Suns select Georgia Tech's Lawal with 46th pick
Basketball Betting Lines
06/25/2010 - PHOENIX (AP) -The Phoenix Suns, working with a general manager who will walk away from his job next week, have selected Gani Lawal of Georgia Tech with the 46th pick overall in the NBA draft. Lawal left college after his junior season, when he averaged 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots. The Suns have plenty of scorers, but the 6-foot-9, 234-pound forward could help address the team's need for rebounding and inside strength. Phoenix also had the last pick of the draft, No. 60 overall, and the chose another athletic forward, 6-8 Dwayne Collins of Miami. The Suns had no first-round pick. It was sent to the then-Seattle SuperSonics, now Oklahoma City Thunder, as part of the Suns' salary-dumping trade of Kurt Thomas in 2007. Steve Kerr announced last week that he was leaving after three seasons as general manager and will explore opportunities in broadcasting. Kerr, who was part of five NBA championship teams, was a color analyst for TNT for four years before owner Robert Sarver hired him as general manager. David Griffin, Phoenix's senior vice president for basketball operations, also decided to leave after 13 years in the Suns organization. Kerr didn't talk to the media. That was left to coach Alvin Gentry, who will increase his involvement in management until a new general manager is found. Gentry said Kerr and Griffin ``still have the best interest in the team.'' ``Those guys have a lot of pride and they're going to try to do the best job they possibly can,'' Gentry said. ``The two picks that we had, to get those kids at 46 and 60, I think is phenomenal.'' Gentry said he had no interest in adding general manager to his title. Sarver had no comment on whether he would like to talk to Kevin Pritchard, who was fired Thursday after seven seasons as general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers. ``Over the next 30 days, the process will play out,'' Sarver said. Gentry called Lawal and Collins ``young kids that have the potential to do some good things.'' ``You can never have too much size,'' Gentry said. ``You saw that in the Lakers series. We think both of those kids have an opportunity to turn into special players. The thing with Gani is he was the leading rebounder playing alongside (Derrick) Favors. Obviously that was a big factor for us.'' Lawal, whose father was born in Nigeria, explored the possibility of leaving college after his sophomore season but decided instead to stay at Georgia Tech, where he was a third-team all-ACC selection for the second straight year. Lawal was a McDonald's all-American at Norcross, Ga., High School. He had 12 double-doubles last season and was ACC player of the week after 21-point games against Georgia and Duke. He scored 29 against Charlotte and had 17 points and a career-high 18 rebounds against Miami. Collins, who has a 7-foot, 4-inch wingspan, led Miami in scoring (12.0 points per game), rebounding (7.8), blocks (1.1) and field goal percentage (.604). The Suns got the 46th choice in the trade that sent Boris Diaw and Raja Bell to Charlotte for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley. The No. 60 pick came as part of the trade of Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland. Kerr has denied widespread reports that he was dissatisfied with Sarver's offer for a new contract after building an overachieving team that made it to the Western Conference finals.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Surreal draft night in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -There were rumors the Portland Trail Blazers were going to make a big move on draft night. What happened was downright surreal.A report surfaced less than an hour before the draft started that general manager Kevin Pritchard had
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors acquired center Solomon
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Suns exercise option for Gentry, sign 3 assistants >>
PHOENIX (AP) -The Phoenix Suns have exercised the option year of coach Alvin Gentry for the 2011-12 season.Gentry guided the Suns to a 54-28 regular season, third-best in the West. Phoenix eliminated Portland and San Antonio in the playoffs before f
Blazers fire GM Pritchard >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers fired general
manager Kevin Pritchard just before the NBA draft began Thursday night.
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actually Pritchard
Suns pick up Gentry's option for 2011-12 >>
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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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