Raptors fire head coach Sam Mitchell - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Gozer · 12-04-2008, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KTown

About time, there is too much talent on this team to be losing the way they are.

PG: Terrific offense, poor defense. no proven depth.
SG: Solid role player veteran, no depth
SF: Two borderline D-leaguers and an offensive specialist

How a coach couldn't dominate with that backcourt is baffling.

arloiginla · 12-04-2008, 09:39 AM

They should hire Isiah Thomas.

Gozer · 12-04-2008, 10:02 AM

(as in, I would harm myself if they hired Isiah)

Jason14h · 12-04-2008, 10:21 AM

Why didn't we hire Dantoni before the season again?

Gozer · 12-04-2008, 10:28 AM

Because we hadn't fired Mitchell yet.

Frankly, I'm not impressed with Coangelo.

JohnnyFlame · 12-04-2008, 12:30 PM

Triano gets the nod in a nice PR move. There will be very low expectations on an untried coach. BC hints as doing something outside of the box like hiring a Euro coach? Everything I've read points to a possible Ettore Messina hiring. Meanwhile the onus is now entirely on BC. Short term his options are limited but down the road he will have a ton of cash to work with --as in in a couple of years.

Wonder if it's a good draft year? Maybe they should not try to terribly hard to correct the situation until after this season.

Gozer · 12-04-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlame

Wonder if it's a good draft year? Maybe they should not try to terribly hard to correct the situation until after this season.

Talk like that has me worried about us keeping Bosh.

octothorp · 12-04-2008, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlame

Triano gets the nod in a nice PR move. There will be very low expectations on an untried coach. BC hints as doing something outside of the box like hiring a Euro coach? Everything I've read points to a possible Ettore Messina hiring. Meanwhile the onus is now entirely on BC. Short term his options are limited but down the road he will have a ton of cash to work with --as in in a couple of years.

Wonder if it's a good draft year? Maybe they should not try to terribly hard to correct the situation until after this season.

Yeah, I've read some stuff about Messina but also about Blatt. Honestly I don't know enough about either of them to have any real judgement, but hiring a euro-league coach is a bigger risk than hiring a euro-league player; the whole team will suffer while the coach adapts to the NBA game. Still, both guys are cited as being likely to coach in the NBA at some point in their lives.

Gozer · 12-04-2008, 03:06 PM

http://www.raptorblog.com/

Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star: Colangelo and Mitchell were an odd couple
"Colangelo is a Western-bred enthusiast of the run-and-gun game; Mitchell kneels at the altar of lockdowns and rebounds. So maybe it made sense, given the lack of unity in their union, that their team played a disconnected hybrid of both styles. The Colangelo-Mitchell Raptors, in the end, neither ran much nor played more than the occasional lick of defence."

Michael Grange's From Deep: And now what?
"It's going to be interesting to see how Jay Triano manages the job. I've got a lot of respect for the guy but the irony in him replacing Sam was that early in his career guys who played for him described him as a player's coach more than an x-and-o guy, kind of like how people like to criticize Sam. Over the years he's gained a solid reputation as a technical coach and has likely gotten over the hump as far as being able to land another job with an NBA team if he had to. But make no mistake, this is a huge leap for him. His resume is paper thin, by the standards of an NBA head coach. And while there are many examples of guys who have never coached a day in their life becoming NBA head coaches, it's always guys who have had long and respected NBA careers."

flamesrule_kipper34 · 12-04-2008, 03:42 PM

Firing the coach Sam Mitchell, was not a smart move...if the Raptors DO any better, it will have nothing to do with Sam Mitchell's lack of coaching ability, it will either be a turnaround that was bound to happen sooner or later, and/or just the idea of a coach leaving to stir them up.

CrispyGriz · 12-05-2008, 06:30 AM

Seems to me that the raptors are missing that second star player that can win them a game alone. Outside of Bosh, there is no one on this roster that can do that. O'neal was a good pick up, but at this point in his career, i see him more as the third guy that wil do the dirty work for that top tandem.

Every now and then a team makes a run on the back of one player, Lebron a couple years back and Iverson a few before that, but i cant remember the last time a team was a top contender with only one legitimate star on the roster.

I dont know how or where BC is going to find that player, but he needs to be found before any one is going to take this team seriously.

