Sam Mitchel has been fired

[sook]

The Raptor's coach was just fired after a near 40 point blowout..

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AgJSHJGb4YCwo5O2eA5hGAm8vLYF?slug=ys-mitchellraptors120308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[IronMexican]

About damn time. You could tell the only reason Toronto kept this guy was cause of his Coach of the Year award.

[dickface]

Avery Johnson rumors coming soon.

[sonic21]

About damn time. You could tell the only reason Toronto kept this guy was cause of his Coach of the Year award.

Lately, COYs are always fired after 2 or 3 seasons.

:tu Avery, D'antoni, Mitchel

[angelbelow]

yikes. i wonder if the replacement is that much better though.

[tonylongoriafan]

what can these guys do after coaching besides tv...seriously, there are only so many jobs...eric mussleman has a blog...wtf? talk about an unsecure career

[balli]

Every time I see a COY get fired I sigh and think about Jerry Sloan's empty trophy shelf.

[ambchang]

He should have been fired the year before got the CoY award.

[Medvedenko]

Didn't Doc Rivers get the COY and then subsequently fired....

[lefty]

About damn time. You could tell the only reason Toronto kept this guy was cause of his Coach of the Year award.

And he deserved his award.

Mitchell is a very good coach, but his players haven't shown up lately

That's not fair, but that's the business

[JamStone]

Lately, COYs are always fired after 2 or 3 seasons.

:tu Avery, D'antoni, Mitchel

Even before that. As mentioned, Doc Rivers. And, also Rick Carlisle and Mike Dunleavy.

[sribb43]

What were the Raptors expectations this season?..im mean they lost alot of their depth that made them good Garbajosa, Delfino, Ford. JO 4 Ford didnt make them any better IMO. I would have said 5th seed at best.

[sook]

JVG at toronto would be bad for the rest of the east.

He is a defensive mastermind

[Biernutz]

Too bad Sam but there is always ESPN.

[Armando]

Is funny to me that Colangelo said the team was not meeting expectations? What expectations is he talking about? Does he really believe that team which has not been past the semis is going to challenge the Cavs or Boston? They can't even beat the Magic the weakest of the top 3 teams in the East.

[JamStone]

JVG at toronto would be bad for the rest of the east.

He is a defensive mastermind

JVG would also destroy Calderon as an offensive player.

[Armando]

JVG would also destroy Calderon as an offensive player.



Walk the ball up offense does not suit Bosh or Calderon.

[Bob Lanier]

Mitchell's an awful coach.

I think Flip Saunders would be a good fit in Toronto.

[Armando]

Eddie Jordan

[lefty]

Eddie Jordan

+1

Also, I think Jay Triano can do a heck of a job; he has a high BB IQ

[ploto]

I like Sam. I know alot of Raptors fans liked to blame him for everything, but I think this more falls to Bryan. The team had problems beginning with the whole Jorge fiasco-- and not just about his playing that summer but moreso what happened after he got back to Toronto. He was OK to play at the end of the season but they would not play him.

Then, they decided to make TJ the scapegoat for all that started to ail the team, but he was not it. Problems were added by the repeated need to force Andrea into the line-up. Now, Rasho is a nice guy and would not cause problems, but some players were not happy with it. Now, this year, they have started him at SF to force him into the starting line-up. He is playing better- could he be any worse- but you should see him guard Carmelo.

Their biggest problem is they traded depth for O'Neal. They gave up TJ- who I still think is better overall than Jose- cut loose Delfino who was their best perimeter defender and more deserving than Jason- and traded Rasho- who has been replaced by O'Neal but is it worth it when you gave up so much to get him.

They are stuck with Humphries as really their only back-up big man and Roko, Kapono and Moon off the bench. And unfortunately they have dealt with the heart problems of their big draft pick.

[lefty]

I like Sam. I know alot of Raptors fans liked to blame him for everything, but I think this more falls to Bryan. The team had problems beginning with the whole Jorge fiasco-- and not just about his playing that summer but moreso what happened after he got back to Toronto. He was OK to play at the end of the season but they would not play him.

Then, they decided to make TJ the scapegoat for all that started to ail the team, but he was not it. Problems were added by the repeated need to force Andrea into the line-up. Now, Rasho is a nice guy and would not cause problems, but some players were not happy with it. Now, this year, they have started him at SF to force him into the starting line-up. He is playing better- could he be any worse- but you should see him guard Carmelo.

Their biggest problem is they traded depth for O'Neal. They gave up TJ- who I still think is better overall than Jose- cut loose Delfino who was their best perimeter defender and mpore deserving than Jason- and traded Rasho- who has been replaced by O'Neal but is it worth it when you gave up so much to get him.

