How bad is Sam Mitchell?

[Mufasa]

Raptors fans don't deserve a "better" coach, we deserve players that are reliably consistent on both ends of the court.

Do you really think Van Gundy is going to magically be successful at teaching Calderon, Parker, Kapono, Moon and co. how to not get beat/crossed by their defender, so help defense is rarely needed?

Well... yes. If you're guarding someone who can probably beat you, you play off him more, while if he's a shooter, you go tighter. Furthermore when the help comes, don't take it from the guy guarding the strongest shooter on the other team. It's simple things like that which can make all the difference.

[Carlos Rogers]

Stupid Question...how do u post pics to show up in a thread?

[s e n s i]

"JOSE! GET OVER HERE AND LOOK AT THE PLAY I FOUND ON GOOGLE!"


"I don't understand coach, I see nothing on the screen?"


"Haha, yeah... I'm just playin' Jose, I don't know how to use a computer."

[lupo]

in Italy we would use a word: imbarazzante.

This is the third year that i'm following the raptors. guys, you play an horrible basket. Bosh is an All star and i love calderon, but a team that has only 2 options (ball on the post for CB4, pick&roll with calderon) will maybe be able to do a .500 season, but for sure will never be a contender.

this year i have to admit that i've followed just a couple of games (GSW and Boston) entirely mainly because here in italy you start to play at 1am, but i found just incredible how the team played badly in the stretch. vs GSW Bosh had the same a 1vs1 for something like 6 times in a row..you guys were luky that you were playing a regular season game vs a really bad team, in the playoffs you would lose that game 9 times out of 10.

i'm sorry, but looking at toronto i see a good team with some potentials (with maybe a trade that will give you a good SF), but untill you will have as a coach sam i really think you will go no were, and even if you will arrive to the playoffs (and i think you will have no problem doing so) right you will be kicked out in the first round.

[seanbig]

As bad as Smitch is, he will still have the COY award. His use of Kapono has been awful so far, and his defensive schemes have been piss poor. Dammit we got JO, and our defense looks more disorganized than ever at times

[Koosh]

Raptors fans don't deserve a "better" coach, we deserve players that are reliably consistent on both ends of the court.

Do you really think Van Gundy is going to magically be successful at teaching Calderon, Parker, Kapono, Moon and co. how to not get beat/crossed by their defender, so help defense is rarely needed? On the flip side, is he going to magically teach some of those guys how to improve their ball handling and craftiness so that they themselves can beat their defender off of the dribble resulting in easy baskets?. Will he also get them to consistently hit uncontested shots?

See...those are the "elementary" issues with the team.

How many times in Raptors' history have the fans and management scapegoated the head coach for all of the team's woes, only to have a new coach come in and be just as unproductive with the same/similar roster?

It may be hard for some of you to fathom, but at this stage the Raptors are nowhere near being championship contenders and it has very little to do with the coach. Personnel wise, the Raptors are essentially the same team as they were last year, and I expect a similar regular season result. Bosh and O'Neal could put up 50/20 combined for remainder of the season, and the team will still struggle to win games on a consistent basis due to the erratic PG, SG, and SF play on offense and defense.

But hey Mr.Colangelo, if you're reading this, instead of improving the glaring deficiencies on the roster, go ahead and fire Sam Mitchell... In the end I'm sure I'll be proven right

At what point do you stop blaming the talent and start blaming the coach? Let's keep changing our team every year until we find a combination of guys that can win games without a coach. That's what you're suggesting.

I'm tired of blaming the talent. We got JO and you saw how happy Sam was about the trade. We added toughness, defense and rebounding and yet somehow we're still getting badly outrebounded, our perimeter D still sucks (cause we're still double teaming everyone and their grandma) and we still have stupid substitution patterns and inconsistent roles despite our lack of depth.

When your all-star player keeps publically questioning your coach's decisions, isn't that saying anything? We need a new coach.

[rdtx2005]

When your all-star player keeps publically questioning your coach's decisions, isn't that saying anything? We need a new coach.

a lot of stars question their coaches decision at times. You don't see those coaches get fired.

[rdtx2005]

I have been a fairly fascinated with coaching for a few decades now and when Sam was hired I knew with-in a game or 2 that it was an idiotic move made by a front office that was extremely confused and disoriented at that point.

I don't see how an EOY 2 years running would make an idiotic choice for a coach.

