Sam Mitchell Fired

Sam Mitchell has been fired by the Toronto Raptors, General Manager Bryan Colangelo announced this afternoon.

After three straight wins to open the season, the Raptors have dropped to below .500 with an 8-9 record.

Toronto suffered their most humiliating defeat of the season on Tuesday night, getting hammered 132-93 by the Denver Nuggets.

Canadian Jay Triano will take over on an interim basis.

After what Colangelo said was the best playing roster he's put together in his three-years in charge, Toronto had shown no significant improvement, if anything, they were regressing. It was the same problems that had been evident all throughout Mitchell's time as coach that were causing problems again this year.

Soft and weak defensively combined with an inconsistent offense had made the Raptors never seemingly to be in control of a game.

Mitchell, an old-fashioned coach who preached the fundamentals of basketball first was regularly out coached this season and seem unsure of how to close out games. His strength was to motivate players, especially those who weren't as strong mentally such as Joey Graham, but tactically Mitchell struggled badly.

He never knew how to defend a strong individual talent and the Raptors would often be beaten by one or two players. Often middle of the pack talent somehow seemed to look like All-Stars whenever they played the Raptors - I give you Corey Maggette as a prime example.

During Mitchell's four-plus seasons in charge, he twice took the Raptors to the playoffs and was coach of the year in 2007. His record was 156-189 (.452).

The most embarrassing game of Mitchell's tenure came on January 22, 2006 when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 win over the Raptors. Mitchell seemed oblivious to what was happening and chose not to double-team Bryant.

The high point of Mitchell's coaching came in 2007. Then, the Raptors tied a franchise best 47 wins and finished third in the Eastern Conference, though despite having home court advantage for the playoffs, Toronto was eliminated by the New Jersey Nets 4-2.

Last season, the Raptors were dumped by the the Orlando Magic in five games.

Mitchell was the sixth coach in Toronto Raptors history.