Who is William Wesley
Now that football season is wrapping up and we can turn our attention to more important things like vacation. And, maybe just a bit on hoops.
But the question Henry Abbot from TrueHoop.com is asking is “Who is William Wesley?”. Who is the guy that has Michael Jordan and LeBron James on speed dial, and according to Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal, is “doesn’t wear a uniform, doesn’t have a desk in any basketball front office and never speaks to the media. Yet, depending on whom you talk to, he is either one of the most powerful and well-liked men in the NBA or everything that is wrong with the underbelly of pro sports.”
Frankly, after reading through the few pages of notes, facts, rumor and inuendo, we are fascinated as well. The popular theory seems to be that he is a power-runner for the league’s elite:
“Welcome to the World of Runners
Eric’s story is this: Wes is the finest runner the NBA has ever known.What’s a runner? There are hundreds of them. They are guys who befriend basketball players and then deliver them to scouts in exchange for cash.
Eric says he is a runner himself. He says he used to be a runner for agent Arn Tellem. Tellem, says Eric, paid him a total of $250,000 to steer five players his way through the years. (I’m not going to play sleuth on that one, but for what it’s worth, Eric is from New Jersey and says they all got shoe deals from adidas.)”
NBA: LA Clippers at Atlanta Hawks
Nothing like an early season gift line for road favorite. LA at Atlanta should probably be on the board at LA -7.5, but with an open of -3.5, having now been bet up to -4.5/-5 range it still ranks as a gift.
Take LA Clippers -4.5 (good to -5.5)
Thin-Slicing the NBA
Eye on Gambling has an article on “Thin-Slicing” (A concept from Malcom Gladwell’s book “Blink,” which is essentially breaking down decision making to a few key factors) and whether or not it is possible to apply the concept to NBA wagering.
In a nutshell, Dean Oliver, author of “Basketball on Paper” has it narrowed down to:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage
2) Turnover Rate
3) Offensive Rebounding Rate
4) Getting to the Free Throw Line