They are stuck with Humphries as really their only back-up big man and Roko, Kapono and Moon off the bench.

I agree with you on TJ; terrific backup. good attitude, I don't why he got so much criticism in Toronto

[dave]

I agree with you on TJ; terrific backup. good attitude, I don't why he got so much criticism in Toronto

because he was the most aggressive player on the team,
and the fans took that as being "selfish", so when they lost he'd usually get blamed by the fans

also he sucks at shooting

jay triano will hopefully be decent, he was part of the coaching team of Team USA's select team

[resistanze]

Colangelo is a shittier GM than Mitchell was a coach.

[romad_20]

Colangelo is a shittier GM than Mitchell was a coach.

But, but, Colangelo's genius in Phx changed the league. The run and gun! Oh, wait....

[lefty]

because he was the most aggressive player on the team,
and the fans took that as being "selfish", so when they lost he'd usually get blamed by the fans

also he sucks at shooting

jay triano will hopefully be decent, he was part of the coaching team of Team USA's select team

I thought he coached Team Canada

[Trainwreck2100]

This should be good news for Bosh's development

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I agree with you on TJ; terrific backup. good attitude, I don't why he got so much criticism in Toronto


Uhhh, wasn't TJ the one who wined about coming off the bench to the point where Calderon had to volunteer coming off the bench instead?

I think Mitchell lucked out with COY since Toronto was playing in the weakest division in NBA history at that time. He was fully exposed the following seasons.

As for expectations for the Raptors, they should be a hell of a lot better than their record states. You have 2 all stars (Bosh, in a career type year so far, and Calderon), a former all star (O'Neal), coupled with some solid players (Kapono, Anthony Parker is much better than he's given credit for, and I like Joey Graham as a bench player)

The Raptors should be a #4 or #5 seed in the east and at least push a team in the second round. A lot of Raptor fans up here are very frustrated with the team, and I am surprised it took them this long to get rid of Sam Mitchell. I've seen my fair share of Raptor games here in Toronto, and the team seems clueless when it comes to late game execution. If Sam Mitchell continued to leading the Raptors to first round exits they would 100% lose Bosh to free agency in 2010, and that would cripple the franchise for a few more years seeing as how a Bosh type player doesn't come every lottery.

Also, considering Toronto is in the top 10 in NBA attendance, I'm sure there is a lot of pressure to see this team make a decent push in the playoffs....or else they'd just end up like the Leafs.

[timvp]

Basically, Mitchell got screwed because at every turn he was forced to play Bustnani. While he may put up nice scoring numbers from time to time, Bustnani is such a bad rebounder and such a bad defender that he gives it all back and much more on the other end. Defensively, he was a joke as a center next to Bosh and even more of a joke at small forward. The guy is just a damn bad basketball player who is saved by the fact that he was a number one overall pick. If the Raps didn't have that much invested in him, he wouldn't be getting nearly the minutes he has gotten in his career.

Kapono might be an even worse defender than Bustnani and his shot selection is horrible. Calderon's a good player but he's not good at pushing the break and he's another bad defender. Parker has even lost a bit of his defensive ability this year.

If Triano has a chance to turn the team around, he has to bury Bargnani on the bench and use him as a designated scorer against weak matchups. He also should bury Kapono. Run pick and rolls constantly with Calderon and Bosh and try to keep O'Neal healthy. Play Moon more and go out and get a real backup point guard.

[dave]

I thought he coached Team Canada

they replaced him with leo rautins
so hes been working with pj carlesimo on team usa

[ploto]

I am sad that Sam is gone when Rasho and TJ head back to Toronto next week.

I love Jose- he is a great guy- but he has the personality playing-wise of a back-up PG. He was perfect in that role. He does not make stupid decisions and he can score some. But as a starting PG he is way too conservative- he nevers makes anything but the easy pass- hence the great low TO numbers, but he does not create enough for anyone else. They just do not get any easy baskets. And we all knew how bad he is defensively. He just is.

Moon was the happy story of last season- but he has now been sent to the bench to make room for Andrea in the starting line-up at SF. Please, oh please, he can not guard the SF's in the league. He actually is not a bad defender in the post where he belongs, as the first big off the bench.

The team also misses Delfino- he was a chucker, but he was their best perimeter defender and some games that chucking went in and helped them win.

I really did not see how this team of Raptors was going to be any better than last year, especially as ranked in the Eastern Conference.

[ploto]

I found out: timvp= John Hollinger

With Mitchell out, focus shifts to GM who assembled middling Raptors

When a team that went 41-41 a year earlier fires its coach because it started the season 8-9 with largely the same roster, that's going to raise some eyebrows.

When the coach is a former coach of the year winner who is on just the second season of a four-year contract, that also will tend to lift a forehead or two.

