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TORONTO - Sitting in the home of assistant coach Bill Bayno one February evening, Jonas Valanciunas fretted over the slump that had befallen him. Wholesale Penguins Jerseys . "Im not scoring," the young centre griped, as he and his most devoted mentor watched film, hoping to get to the bottom of the recent on-court funk that was beginning to wear on his confidence. JV, youre 21-years-old," Bayno responded. "Theres no centres in the league your age that are even playing much less averaging 10 points a game. Youve had great games [but] when you have a two-point game, going up against a really good, tough [centre], you cant get upset about it." His message, the teams message, has never wavered. "Youve got to do the other things to help us win." With that in mind Bayno put pen to paper, drawing up a list of attainable goals for Valanciunas, a cheat sheet consisting of basic fundamentals that can now be found taped to the right side of his locker. Outwork, outrun, sprint[Set] great, legal screensStep to [your] manBlock out And it goes on like that. "He got really down on himself when he went through that tough stretch," Bayno explained. "So we just really sat down and talked and [I] said, look, its no secret, JV, these are the things youve got to do." "Youre going to have some ups and downs," he told the second-year pro, "but Im going to write it in your locker, so every day before the game you see, this is what you have to do on a nightly basis." "Everything thats on that sheet is what we work on." Its a simplistic tool but one that the Raptors first-year assistant feels strongly about, one that has yielded proven results throughout his coaching career. Admired for his innovative player development techniques and his passion for molding young talent, Bayno first adopted this method of teaching on one of his regular trips to Africa, about a decade ago. There he met Michael Scholl. The two would become good friends and Bayno eventually hired Scholl as his assistant at Loyola Marymount University in 2008. Scholl - who spent eight years in Africa running an AIDS prevention campaign and implementing youth basketball leagues - introduced Bayno to an old Harvard study, something he used himself to motivate the children he taught there. The study correlated the success of students with writing down their goals and displaying them in their dorms. Bayno, like Scholl before him, applied that principle to basketball. "Having those goals, having them written out where they see them every day I think is huge and its been proven," said Bayno, who is also planning on employing that strategy with the Raptors other sophomore, Terrence Ross. "The vets dont need it. The vets will laugh at you if you try to do it. They really dont need it anyway. I could say to Chuck (Hayes), remember five games ago, you had that kick out situation, you missed a kick out. Hell say, yep, and hell know exactly the play. But the young kids need it." Bayno has spent more one-on-one time with Valanciunas than anyone on the staff this season. Whether hes sparring with JV in the post - wearing his trademark forearm pads to simulate in-game physicality - throwing out-of-reach passes to him in practice or hosting him at his house for an extra film session, Baynos fingerprints are all over the sophomores continued development. "He works with me a lot actually," Valanciunas said of Bayno. "Hes helped me a lot, especially on the post-up moves. Now I feel much more comfortable going against those guys, like big centres. What were working on every day is helping." Bayno, like head coach Dwane Casey and the rest of the Raptors staff, has worked to manage Valanciunas own expectations and lesson the external pressure that he faces as an emerging star in the league. Theyre not overly concerned with his scoring totals or the number of touches he gets in the post. He shouldnt be either. They know his value, at least this season, cant be measured using a box score. Instead they hope to lay down a foundation for the future. His role is to do the things he can control, to master the basic fundamentals of the game that will ensure his longevity in the league. The "little things" as Bayno calls them. "Were a good team because hes accepted his role and hes done all the little things," said Bayno, formally an assistant in Portland and with the Timberwolves. "I really believe hes going to be a good scorer in this league." "Im not expecting a lot of point production every night out of him," echoed Casey. "If he gives it to us, its great but I dont want to put that kind of pressure on him. Hes growing, hes a second-year guy. Im not going to expect him to get 23 points, 24 points every night. If he does, its gravy. If he runs the floor, rebounds, plays defence, for this team, this year, thats great. I promise you, his offence is going to come. We all want it to hurry up and get here yesterday but Im more concerned about him picking up the speed of the game, the rebounding, defending the low post, defending his position and reacting in the half-court game. His career is going to be long enough. Hes going to be a scorer in this league two or three years from now." A month ago at this time Valanciunas was pressing. The touches were not there every night, his scoring numbers dipped, as did his playing time. More often than not Casey would opt for a smaller, more experienced lineup late in games. Valanciunas was frustrated. Then the card went up in his locker. He sees it nearly each day, before and after every home game. Currently, hes playing some of the best basketball of his young career. Whether his improved play is related or a happy coincidence, he has been carrying out the very tasks Casey and company have been emphasizing. In Sundays win over Atlanta, Valanciunas recorded his team-leading 19th double-double of the season after totaling eight as a rookie a year ago. He played 33 