Our Coaching Staff and Their Ineffciency

[Rapsalot]

Im confused with the way we use kapono as the next guy. I think last night when we were down by about ten, kapono was put into the game. But the guy took no shots. What is he in there for? I just dont understand how you can have such a weapon and not be able to use it.

Yeah sam is developing with out players, yeah hes been learning but dont you think we need a proven coach to teach our players a little bit more. Im not just blaming him, im pointing a finger at the entire staff. It needs a changeup, or it needs an addition. There is just something missing.

And to add another point, why do we always stop using the hot hand. If a guys hot, run his some plays, give him some touches. Hell probably hit the second one, if the first one dosnt go.

You can't understand it because Sam does some strange things as a coach. I like the guy as you said. He is a great interview with the press but as someone said we need a staff that are very good at X and Os because Sam is more of a "just work hard" guy but does not have great vision. Our offense is not really that hard to stop but the key against the teams that kill us is we don't have good one on one defenders and they cut us open like crazy. Get all the way to the basket for dunks or can get other players 100% open 3, our transition D is very bad. I really think we need a player change to get better at D to change this as you can't coach speed.

[Kareem_Ajani]

One word that is often forgotten:

SPACING

Lakers showcased that very well in yesterday's onslaught. It's a shame we don't have a 2 guard that is willing to suck the defense in and then kick it out to the open man.. Calderon does it at times, but if you look at when Kapono was in Miami, Wade would suck in about 2-3 defenders and kick it out to Kapono and it was solid. Raptors often look lost and run around the half court yelling at each other to get into positions. A lot less thinking, and more automatic positioning and playing without the ball is heavily necessary.

[Bryans_Collar]

I think last night showed how bad of a coach Sam Mitchell really is. I think a lineup of

Jose
Delfino
Joey
Bargs
Humph

might have been worth trying. Let Bargs and Jose take care of the scoring, while Delfino takes care of Kobe and when Kobe goes to drive the lane bring in Joey for the double and a couple of hard fouls. Maybe he would have thought twice about going in. Hes an NBA coach, why did he not utilize his players?

Awesome, lets have our franchise player sit while a bunch of jobbers get court time.

[rdtx2005]

Kapono is struggling because he doesn't have a PG that will create open space for him.

TJ does that well for him. Kapono will be a different player when TJ is back in the fold

[rdtx2005]

I agree with pretty much everything the OP stated. Sam Mitchell has been overlooked. He does do great little things like take a reporters mic and interrogate the reporters, but other than that, he does not prove to be the elaborate coach of a championship.

how many coaches are there that are 'championship' material?..

that argument is really lacking...

[HighOctane]

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how many coaches are there that are 'championship' material?..

that argument is really lacking...

Sorry, I've met Mitchell in real life. He's just loud mouthed and oblivious.

[CBC_Raptor]

Bring back Brendan Malone & Brian James.

[Death Knight]

Forget about the offensive end, wtf do they do in practice about defense?!

Honestly, at this point in time, I really think this has as much to do with the players as it is with the coaching staff. The players just aren't following instructions and assignments. This team lacks focus and discipline to stay with their man, rotate properly, and everything else that is defense. A large part of it is really on the players.

[WaltFrazier]

Bring back Brendan Malone & Brian James.

Good idea. We need some real x's and o's type coaches. Look what the new defensive coach has done for Boston this year.

[Hank_Scorpio]

Ill start out this thread by stating that i've been reading this forum for a long time. I barely ever post unless i feel i have a valid point. So dont take this as a bash thread, as I would love to get some opinions and maybe figure out some answers to some of my problems.

Now to the topic, I love Sam Mitchell's personality as much as the next guy, but sometimes i feel he gets a pass because of it.

It looks to me, that the Raptors do not have much creativity. Other then the pick and roll, or swinging the ball around the premieter, we really do not do anything else. It shows in some games where if Bosh is not converting, or if we cant hit our shots with the ball swinging along the premieter we absolutly suck!

One thing i dont understand about this team is the lack of offball screens. How many times do you see teams set 1 or 2 screens to free up a player to get the shot. On a game like last night where Barngnani was hot, why was there not any plays off the ball to give Bargs a little room. We've seen lately that Bargs will drive if he has a defender running at him or he has some room for his first step. Should this not be on the coach to set up a play of the ball to get a player like him open. This team does absolutly nothing off the ball, which makes you think: what the hell do they do in practice. I think this could aslo be applied for Kapono. I mean all he needs is an inch of space. Why cant we set some screens for him to run through? Its like having a sniper gun but not even using it.

Another issue i have is why Mitchell insists on teaching lessons? How can Humph get a CNDP along with Joey. The whole game, it was evident we needed someone to clog up that lane and knock some players around. The lakers almost had Bosh scared with their physical play. Why not play your two physical guys on a night where Bosh wasnt doing much. Why cant we slide Bargs to PF and use Humph at the C. I mean if your willing to let Juan Dixon gaurd Kobe Bryant ( ) this doenst sound that crazy.

