Sam Mitchell Still Has Much To Learn as Raptors Coach

When Jason Kapono, and Andrea Bargnani reflect on last season, they seem to bring up the fact that they were always unsure on a night-to-night basis about their role. They were never sure what was expected of them. One could argue that telling players what's expected of them would be a coaching issue.

Furthermore, Sam Mitchell seems to favor players he's personally invested in. Mitchell did not have much of a say in picking Andrea Bargnani, but he certainly had a hand in picking Jamario Moon from the group of hopefuls who worked out in front of the Raptors brass.

Did Moon, a 27-year old rookie who at best will amount to nothing more than a solid rotation player, have a longer leash last year than two players Bryan Colangelo hand-picked as the starting pieces to compliment Chris Bosh?

Was it likely that after two or three bad shots, Moon was going to go to the bench and sit there for the rest of the night, like Bargnani and Kapono became all too accustomed to last season? People were curious when Kapono stopped shooting last season. Perhaps in Kapono's mind, he knew two misses would mean he was going to sit out for the rest of the game, and he wanted to try and contribute in some other way.

Ultimately, Mitchell has the tools this season to win over 50 games. The fact is, if he does, people are no doubt going to credit him. But as you watch the games this season, watch with a more critical eye at his moves as a coach.

A coach doesn't control whether a ball goes in or not, so scratch that. Watch his rotation management, his team's performance out of timeouts, exploitation of mismatches, or how well players like Kapono and Bargnani are used off of Bosh and O'Neal.

Having a couple of guards like Calderon and Ford has certainly given Mitchell a lot of success. They play as the coaches on the floor and while I don't have a lot of respect for what Ford did last season, the Coach of the Year trophy Mitchell has placed on his mantle belongs in TJ's basement.

Raptor fans can be sure that Mitchell will have a lot to say. Judging from recent interviews, he's already in mid-season form. One can only wonder what to expect, when a coach prepares to best utilize a Bosh-O'Neal combo by studying tapes of Duncan and Robinson in San Antonio.

Mitchell would be better off going to Gregg Popovich's house in Houston and just trying to steal his playbook. However, he'd have to have assistants Jay Triano or Alex English explain all the fancy lingo.

On media day, a reporter questioned Mitchell about Bosh's play in the Olympics. Mitchell snapped back at the reporter stating that Bosh was an All-star and that he did nothing differently.

I couldn't help but wonder if Mitchell felt that Bosh's play this summer exposed his own coaching and that by playing down the defensive role Bosh played by simply ignoring that the reporters were talking about defense, he would be able to save face. It certainly didn't fool anyone.

Bosh played a defensive role for the first time because there was a defensive system to play in. By ignoring his improvements, one not only has to question Mitchell's coaching ability, but also his powers of observation.

John Hollinger mentioned that the Raptors had the performance of a fifty-one win team on paper last season despite only winning forty-one games. He based this on the fact that the Raptors won the games they won by an enormous margin.

But even this stat tells a tale. Was it not curious that the Raptors seemed to lose almost every close game down the stretch? Is it a good sign that Hollinger says that their stats show that they should be a fifty-one win team?

Perhaps the same reason they can't close out close games is the same reason they've been unable to move into the second round of the playoffs for two consecutive years. Perhaps it is the final minutes of a game where coaches play their chess match of witts. Check mate.

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