Nuggets, Spurs clash in San Antonio

Basketball Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs have recovered from their eight-game road trip and return to the AT&T Center this evening to host the Denver Nuggets.

San Antonio, which is second in the Southwest standings, went 4-4 on the swing and has won two straight, including last Wednesday's 90-81 win over the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Tim Duncan scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Manu Ginobili added 20 points to help end Detroit's seven-game winning streak. Tony Parker netted 16 points and dished out eight assists for the Spurs, who will now work on their 16-8 home record.

Duncan had four points and five rebounds, while Parker added eight points and 10 assists in Sunday's win for the West in the 56th All-Star Game.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets had a three-game winning streak come to an with a 99-94 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on February 14 at the Target Center.

All-Star Carmelo Anthony left the game with a bruised right thigh but returned to score 28 points. Nene scored 18 points for the Nuggets, who are 12-11 away from the Pepsi Center this season.

Anthony recorded 20 points and nine boards for the West on Sunday.

Denver played Minnesota without All-Star guard Allen Iverson, who has eight out of the Nuggets last nine games with a sprained ankle. Iverson, who is questionable for tonight, skipped Sunday's All-Star Game in Las Vegas due to the injury. The Nuggets are 4-4 in the stretch without Iverson, who is probable for tonight's contest.

Tuesday's matchup between Denver and San Antonio is the second of three meetings this season. The Spurs won the first encounter, 92-83, on January 10 at the Pepsi Center.

Denver has won four of the last seven meetings, but has dropped nine of 11 and 16 of its last 19 trips to San Antonio.

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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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