BigSlam wrote:Battery wrote:Sam Mitchell's Toronto teams were terrible defensively.
Right - his TEAMS were terrible defensively. Not him.
It's like Triano. Is he a horrible defensive coach or is the fact that he is forced to use a starting line up that had Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani in it more to blame? If Larry Brown was the head coach of the Raptors today would the Raps be a better defensive team?
You can't make a jelly sandwich out of cow poo.
Mitchell took a team that went 27 and 55 and turned them around to be a team that went 47 and 35 - all through team orientated play and communication.
We already have guys that know how to are are willing to play D. We don't need a defensive specialist as a head coach IMO.
Raps fan here, when Sam got better talent (06/07 and 07/08) the team was pretty respectable defensively.
Here's the DRTG's for all the years he was here.
04/05: 108.7 (24th of 30)
05/06: 112.7 (29th of 30)
06/07: 106.0 (12th of 30)
07/08: 107.0 (13th of 30)
Not amazing, but respectable.
Just happened to be looking at this thread and thought I'd chime in to give you a little info.
Oh, and good luck in the playoffs.