[uote]I have been bashing him every since because I know that it is basically impossible to win a championship without an elite coach and I've been hoping that some of the negative attention created may open the eyes of the press, mlse etc..[/quote]

do you are admitting that you are just a hater.. Who do you want as a coach? How many so-called championship coaches are there just waiting to be hired?

When I heard that BC rehired him for 4 years I had to take a day off work I was so upset. Upset, for 2 reasons. One is obvious...he sucks. The other was it made me realize just what an idiot BC was for hiring him and why would he offer the guy a 4 year contract. Why 4? Why not 1 or 2? No one else wanted him.

there is a think called stability.. you seem to not understand that.. and your comment about taking a day off work because you are upset.. wow.. I wonder how you get through life if something really traumatic happens to you that is worse than a basketball team re-signing a Coach of the Year.

I have followed every move Mitchell has made since he was hired expect for a stretch of time last year when I was so upset at Mitchell resigning that I started losing interest in basketball.

You are not a true basketball fan.

Number one...clock management...this has become a bit of a lost art in basketball. There are certain coaches that understand the math that goes with great clock management and then some that just don't get it. Things such as running 2 for 1's, knowing who and when to foul etc. that Sam seems to have no clue about. It is so painful for me to know that we are playing a team well in the 4th but we have little to no chance of winning because Sam is going to get schooled by someone like Pop or Carlisle. I could write a whole novel about Sam's lack of clock management skills as this is a particular part of his style I have really focused on.

I'm sorry.. blaming Sam for this is utterly stupid. Clock managment is solely on the players.. Coaches don't magically create plays that take 15 seconds.. there are factors out there called defense.

If you think Pop or Carlisle have plays that are only 15-20 seconds every single time, you sir need to wake up.

Play calling...You can only get better than Sam was in his first few years...I guess after a while you must just start knowing some. Even 2 years ago almost ever single play that was called at the end of a quarter was TJ with the one on one iso move. I'm talking 80-90% of the time. What the hell is up with that at the NBA level. Hell the iso isn't even a play!!!

The NBA is probably the most scouted league in the world. Every team has about 90% of the same plays. It's the movement caused from the plays is what is important. Player IQ is mostly responsible in whether or not the ball gets in the basket or not.

Like I have said many times over the years.. do you honestly think there is a coach out there that has a playbook that accounts for every single situation the defense out there gives to you? If you honestly think so.. i question your knowledge of basketball.

Remember when he decided to copy D'antoni and make us a running team That what painful to watch at so many level's

yeah.. it sure was painful for 10 games where the team was 2-8.. but yet at the same time.. we won 47 games... i guess no credit is given to the coach.

Foul-outaphobia...when is the last time a Raptor player fouled out early and it has come back to haunt us? I can't even remember one. Mitchell is so worried about this for some reason? If you pull your players constantly, who get in a little foul trouble...you're penalizing yourself before the rules get a chance. There is an ideal number of foul outs a team should have a year mathematically and it is not zero. It is probably somewhere between 10-15 this ensures the players don't get unnecessarily penalized by the overly cautious coaches and also let's your players play hard and not be afraid to challenge defensively for the entire game.

so.. are you advocating that Bosh/Calderon and JO all get into foul trouble in the first half?

so.. 10-15 foul out games is now the magic number of being a successful team? do tell..

Don't we deserve a good coach?

no.. we deserve better talent and better fans.

Please hire someone else. Jeff Van Gundy has always liked The Raptors. Can anyone tell me that you would actually rather have Sam Mitchell?

so how is JVG going to magically turn the Raptors into a championship team? How is a coach that hasn't won a championship meet your criteria of getting a championship coach? This statement pretty much defeats your whole post.

lets take Phil Jackson.. is he magically going to make JO/Bosh/Calderon into triangle offense specialists?

[rdtx2005]

If you have a player like Jamario Moon that always thinks he is Jason Kapono on offense.. why not just put Jason Kapono in? At least on offense Jason Kapono has a better chance to get the ball in the basket

[rdtx2005]

At what point do you stop blaming the talent and start blaming the coach? Let's keep changing our team every year until we find a combination of guys that can win games without a coach. That's what you're suggesting.

Quite easy to blame the talent when there is an obvious lack of it.

I'm tired of blaming the talent. We got JO and you saw how happy Sam was about the trade. We added toughness, defense and rebounding and yet somehow we're still getting badly outrebounded, our perimeter D still sucks (cause we're still double teaming everyone and their grandma) and we still have stupid substitution patterns and inconsistent roles despite our lack of depth.

