The Times-Picayune reported late Tuesday night that the Hornets are expected
to name San Antonio Spurs vice president of basketball operations Dell Demps
to the post on Wednesday. The 40-year-old Demps will replace Jeff Bower after
the latter and the organization agreed to part ways last week.
Demps has been in the Spurs' front office the past five years.
He was briefly a teammate of new Hornets head coach Monty Williams with the
Spurs during the 1995-96 season.
<< Cubs look ahead after Piniella says he will retire
CHICAGO (AP) -Just like a long line of predecessors, Lou Piniella thought he could lead the Chicago Cubs to that elusive championship and end a drought that dates to 1908.Barring an epic turnaround, he can forget about that.General manager Jim Hendr
<< Torres leads Giants to late win over Dodgers
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andres Torres sparked a three-run top of
the ninth with a two-run double, as the San Francisco Giants rallied past the
Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5, in a wild game between these NL West rivals.
Holding a
<< A's top Red Sox in 10 innings
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Kouzmanoff's RBI single in the bottom of
the 10th inning lifted the Oakland Athletics to a 5-4 win over the Boston Red
Sox in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Kouzmanoff and Jack Cust both
<< Hornets hiring Dell Demps as general manager
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -A person familiar with the hiring says Dell Demps has agreed to become the New Orleans Hornets' next general manager.The person, who spoke to The Associated Press late Tuesday night on condition of anonymity because the hiring had
<< Leake, Votto pace Reds over Nats
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Leake threw five innings of one-run
ball before a nearly three-hour rain delay and Joey Votto smacked a three-run
homer, as the Reds hung on for an 8-7 win over Washington in the continuation
of a four-gam
Rays OF Crawford leaves game >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Carl Crawford left
Tuesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles following the top of the first
inning after getting hit in the groin area with a pickoff throw.
Crawford led off
NHL says Kovalchuk deal circumvented salary cap >>
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year, $102 million deal with the New Jersey Devils has been rejected by the league because it circumvents the salary cap in the collective bargaining agreement.Daly said W
Canada's youth movement >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cast in the shadow of the Open Championship
which finished this past weekend at St. Andrews, the 2010 installment of the
RBC Canadian Open is all set to tee off at the historic St. George's Golf and
Country Cl
Hughley, Rowley and Reid earn weekly AFL honors >>
Tulsa, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tulsa wide receiver JEFF HUGHLEY,
Spokane quarterback KYLE ROWLEY and Dallas defensive back
DELENALL REID have been named the JLS Ironman, Russell Athletic
Offensive Players and Riddell Defensive Player of the Week,
Amid trade rumors, Myers and Lilly square off in Astros-Cubs finale >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two pitchers rumored to be on the trading block get
together this afternoon in the Windy City, where Ted Lilly and the host
Chicago Cubs take on Brett Myers and the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field in
the finale of a three-gam
Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game
How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.
The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).
Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.
The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).
Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
Football Betting
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
NFL Betting Lines
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