young Canadian

TORONTO - Masai Ujiri and Tim Leiweke envision a training facility that will be both the talk of the NBA and a home to young Canadian players — a "Field of Dreams" facility that they say will help bring basketballs best to Toronto. Yeezy 350 On Sale . Ujiri and Leiweke unveiled plans on Friday for the $30-million practice facility that will be built on the grounds of Exhibition Place, pending a city council vote on Wednesday. The deal for the 65,000 square-foot facility, which is set to open in time for the 2016 NBA all-star game in Toronto, was approved unanimously by the citys executive committee on Wednesday. "One of the major reasons were building this is to keep our guys, so for a guy like Kyle Lowry (who signed a multi-year deal in July), he knows exactly what were doing here and that was important to his thinking about the commitment that this ownership group has made toward our basketball team," said Leiweke, the outgoing CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. MLSEs soccer club Toronto FC practises at the KIA Training Ground just north of downtown Toronto, while the MasterCard Centre just west of downtown is the training home of hockeys Maple Leafs and Marlies. The Raptors practise and play at the ACC, where players have the added off-day hassle of concert crowds or hockey games, and the training room is so small that Ujiri said three players getting treatment is a crowd. Ujiri and his staff took a peek in top facilities across North America to gather ideas. "We took ideas from everybody," said the Raptors GM. "Masai turned out to be a really good thief," Leiweke added. "We visited the best facilities in football and basketball, pro and college, and I think I went to maybe five or six of them. I know combined, my whole staff, we probably went to 12 or 13 of them, which is awesome," Ujiri said. "We get to see the University of Oregon, its spectacular, you cant even believe thats a college. You go to some of these facilities, you go to the Clevelands (the Cavaliers training ground), you go to the University of Virginias. . . theres some really good new high-performance centres that you can really take a lot out of." The two-storey facility will be available for groups such as the Ontario Basketball Association and Canada Basketball, and its been a long time coming, said Leiweke and Ujiri, for a basketball-mad city that has boasted the last two NBA No. 1 draft picks in Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins. Leiweke arrived in Toronto from Los Angeles, where "you have all these great Meccas" of basketball such as the Lakers Toyota Training Centre and USCs Pauley Pavilion. "Now name me what people think of when they talk about the great breeding grounds, the great facilities when you think about Bennett and Wiggins and all those kids playing," Leiweke said. "And Canada Basketball has no home," he added. "They are vagabonds. This gives us a place ultimately to make a statement about what kids can aspire to be and where they want to play. I think this will have as big an impact on amateur basketball as it will on what (Ujiri) is trying to do with the Raptors." Opening its doors in time for the all-star game was key. "For the guys (Ujiri) wants to get here, whoever that might be, theyre all going to be here during all-star week. It is great we get to showcase this to an entire league in 2016, and that bodes very well in making people understand the kind of organization we aspire to be now," Leiweke said. "Its huge to keep players and to get players." Leiweke met with the media a day after he confirmed he was leaving his job as CEO of MLSE as of next June at the latest, but said he didnt regret the timing of the announcement. "I think the reason were doing this today is to prove that this is business as usual, we plow straight ahead, and anyone that has been in this organization for the past 16 months and has seen what were doing here, what they understand very clearly is that ripple caused more of a ripple in the media and the public," Leiweke said. "But internally here, we plow straight ahead and we are as damned and determined as every to finish our mission statement here. "So there will be not one change in our attitude and that wont change in our commitment and our dedication to getting our projects done, and this is one of my highest priorities." Yeezy 350 Store . Neither player was available Saturday for the Knicks 107-98 loss in Atlanta. "Were going in a different direction and weve got to figure out another spot or two for our ballclub," coach Mike Woodson said before the game. Yeezy 350 Fake . On Friday night, after a long rain delay, he was scratched from his scheduled start.Wimbledon, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No. 1s Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams posted first-round victories on opening day at The Championships, Wimbledon. The second-seeded Li bested Polands Paula Kania, making her WTA-level debut, 7-5, 6-2 on the famed Centre Court, while the