JohnnyFlame · 12-05-2008, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrispyGriz

Seems to me that the raptors are missing that second star player that can win them a game alone. Outside of Bosh, there is no one on this roster that can do that. O'neal was a good pick up, but at this point in his career, i see him more as the third guy that wil do the dirty work for that top tandem.

Every now and then a team makes a run on the back of one player, Lebron a couple years back and Iverson a few before that, but i cant remember the last time a team was a top contender with only one legitimate star on the roster.

I dont know how or where BC is going to find that player, but he needs to be found before any one is going to take this team seriously.

They are counting on Bargnani to be that player. He has been a bright spot so far this season but it's mostly his improvement defensively. He has been playing at the wrong position because Kapono and Moon suck so bad but even there he has done a respectable job. Plus Calderon puts up a lot of points.

It's defense where they really need that extra guy. They need somebody at the 2 or 3 who can actually play some. Now if the guy was also a slasher to the basket that would help the offense as well.

Triano sounds like he is going to go uptempo. Mitchell tried that for about 10 games last year and abandoned it because they couldn't finish among other things. Thankfully he did say though that they needed to play some defense if they expect to turn it around.

Plus as I stated in another post they could tank this season and get that player you suggest is needed.

malcolmk14 · 12-05-2008, 03:53 PM

If the goal here is to win a championship, then the up-tempo run and gun game is not going to be effective. Sure, they might win 55 games, but they will have no chance in the playoffs against defensively dominant teams like Orlando, Boston, and Cleveland.

Case in point: the Phoenix Suns.

octothorp · 12-05-2008, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

If the goal here is to win a championship, then the up-tempo run and gun game is not going to be effective. Sure, they might win 55 games, but they will have no chance in the playoffs against defensively dominant teams like Orlando, Boston, and Cleveland.

Case in point: the Phoenix Suns.

The way I look at it, the fact that the Raptors can't play up-tempo effectively is more a symptom of the greater problems with the team. Playing up-tempo forces the team to play at a faster, harder pace, forces them to be more creative, forces them to finish and creates situations where they can crash the offensive boards. A team like San Antonio isn't effectively simply because they play a tough, grind-it-out half-court game; they can also hang with the Phoenixes of the league when those teams force the up-tempo pace. Maybe they won't win a championship playing up-tempo, but they'll develop skills that they're sorely missing and that will help them win in any philosophy.

octothorp · 12-08-2008, 03:55 PM

A microcosm of what's wrong with the Raptors came early in the third quarter of yesterday's game, when, after a great drive +1 by Bargnani, the Raptors waste the next three possessions with early-in-the-shot-clock 3pt attempts by Solomon, Bargnani, and Bosh. Portland goes on a run, and the Raptors spend the rest of the game playing from behind. An up-tempo offense does not mean bringing the ball across center and taking a 3. The best up-tempo offenses are constantly looking for easy scores on offense by making the defense work hard. And when you force the opposition to work hard on defense, you increase the likelihood that they'll make poor decisions or settle for easy shots on offense. The player I've been most impressed with the last couple games has been Graham (who used to be a player I hated), because it's clear that he gets what the coaches are telling him; his defense still needs work but on offense he drives hard and either gets a bucket or takes his pound of flesh.

I'm not sure what to say about Bosh right now. He's always been a classy individual, but it seems right now like he's sulking a bit: just doesn't seem to have his usual effort, and very poor decision making.

Machiavelli · 12-08-2008, 04:18 PM

I think he misses Sam.

Gozer · 12-08-2008, 04:22 PM

I think he wants the heck out of Toronto.

howard_the_duck · 12-08-2008, 05:59 PM

If Bosh bolts that franchise is as good as gone.

Machiavelli · 12-08-2008, 06:18 PM

By the way, I was kidding about Bosh missing Smitch. I personally just think he's tired.

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

If Bosh bolts that franchise is as good as gone.

I can't see how they'll keep him after this season.

howard_the_duck · 12-09-2008, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

By the way, I was kidding about Bosh missing Smitch. I personally just think he's tired.

I can't see how they'll keep him after this season.

Colangelo will have to get creative then, because a Bosh exodus would be an absolute disaster.

I'm still holding out hope for this season yet....Colangelo is one of the best in the biz, and if there is anyone who can get them out of this mess it's him.