76ers playing only for draft picks and hope for the future

Basketball Betting Lines

02/15/2007 -

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -The only thing fans want the Philadelphia 76ers to win these days is the draft lottery.

The playoffs are far out of reach for the third-worst team in the NBA, so winning games won't do anything except lower the number of available ping pong balls. Tune in talk radio, read a message board or a blog, or listen to the few fans still showing up at the Wachovia Center and the point is clear: Lose. A lot.

Problem is, the Sixers (17-36) aren't listening.

``Yeah, we hear it, and it's kind of weird. But we can't pay attention,'' said forward Kyle Korver. ``Everyone in this locker room wants to win and win now, not wait for the future.''

But waiting for the future is about all the Sixers can do these days. This has turned into one of the more disastrous seasons in recent team history and the Sixers will miss the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. Hope only comes in the form of fantasizing about who will be available in the draft.

How would Greg Oden or Kevin Durant look in a Sixers uniform?

No doubt, this has been a tumultuous season to forget. Allen Iverson and his 30 points, All-Star berth and coaching clashes are now in Denver after a franchise-shaking blockbuster deal in December. Chris Webber, miserable and mopey from the day he got here, had his contract bought out and is finally happy again in Detroit.

Two veteran All-Stars expected to lead the team did nothing but drag it down. They demanded the ball, but did little to make their teammates better. Now it's smiles all around on the Sixers, free of the distractions and selfishness that sabotaged them early.

``We were definitely distracted by that,'' forward Steven Hunter said. ``It was a circus around here a month or so ago with all that trade talk. Now things are calmed down and everyone's focused on basketball.''

The Sixers are a bit better since dumping the dour duo, and went 7-7 over the final 14 games before the All-Star break. They were 5-18 when Iverson was traded on Dec. 19 and 12-18 since.

Credit goes mostly to Andre Miller, acquired in the Iverson deal, who's been a steady, more traditional point guard. More players are involved, the offense runs more set plays, and the hot hand keeps getting fed.

Five players average in double figures, including Miller at 13.2 points.

``We're just not relying on a guy to come down, pull up and hit a jump shot,'' Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. ``He gets guys layups, he gets guys the ball in a certain time at the right place. You can't underestimate that when you have a guy who understands the position.''

Without old A.I. around, the Sixers have turned mostly their new one: Andre Iguodala.

The third-year swingman has absolutely flourished in Iverson and Webber's absence. Once known only for his flashy dunks and tantalizing potential, he's thrived as the go-to guy in Philly.

Iguodala scored at least 19 points in 12 straight games before that streak was snapped Wednesday night against Washington. He's been more aggressive, posted two triple-doubles, has become a better rebounder and watched his overall scoring average leap to 17.7 points.

``When I first got here, he was a complementary player to the other guys that where here,'' Cheeks said. ``Now his role has changed a little bit being the primary scorer. You put the ball in his hands and you see what he can do.''

Samuel Dalembert still battles inconsistency but overall has been solid at center, teaming with Hunter to solidify the middle. Korver and Miller will both be part of any rebuilding process. Their draft lottery pick, plus the two first-round picks they acquired from the Nuggets in the Iverson trade, give the Sixers reason to believe they can be a playoff team again soon.

``They stayed with everything we've been trying to do, they continue to give effort and that's all we can ask,'' Cheeks said. ``Our results aren't what we'd like them to be, but they've stayed with the program and they continue to work.''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.

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

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Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

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Sportsbook Betting Lines

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.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

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.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.