Allgemeines » take responsibility. Im not going to run away.

Anyone who becomes general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs should be forced to take the following pledge before their first day on the job. With their right hand raised, they must repeat: I promise not to trade away young players and draft picks for players whose best years are behind them, I promise not to trade away young players and draft picks for players whose best years are behind them. I do solemnly swear I will not trade away young players and draft picks for players whose best years are behind them. Dave Nonis, of course, took no such pledge when he took the job almost three years ago. But heres hoping he made at least a private vow to himself not to repeat the mistakes of those who came before him. Weve all seen the pattern. A Maple Leaf general manager starts out on a blueprint to build the team through patience and smarts, developing from within and keeping a core of young players that can mature and come of age together. But it never turns out that way because somewhere along the way he hits the fast-forward button and the plan goes out the window. The panic sets in when the draft picks that were supposed to fuel the Leafs improvement dont pan-out, forcing him to mortgage the future just to keep the teams head above water. Which is why news that the Leafs have interest in the potential availability of Carolina centre Eric Staal is so worrisome because it would take the Leafs down a similar path as that where their previous plans have gone astray. Only theres no reason it should. Early in their third season under Dave Nonis, the Leafs remain a work in progress just in terms of reaching the post-season. Theyve got a fair amount of talent but dont play the game in a way thats conducive to consistently winning. They arent talent poor. Theyre young, frustrating at times, and still a long way from reaching their collective potential. But this is a team, unlike some past Leaf teams, which has at least chance to mature into something decent. In Gardiner, Rielly, Kadri, van Riemsdyk and Kessel the Leafs have four players all age 27 or younger who either are, or have the potential to become front line NHLers. They have a goaltender in Jonathan Bernier who looks a lot like a rising star and a rookie in Stuart Percy who is fitting in well so far during just his second season as a pro. And last seasons top pick, William Nylander, appears to possess the skills that could make him able to play as a rookie 19-year-old next season. So theres lots of young trees in the forest, so to speak. To sell off a combination of those assets and or draft picks for a player in Eric Staal who turns 30 this month is asking for a repeat of history. Staal has already played a ton of hockey in his career – 771 games, suffered some significant injuries and his best season in terms of goals and points is now eight years ago. Would he immediately become the Leafs best player? Probably. But for how long? Theres absolutely no way to know that but there are so many great hockey players whose abilities decline significantly past their early 30s. Which means that if the Leafs were to acquire Staal, hes likely to become a fading star on an expensive ticket by the time the core of their team matures. Acquiring Staal would make sense if the Leafs were in the midst of a Stanley Cup window with maybe two years remaining in it. But theyre nowhere near being able to compete for the Cup. They need a lot of things before that happens. But nothing more than patience. Connor Williams Cowboys Jersey . -- The taxing preseason, which included two games in China, is finally over. Mike White Jersey . The triple gold medallist from the 2010 Paralympics tweeted on Tuesday: "Woke up with a virus yesterday. Timing couldnt be much worse. 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Yes, theyre a resilient bunch and that was the case again in Cleveland as they clawed back from a 21-point deficit - even taking a brief fourth-quarter lead - but its been masking the underlying issue. Theyre an open-faced sandwich, missing the top bun. "You cant play in this league that way and expect to come back each and every night," Casey said after Torontos 102-100 loss to the Cavaliers. "Its bit us more than weve won, it feels like." "Until we fix that, among us, among ourselves, then its going to be an uphill battle every night." For the second time in three days, the Raptors trailed by nine after the first quarter, allowing another team with a losing record, also missing their best player, to shoot above 52 per cent to open the game. The start was eerily similar to Sundays, at home to Atlanta, lacking effort, focus and purpose on both ends of the floor. Even without injured point guard Kyrie Irving, Cleveland killed the visiting Raptors with speed and precision, exposing a reoccurring hole in their interior defence by darting into the paint at will. The comeback was inevitable. Its what they do. Down by 21 early in the third, Toronto staged a 21-9 run to close out the quarter. Kyle Lowry - running back and forth from the locker room all night, battling an upset stomach - scored half of his team-high 22 points in the frame. Greivis Vasquez would give the Raptors their first lead since the opening minutes, draining a three-pointer midway through the fourth before reality set in. "I think everybodys energy was low from having to come back," Lowry said. From that moment on they hit just one of their final 10 shots and on the last possession, down only two, they failed to even get one off. It was a play they had just run with success. Amir Johnson was looking for Lowry to turn the corner, but he was cut off. Instead, Vasquez took the handoff and, trying to spin right, towards the bucket, he lost his footing. "It was me going to my weak hand and I lost my balance, stepped kind of weird," said Vasquez, who scored 16 points of Torontos bench. "I turned the ball over. Ill take responsibility. Im not going to run away. Im a man." A noble gesture but, as Casey pointed out, its not the reason for the loss. "Thats not the game-decider," the Raptors coach said. "The game was decided the way we approached the first quarter." "Its easy to get up for OKC, its easy to get up for Miami, its easy to get up for Indiana but the teams that are not in the playoff picture, they are playing for something, too," he continued.dddddddddddd "Theyre playing for pride, which is probably a little bit more dangerous than guys trying to save minutes and save themselves for the playoffs." Theres a lesson to be learned from this loss and it shouldnt take long to figure out whether or not its been absorbed. The Raptors - now the Easts fourth seed, leapfrogged by the Bulls with Tuesdays defeat - will travel to Boston in the second night of a back-to-back and first game of a home-and-home set with the Celtics, another scrappy team looking to play spoiler. "Weve got to get the mindset of being the hunter instead of the hunted because," Casey added. "Thats how we got where we are, being a desperate team, a hungry team and not believing the press clippings or where we are in the standings." Birthday blues Although Lowry would have preferred to celebrate his 28th birthday with a win, the Raptors point guard recorded his 18th double-double with 10 assists to go along with his 22 points. Lowry extended his career-high streak of 19 or more points to 10 games and also became the first Raptor to score 20-plus in eight straight since Chris Bosh did so in 2010. Amir passes VC on blocks list With his third-quarter swat on Spencer Hawes, Johnson recorded his 416th block as a member of the Raptors, passing Vince Carter for second on the teams all-time block shots list. Johnson, who had 12 points and nine rebounds on Tuesday, still has a ways to go to catch Bosh, topping the franchise list with 600 blocks. Patterson nearing a return Patrick Patterson, who has missed 10 straight games with an ulnar collateral sprain in his right elbow, was reassessed on Monday and is headlong well, the team revealed before Tuesdays game in Cleveland. Although hes been cleared for contact, theres still no timetable for his return to game action. "Its a lot up to the medical staff and when they feel he can go," Casey said. "Its one of those things where if he gets hit in the wrong way it could be trouble for a lot longer so thats why they want to make sure its well enough." The stat The Raptors fell just short of matching their largest comeback of the season. They last overcame a 21-point deficit in their home win over Dallas on Jan. 22. Toronto hasnt had multiple wins in which theyve trailed by 20 or more points in the same season since 2004-05. The quote "Weve just got to understand what were playing for," Vasquez said. "Weve got a big one tomorrow [in Boston]. Its a must-win because were actually playing for something. If you dont get up for that youve got to get your gas up. Weve just got to be motivated, man. This is crunch time. This is important for us. Tomorrows a must-win, no matter what. No excuses." 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