And when it's the third firing in just a month of basketball, and several other coaches already appear to be on life support, it makes you wonder whether there's something in the water in the NBA this season.

Nonetheless, you can make a few arguments in favor of the Toronto Raptors' decision to ax Sam Mitchell on Wednesday. Certainly, the lifeless effort the players gave in a 132-93 loss to Denver on Tuesday night was discouraging. Additionally, many have grumbled over some iffy personnel decisions by Mitchell in the early season. And if you factor in the 13-20 finish to last season, it's been a fairly miserable 50-game stretch the Raptors have had under Mitchell's guidance -- providing a large enough sample of mediocrity to satisfy the statisticians in the audience.

However, one still surmises that the greatest reason Toronto changed generals Wednesday is the fact that general manager Bryan Colangelo essentially painted himself into a corner. The Raps already played their trump card this summer by trading T.J. Ford, the expiring contract of Rasho Nesterovic and a first-round pick to Indiana for Jermaine O'Neal. Minus those three assets, the Raps have no tradable pieces left unless they want to nuke the Chris Bosh-Jose Calderon-Andrea Bargnani-O'Neal core they hoped would push them to a deep playoff run this season.

With no place else to turn, whacking Mitchell was the only option left. Canada's only team will now have the league's first Canadian coach, as assistant Jay Triano was promoted to the head-coaching job. Colangelo said that Triano will stay in the role until at least the end of the season, implying that (a) he'll wait until this summer to sort through the profusion of high-profile available candidates, and (b) Triano has a shot at being the choice should the Raptors rally under his tutelage.

Of course, if things don't turn around, Colangelo might have a tough time persuading anybody else to take the position. The firing speaks as much to Colangelo's performance as it does to Mitchell's, having come about partly because several personnel moves (Bargnani, Jason Kapono, Roko Ukic, arguably O'Neal) have flopped. As such, the honeymoon phase of his stewardship of the Raptors officially ended Wednesday.

As much as Colangelo might hope that Mitchell was simply misusing his roster, the GM's tenure has contained enough questionable decisions to raise considerable doubt as to whether the next coach can fare any better. The Raps have no wing players who can create a shot, no backup point guard, only one promising young player and just three players you could say would start for a majority of the league's teams.

Triano talked Wednesday about getting the Raptors to play faster because the team is last in the NBA in fast-break points, but good luck fixing it -- that's mostly an effect of roster composition. The club has few good transition players and, without Ford, lacks a floor general who can push the tempo (don't get me wrong, I love Calderon, but he's a half-court guy through and through).

Instead, the new head coach should focus his attention elsewhere. There are two significant changes Triano needs to make, and his ability to do those will largely determine whether the Raptors are any better under him than they were under Mitchell.

First and foremost, he has to get them to defend better. Acquiring O'Neal was supposed to help largely by improving Toronto at the defensive end, but the Raptors are just 24th in defensive efficiency thus far. Much of defense is effort and, regardless of personnel limitations, the Raps' effort often has been inadequate at this end of the floor.

But the second part might help bring about the first: Toronto has to stop granting unearned minutes to players in whom Colangelo invested heavily until those players actually perform on the court. Bargnani is the prime example; he's been granted far too much playing time based on potential future returns rather than current performance, and for a team in win-now mode, it's been puzzling to see him continue to have such a prominent role. The same goes for Kapono unless Triano can sit him down and explain to him that he's a lot more valuable when he's shooting 3s rather than 2s (71 of his 98 shots have been 2s, continuing his maddening, value-destroying career pattern).

Instead, Triano should revert to starting defensive ace Jamario Moon on the wing and bring Kris Humphries in as his first big man off the pine. Yes, each is capable of cringe-worthy shot selection, but each has been more productive both this season and last than the likes of Bargnani and Kapono. Additionally, doing so would remove two horrid defenders from the rotation.

While he's at it, Triano should beg his boss to make a call to the D-League and get somebody, anybody, to replace the comically ineffective duo of Will Solomon and Ukic that Colangelo imported to back up Calderon.

Even in their current state, the Raps aren't far off the playoff scent -- today's Playoff Odds have them finishing just one game out. So one could argue that Colangelo pulled the trigger while the season still could be salvaged.

The larger question, though, is whether this roster can be salvaged. The Raps have less than two years to convince Bosh that it's better to stick around than to pair up with somebody like LeBron or Amare in New York, and they're not exactly making a compelling case so far.

Thus, although Mitchell took the bullet Wednesday, Colangelo is the one who must bear the brunt of the blame for the Raptors' sluggish start. This move says more about his performance than about Mitchell's.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=mitchellcolangelo-081203

[angel_luv]

I am sorry to hear that Sam Mitchell was fired. I wish him the best. He seems like good people to me.

