EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -Avery Johnson has named his new coaching staff with the New Jersey Nets.
The staff announced by the Nets on Monday includes two former NBA head coaches - Toronto's Sam Mitchell and Milwaukee Larry Krystkowiak.
Also named to the staff were Popeye Jones, who worked with Johnson in Dallas, and Nets' holdovers John Loyer and Tom Barrise.
Johnson was named the Nets coach last month.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 The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Cubs batter Halladay, Phillies bullpen
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto each hit a
two-run homer off Roy Halladay, as the Chicago Cubs routed the Philadelphia
Phillies, 11-6, in the finale of a four-game series.
Derrek Lee added a three-run
<< Galaxy downs D.C. to extend Western Conference lead
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Landon Donovan helped the Los Angeles
Galaxy secure a 2-1 win at RFK Stadium on Sunday over D.C. United as he
converted a penalty kick in the 58th minute.
Edson Buddle had the Galaxy ahead a
<< Flames sign D Pelech
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Matt
Pelech to a one-year contract on Sunday.
A blood clot disorder limited the Toronto native to 42 games last season with
Calgary's American Hockey League affilia
<< Goldberg wins Players Cup by 1 shot
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Aaron Goldberg fired a five-under 66
on Sunday to win the Canadian Tour's Players Cup by one shot.
Goldberg finished four rounds on the Pine Ridge course at 11-under 273 for his
first tour win.
Th
<< QB Pierce to miss Bombers' next game
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce
will miss the team's next game because of a right knee injury.
Pierce suffered the injury in the third quarter of Friday's loss to Hamilton,
and sat out the rest
Pitt's Sheard charged with assault, suspended >>
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Pitt defensive end Jabaal Sheard has been suspended indefinitely after being accused of throwing another man through the glass door of an art gallery.Police say Sheard was in a fight early Sunday and had to be pepper sprayed after h
Tough week for Yanks ends with a win and major loss >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Yankees organization suffered some big
losses off the field last week with the passing of principal owner George
Steinbrenner and long-time public address announcer Bob Sheppard, but it was
the loss of a pitc
Tigers welcome return home to take on Rangers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers are certainly happy to be heading home.
They may be even happier to see the Texas Rangers as they kick off a three-
game series with the American League West leaders this evening at Comerica
Park.
Texas
Rays try to get back on track in Baltimore >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wade Davis could be pitching for his spot in the rotation
when the Tampa Bay Rays open a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles
this evening at Camden Yards.
Davis struggled in the first half, going 6-9 with a 4.6
Surging Blue Jays to face sliding Royals >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays try to make it four straight wins
when they open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals this evening
at Kauffman Stadium.
The Jays battered the woeful Baltimore Orioles this past weekend,
Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “
What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?
There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).
Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
How the Opening Line Is Made
The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.
Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.
A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)
The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.
For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."
“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
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