DENVER -- After watching Kansas City Chiefs rookie Tyreek Hill speed into the end zone on a return, a rush and a reception last month, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak decided to give his own dashing dynamo a chance.He promoted practice squad receiver/returner Kalif Raymond, a former sprinter from Holy Cross, to the active roster. Raymond quickly supplanted punt returner Jordan Norwood, who had two muffs in the Broncos overtime loss to the Chiefs.In Raymond, a 5-foot-9, 160-pounder who ran in the mid-4.3 range as a guest at Harvards pro day, the Broncos hope theyve found their own fireball like the Chiefs have in Hill, the Seahawks boast in Tyler Lockett or the Falcons flaunt in Taylor Gabriel .All of these players give opponents headaches, and Kubiak said Raymond could soon join their ranks.Kalifs only played a couple of NFL games, but youll see him doing some other things, Kubiak said.For now, Raymond is trying to make his mark on special teams, where hes averaged 10.2 yards on six punt returns and is still itching to bring a kickoff out of the end zone.In the last two games weve had three returns over 20 yards, which we didnt have before, Broncos special teams coach Joe DeCamillis said. We ended up getting two balls over the 50 and a ball at the plus-25 going in. Thats what were looking for, short fields.From another undersized player overlooked by so many college recruiters and NFL scouts.Theyre different body types, these burners. Raymond is similar to Gabriel (5-8, 166 pounds). Lockett is 5-11 but weighs just 170. Hill packs a hefty 185 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame.What binds them together is their blazing speed and relatively small size.Raymond went undrafted, as did Gabriel, who has five touchdowns in his first season in Atlanta after two years in Cleveland.Hill, who wasnt taken until the fifth round, has nine TDs this season, six receiving, one rushing, one on a punt return and one on a kickoff. Lockett scored six times as a rookie after the Seahawks selected him in the third round out of Kansas State. He was slowed by a knee injury in Week 2 this season and only returned to form this month, scoring his first touchdown on a 57-yard reception in Seattles 24-3 win over the Rams.I think I finally got to hit that extra gear that Ive been waiting on and some of my teammates have been waiting on because Doug (Baldwin) thinks hes faster than me. He said after that play that he doesnt think he can run with me anymore, Lockett said.These petite players are used to being overlooked but theyre not overwhelmed, their performances and impact anything but paltry.You see the things Tyreek Hill is doing. He is doing a lot of great things. You see what Odell (Beckham Jr.) is doing. Antonio Brown. T.Y. Hilton, Lockett said. There are so many people that are out here doing so many great things and they dont have the height the NFL thought receivers were supposed to have. You cant really put a limit on a player.Lockett said his dad always told him his future wasnt as a receiver but a football player, a playmaker with the ball in your hands.Every NFL team has players who are undersized. The very fact they made the roster shows they have a multitude of skills that make up for their lack of height.As Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson once put it, A smaller guy has to have something different because this is a big guys league. For one thing, theyve got to be tough. For another, theyve got to be quick. Slow, little guys arent going to make it in this league.Both tough and quick, Raymond said his smaller size is actually an advantage.I like to think I play with a chip on my shoulder and a lot of that chip comes from my size, Raymond said. Theres a certain look that a guy gives you when youre smaller than he is and when I recognize that look, Im trying to throw everything I have at him. So, throughout my years of playing football Ive developed that likeness to get hit and show people that I can hit. So, when I get hit, its like nothing to me.Denver cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who covered Raymond in the slot on the scout team for the first three months of the season and has watched his progress firsthand, said he sees Raymond as the leagues next small guy making a big impact.His quickness and his speed are off the charts, Harris said. Hes learning how to get separation. He just has to take a punt return back. He has to do something. Thats how Hill and Lockett got out there and got their roles expanded.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---AP Sports Writer Tim Booth in Seattle contributed.---Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton Trikot Yann Sommer Kinder . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Valon Behrami Trikot . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. http://www.fussballtrikotshopschweiz.ch/ . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Stephan Lichtsteiner Trikot . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Fabian Schar Trikot . