Bucks acquire Maggette from Golden State

Basketball Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired forward Corey Maggette from the Golden State Warriors for guard Charlie Bell and center Dan Gadzuric.

The Bucks also picked up the 44th selection in the 2010 draft as part of the exchange. The NBA Draft is set for Thursday, June 24.

Maggette is a veteran of 11 NBA seasons and recently completed his second year with the Warriors by averaging 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 70 games, 49 of those starts.

The Duke product shot 51.6 percent from the field and averaged 29.7 minutes per game. The 6-foot-6 former first-round draft pick was one of five NBA players to average double figures in scoring, shoot 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line in 2009-10. His 7.9 free throw attempts per game ranked seventh in the NBA. He's reportedly owed close to $31 million over the next three years.

In 710 career contests, including 432 starts, the 30-year-old Maggette has posted 16.6 points per game, 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor. Maggette spent his first pro season with Orlando before playing the next eight years for the Clippers.

"Corey has been a consistent scorer throughout his career," said Milwaukee general manager John Hammond. "He shoots a solid percentage from the field and has shown the ability to get to the free throw line. We're looking forward to having him in a Bucks uniform."

Bell completed his fifth season with the Bucks this past year, posting 6.5 points, 1.5 assists and 1.9 rebounds over 22.7 minutes per game. He shot 36.5 percent from three-point range on 73 long distance makes in 71 games (39 starts).

The 6-foot-3, 31-year-old has participated in 357 career NBA contests, making 137 starts and averaging 8.9 points, 2.4 assists and 2.2 boards while shooting 36.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Michigan State product appeared in seven games split between Dallas and Phoenix his rookie year before spending the next three years playing overseas.

Gadzuric has played through a plague of injuries since inking a six-year, $36 million contract in 2005. The deal concludes next season when he is due $7.2 million. He was limited to 32 games last season and averaged 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds.

The 6-foot-11 product of UCLA garnered the extension after averaging 7.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in starting 81 games during the 2004-05 season. Those remain his career-best efforts in scoring and rebounding, having spent his entire eight-year pro tenure in Milwaukee.

"Charlie and Dan are two high-character veterans who can provide us with some of the intangibles that we need on our squad," said Warriors general manager Larry Riley. "While we certainly wish Corey well and thank him for his outstanding contributions the last two years, this will help alleviate a log- jam that we have at small forward and, more importantly, power forward, where we expect both Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph to return from injuries and play an increased role on our team next season."

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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