Mitchell Rips into Team

The Toronto Star

New year. Same deficiencies. One livid head coach.

In what had to make him feel like he was reliving a nightmare, Sam Mitchell watched his Raptors hammered on the boards last night as they were so many nights a season ago, and he lit into his players afterwards because he's not going to watch them drilled on the boards without making his point.

Forget that it was a meaningless exhibition game with a makeshift team on the court most of the night. The fact the Raptors were outrebounded 54-37 by the Utah Jazz in a 102-101 overtime loss made the second-year coach irate.

"Hopefully, someone's walking around Canada or the U.S. who wants a job," Mitchell said after his team lost a gaffe-filled affair that featured 77 fouls and 55 turnovers and resembled a bad summer league game at times.

"It blows my mind."

The Raptors lost on a Robert Whaley tip with less than a second left in overtime and despite the fact Toronto had a small lineup ? gaurds Tierre Brown, Robert Pack and Jose Calderon, along with Charlie Villanueva and Aaron Williams ? on the floor, Mitchell wasn't going to accept lack of size as a reason for not getting the missed shot.

"I don't know of one skill for that, other than toughness," he said. "You've just got to want it more."

And if no one does, Mitchell's hanging the Help Wanted sign out.

"Maybe we just don't have a guy who can do that, maybe we have to start searching high and low to try to find a guy who can rebound," he said. "All I know is this: If you're a big guy and want to get a job, want to play defence and rebound ... "

Villanueva, who had five boards in 36 minutes, was among the more productive Raptors, but he didn't close the deal in the overtime session.

"I played okay, simple as that," said the rookie, who had 15 points. "I can play better, especially rebounding the ball. I just have to learn from my mistakes."

However, there were some good signs. Brown, getting a leg up on the competition for the lone open roster spot, had 24 points and seven assists and made a series of big shots down the stretch on a night when he widely outplayed both Corey Williams and Pack.

Calderon made some solid if unspectacular passes that reminded no one of Rafer Alston, and the combination of Villanueva and Chris Bosh worked seamlessly for the few minutes they were together early in the game.

Mitchell's different lineups became a huge necessity in the second half when the Raptors lost a couple of players.

Joey Graham, who looked just all right in his first game as a Raptor, sat out the second half with a touch of tendinitis in his knee, while Matt Bonner left the building just after the break with a stomach virus.

Mitchell was so experimental, he started the second half with a fivesome that can only be described as odd and a testament to the relative meaningless nature of the game.

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