I think last night showed how bad of a coach Sam Mitchell really is. I think a lineup of

Jose
Delfino
Joey
Bargs
Humph

might have been worth trying. Let Bargs and Jose take care of the scoring, while Delfino takes care of Kobe and when Kobe goes to drive the lane bring in Joey for the double and a couple of hard fouls. Maybe he would have thought twice about going in. Hes an NBA coach, why did he not utilize his players?

You aren't an NBA coach.

Why should anyone listen to you?


The Raps were down by 4 with 11:45 to go in the 4th.

Kobe scored 12 in the 4th. Vujacic scored 13.

Raptors missed 10 shots in the 4th and turned the ball over once. Lakers missed 6 and did not turn the ball over. Lakers also hit 5 3s in the quarter.

That is why we lost. It had nothing to do with coaching and everything to do with execution.

This game was not lost due to coaching.



But really, the reason why I replied is because I want to question the point in bold.

Do you honestly believe that all it takes in this league is a Delfino, a Graham, and a few hard fouls to keep Kobe Bryant quiet? Don't you think if that were the case, then EVERYONE would be doing it and Bryant would not have the numbers he does?

It takes real brass balls to write a long post questioning the ability of your coach, and then tp make a boneheaded comment like that one.

[Hank_Scorpio]

I think we need a good defensive assistant coach - someone like our former head coach Kevin O'Neil. Mitchell has done a solid job developing players, and he's been improving at everything, but we still need a guy who's going to take over our defense. It's sad how many wide open threes the other team's best shooters get, and how many easy layups we see. A lot of that could be fixed with a better defensive plan.

When you talk about our defense needing improvement, are you referring to the fact that we are only 7th best at points allowed? behind only Boston, Detroit, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, and Portland?

Or are you referring to the fac that in our last 10 games, we are tied for 4th with Boston in points differential?

Want to improve the defense?

Put TJ Ford back in the starting lineup.

http://www.82games.com/0708/0708TOR.HTM

Look at Calderon's eFG%.

Also note that the "on court-off court" rankings are kind of screwy for Calderon because so much of the time that he has been "off court", the Raps have had a non-point guard running the point.

In addition, for much of Ford's time on the floor this season, he was playing with a banged up and much less effective Bosh. That also tilts the offensive numbers in favor of Calderon.

But on defense, the numbers don't lie - Ford is a better defender than Calderon - and I don't think its even close.

[pierrot]

Putting Dixon on Kobe was a mind-numbingly bad decision, a reversion to the Smitch of last year. Everyone watching the game knew that was a bad idea.

Fortunately, obvious strategic errors like this one are pretty rare these days. These blunders aside, I'm willing to give Sam the benefit of the doubt because we haven't seen how this collection of players would work under anyone else. Obviously they've greatly exceeded the expectations of a year and a half ago.

Running the pick and roll or power forward isolation plays exclusively might not be the strategy I would choose, but it is a legitimate one (see Utah Jazz c. 1998). The advantage of focussing on one play is the chance to hone it, and eventually to be able to execute it perfectly against any defense.

Personally, I wouldn't expect any other coach coming in to be able to get more offense out of this team. Throwing in a few new wrinkles on offense isn't going to change the fact that against an intense defense, the Raps struggle to get open. We have shooters, but not a lot of guys that can break down a defense or even take advantage of a switch. And a lot of our guys struggle to finish around the rim. There aren't a lot of plays we can run that a defense isn't going to be able to counter.

So, yes, I would like to see Bargnani used in more creative ways, and I'd like to see Delfino create some mismatches as the backup point, but I wouldn't go so far as to call Sam a bad coach if it doesn't happen.

[Boogie!]

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When do we stop treating this like house league? Yesterday was the perfect game for Joey. Tell him "dont shoot! Only dunks! KNOCK OUT KOBE!!!" and send him out there. Kobe was having a picnic in our own home court, thats absolutly disgusting.

sam's not gonna tell someone to knock someone out. that's stupid and unprofessional. and joey can't penetrate so how's he gonna get in the lane and dunk it? joey has one move which is the dribble in one spot and then pull up for the jump shot. as for the plays, it does seem that way. our offense gets really stagnant when no one's hitting shots. bargnani is really an ex factor to our offense and if he's consistent i don't think our offense will be that bad though. our defense from time to time flat out sucks though. maybe we should get a defensive assistant coach like the celtics. i mean look at them this year, even with garnett out they still play awesome defense.

[The Notic]

it really perplexes me when someone with little basketball acumen defiantly questions the x's and o's of an nba team with no real insight.

this isn't something i feel like discussing with you (OP), but offensive sets in the nba are predicated on simplicity and star play. that's why you'll rarely see a team with average, well-coached team win consistently over more talented average-coached teams.

teams often run variations of conventional plays, ie. pick and roll, iso clear out, dump it in the post and space. it's up to your best players to create plays for themselves, or auxiliary opportunities for teammates. complex movements, with tons of screens and movement is opposite to most pragmatic nba coaching fundamentals.

often, just knowing where you can be most effective offensively on the floor and understanding your limitations can be a much greater, more realistic viable option than complex x's and o's.