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@LTLakerFan is tied to the Gambino's. He was Pming me telling me this was coming down through his connections.

 

So Billups wasn't sports betting.
Sounds like he had high stakes poker game at his house similar to the Arenas arrest?

 

He held those rigged games in “our” territory, as @VladeD714 has alluded. FAFO’d

 

I'm going to have to stand corrected on Wemby, that guy is amazing...lol.

 

former nba player damon jones was arrested too. sounds like these mafia guys were using high profile players like billups to attract players and would then rig the games to favor the house. billups and co then got a cut of that money

 

i wonder how fans will react, as the experience of watching him feels like...fake...or unfair, like there's no way to contend with this person. and unlike shaq or wilt, the refs don't let you rough him up. he gets some ticky tack stuff, imo--probably because he's skinny?

that one baseline windmill reverse dunk everyone was going nuts over...his feet barely left the floor. it's literally like me on a nerf hoop.

 

I have a libertrarian streak but sports gambling needs a lot more regulation: they are making most of their money on people with poor impulse control and they make it hard for people who are skilled to keep winning (rescinding won bets - there are horror stories about this, lowering your max bets, or just kickign you out).

It's rigged - either they let people who can win win which or you get regulated. These prop bets in particular seem like made for rigging

 

Great point he's going to get the Jordan treatment - the physicality that they would allow on even a non-center like Lebron ain't going to fly on a twig like Wemby.

 

I'm sure being skinny is part of it. If he starts getting the MJ whistle it is over...lol.

 

i felt like the mavs needed to be more physical with him, but i understand their shyness, as the refs were treating him like fine china. which would have been fine if they weren't letting luke kornet and pj washington sort of mug people during the same game.

 

couple of his and-1s were SUPER weak, imo. and we'll see if the refs let teams start bumping him on the lob runs like they let people do to AD during his entire tenure here.

 

Agreed. The prop bets have to go IMO. I'm not really a gambler but have placed a few bets when in Vegas, etc with friends. That always seemed suspect to me and I've heard complaints about it from friends for years. Just so easy to manipulate by players, coaches and even refs to an extent.

 

I've wondered the same. The comparison you make is very real. It's like me verses my son who is already showing to be a better athlete than me but I still got a foot or so of height on him. Just nothing he can do right now to compensate for that.

It's exactly how I feel watching Wemby. Just do your best as a defender because you can't block his shot. I've watched him take rebounds and dunk over multiple people while not even really jumping. Just looked like he was on his tip toes. There's nothing that can be done.

The interesting thing to watch is the other players try to rise to the challenge on the other end.

I don't see how he won't break all kinds of records of though.

 

his mere presence shuts down the entire paint on defense, too. i'd actually run off-ball stuff to make sure he's guarding my center, and then instruct my center to never lose contact with his legs. that's your only job on offense, lol. don't let that guy go anywhere. we'll play 4 on 4.

i've found a use for vando on offense.

 

If healthy I would go small against Wemby and put Lebron on him - force him out of the paint at all costs.

I wonder if bruisers like Duran are going to have a comback now; you can jump over Rick mahorn but you're going to feel the pain with body shots anytime you step on the box

 

I'm just here to read LT put a positive and optimistic spin on this....

 

no one's stopping wemby. maybe jokic or giannis could give him a bit of trouble, but he made easy work of a healthy AD last night

just crazy to see a guy that size doing what he does. back in the day, guys that size like shawn bradley, manute bol, gheorge muresan, etc were nothing more than shot blockers because of how slow and uncoordinated they were. wemby is a PG in a 7'4 body

 

video has been taken down but you may still be able to catch a link to it in the thread. A pro poker player broke down that the games were fixed…2 years ago.