Yeah I'm not sure gambling will become less integrated with professional sport in any of our lifetimes.
The problem, at least to my eye, is that with the perilous media landscape as well as the current economy, ESPN has essentially come to the same conclusion that many print publications, especially local print publications, did 20 years ago - it doesn't make sense to pay for high quality people when they don't have an easily tangible impact on their bottom line. It's the same problem The Atlantic is having right now, it's the same problem National Geographic is having right now, it's been a distressingly difficult circle to square since the first wave of the internet when we all collectively decided that our default position as Netizens is that we won't and shouldn't pay for information.
The difference now, I think, is that before, when people who worked in traditional media were starting to be forced to move to the Internet, there was an Internet to move to. There doesn't seem to be an obvious migration target now.
That, coupled with the fact that I can get better, more nuanced analysis on the Celtics here than I can most places (and I would say certainly better than every place without a paywall), means its once again very difficult for people who's careers are based on providing this service, especially when, according to the beancounters, there's no meaningful difference between JVG and Perkins when it comes to making money.