TORONTO - Masai Ujiri and Tim Leiweke envision a training facility that will be both the talk of the NBA and a home to young Can

TORONTO - Masai Ujiri and Tim Leiweke envision a training facility that will be both the talk of the NBA and a home to young Canadian players — a "Field of Dreams" facility that they say will help bring basketballs best to Toronto. Phil McConkey Youth Jersey . Ujiri and Leiweke unveiled plans on Friday for the $30-million practice facility that will be built on the grounds of Exhibition Place, pending a city council vote on Wednesday. The deal for the 65,000 square-foot facility, which is set to open in time for the 2016 NBA all-star game in Toronto, was approved unanimously by the citys executive committee on Wednesday. "One of the major reasons were building this is to keep our guys, so for a guy like Kyle Lowry (who signed a multi-year deal in July), he knows exactly what were doing here and that was important to his thinking about the commitment that this ownership group has made toward our basketball team," said Leiweke, the outgoing CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. MLSEs soccer club Toronto FC practises at the KIA Training Ground just north of downtown Toronto, while the MasterCard Centre just west of downtown is the training home of hockeys Maple Leafs and Marlies. The Raptors practise and play at the ACC, where players have the added off-day hassle of concert crowds or hockey games, and the training room is so small that Ujiri said three players getting treatment is a crowd. Ujiri and his staff took a peek in top facilities across North America to gather ideas. "We took ideas from everybody," said the Raptors GM. "Masai turned out to be a really good thief," Leiweke added. "We visited the best facilities in football and basketball, pro and college, and I think I went to maybe five or six of them. I know combined, my whole staff, we probably went to 12 or 13 of them, which is awesome," Ujiri said. "We get to see the University of Oregon, its spectacular, you cant even believe thats a college. You go to some of these facilities, you go to the Clevelands (the Cavaliers training ground), you go to the University of Virginias. . . theres some really good new high-performance centres that you can really take a lot out of." The two-storey facility will be available for groups such as the Ontario Basketball Association and Canada Basketball, and its been a long time coming, said Leiweke and Ujiri, for a basketball-mad city that has boasted the last two NBA No. 1 draft picks in Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins. Leiweke arrived in Toronto from Los Angeles, where "you have all these great Meccas" of basketball such as the Lakers Toyota Training Centre and USCs Pauley Pavilion. "Now name me what people think of when they talk about the great breeding grounds, the great facilities when you think about Bennett and Wiggins and all those kids playing," Leiweke said. "And Canada Basketball has no home," he added. "They are vagabonds. This gives us a place ultimately to make a statement about what kids can aspire to be and where they want to play. I think this will have as big an impact on amateur basketball as it will on what (Ujiri) is trying to do with the Raptors." Opening its doors in time for the all-star game was key. "For the guys (Ujiri) wants to get here, whoever that might be, theyre all going to be here during all-star week. It is great we get to showcase this to an entire league in 2016, and that bodes very well in making people understand the kind of organization we aspire to be now," Leiweke said. "Its huge to keep players and to get players." Leiweke met with the media a day after he confirmed he was leaving his job as CEO of MLSE as of next June at the latest, but said he didnt regret the timing of the announcement. "I think the reason were doing this today is to prove that this is business as usual, we plow straight ahead, and anyone that has been in this organization for the past 16 months and has seen what were doing here, what they understand very clearly is that ripple caused more of a ripple in the media and the public," Leiweke said. "But internally here, we plow straight ahead and we are as damned and determined as every to finish our mission statement here. "So there will be not one change in our attitude and that wont change in our commitment and our dedication to getting our projects done, and this is one of my highest priorities." Eli Manning Jersey . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Carl Banks Giants Jersey . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. http://www.giantsonlineteamshop.com/darius-slayton-jersey-cheap.html . Azarenka needed exactly one hour in a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Austrian Yvonne Meusburger to start the night session at Laver Arena. Sharapova had a much easier time earlier in the day with cooler conditions and took full advantage in 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, while Radwanska had to rally for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.PORTLAND, Ore. -- LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the Trail Blazers lineup, happy to know that things didnt go awry without him. Portlands All-Star forward had 16 points and the Blazers won their fifth straight game with a 102-96 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Aldridge was averaging 23.9 points and 11.4 rebounds before a left groin injury caused him to miss five games. "Im not going to call guys out but I thought that they just played great," Aldridge said about the team in his absence. "I thought everybody did more, whether it was rebounding or whatever. Everybody just played better." The win moved the Blazers (41-18) a season-high 23-games over .500. After failing to make the playoffs last season, Portland sits in third place in the Western Conference. Robin Lopez led the Blazers in scoring for the first time this season with 18 points, while Nicolas Batum had a career-high 16 rebounds. "That was a solid win for us," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "We did a lot of good things. I felt like we were in control for the most part." Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and Evan Fournier scored 16 points apiece, but Denver (25-33) lost its fifth straight. Faried, who also had 10 rebounds, took a hard fall with less than two minutes left and appeared to injure his right knee, but finished out the game. Portland won all four meetings this season against Denver, its first sweep of the series since the 1999 season, when the Blazers won all three games against the Nuggets. Damian Lillards driving layup gave Portland a 100-87 lead with 4:09 left in the game and the Nuggets never really challenged. Lillard finished with 17 points. The Blazers had a bit of a rest after a 124-80 rout of Brooklyn on Wednesday night. The Nets played in Denver the next night, routing the Nuggets 112-89. "The effort was there and it was something to build off of because everybody -- the whole city of Denver -- after that loss to Brooklyn had a sour taste in our mouth," Foye said. "We just wanted to get back out there and try to give the fanss something to cheer about. Michael Strahan Youth Jersey. " The Nuggets have won just one of their last 11 games. Aldridge was greeted with a roar from the crowd at the Moda Center when he was announced as a starter. "It felt good," Aldridge said. "My timing was a little off but it felt good to be back out there playing with the guys." Second-year centre Meyers Leonard also returned after a five-game absence because of a sprained right ankle. But the Blazers did not have forwards Thomas Robinson, who has a left knee injury, and Joel Freeland, with a right knee sprain. The Nuggets were hurting, too. Top scorer Ty Lawson missed his ninth straight game with a left rib fracture. But guard Aaron Brooks, acquired before the trade deadline from Houston, played despite a sore ankle, and Wilson Chandler returned after missing a game because of a right knee sprain. Denver closed within 52-47 late in the half after a pair of free throws from Faried, but Lopezs dunk and Lillards layup helped push Portlands lead to 56-48 at the break. Lopez led all players with 12 points. Lillard, Batum and Leonard had consecutive dunks to give the Blazers an early 22-12 lead. The Blazers stretched the lead to 73-60 in the third quarter on Batums finger-roll layup. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said he liked the effort after the loss to Brooklyn, but pointed to missed free throws. Denver was 23 of 35 from the line. "You lose the game by six points and you miss 12 free throws, that can be the difference in the game," Shaw said. "I thought the team played a lot better and responded after the embarrassing game we had the other night at home against Brooklyn. So we got better tonight and Im happy with our effort." Notes: Brooks played at the University of Oregon and got warm applause during pregame game introductions. .... Batum becomes the fourth Trail Blazer this season with 16 or more rebounds in a game, joining Aldridge, Lopez and Robinson. ... It was the first time this season that no player for the Blazers or their opponent had a player with at least 20 points. ' ' '