Heimspiele » . While acknowledging that "football is king"

TORONTO - Masai Ujiri wasted little time in making his first move of the offseason. Just one day after their season came to an abrupt end, the Raptors have reached an agreement on a three-year contract extension with head coach Dwane Casey, sources confirm to TSN.ca Monday evening. In his third year with the team, Casey, 57, helped lead the Raptors to a franchise-record 48-win season en route to a division title and opening-round elimination to the Brooklyn Nets in a seven-game playoff series. Addressing the media after cleaning out their lockers Monday afternoon, Caseys players seemed to be aware of the teams plans to bring him back. "I think hell be back," said Kyle Lowry, an unrestricted free agent. "Simple as that. Matter of fact, Im sure hell be back." Casey was brought in by former Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo ahead of the 2010-11 season after he had won a championship as an assistant in Dallas the year prior. Right out of the gate, he took a team that had ranked near the bottom of the league in every defensive category, a long-time NBA doormat, and immediately changed the culture. After his third-year option was picked up, Casey had mixed results at the helm of the Raptors in his second season, getting off to a slow start and clashing with Lowry. Instead of discarding Casey for his own coach, Ujiri - the incoming GM - opted to give him a one-year trial, to which he did not disappoint. Both he and Lowry developed a mutual respect, as the point guard turned in a career year, DeMar DeRozan blossomed into an all-star and the team went on to exceed every rationale pre-season expectation. Casey became the fourth coach in franchise history to lead the Raptors to the postseason and his fingerprints can be found on the development of Torontos many young players. "Hes been a great coach," sophomore Terrence Ross said Monday. "Hes helped me with a lot. Hes taught me a lot, especially when it comes to defence. I give him a lot of credit for how I play on the court." "One thing I respect about coach Casey, man, hes been consistent," DeRozan added. "Hes been the same Dwane Casey since hes been here, preached the same thing, told us to stick with the same principles and theyll work. We did it, and everything he said came together like he said it would." "You could go in his office, knock on his door, talk to him whenever, you could text him," he continued. "Hes a players coach. Hes a great dude. Sometimes you dont even look at him like a coach because you could go up to him and talk to Dwane about any situation. I think thats what helped us a lot." Casey ranks third in team history with 105 wins, behind Sam Mitchell and Lenny Wilkens and recently became the first coach to lead the Raptors to multiple seasons holding opponents under 100 points and below 45 per cent from the field. The deal was first reported by the Toronto Star Monday evening. Casey and Ujiri will meet with the media on Tuesday. Watch it live on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN GO at 10:15am et/7:15am pt. Wholesale Rockies Jerseys . The win puts the final playoff berth in Group A in question. If the Czechs beat Slovakia on Tuesday, they will go through. If they lose, Germany will get the last quarter-final berth. Ryan McMahon Jersey . You can see all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. Chicago won two of three games during its stay at the United Center. The club began the homestand with a 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on March 1 and fell to Colorado on Tuesday before posting another blowout win in Thursdays tilt against Columbus. http://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-gerardo-parra-jersey . Amare Stoudemire had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony scored 21 and the New York Knicks won their eighth straight game, 93-92 over Philadelphia on Friday night, sending the Sixers to their 23rd straight loss. Cheap Rockies Jerseys Authentic .com) - Guard Greivis Vasquez and forward Patrick Patterson, two key pieces to the Toronto Raptors run to an Atlantic Division title in 2013-14, were both given qualifying offers by the team on Saturday. Daniel Castro Jersey . - After a back-and-forth battle throughout the season, Alex Guenette has earned the 2013 rookie of the year award for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 by just one point over Ryley Seibert.LONDON -- While critical of Dennis Rodmans trips to North Korea, incoming NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the former all-star also helped raise awareness of leader Kim Jong Uns "repressive regime." Rodman took a group of retired NBA players to the pariah state this month to play a game as a gift for Kim, a move criticized by some members of the U.S. Congress, human rights groups and the NBA. Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim, has stressed he is not a statesman and is only seeking to build cultural ties between Pyongyang and Washington through basketball. But the 52-year-old Rodman has been denounced for not trying to use his influence with Kim to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, an American missionary with health problems who is being held in North Korea on charges of "anti-state" crimes. Although Rodman has been accused of becoming a public relations tool for North Koreas government, Silver regards the publicity from the trips helping to shine a light on a country with a poor human rights record. "As negative as that trip was in so many ways it also brought attention to a critical issue in North Korea that ... most Americans hadnt focused on at all in terms of a repressive regime," Silver said on Thursday in London ahead of a game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Atlanta Hawks. At the start of the Jan. 8 game in Pyongyang, Rodman sang "Happy Birthday" to Kim, who was seated at the stadium, and bowed deeply as North Korean players clapped. Silver, who succeeds David Stern as commissioner on Feb. 1, said the NBA persuaded some former players not to participate in the game. "We did talk directly with certain other players who decided not to go," Silver said after appearing at a meeting organized by the Sport Industry Group. "In terms of any damage done to the NBA, we dont think there was any damage done to the NBA ... the fact basketball happens to be very popularr in North Korea I dont think is a negative for our league.dddddddddddd "And it just demonstrates that its not just basketball but all sports bring tremendous opportunities." And, with the Nets owned by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, the NBA is looking beyond the U.S. for more investment in franchises. Stern said there are discussions with investors from China, Latin America and the Middle East, in particular those in oil-rich United Arab Emirates whose "connection to the governing families is quite close." Efforts to grow the NBA beyond U.S. shores in Britain have been limited, despite Thursdays regular-season game at the O2 Arena being the fourth in four years at the venue. While acknowledging that "football is king" in England, the NBA feels that its efforts to intensify interest have not been matched by a commitment from the government and local groups to promote the game and build facilities. Silver described the club infrastructure as being "not on a par" with other basketball nations. "We would have thought there would have been more growth," Silver said. "For whatever reason basketball hasnt caught on here," he added. "And I think there has been an absence of leadership and we have to fill the vacuum." Having expected a strong basketball legacy from the 2012 London Olympics, the NBA was disappointed the chance was not grasped. "I would say lost opportunity rather than wasted opportunity -- every government has their priorities but given how popular a venue (basketball) was during the Olympics, it should have been the launching pad for additional things happening," Silver said. "There are all kinds of reasons why governments should be getting behind the sport." Stern went further, saying: "I know the debate about physical activity in schools, but if you shut down the gyms you cant have basketball games." ' ' '