Raptors stuck with Calderon

Basketball Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In trying to trade Jose Calderon earlier this offseason, the message sent by Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo was clear; Calderon was no longer in the future plans of the organization. A deal that would have sent Calderon and Reggie Evans to the Charlotte Bobcats for Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler was as much about ridding the team of Calderon's tired legs as it was about beefing up a weak frontcourt.

Unluckily for the Raptors, majority owner of the Bobcats Michael Jordan vetoed the trade hours before the players were to be formally swapped. It was a smart move on Jordan's part, as he was well-aware Calderon is no longer the guard that could log 30 minutes a game and lead the Bobcats to success.

The deterioration of Calderon's health in recent seasons has noticeably slowed the 29-year-old and no longer reflects the value of the hefty five-year $45 million contract he signed in July 2008. Considering at the time he had just come off his best season as a pro, it seemed like a good deal, but since the 2007-08 season he's had trouble staying healthy, missing 28 games due to recurring hamstring and groin issues.

It's not as if Calderon has put these injuries behind him either. Just days ago, the six-foot-one Spaniard suffered a torn hamstring in preparation for the FIBA World Championship in Turkey, an injury that will sideline him for at least a month. Unfortunately for the Raptors, if they couldn't move him before this latest setback, they surely can't move him now.

So with that, it looks like the Raptors are stuck with Calderon, but is he finished? The answer to that question is "yes" if head coach Jay Triano forces him into a leading role for another season and "no" if Calderon can be utilized in moderation. Triano should look no further than Calderon's history for some insight into what may help him find success moving forward.

In his breakout 2007-08 season, Calderon shared the floor with T.J. Ford, averaging only 30.1 minutes a night. With an equally talented running mate like Ford to help cover for his defensive shortcomings, Calderon flourished. In a more limited role he was able to score with efficiency while distributing the ball with great accuracy, giving the Raptors' first unit a unique flavor. If the game shifted to a different pace, the Raptors had Ford to fill in as the quicker, better defender of the pair.

When Ford was traded to the Indiana Pacers before the 2008-09 season, Calderon had a chance to cement his status as the team's number one starter. Instead, he showed he couldn't handle the increased workload, breaking down with injuries and fading down the stretch. Calderon averaged 34.3 minutes that season and played only 68 games, never fully adjusting to the role he was expected to fulfill.

Knowing the point guard situation was a problem heading into the 2009-10 season, the Raptors brought in Jarrett Jack from the Pacers last year to help Calderon regain his old form - but instead, Jack usurped the starters role by season's end. Calderon regressed again, posting his lowest numbers in three years, while averaging only 26.7 minutes per game.

Calderon should see a reduction in minutes and responsibility heading into the 2010-11 season, while Jack reaps the rewards because of his strong play. Bringing the speed, length and durability that Calderon has never been able to show, Jack gives the Raptors their true number one guy heading into this season.

Calderon will be given a chance to lead the second unit right out of the gate and in his reduced role, could be of great value to the Raptors. His veteran presence could make him invaluable with the younger players on the team as he has always shown a knack for delivering the ball in the right places. If this season is about the quality of minutes and not the quantity of minutes he plays, the Raptors may find that being stuck with Calderon isn't such a bad thing.

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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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