Olympic Bet of the Day – Lindsey Vonn ruined it all for me today. Things were looking good on both bets, but then her ski went on the wrong side of a slalom gate, she hit the ground hard, and my dreams of profits died. The worst part about it was that she was clearly on her way to winning the gold when she went down. Sport can be cruel. So instead of being profitable I’m now down $325 on the games. Things need to turn around. Today is a lousy day – there is very little of interest. The best can find is taking Finland (-2.5 -120) over Germany. Not great, but it will have to do.
The Other Stuff
It was a surprisingly entertaining NBA trade deadline this year, even if a couple of the expected players – especially Stoudemire and Boozer – didn’t move. Here are five thoughts:
1. I’m really surprised that the Suns didn’t trade Stoudemire. They aren’t going to do anything this year, and they aren’t going to re-sign him, so I fully expected them to take whatever they could get. There’s a report that Houston offered Battier, Scola and some picks for him. That would have been worth doing. What do you think if you are Stoudemire and you have been aggressively shopped without a deal two years in a row?
2. Even without that deal Houston had a very good deadline. Kevin Martin is very obviously the real deal, and they also get a 2012 first round pick only protected for the top 5, and the option to trade first round picks in 2011 unless the Knicks have the first overall. They also get the only mildly interesting Hilton Armstrong, the promising Jordan Hill, and the verpaid Jared Jeffries. For all that – a very nice haul – all they had to do was give up an overpaid player that they were sick of and who hadn’t played in more than six weeks. Great move.
3. The Kings are making one thing clear – they certainly believe in Tyreke Evans. Martin and Evans clearly weren’t working out together in the back court, but moving Martin means that the rookie better continue to be as good as he has been. Bold. I like it, though.
4. Love the Boston deal for Nate Robinson. They traded spare parts to get him, and he brings both the energy and the scoring touch that they are going to need down the stretch and into the playoffs. Given what they could afford and what they needed this was as good as they could have done. I still don’t think that they are going beyond two rounds, but I like the deal.
5. I can’t wait to watch the chaos of this summer. The Bulls, and Kings cleared up serious cap space today. The Knicks have enough room now to sign two max contract players. The Heat have room and aggression. The Raptors will have room if they assume that they are losing Bosh. The Cavs have freed things up. That’s a lot of teams that are going to be going crazy for three guys. Since there are more teams than players there are going to be some disappointed organizations and some angry fan bases. Too much fun. The one I am most looking forward to watching is the Knicks. Their plan seems to be to sign two of the big three. The appeal of playing in New York is obvious, but I don’t fully get why the players would do it because they have to realize that there is no one for them to play with besides the two of them.
