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07/19/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors are moving in a new direction, the focus no longer on the talents of Chris Bosh, but on a collective approach to playing the game.
Bosh recently joined LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami, leaving a giant hole in the Raptors' front court, a 24-point and 10-rebound-per-game hole that general manager Bryan Colangelo has been working feverishly to fill.
With Bosh out of the picture, the dynamics of the team will shift immensely and Colangelo has made it known that speed, athleticism and depth will become the hallmarks of the organization going forward.
With the long-anticipated trade that sent Hedo Turkoglu to the Phoenix Suns for Leandro Barbosa completed last week, the transformation process has begun. The 27-year- old Barbosa fits to a tee the type of player the Raptors will need to employ if they plan to successfully implement their new approach on the hardwood.
"His speed, quickness and scoring ability will mesh well with our desired playing style and talented young athletes,' said Colangelo in a news release following the trade.
"With the departure of Chris Bosh now real, this trade fits well with our plan of adding talent to the roster while establishing future salary cap flexibility."
Known as "The Brazilian Blur" because of his neck-breaking speed, the six-foot- three, 202-pound combo guard made a career out of backing up two-time MVP Steve Nash in Phoenix, while adding even more valuable minutes by his side at shooting guard.
During the 2006-07 season, his best as a pro, Barbosa averaged an impressive 18.1 points, 4.0 assists while sporting a .434 shooting percentage from three- point territory, numbers that landed him the NBA's sixth man of the year honors.
The 2009-10 campaign was a tough one for Barbosa. Hampered by a wrist injury that would eventually require surgery in January, he averaged only 9.5 points and 1.5 assists in 44 games last season in an off year for the Sau Paulo native.
If healthy, expect him to take a central role on a young Raptors squad where he will fit in nicely beside up-tempo wingmen DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems.
Colangelo's plan to re-tool the roster took another leap forward with the re- signing of multipurpose man Amir Johnson to a five-year $34-million-dollar deal. Johnson could end up being a bargain down the road, as there are few Raptors that can run and rebound with his tenacity.
Linas Kleiza, 24, of the Denver Nuggets is another player that may suit up with the Raptors next season, as the Nuggets are not expected to match an offer sheet put forward by Colangelo. Boasting a dynamic skill set, the six-foot- eight, 245-pounder could vie for a starting job next year at either small forward or power forward.
Add six-foot-11 rookie power forward Ed Davis and the Raptors are in the midst of building a roster full of tough and athletic bodies, capable of success at multiple positions.
Ultimately, it will be up to head coach Jay Triano to capitalize on this new depth and roster flexibility while employing a balanced scoring attack.
Barbosa's speed, vision and scoring ability will be an integral to that end, as the Raptors aim to succeed by running teams out of the gym next season. With Bosh no longer the team's offensive security blanket, the door is wide open for a facilitator to take charge, and Barbosa may be just the player to jump into that role.
<< Four finalists return to Buck Buchanan Award Watch List
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for the 2010 Buck Buchanan Award,
sponsored by Fathead.com, kicked off Monday with The Sportsbook Betting Lines's
announcement that four finalists from last season are part of a stellar 20-
player Watch List f
<< Breakers claim third successive win
Cambridge, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Breakers earned their third
straight win on Sunday as they downed the Washington Freedom, 2-1, at Harvard
Stadium.
The Freedom took the lead just two minutes into the game through N
<< Mitchell and Krystkowiak join Avery Johnson in Jersey
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NBA head coaches Sam Mitchell
and Larry Krystkowiak have been named assistants for Avery Johnson with the
New Jersey Nets.
John Loyer, Popeye Jones and Tom Barrise were also named to Johnso
<< Pirates, Brewers renew rivalry in Steel City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming off perhaps their most
complete victory of the season. They'll need that momentum given their
struggles versus the Milwaukee Brewers this season.
The Pirates will try to snap a
AP Source: Rich Cho named new Blazers GM >>
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -A person with knowledge of the hiring process says the Trail Blazers have named Oklahoma City assistant GM Rich Cho as Portland's new general manager.The person spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity b
Kovalchuk heading back to New Jersey >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Kovalchuk is heading back to New Jersey and
will re-sign with the Devils.
According to the team's website, the Devils will hold a Tuesday afternoon
press conference at the Prudential Center to make it
Liverpool wins race to sign Joe Cole >>
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole has
agreed to sign a four-year contract with Liverpool, the club announced on
Monday.
The 28-year-old Cole left the Blues last month after he was not offered a
Padres extend manager Black's contract >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres announced Monday that
they have extended manager Bud Black's contract through the 2013 season with
club options for the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.
"I am really happy to announce that
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
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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