ot in the East, and the eighth-worst record in the NBA

Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty is expected to be fit to face Poland on Sunday despite limping out of training on Tuesday morning. The 28-year-old collapsed to the turf in pain at the squads training base in Saint-Georges-de-Reneins, north of Lyon, raising fears he could miss Northern Irelands opening Euro 2016 game in Nice. Northern Irelands Kyle Lafferty is going through ice treatment after being injured in training ahead of Euro 2016. But after being pictured getting into an ice bath, Michael ONeill confirmed to Sky Sports News HQ that although Lafferty had hurt his groin, the issue was not serious and he would be available against Poland. Hes fine. He slipped and it was precautionary to take him out of the training session, he said. Hes had an examination with the doctor and hes fine. No problems.Lafferty recently won his 50th cap in a 3-0 win over Belarus, scoring his 17th international goal, before coming off in Saturdays goalless draw against Slovakia. Kyle Lafferty scored seven goals in the European Qualifiers for Northern Ireland His absence would be sorely felt by ONeills side having been their top scorer with seven goals in a qualifying campaign that saw the country through to its first major tournament for 30 years. Northern Ireland follow Sundays game with with further Group C games with Ukraine on June 16 and Germany on June 21.Follow our live blog right here for all the latest breaking news ahead of the Euro 2016... Also See: Home comforts for Northern Irish Northern Ireland train in France Euro 2016 build-up live! Northern Ireland draw blank Nick Ahmed Jersey . Rinehart joins safety Darrell Stuckey and linebacker Donald Butler as potential unrestricted free agents who are remaining with the team. Jarrod Dyson Jersey . LOUIS -- St. http://www.diamondbacksteamshop.com/Diamondbacks-Jake-Lamb-Kids-Jersey/ .com) - The Toronto Raptors are paying Rudy Gay a visit on Wednesday night when they head into the Sleep Train Arena to take on the Sacramento Kings. Curt Schilling Jersey . Heavily-criticized after allowing a dozen goals on 58 shots in two games in Boston, Luongo continued his dominance at home. Hes now allowed two goals in three home games in this series. David Peralta Jersey . As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier.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.ddddddddddddIt 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. ' ' '