ke Erie opened a 2-0 lead with goals five minutes apart

TORONTO - In 2009, the Detroit Pistons selected Gonzaga product Austin Daye with the 15th overall pick, just ahead of a trio of gifted point guards in Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson and Jeff Teague. Basketball Shoes From China . The Pistons had been an Eastern Conference powerhouse, a playoff team for eight consecutive years but they found themselves on the downswing as Joe Dumars and company hoped to tread water, putting off an inevitable rebuild (they havent qualified for the postseason since 2009). Chauncey Billups was traded to Denver the year prior, the Allen Iverson experiment was unsuccessful and short-lived and the team decided to part ways with an aging Rasheed Wallace. A new era was about to begin in Detroit and two of the players that remained from those great Piston teams served as justification for the Daye pick. Like Daye, a 6-foot-11 wing player who weighed in at 192 pounds when he was drafted as a 21-year-old, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince both came into the league with a similarly thin frame. It was always understood that Daye would need to get stronger, put on some weight and add muscle, but the sustained success of Hamilton and Prince in Detroit proved that the body-type was not an NBA death sentence. "I was always a slender guy," Daye said Saturday, in training camp with the Raptors, his third team in eight months. "A lot of other guys in the league are slender but theyre able to deal with it." Daye has yet to tap into the great potential that many believed he had back in 2009 and the knock on him has always centred on his strength. Signed to a two-year deal at the league minimum (the second year is only partially guaranteed), Daye has an opportunity to revive his career in Toronto; an opportunity he spent the offseason preparing for by addressing the very thing that continues to hold him back. After signing Daye in early August, Masai Ujiri and the Raptors hired Alonzo Freeman - facility director at PSI in Las Vegas - to implement and oversee a strict dietary program and train the 25-year-old forward. Daye credits Freeman and the work they put in for his transformation coming into camp this fall. "All thanks goes to him," Daye said, "for putting the weight on me and just keeping my mind focused and my nutrition very tight and looked upon." It all started with a blood test. "I actually took a blood test and found out some foods that dont really help me gain weight," he said. "Surprisingly they were foods that I eat a lot so I had to make some changes with my diet." The Raptors forward was surprised by how much the test revealed and how much of a difference the subsequent adjustments improved his overall conditioning. Drinking protein shakes after workouts and staying hydrated - something he wasnt conscious enough of before - helped him in this process. "I feel a lot better," Daye proclaimed. "Its been a long summer and I worked really hard. I can definitely see the results out there, just getting to the basket and taking contact a little better but as far as everything else, I think I did a good job just staying focused on the task at hand and being ready for camp." "He committed to it," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Dayes offseason work. "He did a great job with it." The added strength should come in handy as Daye transitions from playing primarily at the three over his first four seasons to coming off the bench as a stretch power forward, where Coach Casey plans to platoon him with sharpshooter Steve Novak. "Austin has every NBA skill," Casey said after practice Saturday. "The only thing hes ever had to work on is his strength and his body to not get knocked off the mark, not to give up offensive rebounds and to be stronger. Thats his biggest challenge as an NBA player because hes one of the best three-point shooters that we have [and] he has a great basketball IQ." While Novaks strengths and weaknesses are well known to Casey and the coaching staff, Daye remains somewhat of an unknown. As a result, and with Novak nursing a sore right thumb, Daye should get an opportunity to prove himself in the preseason. Come the Oct. 30 season opener consistent playing time is far from a guarantee for Daye, as Casey has stated hed like to trim the rotation down to eight or nine players (though it may be a fluid rotation early in the year). To factor into the regular season rotation, hell have to stand out in the final three exhibition games with Casey monitoring his defence, rebounding and ability to stay on the floor (hes committed 13 fouls in 48 preseason minutes). The chance hell be given to play is one of the things that drew him to Toronto in the offseason. He had at least one other notable suitor. "I know Miami was looking at me and thats a team I always played well against," Daye said. "It [would have been] a chance to get a ring but I dont know how much I would have played." "Im sure I could have tried to work my way in and got some quality minutes down there but Im happy with my decision to come here. I think that the decision to come here will help me along with my future. Thats why I made this decision, not for right now but for the future." Basketball Shoes 2020 . UCI President Brian Cookson said Wednesday the commission will investigate allegations "that the UCI has been involved in wrongdoing in the past -- allegations which have done so much to hurt the credibility of the UCI and our sport. Basketball Shoes Sale . He was signed to help with depth to the receiving corps because of the loss of Shamawd Chambers to the 6-game injured list. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . -- Top-ranked Stacy Lewis birdied the last three holes and five of the final six Thursday for an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Mi Jung Hur in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.TORONTO -- Brandon Kozun picked up the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the Lake Erie Monsters 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). Drew MacIntyre stopped all four shooters he faced in the shootout and turned aside 28 shots for his 20th win of the season. Pickard made 28 saves in the loss. Stuart Percy and Jamie Devane scored in regulation for the Marlie to force overtime. Andrew Agozzino and Cam Reid had the goals for the Monsters (17-20-3). The loss was Lake Eries eighth straight loss. The Toronto win evened the season series at two games apiece. Lake Erie opened a 2-0 lead with goals five minutes apart in the first period. Agozzino opened the scoring at 10:09 of the first, on a power play, re-directing a Karl Stollery point shot passt MacIntyre for his 10th of the season. Basketball Shoes Online Store. Then at 15:06, Reid gave the Monsters a 2-0 lead tipping a bouncing puck past MacIntyre for his second of the season. Toronto cut Lake Eries lead in half at 18:12 of the first when Percy stepped into a shot off a face-off beating Pickard for his first of the season. Devane completed the comeback after getting his stick on a T.J. Brennan point shot, re-directing it past Pickard at 2:52 of the third. Sam Carrick had an excellent chance to give Toronto their first lead, on a power play, with 5:30 remaining, but Pickard got across with his shoulder to rob him of the chance The Marlies now head out on the road for three games in three nights beginning Thursday in Oklahoma City. NOTES: Lake Erie forward Guillaume Desbiens missed Sundays game serving a one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final five minutes of the Monsters 6-2 loss to Hamilton Saturday night. ' ' '