|
- Posts:
- 297
- Group:
- Members
- Member
- #167
- Joined:
- Apr 23, 2013
|
TORONTO -- Toronto FC flies to Florida on Friday to continue its MLS pre-season, with questions about some players fitness and the future of its designated players. President and GM Kevin Payne said he was not happy with the condition that some players reported to camp in. And he continues to look for ways to lessen the binds of the teams current salary structure. That may mean buying out a designated player or restructuring other players contracts. Payne, who left D.C. United two months ago to take over the struggling Toronto franchise, is looking to remake a team that was a league-worst 5-21-8 last season. Eleven TFC players have left since last season with seven coming the other way so far. "We still have a lot of work to do," Payne said Thursday. A player signing is expected possibly this week, with three bigger deals coming down the pipeline, according to Payne. The focus is on young, energetic attacking players, with an eye to the Central and South American markets. "Were not interested in 33-year-old halfway-over-the hill EPL (English Premier League) players," Payne said. Toronto currently has three designated players -- midfielder Torsten Frings and strikers Danny Koevermans and Eric Hassli. All are coming off injuries and are on the wrong side of 30. Koevermans, who had knee surgery, is not expected to return to action until June. The other two are far closer to resuming action. The club has been reluctant to deploy Hassli, who is getting over a variety of injuries, and Frings, who had hip surgery last season, on artificial turf during the Toronto portion of training camp so is waiting to see how they do on the grass in Florida under the watchful eye of new coach Ryan Nelsen and his assistant Fran OLeary. "Its a new situation for Fran and Ryan and were tying to be fair to people, trying to keep an open mind," Payne told a roundtable of local media Thursday. "We dont want to kind of throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak." Frings is 36, Koevermans 34 and Hassli 31. Payne says the three designated players and defenders Darren ODea and Richard Eckersley take up "a very very very large percentage of our salary cap." "So we have to figure out how do we make that work or is there any wiggle room to adjust that. Its hard to have the percentage of your cap tied up in (the) five players that we had and still put an effective team on the field." The DPs each count for US$350,000 against the salary cap. Eckersley made $390,000 last season while ODea was at $436,250. MLS clubs are allowed to buy out one contract per season. "I dont think we feel like we have to make that decision yet but it is an option," said Payne. "We have a bunch of decisions to make," he added. "And some of those decisions may be to not make a decision. It may be to just continue with something the way it is." Hasslis contract was renewed just days before Payne was hired, a move Payne said was never explained to him. He made the least of the three DPs last season at $790,000. Frings collected $2.4 million while Koevermans got $1.56 million. Some on the current roster have already come in for criticism. Payne says he has been disappointed at the fitness level of "a number of players." "I said You will never, ever come back here after the break looking like this again -- it just wont happen -- or you wont be here, end of story." "Lots of guys did a great job," he added, "and came back in great shape. But there were more than one or two who were not even close to being fit. I have a hard time understanding that. Ryan feels the same way ... Theres just no excuse for it." Payne said the players in question had been given off-season conditioning program and conceded that he club needed to do a better job of monitoring them. Fitness was an issue last season, with several players saying the 2012 training camp was inadequate. The club also confirmed that the home opener March 9 against Sporting Kansas City will be played at the Rogers Centre. Beats By Dre Pas Cher . The Sens hope to avoid a third straight loss this evening against the Coyotes in center Kyle Turris return to Phoenix. Ottawa opened up a six-game road trip with victories in Toronto and San Jose to give the club wins in 10 of its past 12. Beats By Dre Casques . Evans had three go-ahead base hits including one in the 12th inning to give the Mets a 7-4 win over the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night. http://www.beatsbydremagasin.fr/ . -- It took about 10 minutes to wreck several cars at Daytona International Speedway on Friday. Beats By Dre France .Y. - Hanging around for an extra day at the NFL draft turned out well for Coby Fleener and Rueben Randle. LOS ANGELES -- Chris Paul had 24 points and 13 assists to help the Los Angeles Clippers, for decades synonymous with long losing streaks, break a 38-year-old franchise record with their 12th