven't really done much. The Hawks go from a longshot to a longer shot. The Blazers' odds have also dropped, strangely. The only conclusion I can reach is that of a hesitance by handicappers regarding the hype about the improvement the young Blazers will take in their first season with Greg Oden.

The Lakers and Celtics remain the favorites, though, at 3-1. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

No, silly Europeans, Andris Biedrins is for Nellie!

The Warriors shored up their remaining free agent quandary today, according to the infinitely reliable Marc Stein over at the WWL. Stein says the Dubs have given Biedrins a 6 year, $63 million contract, with a player option for the fifth year. Tim Kawakami respectfully disagrees with Stein's report on the amount, putting the number at $54 million. Six years, $54 million seems a little more reasonable for the top big man on a team that was, you know, kind of terrible at both defense and rebounding. Still, Don Nelson is big on Biedrins, and after Baron Davis absconded to LA, the Warriors needed to shore up their roster in-house.

It's unknown at this point what effect Biedrins' position on the NBA Overseas Defection Watch had on the urgency for the Warriors to get the deal done, if any, but anyway, go ahead and cross him off the list. And, barring injury or a team losing their mind in a trade (we're looking at you, Atlanta), this should pretty much lock up the Warriors roster next year, with both Anthony Randolph and Richard Hendrix signed. So for better or worse, it's Monta Ellis, Kelenna Azubuike, and Andris Biedrins resigned, Mickael Pietrus and Baron Davis gone with the wind, and Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf newly acquired. Your guess is as good as ours as far as next season goes.

Apparently Chris Mullin enjoyed his time in Vegas, got some time in by the pool, then came home and decided to clean the slate on his offseason To-Do list all in a matter of days. Here's a little sneak peak at that list.

1. Match Kelenna Azubuike.
2. Re-sign Monta Ellis to a 6 year, $67 Million contract.
3. Pick up dry cleaning.
4. Send basket of rotten fruit to Elgin Baylor.

Well, you can scratch out #2, as today the Warriors agreed to just such a contract with Ellis. Which is good, because as Tim Kawakami put it tonight, if they hadn't, they wouldn't be "a real franchise, anymore." After Baron Davis skipped town (sorry Warriors fans, I'm not trying to keep bringing it up, but it kind of caused a ripple effect), the Warriors needed to batten down the hatches and take care of their roster. And while the biggest acquisition they got was Corey Maggette, they did lock up a young scorer with incredible speed and considerable upside for six years, along with Ronny Turiaf and securing Azabuike.

The question now becomes if they overspent on Ellis, which is something only Ellis can decide. Have I mentioned this kid needs a nickname?