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TORONTO -- Rudy Gay had no idea how bad his vision was until he went to renew his drivers license last year and nearly failed the test. http://www.adizxflux-fr.com/men-femme-originals-ad...sures.h tml . "They said Do you wear glasses? I said no. They said, Well you need to wear glasses," Gay recounted, with a laugh. He wasnt laughing at the time. For a guy who makes his living tossing a ball through a hoop from a distance, the news was rather disconcerting. So after a brief and unsuccessful experiment with corrective goggles, the Toronto Raptors small forward underwent surgery to correct his vision during an off-season that was otherwise devoted to improving his shooting, and beefing up his body. One day into training camp, and Gay said hes feeling like a much-improved player than the one who led the Raptors in scoring last season but also had career lows in both field goal and three-point percentage. He joked that any improvement in his game this season will be credited solely to his better vision. "Honestly, I was talking to my trainer, and he said if you come out and have a great season its going to be because of your eye, not because of the work you put in," Gay said. The 27-year-old Gay wouldnt wear contact lenses, as he had an aversion to touching his eyes. The Raptors medical staff provided him with prescription goggles but he wasnt keen on those either. So he underwent surgery early in the summer, which he said wasnt fun. "Recovery was horrible, it was terrible," Gay said. "Probably (lasted) about two weeks. First week I couldnt see, second week I could. And then months and months of putting eye drops in. "But it was one of those things that needed to happen if I wanted to continue my career." Gay averaged 19.5 points to top Toronto in scoring after he was acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies in a mid-season trade. The Raptors went 16-30 prior to the trade, and finished 18-18 with Gay on the roster. Still, he was far from his best, shooting a career-low 40.8 per cent -- down from his career high of 47.1 per cent two seasons earlier -- and 31 per cent from three-point range. So he committed every day of the off-season, he said, to being a better shooter. "I started from the basics. . . form, worked on my form. From there just rhythm, shooting, shooting, shooting, becoming comfortable with it. "I made about 300 shots a day, sometimes more, on a light day probably 300." Gay has been criticized for taking low-percentage shots -- namely long two-pointers. But at the urging of Raptors coach Dwane Casey, he sounds like hes starting to see the light when it comes to shot selection. Casey said hes been drilling Gay and Torontos other sharpshooter DeMar DeRozan about higher percentage shots. "Corner threes, paint, get to the rim, get to the free throw line, and subsequently shooting percentage is going to go up," Casey said. Gay spent a lot of summer working on his three-point shooting, and pointed out that at the end of Monday mornings practice, the entire team was doing a three-point drills. "I got it from the coaches that were going to be a team thats going to get a lot of threes up, and obviously if it comes from the top, youve got to practise it," he said. Gay also said he put on 20 pounds of muscle working with his trainer Dustin Gray back home in Baltimore. "Hopefully you can see it," Gay said laughing, puffing out his chest ever so slightly. "Maybe I should do some push-ups or something. "My trainer basically lived with me." The weight gain, said Casey, was by design, and with the intention of using Gay at power forward rather than small forward. "We talked about it, because when you look at the Eastern Conference, youve got Carmelo, LeBron, big threes playing fours, and he wants to do that and it fits us really well too, him going to the four," Casey said. "What he doesnt want to do is gain a lot of unneeded weight, just some good solid (muscle), which hes done. Hes really solid in his upper body. You can see it, it looks good. If it helps him psychologically, making contact, getting to the rim, its great. "Its going to help him be in the paint a little bit more. When you get caught outside in that non-paint area, to drop that shoulder, use your body to get into the paint to create a foul, contact, and get to the free-throw line." Casey calls Gay one of the top offensive players in the league, and said the main thing missing that could make him an all-star is winning. "Winning gets you in that conversation of being one of the top players in this league," Casey said. "The league rewards winners." Granted training camp is only a day old, but Gay has seemed more at ease, cracking jokes with reporters. When someone pointed out to Casey that Gay seems happier than he did last season, the coach said everyone was. "I think theres a different vibe," Casey said. The coach said it starts with Masai Ujiri, the Raptors new president and general manager. "Masai gave them an impassioned speech (Monday) night about what