Reeling Bulls visit powerhouse Mavs

Basketball Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls have picked a bad time to start playing poorly and their chances of ending an eight-game slide don't look so promising with tonight's road matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Bulls have also dropped five in a row as the visitor, including the first three tests of a four-game road trip. In a 104-97 loss at Memphis last night, Ronald Murray led the way with 25 points and Hakim Warrick chipped in 22 points off the bench for Chicago, which is 12-22 away from the Windy City and 1 1/2 games behind Toronto for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

"There's a lot of basketball left, but we can't keep saying that," Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We're in a really tough stretch right now. We have to come back to the drawing board."

Acie Law had a season-high 18 points, as the Bulls played without forward Luol Deng (calf) and guards Derrick Rose (wrist) and Kirk Hinrich (suspension). All three are questionable for Wednesday's game. Over his last eight games Rose is averaging 23.6 ppg, 5.6 apg and 2.5 rpg.

The Bulls haven't lost nine in a row since opening the 2004-05 campaign with an 0-9 record.

Dallas had its season-high 13-game winning streak come to a halt in its last outing, a 128-94 drubbing at the hands of the lowly New York Knicks on Saturday in Big D.

Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 12 rebounds, Jason Kidd scored 15 points and Shawn Marion tallied 14 and eight boards for the Mavericks, who are four games ahead of San Antonio for the Southwest lead and third in the Western Conference playoff race, just a half-game behind No. 2 Denver.

"It was a poor performance all around," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after the team's first loss since February 16 at Oklahoma City. "We really didn't come close to winning a quarter. When you get thoroughly thrashed like that, it's something that's difficult."

Over his last six games, Marion is averaging 17.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 56.6 percent from the floor. Kidd is posting 13.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 9.6 assists and 2.1 steals in 14 contests since the All-Star break.

The Mavericks had won their previous eight home games before the recent setback and are 1-1 on a four-game residency. They will also host Boston and have a 23-10 home mark this season. In injury news for Dallas, guard Jason Terry (facial surgery) is probable for tonight.

Dallas recently defeated Chicago, 122-116, on March 6 at the United Center behind Nowitzki's 27 points and a career-high 24 from Rodrigue Beaubois. The Mavs have won two straight, four of five and 20 of the last 23 meetings with the Bulls, who are winless in their last four visits to Big D.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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