sixth-seeded 2011 Wimbledon winner Kvitova cruised past fellow Czech Andrea Hlavackova 6-3, 6-0, and the eighth-seeded Azarenka handled 32-year-old Croat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 7-5 on No. 1 Court at the venerable All England Club. The 32-year-old Li has reached at least the semifinals at all of the majors except for Wimbledon, where shes a three-time quarterfinalist, including last year. Her second-round opponent will be Austrian Yvonne Meusburger. The left-handed Kvitova has reached at least the quarterfinals here four straight years and will meet German Mona Barthel on Wednesday. Azarenka fought to get past the 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist Lucic-Baroni, winning on her fifth match point. The Belarusian struggled with her serve, with eight double faults, but made the most of her opponents 29 unforced errors. The two-time Australian Open champion just returned to tour action last week after being sidelined with a foot injury for three months. Monday marked her first match win since the fourth round at the Aussie Open in January. Azarenka reached back-to-back Wimbledon semifinals before pulling out of her second-round match here a year ago because of an injury. Next up for the Belarusian star will be Serbian Bojana Jovanovski. The 30th-seeded Williams picked up her first Wimbledon win in three years with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Spaniard Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor. The 34-year-old Williams owns seven major tiles, including five Wimbledon crowns, and shes now 72-11 lifetime at Wimbledon. Her second-round opponent will be Japans Kurumi Nara. Tenth-seeded Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, of Slovakia, whipped Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-2 on Centre Court; 12th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta drubbed Slovak Jana Cepelova 6-2, 6-3; oft-injured former U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, who has been working with fellow Belgian and former world No. 1 star Kim Clijsters, dropped 17th-seeded former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-4; and Russian Maria Kirilenko doused 18th-seeded American Sloane Stephens 6-2, 7-6 (8-6). Stosur struggles mightily on grass, having suffeered six first-round exits in 12 trips to the All England Club and never advanced beyond the third round here. Yeezy 350 Discount. Stephens saved five match points against Kirilenko before play went to a second-set tiebreak. Stephens had reached at least the fourth round at the last six Grand Slam events, including a run into the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year. Stephens is still a solid 31-13 at the majors, but a pedestrian 55-54 everywhere else. In other action involving seeds, No. 22 Russian Ekaterina Makarova overcame 43-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; No. 23 Czech Lucie Safarova edged out German Julia Goerges 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3); hot American Coco Vandeweghe converted on her 13th match point in taking out No. 27 Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; and No. 32 Russian Elena Vesnina took care of Austrias Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-0, 6-4. Vandeweghe corralled her first-ever WTA title, on grass, in The Netherlands just two days ago. Muguruza shocked Serena Williams in the second round at the French Open last month. Several other women advanced, including Meusburger, Jovanovski, Barthel, Nara, Aussie Casey Dellacqua, and American Lauren Davis. Rain forced the suspension of some action, as fourth-seeded 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska was leading Andreea Mitu 4-2; 14th-seeded former French Open runner-up Sara Errani was tied with Frances Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-7 (3-7); 16th-seeded former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki was ahead of Israeli Shahar Peer 6-3, 2-0; and Portuguese Michelle Larcher de Brito was leading 28th-seeded two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-1 when rain started to fall just after 8 p.m. local time. The current world No. 1 Serena will open her fortnight Tuesday against Georgian Anna Tatishvili. The American great is a 17-time major champion, including five Wimbledon championships, just like her older sister, Venus. Meanwhile, third-seeded French Open runner-up Simona Halep will face Brazils Teliana Pereira and fifth-seeded Roland Garros champion Maria Sharapova will take on Brit Samantha Murray. Sharapova captured her lone Wimbledon title by upsetting Serena in the final here 10 years ago. Also on Tuesdays schedule will be seventh-seeded former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 11th-seeded former top-ranked star Ana Ivanovic, 13th-seeded two- time 2014 Grand Slam semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard, and 19th-seeded Sabine Lisicki, who was last years Wimbledon runner-up to since-retired Marion Bartoli. ' ' '