he expects from them, the passion guys have to play with, leaving all the problems all the issues, check them at the door. It sets a tone, and thats been huge," Casey said. "Hes empowered everybody to do their job. The cop-outs are gone, now its about playing and having fun, and the way you have fun is by kicking peoples butts and competing." The Raptors practise at the Air Canada Centre until Thursday and then training camp moves to Halifax for two days. They open the pre-season Monday at Boston, and are back home to host the Minnesota Timberwolves next Wednesday. http://www.adizxflux-fr.com/adidas-originals-zx-70...65876.h tml .Benfica leads Porto by six points before it visits Pacos Ferreira on Monday.Bruno Gallo scored what proved to be Maritimos winner with a left-footed volley in the 32nd minute. http://www.adizxflux-fr.com/femme-adidas-springbla...rgent.h tml . -- Samuel Henley scored twice, including the game winner, as the Val-dOr Foreurs doubled up the host Shawinigan Cataractes 4-2 on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play.NEW YORK, N.Y. - Defending champion Spain and stars Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta will train in the Washington, D.C., area next week. England and Wayne Rooney arrive Sunday for a week of workouts in Miami. Ivory Coast and Didier Drogba have games in St. Louis and Texas. But instead of preparing for the World Cup against top teams and global stars, the United States arranged a sendoff series against No. 85 Azerbaijan, No. 39 Turkey and No. 44 Nigeria. Not that U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann didnt try to schedule tougher opponents. "Youre trying to find the best teams that suit you. Its not that easy anymore," he said leading to Sundays exhibition against the Turks at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. When the U.S. contacted high-profile teams, Klinsmann said they backed off. "Has to do a little bit with our results of the last two years," he added. Since Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley in July 2011, the U.S. beat Italy for the first time in 11 games over 78 years, defeated Mexico in Mexico for the first time in 75 years and qualified for its seventh straight World Cup. Klinsmann chose Stanford University for a two-week training camp that opened May 14, and the Americans started their prep schedule Tuesday with a 2-0 win over the Azerbaijanis — coached by Berti Vogts, a special adviser to Klinsmann. The American defence and goalkeeper Tim Howard were hardly tested, and the U.S. offence seemed to be slowed by heavy legs following a physically demanding training camp. "Now the teams start progressively getting harder," defender Omar Gonzalez said. "I think its a great three games for us, and its just an opportunity for us to shore things up, to gain a little bit of confidence." Turkey hasnt appeared at the World Cup since 2002, when the Crescent-Stars finished third after losing to eventual champion Brazil 1-0 in the semifinals, then lost to Germanny in the semis of the 2008 European Championship. http://www.adizxflux-fr.com/homme-femme-couples-ni...9-600.h tml. The Turks finished fourth in their qualifying group for this World Cup, behind the Netherlands, Romania and Hungary. Preparing for the start of 2016 European Championship qualifying, Turkey won 2-1 at Ireland last weekend on goals by Ahmet Ilhan Ozek and Tarik Camdal, then beat World Cup-bound Honduras 2-0 Thursday at Washingtons RFK Stadium when Mevlut Erdinc scored in the 70th minute and set up Caner Erkins goal on a counterattack in the 83rd. "Turkey is an unpredictable team. Its a team that has a lot of individual skills and they are good players that can make a difference in half a second," Klinsmann said. "We need games that really keep us on our toes. We need games that especially for our back line ... that challenges them not to lose focus and concentration, not even for one moment in our game. Otherwise you get punished, and that costs you badly." Four years ago, the U.S. rallied to beat the Turks 2-1 in Philadelphia, getting second-half goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey in the Americans final game before they headed to the World Cup in South Africa. The Turks have been without Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan, who missed last weekends Champions League final against Real Madrid because of a sore hip, but Borussia Dortmunds Nuri Sahin is on the roster. After this, the only pre-World Cup exhibition left for the Americans is on June 7 against Nigeria at Jacksonville, Florida. Thats followed by a scrimmage in Sao Paulo against Belgium on June 12. One question is whether Klinsmann changes his back four of right back Fabian Johnson, central defenders Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler and left back DaMarcus Beasley. "Were not worried about the results," Klinsmann said. "Even if we would have a negative result in these preparation games, we would take it the right way." 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