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New Raptors centre Aron Baynes rejuvenated career with 3-point stroke – Sportsnet.ca

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Aron Baynes has played 469 games across his eight NBA seasons and a good number more over three years playing professionally in Europe before making the jump to North America. He won an NBA championship in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs. He’s suited up for the Australian national team – his beloved green and gold – nearly every summer he’s had a chance, counting three World Cups and two Olympics on his resume.

There were four NCAA tournament appearances in his four years at Washington State, and another 122 games played there.

It’s a lot of years and a lot of games. But what about the one he played on March 31, 2018 against the Raptors when he was a member of the Boston Celtics? Boston won 110-99.

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Does he remember that one?

Turns out he does (after some prompting, but whatever.)

That night he made his first five field goals – three long twos and then consecutive three pointers – all by the midway point of the first quarter. It was notable because Baynes hasn’t been prone to scoring flurries in his career, but also because until that point he had taken only 19 threes in career, making just one – more than three years prior.

Needless to say, the Raptors weren’t exactly sprinting out to run him off the line.

“I remember definitely going out there,” he said on an introductory conference call Wednesday after he signed with the Raptors as a free agent on Sunday. “And you know, you’re going to remember a game when you go 2-of-2 the first time in your career. So yeah, definitely good memories. But yeah, I haven’t looked back since and still trying to get better.”

It’s not too much of a stretch to say it was the game – even the moment – that started him on a journey that led him to signing with Toronto on a two-year deal for $14.3 million (albeit with no guarantee on the second year) that will likely see him become the team’s starting centre in the wake of the departure of Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol.

The season following his breakout game against the Raptors, Baynes took 61 threes and made 21 while mostly coming off the bench for the Celtics. Last season — having moved on to the Phoenix Suns — he stepped out to the three-point line 169 times in 42 games, converting on 35 per cent, or right about the league average, including a magical night against Portland when he knocked down nine threes on 14 attempts on his way to a career-high 37 points.

Given the nature of the way the game has changed, being able to draw defences out to the three-point line has become a vital tool in a big man’s arsenal, and given the five-out, drive-and-kick attack favoured by the Raptors under Nick Nurse, it’s become essential for bigs that play for Toronto.

For Baynes, those two shots against the Raptors had been a long time coming, a part of his game he’d been working on since his rookie season with the Spurs, under the guidance of renowned shooting coach Chip Engelland, but it took years for him to be comfortable shooting threes in an NBA game.

With the Spurs, his role was fairly limited, so he wasn’t in a position to start letting it fly from deep. In his two years with the Detroit Pistons then-head coach Stan Van Gundy hadn’t fully embraced the ‘stretch-5’ concept, so it wasn’t really on the menu there.

But Baynes kept at it, putting his time in after regular practice honing a shot he rarely took but he believed could extend his career.

In Boston, both head coach Brad Stevens and president Danny Ainge would see him stretching out his range after practice and made a point of letting him know he had a green light.

“I’d had numerous discussions with both Brad and Danny and they kept telling me to shoot the ball,” Baynes recalled. “And you’re a little bit hesitant at first because it’s something different in the NBA. I’ve been doing it internationally for a while, but it’s a little bit different for the NBA game, and as soon as you see one go down though, then you don’t see a poor reaction from the coach or anyone else, everyone’s like, ‘come on, keep shooting that’ it doesn’t take long to buy into it and want to take as many as you can if they’re good shots.

“So yeah, that’s when I really started realizing that if I just slow down and don’t rush things and shoot within rhythm, it’s usually a pretty good shot.”

Prior to that night, Baynes’ game was very much about sticking to his knitting: bone-crunching screens, using his barrel chest to take up offensive players’ space and otherwise making trips into the paint an unfortunate experience for others, all while commanding the defence vocally from the back and cleaning up well around the basket on offence.

All those qualities are still very much part of the Baynes experience, but being able to spread the floor and be a credible above-the-line outlet or a pick-and-pop threat has given Baynes – who will turn 34 before the season starts in December – added momentum at a stage when a lot of careers are beginning to wind down.

