and hes been showing it in these practices, said DeMar DeRozan, wh

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Hes holding on to the heartache to stoke his competitive fire.BURNABY, B.C. - Like virtually every bulky seven-foot basketball player, Jonas Valanciunas isnt the most nimble of runners.He dips his head and furiously pumps his arms, a lumbering style that is one of his biggest weaknesses.So the Toronto Raptors decided to send their young centre to a place where they know a thing or two about running a€” Eugene, Ore., to work with renowned strength and conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe.Speed is the priority, Valanciunas said Thursday. When youre able to come back to contest a shot. . . Its going to help a lot. The 22-year-old Lithuanian went twice this past summer to Oregon a€” a hotbed for U.S. track and field for decades a€” to train with Radcliffe.The 56-year-old, whose lean physique could belong to a man three decades younger, is in his 29th year as strength and conditioning coach for the Oregon Ducks. Hes considered one of the foremost experts on sprint training in the U.S. and works with all of the Ducks teams to improve things like strength, speed, agility, and explosiveness.High knees, form, technique, how to run, how to use less energy, Valanciunas said of his training sessions. How to turn with less steps, he adds, and does an impromptu demonstration of a turn. It almost looks nimble.Among his innovative methods, Radcliffe studied Valanciunass foot strike by having him run barefoot on pieces of paper. The paper shooting out backwards translates to too much back kick and not enough driving of the knees; shooting forwards means over-reaching. Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who spent a couple days observing Radcliffes methods, said Valanciunas remains a work in progress, and wont be lacing on the track spikes any time soon.Hes running better, hes getting there, I dont think he looks like Usain Bolt yet, but hes doing better, Casey said. I think more than anything else hes more conscious of it now, hes lighter on his feet. . . more efficient.A lot of times you can expend so much energy by using too much of your arms and kind of flailing all over the place, and not going anywhere. . . so that was one of the main things, run lighter, more efficient, keep your arms tighter to the body, head more erect than (bent) over.Altering his running style hasnt been easy, and Valanciunas said he still catchees himself reverting to old habits.ddddddddddddIts not going to change it over the summer, he said. Ive got to do that years and years.Jeff Weltman, the Raptors vice-president of operations, was largely responsible for sending Valanciunas to Oregon, and said the team is always up for new training techniques.The way (Radcliffe) was talking, saying The way I want to introduce his feet to the floor and all this, its new lingo for us, Weltman said. Thats part of summers, keeping it fresh and making sure its not the same thing over and over, getting introduced to new ideas and bringing them back here.Weltman said he could see a difference in Valanciunas at the FIBA World Cup, where he led the tournament in field goal percentage and was a standout for Lithuania.I think his balance is better, I think hes running better and his conditioning, Weltman said. He sees the way that he needs to train in a different light now. Three days into training camp at Fortius Sport & Health in Burnaby, his teammates have noticed improvement in Valanciunas, and not simply in his running.Hes grown a lot as a man, and with him playing for his country this past summer, he did extremely well and I think thats going to carry over to our team, and hes been showing it in these practices, said DeMar DeRozan, who helped the United States to World Cup gold.(DeRozan laughingly admitted to trash-talking Valanciunas when the U.S. played Lithuania in Spain. It was all fun and games, he said.)Chuck Hayes, who guards Valanciunas in practice, said hes more aggressive than last season.Hes always working on the offensive glass, which is what you need, and hes demanding the ball a lot, Hayes said. We dont always give it to him in practice; in practice Im guarding him all the time and hes always demanding the ball. Over the course of the season thats going to come into big play for us.Asked if hes seen a speedier Valanciunas, Hayes laughed and said Its getting there. When he runs, he kind of dips his head when he gets going. But hes moving, hes moving.The Raptors will train at Fortius, the training headquarters of Canadas womens soccer team among other teams, through Saturday. Theyll host the Sacramento Kings in their pre-season opener at Rogers Arena on Sunday. ' ' '