plans to spend a week playing and taking tennis lessons

TORONTO - At the ripe old age of 26, Amir Johnson - the teams second-most experienced player - is one of only two Raptors starters that can give a firsthand account of what it will be like to compete in the postseason. "All he says is, its crazy," DeMar DeRozan told reporters following Torontos win over the Pistons Wednesday. The Raptors longest-serving members, Johnson and DeRozan have had two coaches and 56 different teammates in five seasons with the club, all without appearing in a single playoff game. Before becoming a fixture in Toronto, Johnson logged 56 minutes in 11 postseason contests spanning over two seasons with the Pistons. At the time, the forward was primarily a spectator, mentored by the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Antonio McDyess. Johnson is a man of few words but hes shared a couple with DeRozan, who is poised to make his playoff debut next month. "Amir says one word and you really just have to go off that one word, how he explains something," said the Raptors all-star guard. "Everything is crazy to him. So, he always says its crazy." "Its crazy, D," Johnson interjected from his locker on the far side of the room. "See, so its crazy," DeRozan continued. "Playoffs are going to be crazy." Up until this season, DeRozan and Johnson had endured 190 losses to just 119 wins in Raptors red. They havent played in a meaningful late-season game since their first year with the team, Chris Boshs last. Their bond is a unique one, as you might expect, having experienced the trials and tribulations of the Raptors four-year playoff drought together. "Thats my dog, man," DeRozan said of Johnson, both hail from the state of California. "Amirs known me [since] I was running around with the same pair of dirty shoes on playing basketball. We always used to look up to Amir, especially in LA. He was a big star and everything. Its definitely cool just to be here with him." "People dont know, Amirs my cousin," he said with a smirk, jokingly, we think. "You can ask Amir." So we did. "Oh man, I dont know," he responded, this was news to him. "I have no idea. Somewhere down the line, I guess. I guess were cousins, I dont know. Ive got to talk to his mom, talk to my mom and see." DeRozan, the Raptors leading scorer, is enjoying a career year but the playoffs - as coach Dwane Casey has cautioned - are a different animal. The atmosphere is intensified, the competition more fierce, scoring opportunities are harder to come by, weaknesses are magnified and in a seven-game series the oppositions scouting report will undoubtedly feature DeRozan. Theres been a steep playoff learning curve for Raptors stars of the past. Bosh, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady each shot under 40 per cent from the field in their first postseason series. Making his playoff debut as a 23-year-old in 2000, Carter shot just 30 per cent, turning the ball over nearly three times per contest in a three-game sweep to the Knicks. Even with that in mind, DeRozan believes hes more prepared than most. While many players on losing teams find it far too maddening to watch their peers compete for a title in April and May, the Raptors guard has done just that each year hes missed out, making notes and using them for motivation. "I had to [watch]," he admitted, "just to understand, to see how it was. Youre playing the same team, possibly seven times. Just to understand that and see the different schemes out there and try to really get a knowledge of how its played." "Thats why I work so hard. It always bugged me going home early, just sitting there, doing nothing. It used to make me so hungry. Ive got a lot of friends that play in the playoffs and Ive always got to hear them all summer talk about their experience in the playoffs. Its always pushing me even further. I just want to get there, not even for myself, just for this organization as well. It definitely feels good that were moving in the right direction now." Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys .Former NBA forward Morris Peterson has been added to TSNs Toronto Raptors broadcast team. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ . LOUIS -- David Ross never expected to be on a World Series podium. Custom NCAA Jerseys .J. Hardy finally got in on the fun Saturday, against a likely opponent. NCAA Jerseys Outlet . Kadri was dressed in a green jersey at Thursdays practice and skated as an extra forward on the teams fourth line as the Leafs.MONTREAL -- Kelly Murumets calls herself a mediocre tennis player who loves the game. Now she will get to run what may be Canadas hottest sport. The Toronto resident was named president and chief executive officer of the sports national governing body Tennis Canada on Friday. She hopes to use the growing popularity of tennis to get more people playing at the local courts and to develop more Milos Raonics and Eugenie Bouchards. "We have experienced unbelievable success in the last number of months and years," she said. "If we can continue to build on that success, I think we can inculcate a culture of tennis in this country. "Its really getting the children and youth of this country playing on courts in their neighbourhoods, just picking up rackets and playing. Its really changing the culture of Canada." A lot of the presidents job is finding sponsors and raising money to finance programs across the country that may produce the next tennis stars, as well as running the Rogers Cup and other tournaments. She couldnt have walked into a better climate for that. Canadian tennis is on a high, with Raonics rise to a career-high 10th in world rankings (the Thornhill, Ont., resident is currently 11th) last summer, and with Vernon, B.C. native Vasek Pospisil not far behind at 30th. They helped Canadas Davis Cup team reach the world group semifinals in 2013, their best performance of the modern era. On the womens side, 19-year-old Bouchard Montreal had fans on the edge of their seats as she battled into the semifinals of the first grand slam event of the season in Australia this week. TSN reported more than four million watched the 2012 Wimbledon junior girls champions semifinal loss to Chinas Li Na. That sparked a run of ticket sales to see Bouchard and the Canadian womens team face Serbia in a Federation Cup tie Feb. 8-9 at the 4,000-seat Claude Robillard Centre in Montreal. "There is no more exciting time for tennis in Canada than right now, and wow, I get to be part of the team that will take Canada to the next level -- to the moon," she said. Murumets was introduced to the media by Tennis Canada chairman John LeBoutillier at Uniprix Stadium, which is part of the national training centre that helped produce Raonic, Bouchard and others.dddddddddddd The centre opened in 2007 under former president and CEO Michael Downey, who announced in September he was stepping down to become chief executive of the prestigious British Lawn Tennis Association. He took over that job officially on Jan. 6. A search committee found Murumets, who was president of ParticipAction, an independent non-profit organization that supports healthy and active living for Canadians. Murumets looks to have plenty of enthusiasm. She has no specific projects in mind, but will spend her first weeks learning about the organization and seeing what can be done. Her goals are "getting more tennis rackets in more hands more often, continuing to deliver world class tournaments and developing the talent that makes us all so proud to be Canadians. Beyond that, the (Tennis Canada) team will help me understand where we need to focus." Before he left, Downey had hoped to start a national membership program for tennis players, and to land a tournament for Vancouver to go with the Rogers Cups in Montreal and Toronto. "We were looking for a person that would bring leadership and who would develop quickly a passion for tennis, whether he or she was a tennis player or not," said LeBoutillier. "And someone who wasnt coming for a year or two and then moving on to something else. "The hiring process went very smoothly and the committee made a unanimous recommendation to the board about a week ago." Murumets will officially begin her new position on March 3. In the meantime, she plans to spend a week playing and taking tennis lessons in Arizona. She comes armed with a load of university degrees -- a BA from Bishops, a masters in social work from Wilfrid Laurier and an MBA from Western. She recently resigned from the board of governors at Bishops. She was also president of a telecommunications company before joining ParticipAction. "I wanted to change the world," she said of her social work studies, adding that she returned from private business to not-for-profit organizations because "I believe we can change the world. "We have a chance to inspire Canadians to be more physically active -- to pick up a racket and play." ' ' '