[ambchang]

While Bargnani is a bust as a #1 pick, he is not as bad as people make him out to be. He has a decent outside shot, he can actually defend the low post, and he is a decent passer. He is horrible as a perimeter defender and he has problems scoring in the low post, but he is not anything worse than, say, Kwame Brown and does deserve some time as a PF.

Kapono at $6million is a real head scratcher, and the fact that Toronto didn't really have a low post threat back when he was signed makes his pay even more unjustified.

Calderon is greatly overhyped. He is a terrible defender, and he gives up more on defense that he gets you on offense. TJ Ford was the better player amongst the two, and the front office chose the wrong PG. Ford is quicker and creates more havoc amongst a set defense than Calderon could ever do. To be fair, Calderon is better at recognizing defensive lapses of the opposition, but Ford creates them.

Mitchell was a terrible coach, after so many seasons, the Raptors have only two offensive play. Pick and roll between Calderon and Bosh, and isolation plays for Bosh. The Raptors struggle to score, or even create a decent shot at the end of close games, and have no defensive plans to speak of. Mitchell should have been fired long ago.

[SenorSpur]

I feel bad for Sam Mitchell, but I feel worse for incoming, interim coach Jay Triano. Good luck making chicken out of chicken stew.

[1Parker1]

Didn't Eddie Jordan win COY too?

[lefty]

they replaced him with leo rautins
so hes been working with pj carlesimo on team usa

That's right, I forgot about Leo.

But Rautins is better as a Raptors commentator than as a coach

[dave]

ah damnit colangelo better make some roster changes
id lol if he fired triano

[Obstructed_View]

Raps are down 24 at the end of the third. Glad they made that coaching change.

[ploto]

Tough to watch because I really like some of these guys--
Portland 98
Toronto 97

Portland had 6 offensive rebounds in the last 2 minutes of this close game.

[DPG21920]

All of Bargnani's numbers are up this year. He is shooting 45% overall, including 40% from 3 and 90% from the FT line. He is rebounding 5 a game and almost averaging 2 blks in only 28 minutes. He is being pretty damn efficient. He is right around the league average in PER as well. If you classify him as a SF (which he has been playing this year) he is 16th in his position in Rebounding Rate by Hollinger, but his number goes down if you look at him compared to PF/C. He is not a number one pick, but he is a solid player that is growing his game.

[ploto]

Andrea's numbers are up because they really could not go any further down. If you classify him as a SF, he is 16th in rebounding rate and that is supposed to be good. He is seven feet tall playing SF, he should be at the top rebounding wise. Watching Brandon Roy play today still makes me sad for the Raptors.

[DPG21920]

Andrea's numbers are up because they really could not go any further down. If you classify him as a SF, he is 16th in rebounding rate and that is supposed to be good. He is seven feet tall playing SF, he should be at the top rebounding wise. Watching Brandon Roy play today still makes me sad for the Raptors.

That is just not true. He has averaged double digit scoring for his career, it is not like he is averaging 3 pts per game. He is improving on double digit scoring and he is doing it more efficiently. He is also averaging more blocks per game than Duncan in 6 less minutes.

[ploto]

That is just not true. He has averaged double digit scoring for his career, it is not like he is averaging 3 pts per game. He is improving on double digit scoring and he is doing it more efficiently. He is also averaging more blocks per game than Duncan in 6 less minutes.
He had the worst FG% on the entire Raptor team last year at 38.6% so I really do not care that he scored in double digits- any guy who takes that many shots will.

He averages 3.9 rebounds per 24.8 minutes for his career- or 1 rebound every 6.35 minutes and he is 7 feet tall.

He actually averages fewer blocks per game than Duncan this season.

[DPG21920]

He had the worst FG% on the entire Raptor team last year at 38.6% so I really do not care that he scored in double digits- any guy who takes that many shots will.

He averages 3.9 rebounds per 24.8 minutes for his career- or 1 rebound every 6.35 minutes and he is 7 feet tall.

He actually averages fewer blocks per game than Duncan this season.

Wrong. They both average 1.7 and Bargs does it in less minutes. Also Bargs is shooting 45% overall, 40% from 3 and 90% from the ft line...what now? His rebounding is way up from his career this year as well, anything else?

[DPG21920]

He had the worst FG% on the entire Raptor team last year at 38.6% so I really do not care that he scored in double digits- any guy who takes that many shots will.

He averages 3.9 rebounds per 24.8 minutes for his career- or 1 rebound every 6.35 minutes and he is 7 feet tall.

He actually averages fewer blocks per game than Duncan this season.

I can name many guys who take as many shots, shoot the same % and do not score double digits...Rashad McCants is one.