Sam Mitchell Still Has Much To Learn as Raptors Coach

The loss to the Nets was blamed on Bosh's poor performance and NBA experts stated that the Nets were simply too experienced for the young Raptors to have a chance. No one was mentioning that Nets' coach Lawrence Frank had just coached circles around Mitchell.

No one was mentioning the strange move which saw Joey Graham open as a starter in game one. No one mentioned that Mitchell continued to use Juan Dixon against the Nets' bigger guards. It seemed that Bosh's struggles were his own fault. It seemed that the NBA analysts had spoken. The Nets were just a better team.

After his first season of success, Mitchell opened last year with an arrogance which had been seen in glimpses in years past. He jokingly threatened reporters, took personal shots at radio show hosts, and lost his temper on more than a few occasions. Some people embraced this new Sam Mitchell. I'll never understand why.

Going into the season, the Raptors were expecting a huge contribution from Andrea Bargnani and Jason Kapono. Instead, they got two players who looked lost, confused, and simply out of their element. While Kapono was still shooting a great percentage, but at one point he just stopped shooting 3-pointers.

Considering he's a 3-point specialist, this was a little strange of Kapono. Instead, Carlos Delfino took both his minutes and his shots. While Delfino was far from being the sniper Kapono, Parker and Calderon were, he seemed to be the hard-nosed player Mitchell seemed to embrace.

Another story which unfolded was the battle of the two-headed point guard. What was considered the Raptors' biggest strength had turned into a headache as Calderon's play shifted a disgruntled TJ Ford to the bench.

After returning from his injury, Ford seemed to force the issue on more than one occasion. In one game, he started a quarter by taking every shot for the Raptors for at least four minutes. It seemed he'd lost his mind.

The Raptors won 41 games in the 2007-08 season and this time opened the playoffs on the road against Orlando. This time, they failed to even be competitive. Hedo Turkoglu penetrated at will and Jameer Nelson carved up the weak perimeter defense while Nesterovic, Bosh, and Bargnani were absolutely helpless against Dwight Howard.

The loss this time fell on the shoulders of Andrea Bargnani, who was inserted into the starting line-up as the Raptors seven-foot, 255-pound small forward. While he battled Howard later on when he was moved to the center spot, Bargnani was arguably the worst player on the floor for the Raptors.

The Raptors were eliminated again—this time in five games. People continued to harp on the play of Andrea Bargnani and the fact that the Raptors simply lacked the bodies to match Dwight Howard. Once again, no one was saying a word about Stan Van Gundy coaching circles around Mitchell.

Perhaps it was Mitchell's poor luck that in his first two trips to the playoffs, he bumped into two of the best X's and O's coaches in the NBA. Or perhaps it should speak more of Mitchell's lack of coaching ability.

The fans in Toronto will quickly start to badger a great coach like Lenny Wilkins who simply lost interest. They're a little more lenient with a coach who has no idea what he's doing, but still gives the impression that he cares.

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