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07/01/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA's biggest crop of free agents hit the open market Thursday morning with LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Amar'e Stoudemire and Joe Johnson headlining the wish list of several teams.
While contracts for unrestricted free agents cannot be signed until July 8, negotiations and rumors will be plentiful in the next week.
James has spent his first seven seasons with the Cavaliers, but is still without a championship. At just 25, James has the bulk of his NBA career ahead of him, but possibly not in his home state of Ohio.
The Akron native and top overall pick by the team in 2003 will reportedly meet with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets on Thursday. New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, coach Avery Johnson and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z will reportedly meet with James.
Because the NBA plays financial favoritism to teams re-signing their veterans, James could stand to make about $30 million more with the Cavs if he stays with them as opposed to signing with another team. The Cavaliers can likely offer James a six-year, $125 million contract, while other teams can give him a maximum of five years and $96 million. Those figures will be tweaked a bit when the NBA releases its salary cap on July 7.
Teams were already talking to free agents just after the stroke of midnight (et). The Knicks released a message on their Twitter account saying they were meeting with Johnson and Mike Miller in Los Angeles. However, the Hawks appear to be the front-runners to keep Johnson. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Hawks will also meet with Johnson in LA and plan to offer him the maximum offer of about $119 million over six years. Other teams can offer him five years at about $92 million.
Teams can give their own free agents yearly salary increases of 10.5 percent, while other clubs are restricted to eight percent raises annually.
Several teams made moves around the NBA Draft period, clearing salary cap space in order to lure a top-tier free agent. That includes the Miami Heat as they try to entice Wade to remain with the team and possibly even add Bosh and/or James.
"The time is finally here. Thank you for all the support," Bosh said via Twitter. "I'm nervous, but I'm excited and READY! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!"
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sent a Twitter message that he already met with Bosh, an All-Star in each of his last five seasons playing for Toronto.
Odds are that Nowitzki will stay with the Mavs. The Dallas Morning News reports Nowitzki, a nine-time All-Star, will fly from Germany to Texas to meet with Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson.
Stoudemire exercised his early-termination option hours before the free agency period was set to begin.
"I opted out of my contract with PHX," he said on his Twitter account. "Can't wait to see what lies ahead. I had a blast with my teammates last season. What's Next !!"
Stoudemire, who was set to make $17.7 million next season, has spent his entire eight-year career with the Suns after they took him with the ninth overall pick in the 2002 draft.
Heat president Pat Riley seems to hold a big chip in the free agency game. The Heat figure to have the most space under the salary cap to sign players, meaning they could conceivably land Wade and or two other high-profile free agents. Wade, though, was reportedly in Chicago and was set to meet with the Bulls first on Thursday.
<< Rockets make pitch to free agent Bosh
HOUSTON (AP) -Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sure knows how to make a first impression.Morey met with coveted free agent Chris Bosh just after midnight Thursday, making a pitch to an available player at the exact moment free agency open
<< Cavs close to hiring Scott as head coach
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly close
to hiring Byron Scott as their next head coach.
Several media sources report the Cavs were in negotiations with Scott, who
started last season as head coac
<< Mets take advantage of Marlins mistakes to avoid sweep
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pinch-hitter Josh Thole singled in the go-
ahead run in the sixth inning, and the New York Mets downed the mistake-prone
Florida Marlins, 6-5, to avert a three-game sweep at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
David W
<< Wolves to host Gay, Lee this week
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -The Minnesota Timberwolves will bring free agents Rudy Gay of Memphis and David Lee of New York in for visits this week.Team president David Kahn says Gay will come to the Twin Cities on Thursday and stay through Friday and Lee wil
Agent: Byron Scott accepts Cavs' job >>
CLEVELAND (AP) -Byron Scott has accepted Cleveland's coaching job, his agent told The Associated Press.Brian McInerney said in an e-mail that the sides are working through some final details, but that Scott has agreed to become Cleveland's next coac
Report: Bucks reach deal with Gooden >>
Sunnyvale, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly reached
an agreement on a multi-year contract with forward Drew Gooden, just hours
after the NBA free agency period began.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Gooden has
Ex-NHLer Hinote joins Blue Jackets staff >>
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -Former NHL veteran Dan Hinote (HIGH'-note) has been hired as an assistant coach by the Columbus Blue Jackets.The club announced the hiring on Thursday. Hinote helped the Colorado Avalanche win the 2001 Stanley Cup.Hinote will be
Zvonareva reaches Wimbledon final >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russian Vera Zvonareva landed in her
first career Grand Slam final on Thursday by overcoming upstart Bulgarian
Tsvetana Pironkova in semifinal action at Wimbledon 2010.
The 21st-seeded Zvonareva's oppon
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
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