Thorn joins Sixers as club president

Basketball Betting Lines

08/12/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rod Thorn wasn't out of work long, as the former New Jersey Nets president has landed the same role with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Thorn spent 10 years as team president and general manager of the Nets, but announced last month he was stepping down. New Jersey then named former Sixers general manager Billy King as their new GM.

In his new role, Thorn will be working with Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski, who took over for King in December 2007 and had held the dual roles of GM and president. Thorn and Stefanski worked together for seven years with the Nets.

"I look forward to working with him as we go forward," Thorn said at a Thursday press conference. "He understands me and I think I understand him. I think we make a good team."

The 69-year-old Thorn was the NBA's Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations from 1986-2000. Before that he served as GM of the Chicago Bulls and was instrumental in the club's selection of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to do some really good things here," remarked Thorn. "I've done a lot of different things over the course of time in professional basketball. Having seen many different organizations, that's the key thing, you have to have passion to win."

Thorn said his decision to resign with the Nets was in fact that, and he was not forced out with the new ownership. He added that the Nets offered him a lucrative contract to remain with the franchise.

"Over my time with the Nets, most of it was great," said Thorn. "The last few years we dismantled the team, on purpose, because of a corporate decision and that wasn't much fun. My feeling is, that time had run its course there."

Thorn helped build a Nets franchise that reached the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. The team went to the playoffs for six consecutive years from 2001-02 until 2006-07, then began to falter before this past season's club went a franchise-worst 12-70.

The Sixers were 27-55 this past season and will start the 2010-11 campaign with a new coach in Doug Collins.

Cbssportslone Basketball Betting News

<< American defender Lichaj signs new deal at Villa
Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American defender Eric Lichaj signed a new three-year contract with Aston Villa on Wednesday. Lichaj joined Aston Villa in 2007, but has yet to break into the first team. He spent parts of the last t

<< Liverpool acquires Poulsen from Juventus
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Liverpool acquired Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen from Juventus on Thursday and signed him to a three-year contract. Poulsen, 30, cost Liverpool about $7 million. The defensive midfielde

<< Dodgers send Kershaw to the hill in finale with Phillies
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Dodgers plan on leaving the City of Brotherly Love with a series win over Philadelphia this evening, starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw may have to do something he's never done before. Kershaw is scheduled to pitch in

<< First place in AL Central on the line in Twins-White Sox finale
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - First place in the American League Central is on the line tonight in Chicago, where the White Sox wrap a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field. The Twins and White Sox entered this series tied

<< Internacional wins first leg of Copa Lib final
Guadalajara, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Giuliano and Bolivar scored in a four- minute span of the second half, and Brazil's Internacional defeated Mexico's Guadalajara, 2-1, on Wednesday night in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final.

Isiah nixes Knicks? Not so fast >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Isiah Thomas' status in New York is all about semantics now. Consultant or not, it's clear Thomas still has the ear of Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, a scary thought for Knicks fans who regard

Cards send a message in Cincinnati >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the St. Louis Cardinals manage to hold on and win their second straight National League Central title, they may very well point to Tuesday as being the turning point in their season. And, they will have Cincinnati sec

Play finally underway at PGA Championship >>
Kohler, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first round of the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits got underway after a three-hour, 10-minute delay due to fog. The last time the PGA Championship was halted by weather was in 2008 at Oakl

Portugal's Carvalho completes move to Real >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricardo Carvalho passed his physical at Real Madrid on Thursday and officially signed a two-year contract with the Spanish giants. Carvalho played under Real coach Jose Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea, and jo

Dortmund's Dede out 3-4 weeks with ankle injury >>
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund left back Dede tore a ligament in his right ankle in training this week and will miss the start of the Bundesliga season. Dede will be sidelined three to four weeks. Dortmund opens

Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.


Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.