While losing Gasol and Ibaka in a single weekend is nothing to be glossed over, between Baynes’ ability to keep opponents honest from deep and his reputation as one of the league’s better team defenders, the hope is he will be a more than adequate replacement. He’s eager to lend his pleasing Australian accent to the cause of directing traffic on defence.

“As much as the offence is fun, I always love playing defence,” said Baynes. “I think that is where you can really change a game and I always try and lock in on that first and foremost. The best way for me to do that is being vocal and talking to everyone. I would rather err on the side of talking too much than not talking enough on defence. I think with communication you can sort out a lot of mistakes that will happen because inevitably they are going to when you play against the best players in the world.

“I’m looking forward to going out there and playing within Nick’s system. I know it’s going to be a little bit different, we’ll give teams different looks, but that makes it even more entertaining for me. It’s always fun when you see a team come down and there’s a bit of confusion in their faces. You know you are doing something right and the game is hopefully going to swing a bit in your favour as soon as you see that.’

It’s a quality that should make him a good fit in Toronto and one the main reasons the Raptors turned to him almost instantly after it was clear that both Ibaka and Gasol were not going to return as they signed in Los Angeles with the Clippers and the Lakers, respectively.

Baynes was happy to get the call.

“Yeah, 48 hours is pretty late in this recent free agency,” said Baynes. “It was a long time. It was a very long 48 hours. But they say good things come to those who wait so I was looking forward to a few opportunities out there and this was definitely one of them. I knew there was always an option and I was just hoping for a good situation.”

His road to the Raptors started, it turns out, on a pair of made threes.

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Sault duo celebrates historic perfect season for university hockey team – SooToday

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With some help from a pair of Sault products, the University of New Brunswick Reds men’s hockey team capped off a historic perfect season over the weekend with a national championship.

For Cole MacKay and Camaryn Baber, a pair of childhood friends from the Sault who joined UNB’s team last season, it’s their second consecutive national championship.

UNB capped off the USPORTS national championship win on Sunday with a 4-0 win over UQTR.

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In Sunday’s win, MacKay had four shots on goal for the Reds while Baber was busy in the faceoff circle, taking 19 draws and winning eight of them.

UNB went 3-0 in the national championship tournament.

The Reds advanced to Sunday’s final by winning their semi-final game on Saturday by a 7-0 margin over Toronto Metropolitan. Baber had a goal in the win while MacKay had seven shots on goal.

UNB opened the tournament on Thursday with a 4-0 win over the Brock Badgers in quarterfinal play.

UNB won the Atlantic University Sport playoff title by running the table, first sweeping Saint Mary’s in a best-of-five semi-final series and then sweeping Moncton in a best-of-three championship series.

The Reds went 30-0 in regular season play and 38 straight including the playoffs and national championship tournament. The school’s winning streak dates back to last season’s AUS championship series when the team dropped a double-overtime decision in game two against Moncton.

UNB’s winning streak currently stands at 42 games. The team also won five exhibition games this season.

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Sean Martin takes closer look at what makes Scottie Scheffler's PLAYERS win so special – PGA TOUR – PGA TOUR

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Four of the five hardest par 4s on Sunday were on the back nine (Nos. 14, 10, 18 and 15, in order of difficulty). But the back nine also had three of Sunday’s four easiest holes (Nos. 11, 16 and 12, in order of ease). At last year’s PLAYERS, Scottie pulled five ahead by making five straight birdies on Nos. 8-12. He birdied four of those holes (Nos. 8-9, 11-12) on Sunday to tie the lead. It was almost six in a row. He missed a 12-footer for birdie on 10 and a 5-footer on 13.

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Wayne Simmonds Announces His Retirement from the National Hockey League | Philadelphia Flyers – NHL.com

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Former Philadelphia Flyer Wayne Simmonds today announced his retirement from the National Hockey League (NHL). In honor of his retirement, the Philadelphia Flyers will sign Simmonds to a one-day contract and honor his career on Saturday, April 13 when the Flyers host the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center (5 p.m. ET).