minutes, attempting just four shots while matching a career-high with nine made free throws. His impact on the game was understated, yet significant. His point production has gone up but, as Casey points out, hes not necessarily seeing more touches. Instead hes working for them. Hes running the floor, hes rebounding, hes getting to the line and as a result hes playing more and closing out games. He understands how his bread is buttered, at least for the time being. "Im not a scoring machine," Valanciunas acknowledged. "Im a worker. My job is to get a rebound, to set a screen to make DeMar (DeRozan) open, or Kyle (Lowry) open, or [Ross] open, whoever is playing on the perimeter. My job is to box out [and] go for offensive rebounds. Thats my job." In less than four weeks, Valanciunas will make his first playoff appearance. Although hes peaking at the right time of season, the internal expectations havent changed. Outwork your man, set hard screens, box out, run the floor, do the little things. Hes heard them every day since arriving in training camp five months ago. Hes practiced them. Only now, handwritten in bright, unmistakable lettering, they stare him in the face. Cheap Penguins Jerseys China .com) - Sporting Kansas City announced Thursday that club has signed former on-loan midfielder Jimmy Medranda to a permanent contract from Colombian side Deportivo Pereira. Cheap Adidas Penguins Jerseys . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. http://www.adidaspenguinsjerseys.com/ . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk.The Chicago Blackhawks made a move, dealing with former GM Dale Tallon to re-acquire a member of their 2010 Stanley Cup team. Numbers Game looks at the deal sending Kris Versteeg to the Blackhawks for a couple of prospects. The Blackhawks Get: RW Kris Versteeg and LW Philippe Lefebvre. Versteeg, 27, is off to a relatively slow start this season, with two goals, seven points and a minus-9 rating in 18 games, but there are reasons to actually be positive about his play, even as he is coming back from reconstructive knee surgery. First off, Versteeg has relatively strong possession stats, and was horribly unlucky, particularly on the defensive end, where Panthers goaltenders provided an abysmal .871 even-strength save percentage with Versteeg on the ice. In the offensive end, Versteeg has scored on a carer-low 4.3% of his shots. Since he has scored on 11.9% of his shots over the course of his career, its reasonable to expect that rate to go up. Additionally, it could be troubling if Versteegs low point production was a function of not getting opportunities, perhaps indicating that he cant even get into scoring position, but thats not the case. Versteeg has a career-high 2.61 shots on goal per game despite playing a career-low 15:42 per game for the Panthers. Versteeg also hasnt had a great deal of consistency in terms of linemates in Florida. His most common linemates have been C Scott Gomez and LW Jonathan Huberdeau, but has also spent time with rookie C Aleksander Barkov, LW Tomas Fleischmann, LW Scottie Upshall and C Marcel Goc. In Chicago, Versteeg can slide into a third-line role, but has the skill to work on the power play and move up the lineup if need be. Hes a four-time 20-goal scorer who finished the 2011-2012 season with a career-high 54 points. Since leaving Chicago in the summer of 2010, Versteeg has played for Toronto, Philadelphia and Florida. The Panthers will eat half of what remains on Versteegs contract (and cap hit) through the life of the deal, which runs through the 2015-2016 season. Half of his four-year, $17.6-million deal counts as $2.2-million per year against the cap, with a slightly higher cash outlay over the next couple seasons. Lefebvre is an undrafted 22-year-olld winger who has split his time between the AHL and ECHL in his first two pro campaigns. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys. . He has 18 points in 92 AHL games, so hes a longshot to be anything more than a minor-league contributor. His inclusion in the deal is likely more about giving the Panthers flexibility since they have 48 (of a possible 50) players under contract. The Panthers Get: RW Jimmy Hayes and D Dylan Olsen. Hayes, who turns 24 next week, is a 6-foot-6 winger who hasnt been able to stick as a regular with the Blackhawks, but has 13 points and relatively unimpressive possession numbers in 43 career NHL games, though he has tallied 29 goals and 53 points in 80 AHL games since the start of last season. It could be an interesting fit if the Panthers were to pair Hayes with 6-foot-6 C Nick Bjugstad, a mix of towering collegiate forwards who have some skill to go with their size. Even if Hayes fits lower on the depth chart, he should get a legitimate opportunity to prove that hes capable of handling an NHL job. Olsen, a 22-year-old who was a first-round pick in 2009, played 28 games for the Blackhawks in 2011-2012, finishing with one assist and minus-5 rating. He has 30 points in 152 AHL games since leaving the University of Minnesota-Duluth and needs to play a steadier game if hes going to be anything more than a fringe NHLer. Its understandable that the Panthers, in a rebuilding mode, dont necessarily see the value in a 27-year-old winger who is on the wrong end of percentages early this season, not viewing Versteeg as part of the solution to their current problems. But even if that is the case, its fair to question a process that brings two Tallon draft picks (from his time as Blackhawks GM) as the return, particularly when the Panthers were willing to take on half of the financial obligation due to Versteeg over the next two-and-three-quarter seasons. Maybe Hayes and Olsen are going to make it as NHLers in South Florida, but it appears that what made them most qualified for this trade is that they were familiar commodities to the Panthers general manager. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '