FanHouse SamMitchell

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" -Rebecca West

Bryan Colangelo either laughs or weeps at this quote after the Raptors 2008-2009 season.

I mean, it DID seem like a good idea at the time, right? You're a playoff team, on the verge of contention. You have a legit superstar in Chris Bosh. You have an up and coming point guard in Jose Calderon, a core of veterans alongside sharpshooter Jason Kapono, and a young stud in Jamario Moon. All they needed was to jettison that black hole, T.J. Ford and minimize that bust Andrea Bargnani. And if they could do all that and upgrade their frontcourt with some muscle, that would be idea.

Enter Jermaine O'Neal. Enter the meltdown.

From the moment the Raptors selected Andrea Bargnani with the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, he's been second-guessed and labeled a bust. He showed the occasional flash of potential his first couple of years, but not nearly enough to justify being drafted over the likes of fellow top-10 picks Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge or Rudy Gay or late-round gems Rajon Rondo or Paul Millsap.

And then, things started to click: when Jermaine O'Neal went down late last month, Bargnani has picked up the slack and then some, averaging 22.1 points per game sidelined since New Year's Eve, Bargnani has flourished in the starting lineup, averaging a surprising 22.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in eight starts.

In this clip from TNT's Overtime, Kenny, Charles, and C-Webb discuss the firing of Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell. While debating whether the team's sub-.500 record was Smitch's fault, they also discuss the personnel of the team, and after Charles makes some kind of Playboy bunny analogy, he mentions to Kenny that he might be confusing Jose Calderon with another Jose he has a fondness for.


I love the fact that it's like 2AM when they're filming these segments, so pretty much anything goes. The NBATV show that features Webber and Gary Payton together is quickly gaining on the TNT crew in terms of entertainment value, but still, nothing beats some classic analysis from Charles Barkley.

[via BallHype]

What's up?! I know.... It's been a while since I've written. A lot has happened, but I'll keep it brief.

As you all know, we recently had a coaching change. First of all I would to thank Sam Mitchell for everything that he gave to the organization. I wish him nothing but success as he moves on in the future.

Tonight is our first game under Jay Triano. I'm comfortable with Jay because he's been with the Raptors since I've been there. I think he is going to do a great job. As a team we have to make sure we bounce back and play the type of basketball I know we can play.

Other than basketball I've just been trying to cope with the freezing weather. It's hasn't really snowed really bad in Toronto so that's a plus for me.

I'm working on my next video too. Its getting tougher because I'm tryin to keep my ideas fresh and I always want it to be good. I'll be ok though. I think that pressure is always good for you.

Well, I'm off to shootaround. We finally have a game on ESPN! Hopefully we'll do really well and they'll pick us up for more games. Also, vote for me for the All-Star Game! It would be greatly appreciated.

Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail penned a solid profile of Raptors interim coach Jay Triano, illustrating just how excited folks in Canada are for one of their own to take over their country's lone NBA team.

It's a good piece, but what struck me was how even the recently deposed Sam Mitchell had good things to say about the man who replaced him. As Mitchell told Grange, though, he harbors no ill-will over Bryan Colangelo's decision:

"Fans, calls, e-mails, everyone's been great," he said. "I've enjoyed every minute working for the Toronto Raptors and I've enjoyed every minute of living in this city, I have no regrets and no complaints and everyone at MSLE, the owners, board of directors, Bryan, has treated me better than anyone deserves to be treated. You just have to move on."

I agree that the Raptors probably had to make a change, and while the timing seemed early, it's better than pulling the trigger too late. That said, I'd love to see Mitchell get another chance, or at least an invitation to move into the broadcast booth.

After last night's beat down at the hands of the recently surging Mavericks, the Suns have lost four straight -- something they haven't done since November of 2006. The locker room mood has been less than positive, and while head coach Terry Porter has asserted himself recently, the team came out with a lack of fire that was apparent to everyone, including the team's general manager, Steve Kerr.

Kerr was in attendance for last night's blood bath, and this post-game comment he gave to the East Valley Tribune might be a clue that this (lack of) aggression will not stand, man:

"What's most disappointing is the lack of passion, commitment and energy. That's what I'm looking for," Kerr said. "I want to see five guys who want to play, want to compete. For whatever reason, we've lost that in the last few games ... and the first half in this game was the worst it has been. We weren't competing."

That sounds to me like some changes might be on the way. Jerry Brown of the Tribune suggests they might come in the starting lineup or on the roster, but Kerr has tinkered with the roster enough (see:Shaq). Might he be so bold as to make a change at the coaching level, just 20 games into the season?

