NBA award to be announced tomorrow and all signs point to Raptors' bench boss
Mitc - Best CoachApr 23, 2007 04:30 AM
Doug Smith
Sports Reporter
Sam Mitc was once voted the worst coach in the NBA in an unscientific poll of players. Tomorrow, he could be named the best coach in the league by a panel of media experts.
All signs point to the Raptor coach being named the league's coach of the year for 2006-07 and being honoured before Game 2 of Toronto's Eastern Conference playoff series against the New Jersey Nets.
The league announced last night it would announce the coach of the year winner tomorrow and the league likes to allow the various winners their moment in the sun in front of a home crowd.
League and team sources were mum on the topic last night.
However, in a straw poll of writers and broadcasters who vote on the award, Mitc had a slight edge on Utah's Jerry Sloan and Avery Johnson of the Dallas Mavericks.
In the past, the league has made sure the winner of any significant post-season award has been honoured before his team plays.
Neither the Jazz nor the Mavericks play tomorrow night.
If Mitc wins, it will cap a stunning turnaround for the 42-year-old, who is in just his third season as a head coach.
Saddled with teams with limited talent and hamstrung by the loss of his then-best player (Vince Carter) two months into his tenure, Mitc has turned around the perception of him from excitable rookie coach prone to public emotional outbursts to a coach able to get the most out of emerging players.
This season, he took a team with nine new players coming off a 27-win season and, working without the safety net of a contract that extends beyond this summer, turned it into a 47-win team.
He guided the squad to its first division championship in franchise history and opened a playoff series at home for the first time.
The award could still go to one of the other candidates because the league – mindful of a leak that announced Steve Nash's second MVP award days before it was official – could alter the way it announces award winner.
Mitc , if he wins, would be the first Raptor to win a significant non-player award.
And with president and general manager Bryan Colangelo a virtual lock to win executive of the year honours, it would give the team a sweep of off-the-court awards this year.
Plenty of Toronto fans will tell you that Mitc is a terrible head coach.
Not so sure the turnaround had much to do with him but more so with the pieces Colangelo brought in. The improvement at the Raptors probably lends itself more to the GM getting the GM of the Year award more than Mitc getting COY.
This is all on Rasho. No Rasho, no playoffs.
Speaking of which I see he had like 2 points in their opener. Same ol' Nasty.
This has got to be a joke. If Mitc wins the award, it just, once again, confirms that the media is as knowledgable, or even less so, than an average fan.
Mitc didn't lead this turn around, Colangelo did. He brought in TJ Ford and let go of Mike James, who was essentially a black hole with the Raptors last year. People see his 20ppg, and thought he was good, but the fact is he played horrible, froze out his teammates, and make poor decisions all game. It took a GM as stupid as McHale to sign him.
So what did Mitc do last year with this black hole, he gave him the ball, and took the ball away from Chris Bosh.
This year, Calderon and Ford made the decisions on the court. There was only ONE set play, and that was high pic and roll with Bosh and one of the points, everything else was freelanced.
This playoffs series is going to show how bad a coach Mitc is.
Guess you missed the 10 rebounds (twice as many as Elson and Horry had together) and 3 assists.
Bryan Colangelo certainly deserves plenty of props for the team he assembled.
Coach Mitc has done an excellent job of training, supporting, managing and leading the guys Colangelo provided him with.
Not only has Coach produced great results he has produced this season, his players all seem to really respect and like him.
He deserves this award.
They are both going to win. Sam did have a part in the decisions that were made by Toronto. He played alongside Rasho and coached TJ and was a loud voice in the decision to trade for them both. Sam deserves credit for finding a way to get all these new players on the same page and coming together. They play hard for him and have fun in the process.
Whats this got to do with the Spurs?
What About Nellie?
agreed.
Nellie took a lottery team in the WESTERN CONFERENCE, and made them a playoff team, who looks like they could beat the best team in the NBA.
Politics reign in this selection.
It has as much to do with the Spurs as Nellie does.
Here's your connection: "Who will be getting the Coach of the Year award instead of Pop?"