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. The momentous Kevin Durant announcement of July 4, 2016, was foreshadowed years earlier, before the Golden State Warriors commanded enough attention for people to notice.Three years ago, Andre Iguodala joined the team that had just eliminated his squad from the playoffs, to considerably less criticism than Durant currently is receiving. Upon arriving in Golden State by way of Denver, Iguodala said this of Steph Curry in his first Oakland news conference on July 11, 2013:Steph and I played together in 2010 in Turkey, and after practice we would come back to the gym at night when we were overseas and just [get] some shots up. I believe it was Kevin Durant [who] was with us, a lot of the time. So it was us three, maybe one or two other guys, but us three were always together. Kinda got a chance to see him work. Knew how in love he was with the game, so we built a pretty good relationship. We had chapels together before every game so we definitely got to know each other.Us three were always together.If the 2013 Warriors were at a then-Lakers level of clout, such a statement would have reverberated across the internet, fueling rumors far and wide. But the 2013 Warriors had nowhere near the cachet they enjoy today. They had done well to even get into the room to make a pitch to Dwight Howard that offseason. Wooing Iguodala was quite the coup for an organization fresh off its second playoff run in 19 years.What a difference three years can make. Thats how quickly this new, dominant Warriors reality emerged from a long-standing reputation as the ignoble underdog. Thats how fast a team goes from being the harmless bastion of comical futility to the leagues existential threat.In 2013, neophyte 6-seed Golden State shocked Denver and put a scare into San Antonio in the playoffs. In that offseason, GM Bob Myers pulled off what he called the hardest thing he has ever done professionally when he moved massive amounts of salary to secure Iguodala. A year later, the Warriors lost in Round 1 to the Clippers and controversially fired Mark Jackson. Then came Steve Kerrs hire, Draymond Greens move into the starting lineup, Currys MVP ascendance, 67 wins and a championship.And all of that was followed by last seasons 73 wins, a painful loss in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after holding a 3-1 series lead and, now, the pretext for a team unlike anything the league has seen.This remarkable three-year sprint to fame and possibly infamy was in some ways set up six years ago by the FIBA World Championship in Turkey that Iguodala referenced upon joining the Warriors. That was Durants tournament (he won MVP), if you recall, a time when he was heralded as a new, wholesome alternative to a LeBron James whod just left Cleveland on national television.In contrast to LeBrons garish Cleveland exit, Durant garnered praise in the summer of 2010 with a tweet announcing his Oklahoma City Thunder extension. Little did people know that the seeds for Durants eventual departure were being sown at that moment in basketball history, as he got to know Team USA teammates Iguodala and Curry. Given the state of the 2010 Warriors, none of the actors involved could have known where this was headed.Flash forward to the Warriors 2016 pitch to Durant. Iguodala reminded KD of those Turkey days and how much fun they all had together. The veteran swingman is sarcastic by nature and extremely cynical. SSome posit that his guard remains up because of his Philly experience, where a rabid local media shredded a young, pass-first wing for being something less than Allen Iverson.dddddddddddd A sincere, emotional Iguodala brought that up too, conveying how money and status cant compare to his current situation.The 2015 Finals MVP also offered a bit of time travel in his pitch to Durant. He explained how, when your career is finished, you want to reminisce with friends like these. He depicted a future where so much of the present NBA entanglements fade away and a career becomes a memory. When that happens, theres meaning in having great memories. When that happens, theres meaning in being able to revisit those memories with great people.As Marc J. Spears reported on The Undefeated, Curry conveyed that he cared more about winning than credit or sneaker sales. Warriors officials relayed that Durant seemed eager to hear that message. Green and Myers both spoke to how cooperation would result in more championships than any other method. The endearingly spacey Klay Thompson noted that he would get open shots with Durant there, before sheepishly getting back on message and acknowledging KD would probably get open shots too. (This caused some laughter in the room.)Golden States pitch had all of these elements, augmented by a Jerry West phone call. Its difficult to determine if any speeches were needed, though. Most of the actors here knew each other. It would be naive to think communication was confined to a room in the Hamptons.This has been a long process, and one the Warriors were confident in for some time. Some within the organization believed Russell Westbrook and Durant had some chemistry issues in Oklahoma City, and in those issues lay an opening. The Warriors could offer glory, brotherhood and an unselfish playing style, not to mention Bay Area business opportunities.Still, there were no guarantees and despite whatever assurances were offered, Warriors officials were nervous until the news broke officially. So much planning could have been dashed in a decision Durant made in an instant. Its staggering to consider all that had to go right.The Warriors were helped by Currys ankle blessing them with the best contract in sports. They were helped by Thompson agreeing to a max-ish contract that wasnt pegged to the rising salary cap. They were helped by Green accepting a below-market deal. They were helped by the players union rejecting cap smoothing, which opened up the space needed to get Durant in 2016. Myers needed to be better than great and just as fortunate.When asked how long planning for Durant took, a Warriors official quipped, About three light-years. Then, a correction: Actually, light-years is a measure of distance, not time.In a short period of time, Golden State leaped forward a great distance, far beyond any reasonable expectation and possibly beyond anything weve ever seen in the sport. This team looks more complementary than the feared 2010 Miami Heat, especially after the cheap acquisition of center Zaza Pachulia. The best-shooting team ever just added Kevin Durant. Its a staggering reality to behold. The power of shared memory just helped launch a basketball team into what feels further than futuristic. 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