When discussing Sam Mitchell's firing yesterday, my colleague Tom Ziller cited Toronto's dismal defense as a likely contributing factor -- last year the Raptors' defense ranked slightly above average; this year, it's one of the worst in the league.

Such a decline put Mitchell in an awkward position, especially since his entire coaching philosophy of rebounding and defense was somewhat at odds with Bryan Colangelo's preference to run-and-gun -- if a defensive coach can't coach defense, what use is he?

Mitchell was already in place when Colangelo took the job, and after Mitchell led the team to their first division title and was named Coach of the Year two seasons ago, Colangelo faced pressure to sign him to an extension. After hearing his comments at yesterday's press conference, I'm convinced Colangelo has given interim head coach Jay Triano (pictured), who's coached Steve Nash for Canada's national team, a mandate to run. From the Toronto Star:

"As of last week, I believe, we were 29th in the league in fast-break points. That was concerning to all of us," said Colangelo last night. "There was talk about running, but it's something that I'm not sure we ever really thought about or practised or discussed to the extent it appeared on the floor with any kind of habit."

Fortunately, the tools are in place for the Raptors to become an up-tempo team. Jermaine O'Neal won't be winning any footraces, but he can trigger the fast-break with his rebounding, and his frontcourt mates Chris Bosh and Jamario Moon are both extremely athletic. Plus, no one in the league finds the open man (9.5 assists per game) while protecting the ball (4.9 A/TO) as well as Jose Calderon.

It's safe to call Toronto's start a disappointment: Canucks were thinking conference championship, not below .500 ball into December. As such, impeccably dressed Sam Mitchell has seen the end of his Raptors tenure. The team has named assistant Jay Triano (a former captain and coach of Canada's national team) as the interim man in charge.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reports that the lack of effort shown by the team in Tuesday's 132-93 disaster against Denver set Bryan Colangelo's mind. If anything, the game highlighted what has become an abysmal Toronto defense, ranked 26th in the league in opponents points per possession. Last season, Toronto's D was slightly above average. You'd think adding Jermaine O'Neal, one of this era's elite post defenders, would help. It has not.

If you took a time machine to 2005 when Colangelo took Toronto's reigns, and you said Smitch -- the antithesis of the prototypical Colangelo coach -- would be around until December 2008, we would have all called you crazy. (I mean, you have a time machine and you're worried about the Toronto Raptors coaching job? Weirdo.) Mitchell stuck around longer than he had any business to, and he'll get another job. Hopefully his next gig will have a team that better fits his persona/philosophy (smashmouth, defensive basketball).

Triano becomes the league's first Canadian-born head coach. I have a hunch he's also the first NBA head coach who saw Rent on Broadway more than 10 times and whose favo(u)rite musician is Sarah McLachlan.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. IndyStar.com: Shaquille O'Neal, so happy to be back home in New Jersey that he's ... stealing candy bars?

2. South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Shawn Marion, feeling like a caged animal.

3. SI.com: Good Interview with Scott Foster, the other (innocent!) referee whose name kept coming up in the Tim Donaghy scandal.

4. Toronto Star: Do not mention the "stupidity" of the Chris Bosh 2010 free agency to Raps' coach Sam Mitchell.

5. Deseret News: Carlos Boozer "hasn't decided" if he'll opt out this summer. What? You don't believe Boozer when he's talking about his contract?

6. AlanaG.com: A hilarious tale of a trip to the voting booth, which has been taken a little too seriously by at least one other site. (Oh, and it's NBA-related because of the video of Acie Law voting, I guess.)

Fellow FanHouse blogger Chris Bosh -- who also happens to be a perennial NBA All-Star -- is getting mad pub from high places all of a sudden. You'd expect his coach, Sam Mitchell, to be singing sweet about CB4's game ... but even from Smitch this is heavy:

"In the past, Chris would just come in ... not go through the motions, but just do enough," Mitchell said. "Now everything, every possession, every play is 100 per cent all out. I used to tell him all the time, the difference between [Boston Celtics star and former Mitchell teammate] Kevin Garnett and 95, 98 percent of the league is Kevin played like he practised. And Chris is getting it, I think the light done came on."

Bosh has been dynamite the past two seasons. If this sort of practice court fire is real, he can be even better? Remember, the kid's 23. Donnie Walsh, head of the Knicks, understands that. He tells Chris Smith of New York magazine how big a factor Bosh can be in the vaunted Summer of 2010.