AP source: Timberwolves agree to deal with Ridnour

Basketball Betting Lines

07/14/2010 -

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -A person with knowledge of the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to a four-year, $16 million deal with free agent point guard Luke Ridnour.

The person spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been officially announced. The agreement was first reported by Yahoo! Sports.

Ridnour averaged 10.4 points and 4.0 assists per game as the backup to Brandon Jennings in Milwaukee last season.

The deal likely means that backup point guard Ramon Sessions will be traded from Minnesota. The team hopes to have Ricky Rubio come over from Spain next season and still has Jonny Flynn on the roster, so there may not be room for the veteran Sessions.

The Wolves were able to swing the deal after shipping Al Jefferson to Utah on Tuesday to create more salary cap room.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Wevshots Basketball Betting News

<< Former 76ers executive Billy King to replace Thorn
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -Billy King is the New Jersey Nets' new general manager.King was hired Wednesday to replace Rod Thorn as the team's top executive, new owner Mikhail Prokhorov announced in a release.Thorn is stepping aside as president and

<< Grizzlies sign Tony Allen
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies have announced the signing of guard Tony Allen to a multi-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, per team policy. It was earlier reported the contract would start at c

<< Cavs ink Kyle Lowry to offer sheet
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers have made their first move of the post-LeBron James era, signing restricted free-agent guard Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet. Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but the Cle

<< Harrington says he's headed to Denver
DENVER (AP) -Free agent power forward Al Harrington says he's headed to the Denver Nuggets, who are in dire need of frontcourt help with Kenyon Martin, Chris Andersen and Nene coming off leg injuries.The former New York Knicks backup tweeted: ``I'm

<< New York signs French striker Henry as second DP
Secaucus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York signed French forward Thierry Henry to a multi-year contract as its second designated player, the Major League Soccer club announced on Wednesday. Henry, a World Cup, European Cha

Report: Nets tab Billy King to run basketball operations >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets are reportedly set to hire Billy King to oversee the team's basketball operations. King had formerly been general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, but was fired by team chairman Ed Snider

Suns get Childress from Atlanta >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Josh Childress from the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade deal for a future second- round draft pick. In addition to the draft pick, Atlanta will get a trade exception to us

Safarova pulls out in Prague >>
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded heavy Czech crowd favorite Lucie Safarova pulled out of her scheduled second-round match Wednesday at the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event. Safarova was slated to meet Swe

Braves get Gonzalez from Jays in five-player deal >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade. The Braves sent shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto and also acqu

Nets name Billy King general manager >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have named Billy King as their next general manager. King takes the reins from Rod Thorn, who is stepping down as team president and general manager after 10 years on the job

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.