We need a new coach, and a new "system" Everyone talks about how successful Phoenix was running the up tempo style, but the main components behind that system were NASH and AMARE. The raptors are trying to implement the same up tempo style , it AINT GONNA WORK. we dont have a Nash or AMare type players. We have players that need setplays to function. Calderon, Garbo, won the World's championship simply by running and executing set plays. Bosh is a good player, but he needs set plays to be able to operate properly. I saw the Denver - Miami game tonite, amazing game. Thats basketball at its finest. Denver is a team that would make alot of noise in the west. Watching that game made me realize that the raptors need a new coach and a new system both on offence and defence. sam mitchell's playbook was criticized by Carter upon his arrival at Jersey. Sam's playbook is too simple, you cant have a simple playbook in the NBA. This aint no NBDL. 7 games into the season, we make mediocre teams like Atlanta look good, this is gonna be another long season. Colangelo better let Sam go now, and hire someone better with more coaching experience. Someone with a proven record. We got too many talents on this team, sam Mitchell is not utilizing the talents properly IMO.
Maybe we needed Don Nelson? Larry Brown to Toronto? (probably wouldn't work out, but what do we have to lose?) Rick Adleman? (If we wanted a really nice offense he is the guy) Scott Skiles (or did he sign an extension) (he has nice defense and decent offense) Or an international coach? Would you sign a 1 year deal with Larry Brown if he was up for it?
I'm also questioning what our assistant coaches are bringing to the table. I think everyone in the organization knew that Mitchell wouldn't be able to handle the job by himself right away. That's why the put Alex English at the bench. Doesn't seemed to have worked, though.
Mark Iavaroni plzkthx he's the coach we need Brown wont be a good fit at all...for one he'e never come to a team like ours. Secondly I think we've all seen what happens when you give Brown a young and struggling team. No thanks ps. I edited the title of your thread. no need to shout
This would only further the image as of the raptors as the euroleague team of the north, but it would be interesting to see what european coaches Gherardini could come up with as potential assistants or even a headcoach. I mean european coaches are currently a completely untapped resource and with the influx on international players on the raptors roster maybe an intl coach could add a different dimension to the raptors. I mean we see this happen in other sports eg. Bobby Valentine manging in the Japan super leagues, Dave King coaching hockey in russia or someone like Jan Hlinka coaching the penguins. The Language barrier would maybe be an issue but I imagine european coaches would be pretty billengual. ALso you often to see soccor coaches being hired by different national teams than their nationality so i don't see why it couldn't happen in basketball. Perhaps we could bring one in now as an assistant or consultant - - see if he can adjust to the nuances of the NBA game. Does anyone out here know some young respected intl coaches? Ettore Messina CSKA Moscow coach interests me. plus he coached at Benneton so I would imagine Gherardini would have some knowledge.
^^^ lol that isn't that comforting. We have the talent to make playoffs I think. We have a lot of new players on our team, so maybe its been tough for Sam to develop great chemistry so early in the season.
Sam Mitchell doesn't have or believe in his own system, and without confidence it what he wants or is trying to do, the rest of the team is not going to follow him. The best coaches in the league don't abandon their gameplan midway through a quarter. You have to keep your team disciplined and just work for steady improvement game to game with YOUR system. Last night in the Laker game, Sam Mitchell tried so many different lineups including having four guards on the floor at the same time. For some reason he left Bosh on the bench and was happy with his team trading the lead back and forth with the Lakers. The Raptors battled back in the game, because Bosh was scoring everytime he touched the ball. You have to keep the pressure on the Lakers and try to extend the lead before you bench your go-to guy for that long. From what I saw last night, the Raptors don't have any sense of a halfcourt offense. It's basically give the ball to the point guard and let him create something. There's limited ball movement, the players don't run any backcuts or motion offense, there's no one setting screens. They rely 100% on dribble penetration from Ford and Calderon. This is the sign of bad coaching on Mitchell's part. His team has no discipline on either end of the court. In contrast, Phil Jackson will call a timeout if sees his team abandoning the Triangle offense or not rotating properly on defense. Regardless of what the score is or the situation, if PJax sees something he doesn't like, he'll call for a timeout and get his team to focus on his GAMEPLAN. Defensively, the Raptors have another set of issues. They cannot get a defensive stop when needed and their big men are still giving up the lane and not contesting baskets. I like the defense Ford and Calderon played, they're very good at coming from the blind side and stripping the basketball. Both are quick enough to gamble, and still recover defensively. However, once any player gets into the paint, they are going to score or get fouled. Toronto desperately needs a shotblocking presence on the inside or a big man who isn't afraid to dish out a hard foul. Brendan Haywood maybe? I also don't understand why the Raptors aren't starting Bargnani. Not only was he selected #1 overall, the team traded Villanueva to get him more minutes. Expecting him to come off the bench and produce isn't realistic. It's hard for shooters to come in the game cold, and then shoot lights out. Bargnani needs to get in the mix early so he can gain some confidence and rhythm with his offense. From the limited games I've seen, this is the lineup I'd go with. Ford-Calderon-Bosh-Bargnani-Garbajosa Chris Bosh plays more like a small forward on both ends because he likes to shoot from the perimeter and defensively he can't handle big players. Bynum and Kwame were manhandling Bosh in the low block. Bynum missed two point blank shots at the rim, otherwise he might have played more minutes and been a real impact in this game. The Raptors need a disciplinarion for their next head coach. They have a lot of talent on the court, but no guidance to develop into a consistent basketball team.
