https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...st-likes-money-a-lot-more.html?outputType=amp It’s not Jay Kornegay’s job to make the Trail Blazers feel loved and appreciated every summer. It’s his job to sit one block off The Strip at the Westgate SuperBook and foster sports-gambling action that divides the money wagered relatively evenly on both sides of a given bet. Kornegay is the Vice President of Race & Sports Book Operations for the Westgate SuperBook. He’s the wisest of the wise guys, the sharpest of the sharps, all that. And so I reached out to him this week because the over/under regular-season win total for the Trail Blazers again came in on the conservative side and I had to ask a question on behalf of our city’s NBA franchise. It’s this: What did the Blazers do to offend Las Vegas exactly? Run out on a check? Split a pair of 10s? What? Portland’s regular-season win total opened in Kornegay’s book at 45.5 victories. It’s since been bet up to 46.5. This is causing angst among some locals, who believe that Las Vegas is discriminating against a small-market team by intentionally setting the line on the low side to generate action. After all, the Blazers’ win total was 41.5 last season and they blistered it and won 53 games in the regular season and reached the Western Conference Finals. So I asked: “Why does Vegas hate the Blazers so much?” Kornegay answered: “The fact of the matter is almost every team in the West has improved. The Blazers for the most part are returning the same. It’s going to be very competitive and somebody has to regress. It has nothing to do with market size.” Mind you, I sort of like that the Blazers have made an annual summer ritual out of being dissed by the sports books. Few professional sports teams have rabbit ears the size of the ones on Portland’s NBA organization. The whole “Us vs. The World” thing has sort of become the brand not just of Damian Lillard, but the entire franchise. The Blazers feed on it. As much as we all enjoyed that 37-foot Lillard dagger against the Thunder, and seeing winning playoff basketball, it’s good to know that none of that destroyed the perception nationally that people just don’t really believe that much in Portland. I happen to think the chip-on-the-shoulder thing is a little over done. The Blazers just flat out played better basketball than their first two opponents in the postseason. They didn’t win because they were disrespected. They won because they deserved to advance. Terry Stotts has proven he can coach. Lillard is a bonafide NBA star, who somehow got even better last season. CJ McCollum closed out the Denver Nuggets in a brilliant Game 7 performance himself. For all the roster shortcomings, and bad luck with injuries, the Blazers somehow put it together and seized on something special last season. This city was ready to name streets after Enes Kanter and Rodney Hood for crying out loud. Now, Vegas believes Portland’s 2019-20 season is going to be a solid step backward. Again, it’s really not Kornegay’s fault. It’s just business. And he’s the guy who has to answer for the number on the board. All his team is doing in setting that line is fostering good business in the sports book of the casino. Last May, as an example, I reached out to Kornegay in front of Game 4 of the Blazers-Nuggets second-round playoff series. The point spread on that particular game had opened up at Portland -4.5 points playing at home. Kornegay told me in front of that game that most of the public money was being bet on the Trail Blazers. So I watched the line, expecting the 4.5-point spread to go a little higher, but instead it did the opposite, reversed course and settled at -3 in his book. Why did that happen with majority of money being bet on Portland? “It depends what kind of money,” Kornegay told me just before tip of that game. “Most of the ‘public’ money was on Portland but the ‘sharp’ money was on Nuggets. Lines will move with sharp money. It takes a lot of public action to move a line.” Again, not personal, Portland. He’s just doing his job, trying to spread the handle that matters most to his sports book evenly across the wager. The Nuggets, incidentally, not only covered the spread but won Game 4 outright, 116-112. Still, I won’t be surprised if the Blazers utilize the Las Vegas line as a motivating factor next season. I won’t be shocked if fans talk about it as the season approaches. Mind you, ESPN is predicting Portland will win somewhere around 40 games in the regular season and be the No. 8 seed. And FiveThirtyEight is predicting 40 victories next season as well. If you want to feel disrespected, have at it. There’s plenty to go around. Bottom line is the Blazers’ summer didn’t impress the outside world. Before the 2013-14 NBA season opener in Phoenix, I stood with Stotts in the hallway outside the Blazers’ locker room for a few minutes. The season was about to begin and he’d just been informed in his pregame news conference that Las Vegas sports books had posted the team’s season win total at only 38.5 victories. The Blazers coach looked me in the eyes, smiled and said, “Vegas is a short drive.” Portland won 54 games that season.
If Rudy Gobert was done for first half of the season the Jazz win total book would be different as well.
The Blazers aren't for the most part returning the same team. A team has to regress? And that team constantly has to be the Blazers according to Vegas? Fuck that