It's official.
Sam Mitc Named 2006-07 Coach of the Year
(April 24, 2007) -- Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitc has been named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season, the NBA announced today.
In his third season as the Raptors’ head coach, Mitc totaled 389 points, including 49 first-place votes, from a panel of 128 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan was second with 301 points (39 first-place votes) and the Dallas Mavericks’ Avery Johnson was third with 268 points (28 first-place votes). Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.
Mitc , the first coach in Raptors history to receive the honour, led the Raptors to their first Atlantic Division le, a franchise-record-tying 47 wins, and home court advantage in the playoffs for the first time in team history. The sixth head coach in franchise history, Mitc guided the team to an NBA-best 20-game improvement (27-55) over the 2005-06 season. The Raptors were 30-7 this season when they scored 100 or more points and 38-4 when they had a better (or same) field goal percentage than their opponents.
In January, Mitc became only the second coach in Raptors history to earn Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honours after leading the team to a 10-5 record. During the month, Toronto recorded a 7-3 mark at home and was 8-2 versus Eastern Conference opponents. January was the Raptors’ first 10-win month since January 2002 (11-5) and the fifth double-digit win month in franchise history. The Raptors finished January leading the Atlantic Division by one game with a 23-23 record and then compiled a 24-12 record to close out the rest of the season.
During his 13-year playing career, Mitc was held in high regard around the league as a student of the game and when he finally hung up his sneakers in 2002, he went from student to teacher in his new role as an NBA coach. Following two seasons as an assistant coach, Mitc was named the Raptors’ sixth head coach on June 29, 2004. Although the Raptors finished 33-49 in Mitc ’s first season, the campaign under his direction was highlighted by the implementation of a more up-tempo style of play that saw the team’s points per game average increase by 14.3 over the previous season, the third-highest jump in NBA history.
The Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach who guided the Celtics to nine NBA Championships. In 1996, Auerbach was honoured as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Following are the balloting results for the 2006-07 NBA Coach of the Year award: Coach, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
Sam Mitc , Toronto 49 43 20 394
Jerry Sloan, Utah 39 28 22 301
Avery Johnson, Dallas 28 31 35 268
Jeff Van Gundy, Houston 10 19 27 134
Mike D’Antoni, Phoenix 2 3 3 22
Don Nelson, Golden State -- 2 7 13
Scott Skiles, Chicago -- 1 9 12
Pat Riley, Miami -- 1 -- 3
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio -- -- 2 2
George Karl, Denver -- -- 1 1
Flip Saunders, Detroit -- -- 1 1
Isiah Thomas, New York -- -- 1 1
Sam Mitc COY
In all honesty I think it really helped Sam that he was far and away the top contender from the East- while all the rest of the top choices were from the West. Media simply know more about the teams they see and cover more, and I bet most of the writers from the East voted for Sam in first place.
Who voted for Isiah?
I would have gone with Jeff Van Gundy. He definitely got jipped. I'd like to see how Sam Mitc would have done with a Rockets team missing both McGrady and Yao.
Last year, ironically, Sam was voted the worst coach in a survey on ESPN. How is this possible?
Another proof that the media is filled with idiots.
The Raptors execute poorly on both offense AND defense.
The only plays he ever ran was high pick and roll with Bosh and Ford/Calderon, or isolating Bosh. Despite having an excellent shooter in Parker, he rarely run screens for him, he under-utlizies Bargani as an interior defensive presence, and failed to use his passing skills in the low-post, but instead uses him strictly as a 3pt shooter from outside. Calderon was the guy who keeps the defense flowing.
There is no semblance of a set defense, it's all based on athletic ability. Stupid idiot.
Not true any more, Kori. The guys who did not like Mitc are pretty much gone now. Plus, he has mellowed a little this season with different kinds of players there. He gave a lot of credit today to the players who allow him to coach them and called them all out onto the court to recieve the award with him.
I've always thought Mitc was a great coach, even when Raps where horrible during his first 2 years ; hard-working coach, but he couldn't do miracles with a then ty team ;
CONGRATS
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