Wizards, T'Wolves make draft-night deal
Basketball Betting Lines
06/25/2010 -
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards acquired the draft
rights of forward Trevor Booker and center Hamady N'Diaye from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the rights to Lazar Hayward and Nemanja Bjelica.
"We are very pleased to add Trevor Booker and Hamady N'Diaye to our roster on
an exciting night for our franchise," said Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld.
"Trevor is a strong rebounder and hard-nosed defender with an aggressive
mentality. He is a real competitor who will bring a strong desire and
physicality to our team. Hamady also plays with toughness and a lot of effort,
and has an excellent ability to block shots."
Booker was chosen 23rd overall out of Clemson. N'Diaye was taken 56th out of
Rutgers, while Hayward was the 30th pick from Marquette and Bjelica was taken
35th overall.
The only player in ACC history with 1,500 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 200
blocks, 200 assists and 100 steals, Booker led Clemson to three NCAA
Tournament appearances in his four seasons with the Tigers. Booker averaged
15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds last season.
<< Pacers, Thunder exchange second-round picks
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder
exchanged second-round picks in Thursday night's NBA Draft.
Louisiana Tech forward Magnum Rolle was drafted No. 51 overall by Oklahoma
City and acquired by the Pace
<< Clippers get Bledsoe from Thunder
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers acquired the draft
rights to Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe in a deal with the Oklahoma City
Thunder.
Bledsoe was selected 18th overall by the Thunder, who will receive a protected
first
<< Suns pick up Gentry's option for 2011-12
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phoenix Suns managing partner Robert Sarver has
exercised head coach Alvin Gentry's contract option for the 2011-12 season.
Gentry's contract was already partially guaranteed for that season after
guiding t
<< 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.
Pritchard was promoted to general manager in March of 2007. The draft was
actually Pritchard
<< 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
Pedroia hits 3 HRs as Red Sox slug past Rockies >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Pedroia homered three times, including a
two-run blast in the top of the 10th inning, and drove in five runs overall,
as the Boston Red Sox avoided a sweep and outslugged the Colorado Rockies,
13-11,
Heat deal second-round pick Williams to Oklahoma City >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat traded the draft rights to
forward Latavious Williams to the Oklahoma City Thunder during Thursday
night's draft.
Williams was chosen in the second round, 48th overall. The Heat get a 2011
prot
Dodgers finally solve Angels >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Furcal's two-run double fueled a five-
run fourth inning, as the Dodgers notched their first win this season in the
Freeway Series with a 10-6 decision over the Angels.
Casey Blake and Jamey Carroll
Inside the NBA Draft: CBA is league's biggest problem >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Television productions tend to embellish on
a fairly regular basis so I must confess snickering a little bit when I
overheard the Worldwide Leader call the 2010 NBA Draft historic from my perch
above its set at M
Clijsters cruises into fourth round at Wimbledon >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgium's Kim Clijsters met little
resistance in her third-round match against Maria Kirilenko at Wimbledon and
posted a straight-set victory on Friday at the All England Club.
The eighth-seeded
What Is the Point Spread?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
|