|
TORONTO -- Rudy Gay had no idea how bad his vision was until he went to renew his drivers license last year and nearly failed the test. "They said Do you wear glasses? I said no. They said, Well you need to wear glasses," Gay recounted, with a laugh. He wasnt laughing at the time. For a guy who makes his living tossing a ball through a hoop from a distance, the news was rather disconcerting. So after a brief and unsuccessful experiment with corrective goggles, the Toronto Raptors small forward underwent surgery to correct his vision during an off-season that was otherwise devoted to improving his shooting, and beefing up his body. One day into training camp, and Gay said hes feeling like a much-improved player than the one who led the Raptors in scoring last season but also had career lows in both field goal and three-point percentage. He joked that any improvement in his game this season will be credited solely to his better vision. "Honestly, I was talking to my trainer, and he said if you come out and have a great season its going to be because of your eye, not because of the work you put in," Gay said. The 27-year-old Gay wouldnt wear contact lenses, as he had an aversion to touching his eyes. The Raptors medical staff provided him with prescription goggles but he wasnt keen on those either. So he underwent surgery early in the summer, which he said wasnt fun. "Recovery was horrible, it was terrible," Gay said. "Probably (lasted) about two weeks. First week I couldnt see, second week I could. And then months and months of putting eye drops in. "But it was one of those things that needed to happen if I wanted to continue my career." Gay averaged 19.5 points to top Toronto in scoring after he was acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies in a mid-season trade. The Raptors went 16-30 prior to the trade, and finished 18-18 with Gay on the roster. Still, he was far from his best, shooting a career-low 40.8 per cent -- down from his career high of 47.1 per cent two seasons earlier -- and 31 per cent from three-point range. So he committed every day of the off-season, he said, to being a better shooter. "I started from the basics. . . form, worked on my form. From there just rhythm, shooting, shooting, shooting, becoming comfortable with it. "I made about 300 shots a day, sometimes more, on a light day probably 300." Gay has been criticized for taking low-percentage shots -- namely long two-pointers. But at the urging of Raptors coach Dwane Casey, he sounds like hes starting to see the light when it comes to shot selection. Casey said hes been drilling Gay and Torontos other sharpshooter DeMar DeRozan about higher percentage shots. "Corner threes, paint, get to the rim, get to the free throw line, and subsequently shooting percentage is going to go up," Casey said. Gay spent a lot of summer working on his three-point shooting, and pointed out that at the end of Monday mornings practice, the entire team was doing a three-point drills. "I got it from the coaches that were going to be a team thats going to get a lot of threes up, and obviously if it comes from the top, youve got to practise it," he said. Gay also said he put on 20 pounds of muscle working with his trainer Dustin Gray back home in Baltimore. "Hopefully you can see it," Gay said laughing, puffing out his chest ever so slightly. "Maybe I should do some push-ups or something. "My trainer basically lived with me." The weight gain, said Casey, was by design, and with the intention of using Gay at power forward rather than small forward. "We talked about it, because when you look at the Eastern Conference, youve got Carmelo, LeBron, big threes playing fours, and he wants to do that and it fits us really well too, him going to the four," Casey said. "What he doesnt want to do is gain a lot of unneeded weight, just some good solid (muscle), which hes done. Hes really solid in his upper body. You can see it, it looks good. If it helps him psychologically, making contact, getting to the rim, its great. "Its going to help him be in the paint a little bit more. When you get caught outside in that non-paint area, to drop that shoulder, use your body to get into the paint to create a foul, contact, and get to the free-throw line." Casey calls Gay one of the top offensive players in the league, and said the main thing missing that could make him an all-star is winning. "Winning gets you in that conversation of being one of the top players in this league," Casey said. "The league rewards winners." Granted training camp is only a day old, but Gay has seemed more at ease, cracking jokes with reporters. When someone pointed out to Casey that Gay seems happier than he did last season, the coach said everyone was. "I think theres a different vibe," Casey said. The coach said it starts with Masai Ujiri, the Raptors new president and general manager. "Masai gave them an impassioned speech (Monday) night about what he expects from them, the passion guys have to play with, leaving all the problems all the issues, check them at the door. It sets a tone, and thats been huge," Casey said. "Hes empowered everybody to do their job. The cop-outs are gone, now its about playing and having fun, and the way you have fun is by kicking peoples butts and competing." The Raptors practise at the Air Canada Centre until Thursday and then training camp moves to Halifax for two days. They open the pre-season Monday at Boston, and are back home to host the Minnesota Timberwolves next Wednesday. .Brazil midfielder Ricardo Goulart scored the winner in the 50th minute to give the defending champion a four-point advantage in the standings over second-place Sao Paulo, which beat rival Palmeiras 2-0. . - Titans quarterback Jake Locker will miss the rest of the season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot, leaving Tennessee trying to rally with Ryan Fitzpatrick. . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. . Dwyane Wade followed a few days later. . The commissioners office said Friday that Sears tested positive for metabolites of Methandienone. Sears will be 23 in March. He signed with the Braves in June 2013 out of Arizona Christian, an NAIA school, and is on the roster of the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Braves.DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies have completed minor league contracts with 31-year-old right-handed relievers Manny Corpas and Nick Masset. Corpas went 1-2 with a 4.54 ERA with 16 walks and 30 strikeouts for the Rockies last season after going to Colorados big league spring training camp under a similar deal and beginning the season at Triple-A Colorado Spriings.dddddddddddd Corpas was the closer on Colorados 2007 World Series team before he was beset by right elbow injuries. He missed all of 2011 before joining the Cubs in 2012. Masset missed the last two seasons after right shoulder surgery. He is 16-14 with a 3.78 ERA in 308 major league appearances from 2006-11 with the Rangers, White Sox and Reds. ' ' '
|
