With a new management team in place and the addition of a couple of key role players, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey is hopeful his team can make the jump into a playoff position in 2013-14. Speaking on TSN 1050s Macko & Cauz show on Tuesday, the third-year bench boss is excited to see how his new pieces blend with the teams young core. “We needed toughness inside to go along with Jonas Valanciunas), Amir Johnson and Aaron Gray and we brought in Tyler Hansbrough, who I think our fans will be excited about.” To go along with the former Pacers power forward, the team addressed its perimeter shooting need via the Andrea Bargnani deal and in free agency. “We needed three-point shooting and we got Steve Novak and Austin Daye, who is a young untapped talented player who has three-point shooting ability.” Following a 17-32 start, the Raptors played the rest of the season one game over .500, in part because of a renewed emphasis on the defensive end. “We will get back to defence and let the offence take care of itself,” Casey said. “I thought Masai (Ujiri), Jeff (Weltman) and our management team did an excellent job of bringing in the type of players that will fit our needs.” Still, the team finished four games out of a playoff spot and new president and CEO Tim Leiweke decided to make a change in the basketball operations department, replacing former GM Bryan Colanagelo with Ujiri. Casey said Ujiri and Leiweke operate differently than Coloangelo in that the former GM took a more hands-on approach than the current structure. “Bryans management style is more hands on. Hes there every day, hes involved…Theres nothing wrong with that, its just a different management style.” Casey is confident where the team is headed, but noted that the expectation of a playoff spot last season may have been too unrealistic. “I thought we put the cart before the horse last year in talking about the playoffs too soon, we were still building…Adding Rudy, adding some of the pieces we have now, weve accelerated that building.” Casey mentioned that while the team is positioned to make a playoff push this season, the overall focus is still on growing and developing the talented core they have in place. “We have good young talent thats getting better, but at the same time we want to win. We owe it to our fans, we owe it to our organization to put our best foot forward and go out to compete to win.” Air Max From China . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. Cheap Authentic Air Max . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. https://www.airmaxchina.us/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Fake Air Max . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Cheap Air Max Free Shipping . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period.ATLANTA -- Justin Thomas weaved through the Duke defense on a 50-yard run, finally clinching a Georgia Tech win with less than 2 minutes remaining.After ending the crucial run with a slide, Thomas rose to walk back to his teammates with the added swagger that showed he knew this had been a special day.Thomas ran and threw for a combined 459 yards with four touchdowns and Georgia Tech recovered after blowing a three-touchdown lead to beat Duke 38-35 on Saturday.Im out there trying to have fun, just enjoying the moment, embracing it, Thomas said.Thomas ran for a career-high 195 yards with two touchdowns and threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first Georgia Tech player with 400 yards of total offense since George Godseys school-record 477 yards against Virginia in 2001.Hats off to Justin Thomas, said Duke linebacker Ben Humphreys. Its probably the best game hes had in his career. Watching on film, hes a different player in person.Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he told Thomas after the game `Young man, you played like a senior.Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said Dukes defense forced Thomas to keep the ball on option plays.I thought he played very well today, Johnson said. He made plays.Said Thomas: Its just me trying to be aggressive.Georgia Tech (5-3, 2/3 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a streak of two straight losses to Duke (3-5, 0-4).Duke running back Jela Duncan, who ran for two touchdowns, suffered a lower leg injury that Cutcliffe said appears to be season-ending.Cutcliffe called the injury news really just gut-wrenching.After trailing 28-7 at halftime, Duke took advantage of two Georgia Tech turnovers and a fourth-down stop to score 28 of the next 31 points for a 35-31 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Daniel Jones 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Daniel Helm gave the Blue Devils the lead. It was Helms second touchdown catch.Thomas annd the Yellow Jackets had a quick answer.dddddddddddd Thomas was chased out of the Georgia Tech end zone for a 46-yard run before completing a 21-yard touchdown pass to Clinton Lynch.FOURTH AND NONE: No team has converted a fourth down on Dukes defense this season. Add Georgia Tech to the list after Marcus Allen was stopped on a fourth-and-1 run early in the fourth quarter. It was the ninth straight fourth-down stop for Duke. Georgia Techs offense is 8 for 15 on fourth-down conversions.GREEN HURTGeorgia Tech running back J.J. Green couldnt put weight on his right leg and was helped to the locker room in the third quarter. Georgia Tech announced Green wouldnt return but provided no other update on his injury.THE TAKEAWAYDuke: The Blue Devils showed heart in not giving up after it appeared Georgia Tech put the game away in the first half. Though overshadowed by Thomas, Jones also posted big numbers as he passed for 305 yards with two touchdowns and ran for 73 yards. But the Blue Devils couldnt overcome three first-half turnovers, including Duncans two lost fumbles.Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets were hurt by their inability to make a third-down stop, a continued problem that stands in the way of Georgia Techs hopes of competing for the Coastal Division title. Georgia Tech is last in the ACC in third-down defense and Duke was successful on eight of 13 third downs. Georgia Tech allowed a season-high 559 yards.UP NEXTDuke: The Blue Devils will try again for their first ACC win when they return to Durham to play No. 25 Virginia Tech next Saturday.Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets begin a stretch of two straight road games against Top 25 teams when they play at No. 21 North Carolina next week.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '