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Atlanta Hawks 2010 Draft PreviewBasketball Betting Lines06/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The winds of change are blowing in Dixie but the weather brewing might be a bit chaotic. Mike Woodson built the Atlanta Hawks from a 13-win team to a 53-win club but a poor performance in the playoffs against Southeast Division rival Orlando was enough for the team's front office to decide change was needed. The Hawks certainly didn't pull a 180, however, and went with Woodson's lead assistant Larry Drew as the new mentor. Drew inherits a solid, youthful core to build upon but will likely be without All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson, who is an unrestricted free agent and expected to move on. Forward Josh Smith and center Al Horford are the stars, while veteran point guard Mike Bibby is still a steady quarterback and Jamal Crawford is coming off a season in which he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. Forwards Marvin Williams and Maurice Evans, along with center Zaza Pachulia and second-year guard Jeff Teague are all solid rotational players. Horford is the type of banger every team needs and does a yeoman job in the paint but limiting his minutes in the pivot should be a plus. Meanwhile, Bibby is getting a bit long in the tooth and Teague seems more well-suited as a two- way guard coming off the bench. The depth is this draft is up front but Atlanta could very well use the 24th pick to round out its backcourt and find the heir apparent to Bibby. Nevada guard Armon Johnson, a lefty with decent size, seems like a nice fit. Johnson should be a 10-to-15 minute guy to give Bibby a blow early on with the ability to turn into a starter down the line. "Realistically, at that area in the draft, you are looking at the best available player," Drew said. Players under contract: F Josh Smith; C Al Horford; F Marvin Williams; C Zaza Pachulia; G Jamal Crawford; G Mike Bibby; G Maurice Evans; G Jeff Teague Free agents: G Joe Johnson (unrestricted); F Joe Smith (unrestricted); C Jason Collins (unrestricted); F Randolph Morris (unrestricted) Draft picks: 1st round (24th overall), 2nd round (53rd overall)
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Silverton, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former University of Montana All-America Tim Bush died in a mining accident Friday morning. The Missoulian newspaper reported that Galena Mine officials said the 29-year- old Bush was hit by a falling slab of
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Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's NBA Draft saw a couple of big men, Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet, go 1-2 before it became all about the backcourt, specifically the point guard position. The league was infiltrated in 2009-
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Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship (September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season. MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.
SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?" A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook. In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small. "Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets." But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?" Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year. This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here. Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions. In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries. No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning. And that's all any bettor can ask for. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. |
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