consecutive victory Friday night, 97-85 over the Sacramento Kings. The previous mark was set by the Buffalo Braves during the 1974-75 season, when current Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was 8 years old. The head coach back then was Jack Ramsay, whose formidable roster included Bob McAdoo, Garfield Heard, Randy Smith, Jim McMillian, Jack Marin and Bob Weiss. That team won 49 games -- still a record for a beleaguered organization that has called three different cities home, wasted first-round draft picks on Benoit Benjamin, Terry Dehere, Michael Olowokandi and Darius Miles, and was labeled "the worst franchise in sports history" by Sports Illustrated in an April 17, 2000, cover story. Blake Griffin had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers, who have had 20 double-digit losing streaks since their 11-game winning streak in Buffalo -- including a dozen of 12 or more. They lost their first 16 in 1994-95, their first 17 of the lockout-shortened 1988-89 season, and the final 14 in 1986-87. The club record for consecutive defeats is 19, set in 1981-82 and equaled in 1988-89. But those dark days are history thanks to the arrival of Griffin, the blockbuster trade that brought Paul from the New Orleans Hornets last December, and a bench that is arguably the deepest in the NBA. The Clippers, who have the leagues longest active winning streak, also own the NBAs second-best record at 20-6 and trail Oklahoma City by just one game. This is the earliest the Clippers franchise has ever reached the 20-win mark, and only the sixth time they did it with a winning record -- including a 20-11 start last season. The previous club record in that department also was set in 1974-75, when the Braves started out 20-8. Just four seasons ago the Clips finished 19-63 under Mike Dunleavy. Los Angeles beat Sacramento for the fifth straight time -- including all three meetings last season. The Clippers havent lost to anyone since Nov. 26 at Staples Center, when New Orleans beat them 105-98 and held Griffin to four points and one field goal -- both career lows. Reserve guard Jimmer Fredette had 16 points for Sacramento, which is 1-11 on the road. DeMarcus Cousins was benched for the entire second half by coach Keith Smart, who ordered him to remain in the dressing room after he scored nine points in 20 minutes. The Kings, who had their highest-scoring gamee of the season Wednesday night in a 131-127 home win against Golden State, have dropped six of seven.dddddddddddd Tyreke Evans missed his third straight game and eighth in the last 12 because of a sore left knee. He also was sidelined for the Kings 116-81 loss at Los Angeles on Dec. 1, when the Clippers posted their largest margin of victory since the franchise left Buffalo. Caron Butlers 3-pointer gave Los Angeles its biggest lead, 58-41, with 10:05 left in the third quarter. The Kings narrowed the gap to 63-57 with a 16-5 run capped by Fredettes 3-pointer with 4:25 left in the quarter, but that was as close as they got. Paul helped put the game away with a pair of 3-pointers in the final 4 minutes. Griffin powered the Clippers to a 53-39 halftime lead with 16 points and eight boards. Power forward Jason Thompson, the only player to start all 26 games for Sacramento, fouled him twice during a 1:23 span and went to the bench with 7:48 left in the first quarter. The Clippers then pulled ahead 20-11 with a 9-1 spurt that included a pair of 20-footers by Griffin, and Paul drained a 3-pointer with a second on the clock for a 29-21 advantage. Ronny Turiaf, who earlier in the game shot an air ball on a free throw and got some good-natured ribbing from his Clippers teammates on the bench, extended the lead to 43-28 with a fast-break dunk right after 6-foot-1 guard Eric Bledsoe blocked a layup by 6-10 Kings forward Thomas Robinson at the other end. NOTES: The teams the Clippers have beaten during this streak have a combined winning percentage of .401 (116-173). The Kings (8-18) are the only team they have faced twice in that stretch. ... The Clippers are at Phoenix on Saturday night, trying to break a franchise-record road winning streak of five -- by those same 74-75 Braves. ... The Buffalo Braves winning streak included neutral-site games against the Boston Celtics at Providence, R.I., and the Philadelphia 76ers at Toronto. ... The Los Angeles Lakers, who share Staples Center with the Clippers, havent won 12 or more games in a row during one season since 1999-00, when they had streaks of 16 and 19. ... Matt Barnes, who played high school ball in Sacramento and spent part of the 2004-05 season with the Kings, had 13 points. The Clippers are 14-0 when he scores in double digits off the bench. ... Los Angeles is 17-0 when leading after three quarters, and 15-0 when holding an opponent under 43 per cent shooting. The Kings shot 41.8 per cent. ... Fredette missed a free throw with 3:48 remaining, ending his streak at 33 in a row. ' ' '
|