Sam was happy about the trade.. we needed JO's defensive presence, but JO coming in is not going to magically grab 20 extra rebounds your way. Just look at the games we are out rebounded. It's a total lack of effort. JO has however been able to alter a lot of shots.. something we never really seen from the C's we had before.

[|llsT oNe]

Apologist of the year(s).

[Kabookalu]

How bad is Sam Mitchell? As bad as your mind can comprehend. I completely agree with everything in this topic except for the poor arguments defending Mitchell. If it is not glaringly obvious that Mitchell's deficiencies are what is holding this team back and that it is being blamed on the lack of talent, I just wonder how much people here really watch basketball. People act like the coach has no responsibilities, no impact on this team; there is reason why they're being paid a lot of money, and it is not to babysit. Look at Utah, they lost their starting point guard and are still playing fantastically. Their swingman rotation on paper doesn't look that great, at least not top tier, yet I don't see them complaining, they still have one of the better offenses in the league. They have Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer on frontcourt, Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'neal should be better than that. OUR starting point guard isn't injured (well at least until last night) yet how come we're still playing piss poor and they're playing great?

We're not gonna be championship contenders with a coaching change, I'd be lying that a lack of talent would prevent us from doing so at this stage. However, it is absolutely unbearable watching Sam Mitchell as a coach. We can do A LOT better than this, I'd prefer to lose games that were greatly coached than win games that were badly coached. Sam Mitchell's COY award might have been the most unfortunate event that took place in franchise history. From what I remember when BC offered the contract to Sam Mitchell, everyone thought it was reasonably low and that he was going to bolt for another team for more money. Yet he frikkin takes the offer. It would be very bad publicity if you didn't even offer your COY a contract, though it did seem like BC was trying to make it so that Sam Mitchell wouldn't take the contract.

[elitehunter99]

Again to reiterate what the OP said, I don't think Smitch has much to do with the improvement of Bargnani, he worked his ass off in the off-season, now he is reaping the benefits. Same goes with Bosh and Jose, both players work tirelessly on their game and have improved (for the most part) because of their own talent/hard work.

I think it is time this team brought in a coach who has a defensive gameplan, and actually draws up plays to get guys like Kapono, Parker, and Jose open looks. The new coach should also recognize mismatches and exploit them, and he should make defensive adjustments against star perimeter players who are going off on the Raptors perimeter D.. These are obvious weaknesses in the coaching department, which hasn't improved this year. Before trading Bargnani, BC has to look at a new coach regardless of whether this team continues to struggle or not..

[08HEMI]

How bad is Sam? He built his system off watching old NBATV games at night on his sofa, when he relized he couldn't do that when the players are different he decided to try what Sloan does because it kept Sloan a job so why not, the pick and roll. Then in games he has no way of watching NBATV to get a play in a timeout or when we desperately need one so his mind goes blank like it did before he resorted to using NBATV and he calls the only thing he knows, pick and roll or iso and shooters in the corner.

How bad is Sam? I could write a novel on how he is maybe the worst coach in the history of the NBA but im not going to do it here you'll have to buy it

[rdtx2005]

Sam is as bad as our fans.

[tb40]

The most incredible thing about the Smitch's tenure is how the mainstream media has basically given him a free pass during his reign.

Rarely do we hear outright criticisms about this guy in the mainstream, yah, the odd questioning about a decision here and there, but no serious criticism and/or indignation about Sam's glaring incompetencies as a tactical coach, (I even question his motivational skills).

Unbelievable.

[Alfred]

Sam is as bad as our fans.

Weren't you complaining about how bad the fans were a few pages ago?

[metaldaze]

I blame the gm who put the flawed roster together in the first place not Sam is it any wonder the leafs are hiring the exact opposite of BC(see todays Toronto Sun). They lack the players to get the job done most nights you all knew this in the summer point your fingers at the dude with the high collars for doing nothing to fix it.

[metaldaze]

This is all part of BC's master plan. Let the team struggle for a while & then fire Smitch.

For putting the paper thin roster together ?

[Yuri Vaultin]

There are no coaches available that are too much better than Sam. There are a ton of mediocre coaches out there, but not any excellent ones. So I'd rather stay the course and see what happens. Change for the sake of change is not always the best avenue to follow.