TORONTO -- The predictions are in and theyre not pretty.
Nike Air Max 90 Hombre Outlet . The NBC Sports website predicts the Toronto Raptors will finish in last place this season with just 18 wins. The CBS Sports website has Toronto in the basement in its NBA power rankings. SI.com was slightly more kind, ranking the Raptors 29th in the 30-team league. Drop five dollars in Las Vegas on the Raptors to win the championship and youll cash out for a cool grand if they actually did it. To say expectations are low for Canadas only NBA team would be a grand understatement. This is a club that plans to give its young players as many minutes as possible with its eye firmly locked on the future. New head coach Dwane Casey will have his work cut out for him in what has already been declared a rebuilding campaign -- or as he and general manager Bryan Colangelo like to call it, a "building" season. In previous years, stars like Damon Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh were the feature players on the club. This season, there is no easy choice as the face of the franchise. The roster is a collection of youngsters with potential and some decent veterans who will be counted on to provide guidance on court and in the locker-room. A team-first mentality is in place with a focus on strengthening the clubs foundation. "Its a group effort, its not a one-guy show," forward James Johnson said in a recent interview. Expect youngsters like DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and Ed Davis to see plenty of minutes and crunch-time action as they soak up as much experience as possible. Theyre considered key building blocks for the Raptors, who are coming off a weak 22-60 season. Andrea Bargnani provided some offensive spark last season with a career-high average of 21.4 points per game. However, his blocks (46) were down significantly and he had 150 fewer rebounds than the previous year. The pressure will be on the No. 1 pick from the 2006 draft to deliver under Caseys defence-first philosophy. Toronto native Jamaal Magloire may not see a ton of minutes but hell give the Raptors some much-needed toughness under the glass. Young players like forward James Johnson and guard Jerryd Bayless havent had starters minutes for a full season. They could blossom if given the opportunity. The 66-game schedule may actually help the Raptors, who have plenty of young legs to handle the many back-to-back games throughout the compressed season. Casey will likely experiment with different lineups over the first few weeks as he gets a feel for the players. "To me everybody is a starter," Casey said this week. "Youve got to prepare as a starter and think that way -- just because of the packed-in games and the rapid-fire games that are coming." Expect Bayless to start the season as a backup to veteran guard Jose Calderon, who tied a career high with an average of 8.9 assists per game last season. Guard Leandro Barbosa could provide some spark off the bench, although he has been saddled with injuries in recent years. Barbosa was limited during training camp with a sore knee. Colangelo recently filled out the roster with the additions of guard Anthony Carter, centre Aaron Gray and forwards Rasual Butler and Gary Forbes. "Everybody is going to have to earn their minutes," Casey said. "Im not trying to be a dictator or anything like that, but guys will determine the amount of time that they have when theyre on the floor." One player who will start the season on the bench is forward Linas Kleiza. Hes likely a few weeks away from a return as he works his way back from right knee surgery last February. The Raptors used the No. 5 pick in the 2011 draft to select centre Jonas Valanciunas, who will spend the season playing in his native Lithuania. Toronto will likely get another decent selection next year in what should be a very deep draft. By then Colangelo expects to have even more financial flexibility and a stronger foundation. For this season, however, the chances of the Raptors returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2008 are slim at best. Toronto opens play Monday night in Cleveland before welcoming the Indiana Pacers at Air Canada Centre two days later.
Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 España .com) - The Montreal Canadiens aim to extend their impressive start on the road this season as they visit the Minnesota Wild for Friday nights encounter.
Nike Air Max 90 Baratas España .Bruno Halkiadakis opened the scoring for Ergotelis in the 13th minute from long range, and Nikos Kaltsas equalized with a free kick four minutes later. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ryan Hunter-Reay deftly guided his car around the rain-soaked track, stayed out of trouble and wound up with a much happier ending. Hunter-Reay coasted to his second straight victory at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday when the rain-shortened IndyCar race finished under caution, with Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti behind him. The win came two weeks after Hunter-Reay touched off what turned into a seven-car pileup with an ill-timed attempt to pass Josef Newgarden at Long Beach to end what had been a dominating performance. "The week after Long Beach was a pretty long one," Hunter-Reay said. "It was one where I just wanted to get back in a racecar as soon as I could. "We knew it would be tough here. When it came to race time, I had the car in the wet, I had the car in the dry. They gave me exactly what I needed. I knew it was going to be close to make it all work out because it was so easy to make a mistake today. Just thrilled. This victory feels real good." A full-course caution came out for the final seven minutes of the timed race after rookie Mikhail Aleshin lost control and went off the track. That left Hunter-Reay unchallenged. Scott Dixon was third, followed by Simon Pagenaud and pole-sitter Will Power, a two-time winner at Barber who had a slight but costly misjudgment on a slippery track in the tight Turn 5. "He was out there cutting the grass," Hunter-Reay said. "I had to take advantage of that. It was so easy to do that today. I almost lost this race three times." There was some slipping and sliding, especially in the minutes after the field switched from the wet tires with several drivers leaving the track. He passed Power on lap 16 when the Australian left the track and skirted by the tire barrier before pulling back on. "I kept creeping my braking point a little bit further and further, and I went too far," Power said. "Its tough to not push past the limits with wet patches everywhere. We really didnt have the pace in the dry anyway, but that sure didnt help our cause when I went off course." The turn is called "Charlottes Web" because of a huge spider sculpture stationed there. "I almost threw it away three or four times there myself," Hunter-Reay said. "It was just tiptoeing around.
Comprar Adidas Supercolor. It was a very fine line between getting it all right or getting it all wrong. "Any guy thats been in an IndyCar on the Web will tell you thats how it is. Youve got to go up the risk side to the get the reward out of it, but its really easy to throw it all away." Its the 12th career win for Hunter-Reay, who was alone up front during the caution until Andretti pulled even at the finish line to savour the moment with his teammate. He led three times for a total of 40 laps. "Theyve given us great cars here, and a second win in a row for Ryan is awesome," said Andretti, whose radio worked only sporadically down the stretch. Dixon said running a time race was "kind of annoying" and Andretti said it removed some strategy from the formula. They wound up going 69 laps, and Hunter-Reay was up front for the final time starting on No. 52. "The race should be the full distance," Dixon said. "To have to shorten these races for TV, you know, I understand the difficult predicament that everybody is in, but these are championship races. They all pay the same amount of points. "You decide to take 30 laps off them ... I think it changes strategy a lot and youre constantly chasing that window. Then ultimately you finish on a caution, too, which is also a bit of a bummer for the fans. In the future, hopefully we can find a way around that." Drivers were focused on handling the track conditions, not payback from any lingering anger over Long Beach clashes. It ended badly for Aleshin, who walked back to pit road while the rest of the field finished. Earlier Sebastien Bourdais had spun the Russian from behind, leaving him stalled. Bourdais received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. The race was a change-up for Dixon, who finished second in each of the first four races at Barber. "We went the wrong way, but it was an interesting day," Dixon said. "Whenever you have a rain delay it sort of puts a strain on everybody trying to figure out what we need to do. "The cars were pretty good. The track suits wet conditions. There were a few troublesome areas with standing water and a few of the guys found those spots. But generally the race went fairly smoothly."
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