Former Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo addressed his tanking comments made at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference in Toronto on Friday and admitted it was merely a poor choice of words. Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. It didnt make it easy to lose games but there was anticipation that games would be lost. With that comes curtain rewards and in the system that we currently play under, the team with the worst record gets the greatest odds and a non-playoff team is in a lottery that can ultimately lead to them getting top-notch talent coming to their team." Colangelo said the team was happy getting Terrence Ross in the first round (8th overall) of the 2012 draft and would never tell a coach to lose games since it can only have negative long-term effects. "Coach was doing such a fabulous job with the group that there certainly was no intentional losing going on because we won far too many games than anyone anticipated and it put us in a position to still get a nice draft pick in Terrance Ross," said Colangelo. "But it certainly decreased our odds of getting the top choice, which was a franchise centre in Anthony Davis." Colangelo talked about when the team faced heavy scrutiny when they picked Jonas Valanciunas, who was selected in the first round (5th overall) in 2011. "We got booed off the stage when the announcement was made but that was the right pick for this organization. It was not an easy one to make knowing that Jonas would not be made available for at least a year and maybe more if the buyout hadnt been successfully negotiated. We knew it was going to be a tough scenario going into a new year without the inclusion of a top draft pick but the following season we also knew that not only would Jonas be coming but another fairly high-value draft selection - unknown at the time - would be helping us as well. Not to mention we would have cap space and greater developed players at that point." The Raptors finished the 2011-12 season with a 23-43 record, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference, 12 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the final playoff spot in the East, and the eighth-worst record in the NBA. The team neither rose nor fell in the lottery, receiving the eighth-overall pick in the 2012 draft where they selected Ross out of the University of Washington. The 2007 NBA Executive of the Year (with the Phoenix Suns) was speaking at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference on a proposal currently in front of the NBA Board of Governors which would see the draft lottery and any incentive to bottom out eliminated. "Admittedly, I will say, I tried to tank a couple years ago," said Colangelo to the conference. "And I didnt come out and say, Coach (Dwane Casey), youve got to lose games. I never said that. I wanted to have him establish a winning tradition and a culture and all of that, but I wanted to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players, and with that comes losing. Theres just no way to avoid that, but I never once said, Youve got to lose this game." Colangelo was relieved of his general manager position last May in favour of Masai Ujiri and eventually resigned his post as Raptors president the following month. Paul George Shoes For Sale . Case in point: LeBron James vs. Ben McLemore. James was driving to the rim in the first quarter and McLemore decided to try to take the charge, which was quite admirable and predictably futile. Paul George Shoes Deals . Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, president of the EOM (Municipal Olympic Company), will be leaving her post but will remain as an advisor, a city hall statement said Tuesday. https://www.cheappaulgeorgeshoes.com/. The Sioux Falls Canaries scored two in the seventh and three more in the eighth to come back from a 3-0 deficit and defeat the Winnipeg Goldeyes 5-3 in front of 6,769 at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon. Clearance Paul George Shoes . According to Tony Barrett of The Times, the Liverpool captain is set to announce that he will leave the club at the end of the 2014-15 season. Paul George Shoes Free Shipping . Sundays race will be held at the Sepang circuit, adjacent to Kuala Lumpurs main airport where the ill-fated flight took off earlier this month. Authorities now say it is almost certain it crashed in the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people aboard.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Charlotte Hornets needed overtime to get past arguably the NBAs worst team last season for their first win of 2014-15. The Hornets will try to prevail in the 48 minutes allotted Saturday versus the Memphis Grizzlies at Time Warner Cable Arena. Charlotte recorded a 108-106 overtime triumph versus the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and was led by Kemba Walkers 26 points. Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist registered 19 and 17 points, respectively, while Al Jefferson posted 14 and 10 rebounds. Jefferson recorded a double-double for a 10th straight regular-season game dating back to last season. Walker hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds to go in regulation. His basket with 5.1 seconds left in overtime was the difference. Lance Stephenson made his Hornets debut and had seven points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Charlotte shot 40.6 percent for the game and made only 6-of-21 3-pointers. It rallied in the fourth quarter by scoring 32 points to Milwaukees 17 and had an 8-6 edge in OT. To be honest, I think (Milwaukee) played a lot better than we did, Hornets head coach Steve Clifford said of his teams 24-point turnaround. I did like the fact that when the game was on the line in the fourth quarter, at the end of the third and in overtime, we really tried hard to guard and we did a lot better. And guys made big plays. Charlotte improved to 9-1 over the last 10 regular-season games dating back to last seasoon, including a five-game win streak from March 31-April 9.dddddddddddd. The Hornets will play six of the next eight games on the road after Saturday. Memphis improved to 2-0 in this young campaign with a 97-89 victory Friday night over the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Grizz won the battle of two of the NBAs elite defenses from last season with, you guessed it, defense. It was all defense for us, guard Mike Conley said. The defense got the stops that we needed them to and we got out in transition to get some easy buckets. The Pacers shot respectable percentages from the field, but the Grizzlies put the game away with a 33-14 third-quarter scoring differential. Memphis went on a 26-2 run during that pivotal 12-minute stretch. We played with a lot more aggressiveness in the second half so they werent able to get up as many shots and get up by as many points in the second half, noted Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger. Zach Randolph scored 22 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol, coming off a career-high 32 points in Memphis season-opening win over Minnesota, deposited 20 points with six rebounds. Conley added 17 points in the win. Guard Courtney Lee suffered a mild concussion in the first half and his availability for Saturday is unknown. Memphis and Charlotte split two meetings last season. These two teams have split the 10 meetings at Charlotte and will meet again on Dec. 12 in Memphis. ' ' '