Öffentlicher Bereich » Wednesday and counters the knuckleballer again.

TORONTO - As rumours surrounding the future of Kyle Lowry - this summers biggest free-agent prize at his position - begin to swirl, the most reasonable question that comes to mind is, what took so long? The Raptors breakout point guard has been the subject of recent speculation, originating at ESPN, connecting him to the four-time defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat. The parties are said to have "mutual interest". Often, where theres smoke theres fire, but thats not always the case in the NBA, especially not at this time of the year. Smoke, in this case, comes with the territory. Fresh off a career season, leading the Raptors to an unexpected division title, Lowry is poised to become a coveted commodity in unrestricted free agency when he officially hits the open market on July 1. If the Heat are the first team to come knocking, they assuredly wont be the last. Why wouldnt Miami be interested in Lowrys services? The Heat are less than a week removed from a disheartening trip to the NBA Finals, where they looked vastly inferior to the San Antonio Spurs in a five-game elimination. Their current point guard, Mario Chalmers - also a soon-to-be free agent - was notably ineffective en route to losing his starting job late in the series. And Lowry? Why wouldnt he want to play in South Beach? Under the right circumstances, accompanied by a suitable contract, you would be hard-pressed to find someone unwilling to play in one of the leagues most desirable destinations with LeBron James, the best basketball player on the planet. Therein lies the caveat, and its a big one; money. The Heat, under their current construction, can only offer so much of it. Firstly, in order for Miami to put together a passable offer to Lowry or any other prominent free agent, James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would need to opt out of their contracts - owing them each more than $20 million over the next two season - to renegotiate smaller deals. Udonis Haslem would likely have to do the same. Lowry, underpaid for most of his eight-year career, has been one of the leagues bargain players, earning just over $6 million last season. At best, Miami - or any other capped out team - may be able to offer something in that neighbourhood. From a Raptors perspective, nothing has changed since Masai Ujiri addressed the point guards future six weeks ago, making Lowry the teams top offseason priority. "Its very important for us, in terms of continuity," said the Raptors general manager that afternoon, asked about the likelihood of re-signing Lowry. "For me, negotiating is easy if we want Kyle to be here and Kyle wants to be here." "I think well be fair with Kyle and well figure it out and I think its important. So well go through that process but were optimistic stuff will happen." They remain confident to this day and much of that stems from the fact that they can offer Lowry more than any other team, while also providing him the platform to lead a winning team with a cast that hes comfortable with. The 28-year-old is staring down his first super-sized NBA contract and in a league where so much can change in three-to-four years, there are no guarantees that another one will follow. Certainly, if hes willing to sacrifice in exchange for a better chance at competing for a championship hell have that opportunity but for a player entering his prime, one with a young family to support, it would be surprising to see him leave that much money on the table. With the Raptors he could double the size of his most recent contract, a four-year $23 million deal signed back in 2010. As you might expect, Lowry and his representatives will test the market, see whats out there and leverage the interest hes sure to get from other teams. As he wisely pointed out during a midseason wave of rumours following the trade of his best friend Rudy Gay, its a business. The Raptors will also have a big decision to make, holding the 20th pick in next weeks draft, five days before teams are able to sit down and meet with their free agent point guard. Would they select a lead guard as insurance? "I think the biggest thing is to not make draft decisions based on that, on your current roster and your current situations," Dan Tolzman, the Raptors director of scouting, said last week. "You keep it in the back of your head and youll take it into account when youre drafting players but if the most talented guy or the highest guy on your list happens to be a position that your loaded up with you can work stuff out later." "So I dont think you really approach the draft like, okay we need a point guard because we dont know what the situation is. But at the same time if the best player on the board is a point guard, well figure it out." And so it begins. For four months, primarily in the next two, the game shifts from the court to the boardroom, podium and social media sphere. The sound of sneakers squeaking and whistles whistling are replaced by rumours, bravado and conjecture. Buckle up. Steph Curry Shoes Deals .J. -- Omar Cummings helped the Houston Dynamo advance to the MLS Eastern Conference finals. Steph Curry Shoes For Sale .This one was bigger than most.Ben Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell came up big in a game that Pittsburgh had to win Sunday, leading the Steelers to a 42-21 drubbing of the Cincinnati Bengals that left the AFC North race wide open. https://www.stephencurryshoescheap.com/ . 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The Blue Jays took two of three from the hosting New York Yankees over the weekend, snapping a 17-game road losing streak to them on Saturday and then winning on Sunday to make it two in a row in the Bronx for the first time since Aug. 2-3, 2010. Toronto has won seven of its last nine overall and is three games back of the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. "We have to do the little things to win," said Torontos Dioner Navarro, who hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning on Sunday. "We battled, battled, battled and came through at the end." R.A. Dickey had to battle last time out versus the Red Sox and gets a rematch with the club tonight. Dickey won for only the second time in eight starts with a 6-4 triumph over Boston on Wednesday, winning despite giving up four runs on nine hits and a walk in six innings. The right-hander gave up a three-run homer to David Ortiz in the first inning, but settled down after that and improved to 8-10 with a 4.04 earned run average on the season. "When you start the game giving up three runs without recording an out, it can really weight on you mentally," Dickey stated. "It was a very satisfying win for me personally because I kept us in the gamee long enough for us to scratch it out.dddddddddddd" The 39-year-old Dickey has won both of his starts versus the Red Sox this season. Right-hander Clay Buchholz took the loss opposite Dickey on Wednesday and counters the knuckleballer again. He failed to hold the three-run first-inning lead as Toronto countered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus and Josh Thole all drove in runs in the bottom of the frame off Buchholz, who then failed to hold a 4-3 lead as Ryan Goins hit an RBI triple off him in the sixth. Goins then scored later in the frame on Xander Bogaerts throwing error, saddling Buchholz with a loss that dropped him to 5-6 with a 5.50 ERA. "Ill take the blame for this one," said Buchholz, who struck out just one batter over six innings. The 29-year-old is just 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA in three starts versus the Blue Jays this season. Boston sits last in the AL East, 10 1/2 games out of first place, but did snap a five-game slide with a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday. Ortiz hit a three- run homer, giving him 25 home runs and 76 RBI in 102 games. "Ive been feeling a lot better since the break," said Ortiz. "Those four days off helped a lot, and Im getting back into it." Toronto has won seven of 10 against the Red Sox this season, sweeping a three- game set in Boston from May 20-22. ' ' '