Tag: CAA

Knicks hire former LeBron-associate William Wesley as an advisor

William Wesley has worked for CAA for the past 13 years and has been known for his strong relationships throughout the basketball world.

After it was initially rumored months ago, the New York Knicks have finally made the move official, hiring longtime CAA advisor and one of the most influential people in basketball, William Wesley, known to many as “World Wide Wes.” Wesley was a longtime advisor to Leon Rose, who is now the Knicks President of Basketball Operations.

Rose, of course, used to represent LeBron James for a long time and agent Rich Paul used to work for CAA. Wesley was a longtime advisor to LeBron early on in his career. Rose also represented Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. Steve Stoute, another advisor to LeBron from early in his career, is a brand consultant for the Knicks as well.

The addition of Wesley is just the latest in a major overhaul of the Knicks front office. They have added several scouts and then also hired highly respected executive Walt Perrin away from the Utah Jazz. While the Knicks have had their struggles over the past few decades, if they don’t turn it around, it certainly won’t be for a lack of basketball intelligence or respect around the basketball world.

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4 things to know about new Jets C Connor McGovern

Here are four things to know about new Jets center Connor McGovern.

After numerous failed attempts trying to address the center position, the Jets finally think they have a keeper.

New York and former Broncos center Connor McGovern agreed to a three-year deal worth $27 million with $18 million guaranteed. McGovern will be the fifth Jets center in the last three seasons.

With Denver last season, McGovern allowed just one sack and three quarterback hits. He didn’t commit a single penalty in 2019 and only has nine total penalties since 2017 on 2,510 snaps.

The 2016 fifth-round pick out of Missouri is a significantly better pass- blocker than run-blocker. That bodes well for Sam Darnold, but not so much for Le’Veon Bell. For now, McGovern will have Alex Lewis and George Fant to his left and Brian Winters and Chuma Edoga to his right. That could very well change as the Jets continue to evaluate their line.

With that being said, let’s get to know the Jets’ latest center.

Family roots in New York

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

While McGovern is originally from Fargo, North Dakota, his family has origins in the tri-state area.

His father, Keith, was born in New Jersey. McGovern’s grandparents were born in Brooklyn. He has a few other family members living in the tri-state area as well.

So it’s not exactly a homecoming for McGovern, but McGovern and his family should know their way around the Big Apple. Maybe that’s why McGovern picked New York over Minnesota and San Francisco.

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Colonial Final: Northeastern vs. Hofstra odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Tuesday’s Colonial Final between the Northeastern Huskies and Hofstra Pride, with college basketball betting picks, tips and bets

The Northeastern Huskies (17-15) take on the Hofstra Pride (25-8) at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington DC at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (on CBSSN). We analyze the Northeastern-Hofstra odds and betting lines, while providing college basketball betting tips and advice for this Colonial Final matchup.

Northeastern vs. Hofstra: Three things you need to know

  1. The 6-seed Huskies of Northeastern hope the third time is the charm. They fell to 1-seed Hofstra Jan. 9 by a 74-72 score in Boston, while losing 75-71 on Long Island Feb. 8. The Huskies covered the spread in both outings.
  2. Northeastern enters with 71.5 points per game to rank 166th in the country while allowing 66.6 PPG, ranking 104th in the country in scoring defense.
  3. Hofstra ranks 35th in the nation with 77.1 PPG, ranking 35th, while checking in 11th in the country with a 77.9 free-throw percentage. Defensively, the Pride rank 185th in scoring defense at 69.7 PPG.

Get some action on this game or others by placing a bet at BetMGM!

Northeastern vs. Hofstra: Odds, betting lines and picks

Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 2:35 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Hofstra 63, Northeastern 59

Moneyline (ML)

HOFSTRA (-121) is the play in this CAA Final. Take the Pride to win outright at a reasonable price, but there’s better value on the spread.

Against the Spread (ATS)

Northeastern (+1.5, -110) has played HOFSTRA (-1.5, -110) just about as well as anyone this season. While the Huskies haven’t been able to get over the hump, they have covered each game while losing two games to the Pride by a total of six points. Back the Pride with such a small spread as the better value play. They’ll need to win by just 2 or more points.

Over/Under (O/U)

The UNDER 133.5 (-110) went 1-0-1 in two meetings during the season. The Under is also 2-0 in the two CAA tourney games for Hofstra, while going 8-2 in the past 10 outings and 12-3 over the previous 15. The Under has hit in six of the past nine outings for Northeastern.

Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Report: Knicks plan to hire former LeBron associates, Rose and Wesley

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has strong connections to the new Knicks regime, including a name you haven’t heard in a while.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. And in the case of the New York Knicks, who are once again undergoing a regime change under owner James Dolan, they are handing their franchise over to trusted hands who know plenty about running the show in New York. But this time, rather than influencing in the shadows, they will be front and center.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the New York Knicks are closing in on a deal to bring in CAA super agent Leon Rose into the team to be their new President. But there’s another interesting wrinkle, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports, that Rose will bring along his confidant, William Wesley, otherwise known as “World Wide Wes.”

It wasn’t that long ago that “CAA running the Knicks” was a running bit around the league. However, the Knicks were at least good when CAA stacked their team with clients in the earlier part of the decade, like the 2012-13 season in which they won over 50 games and made it to the second round of the playoffs. The Knicks are also clearly trying to follow the blueprint for success that has been followed by the Golden State Warriors (Bob Myers) and Los Angeles Lakers (Rob Pelinka), as two squads that have thrived with former player agents in the front office.

Wesley, while not technically an agent, has worked for CAA for decades now and developed a very strong relationship with NBA players all over the league, including LeBron James. He’s even been name-checked in songs by Drake and Jay-Z. Wesley and Rose were both strong parts of LeBron’s camp during “The Decision” back in 2010. A few years later, James eventually left to join Klutch Sports after Rich Paul left CAA to start his own agency.

Now that LeBron is in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future, there’s no way the Knicks are going to be able to turn back the clock to 2010 and bring him to New York again. However, it will be interesting to see what his former colleagues do now that they have the chance to bring the Knicks back to relevance.

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