Ariza, Collison involved in four-team trade
Basketball Betting Lines
08/11/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Hornets, Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets and New Jersey Nets have reportedly agreed on a trade that will change the homes of five players, including Trevor Ariza and Darren Collison.
The trade has been reported by multiple sources, including the Indianapolis Star and The Newark Star-Ledger.
Ariza, a forward who signed a five-year contract with Houston prior to last season, is heading to the Hornets, who sent point guard Collison to Indiana. Additionally, the Pacers also get forward James Posey from New Orleans while sending forward Troy Murphy to New Jersey. The Nets sent Courtney Lee to the Rockets.
The 25-year-old Ariza had his best statistical season in 2009-10, averaging 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 72 games for the Rockets. Despite his career-high averages, his shooting percentage was a career-low 39.4 percent, and he hit 33.4 percent of his three-point shots and 64.9 percent of his free throws.
Ariza was initially a second-round pick of the Knicks in 2004 and has spent time in New York, Orlando, Los Angeles with the Lakers and Houston, averaging 8.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 383 games -- 123 starts.
Collison, who turns 23 later this month, served as the backup to Chris Paul in his rookie season with the Hornets and the starter when Paul went down with a knee injury. The UCLA product, a first-round pick in 2009, averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists in 76 games last year, including 37 starts. He figures to slide in as the Pacers' starting point guard immediately.
Collison is still on his original rookie contract, which could run through 2013-14 if the team exercises its options and extends a qualifying offer in the final year.
Posey, a 33-year-old veteran who has won two NBA titles with Miami in 2006 and Boston in 2008, scored 5.2 points and pulled down 4.3 rebounds per game in 77 contests for New Orleans last season. In 11 seasons with Denver, Houston, Memphis, Miami, Boston and New Orleans, Posey has career per-game averages of 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 815 contests.
Posey has two seasons left on his contract.
Murphy spent the last three-plus seasons with Indiana and has been one of the most versatile forwards in the league. In 2009-10, he averaged 14.6 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 38.4 percent from three-point range. A first- round pick of Golden State in 2001, Murphy has averaged 12.1 points and 8.6 rebounds in 621 games for the Warriors and Pacers over nine seasons, although he has appeared in 82 games just once -- his rookie campaign.
Murphy is in the final year of his contract.
Lee will suit up for his third team in three NBA seasons, having played with Orlando as a rookie in 2008-09 before participating with the Nets this past season. In 71 games for the Nets in 2009-10, Lee averaged 12.5 points, and he has a career 10.3 scoring averaged in 148 games.
Lee, like Collison, is on his rookie contract that extends to 2012-13 if the team exercises a 2011-12 option and extends a qualifying offer in 2012-13.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.