“It’s hard to describe my emotions on a day like this, but one of my very first thoughts as I look back is my life in Philadelphia and playing for the Flyers,” said Simmonds. “Taking the ice in a Flyers sweater is a special feeling and it’s one that I’m truly proud of. The history of this franchise and standard of being a Flyer that was set is unique and one that I hold in the highest regard. Perhaps the biggest reason for that is the way the fans embrace this team. It was a thrill to play for you all these years, and you mean so much to me. I’d like to thank Dan Hilferty, Keith Jones and Danny Briere for making this a special day and the fans for all their support throughout the years for me and my family.”

“I want to congratulate Wayne on an exceptional career. He was as tough and fierce of a competitor as they come. No one could ever question his commitment to his team and doing whatever it took to win, whether it was scoring goals, blocking shots, sticking up for a teammate or teaching them how to be a true professional on and off the ice,” said Chairman & CEO of Comcast Spectacor Dan Hilferty. “If there was anything that stood out more than Wayne’s dedication on the ice, it was his passion for giving back to the community. Wayne’s impact on both this city and his hometown of Scarborough through his charitable work is immeasurable and continues to be felt to this day. Simply put, Wayne Simmonds was born to be a Philadelphia Flyer and I am very proud to welcome him back.”

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“Wayne has had a tremendous career, on and off the ice, and to celebrate him and his accomplishments with the Philadelphia organization and fans on April 13 is not only fitting, but right,” said Flyers President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones. “Wayne is a special member of the Flyers family and an icon for our surrounding Philadelphia communities. It was an honor to cover his career and watch him grow into the person that he is today. Congratulations to him and his family on his well-deserved retirement from the NHL.”

“It is a privilege to congratulate Wayne on his retirement from the NHL and I look forward to celebrating his career on April 13 with our great fans,” said Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere. “He was an excellent teammate, a leader in the locker room and a class act for the Philadelphia community. He had such passion for this city and team that it was an honor to witness it all and play alongside him. I wish him all the happiness and success to him and his family as he embarks on this new chapter.”

Simmonds, 35 (8/26/88), skated in eight of his 15 NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers (2011-19). The native of Scarborough, Ontario, collected 378 points (203-175=378), 91 power-play goals, 34 game-winning goals and 786 penalty minutes in 584 games. He ranks second in franchise history in hits (1,108), T-3rd in game-deciding goals (4), sixth in shootout goals (7), seventh in PPG, T-13th in GWG and 14th in goals. The right-shot winger set career highs in scoring twice with 60 points each during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 campaigns. He led the Flyers during the 2015-16 season with a career-high 32 goals and led the team and ranked T-6th in the NHL in PPG (13) that season. Simmonds also collected 15 playoff points (5-10=15) in 30 contests with the Flyers.

Simmonds was acquired by Philadelphia on June 23, 2011 from Los Angeles along with Brayden Schenn and a second-round pick (DAL, 61st overall – Devin Shore) in the 2012 NHL Draft in exchange for Mike Richards and Rob Bordson. Simmonds represented the Flyers at the 2017 NHL All-Star Game and was named the All-Star Game MVP. He won the 2011-12 Gene Hart Memorial Award, 2015-16 Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award and the 2016-17 Bobby Clarke Trophy and Toyota Cup.

Simmonds was a finalist for the 2017-18 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award and won the award in 2018-19 with Philadelphia and Nashville. The award is presented annually to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey. During his tenure with the Flyers, Simmonds hosted “Wayne’s Warriors,” an in-game initiative in which he purchased a full season suite and donated every game to local military members. He served as a board member of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and was active with Make-A-Wish Foundation and March of Dimes. Throughout the course of his NHL career, Simmonds also founded “Wayne’s Road Hockey Warriors” which was a summer ball hockey tournament hosted in his hometown of Scarborough that allowed children to experience the game who otherwise would not be able to do so due to a lack of resources.

Simmonds registered 526 career points (263-263=526) in 1,037 NHL regular season games in 15 seasons with Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Nashville, New Jersey, Buffalo and Toronto (2008-23). He recorded 22 playoff points (8-14=22) in 53 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests with the Kings, Flyers, Predators and Maple Leafs. He skated in his 1,000th NHL regular season game on March 5, 2022 with Toronto and was originally selected by Los Angeles in the second round (61st overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft.

Internationally, Simmonds represented Canada at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship (gold) and at the 2013 and 2017 (silver) IIHF World Championships.

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