Our halfcourt offense really stinks. We rely on Calderon and Ford too much and Anthony Parker needs the ball more. Thus far, teams have done a good job focusing in on Bosh and preventing him from using his face up moves, but he's been killing them with his jump shots and still manages to go inside. We just suck on defense and nobody can rebound asides from Bosh. I honestly think Ford is our second best rebounder on the team. I like the idea of having Adelman as our coach, as his mindset fits our roster the most out of the available coaches. Adelman>>>>>Mitchell. Feel free to add more great than arrows.
Nice analysis shape. I agree with a lot of what you said. Sam really doesn't have a feel for game management and these Raptors do look surprisingly undisciplined. The game management problem has always been there and I was expecting him to at least improve upon it in his 3rd season. However, he still doesn't use his timeouts properly, doesn't recognize mismatches on either side of the floor, and has no idea how to teach a halfcourt set that doesn't rely on point guard penetration or Bosh iso's. For example, a turning point in that game was in the 2nd quarter when the Lakers had taken out their two big players (Kobe and Odom) and our bench players were clearly more talented than the opponents. We were beating them easily on offense, but really couldn't create any sort of lead, because Mitchell didn't realize he had to switch the zone defense and the Lakers just ran the ball for easy buckets for 4-5 possessions. The lack of discipline I blame on the system rather than the players. Mitchell's offensive system has lacked any sort of accountability and players that were once used to a rigid system (eg: TJ Ford, Fred Jones) are now shooting too much or just not making proper decisions with the ball. I can't really defend the horrible post defense, though. Bosh has regressed defensively and I think we all knew that our team wouldn't be great down low. I don't agree with you about starting Bargnani. Without the ball, he really hasn't impacted the game that much and playing with starters, I don't see him getting any significant touches. What I think we do need is a better teacher for a coach. The dude clearly has a good feel for the game, but lacks understanding about rebounding, boxing out, moving without the ball, etc. Those are things that a coach should be able to teach him and clearly Sam isn't a good teacher. He's a great motivator that can get the best out of players that already have skill (eg: Bosh, Peterson, Villanueva), but when it comes to teaching players how to make the best out of and improve upon their talent (eg: Graham, Bargnani), he's been clueless.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't agree with you about starting Bargnani. Without the ball, he really hasn't impacted the game that much and playing with starters, I don't see him getting any significant touches. What I think we do need is a better teacher for a coach. The dude clearly has a good feel for the game, but lacks understanding about rebounding, boxing out, moving without the ball, etc. Those are things that a coach should be able to teach him and clearly Sam isn't a good teacher. He's a great motivator that can get the best out of players that already have skill (eg: Bosh, Peterson, Villanueva), but when it comes to teaching players how to make the best out of and improve upon their talent (eg: Graham, Bargnani), he's been clueless.</div> I'm suggesting they start Bargnani, but not play him starter minutes. Sort of like what the Lakers are doing with Bynum. They allow Bynum to play with the starting rotation, because he isn't the focus of a defense and improves his confidence when he does well. It also gives the starting 5 extra time to build some chemistry and learn how to play with one another. The Raptors didn't draft Bargnani to come off the bench, so the more time they can use him with the starting rotation, the faster the learning curve for improvement, and the faster the chemistry is developed with the other starters. Bargnani is already fundamentally sound. He's been playing for the premiere club in Italy, and has an advanced offensive game than most rookies who come into the league have. All he's lacking is timing, confidence, and experience. Last year the Raptors had Villanueva play 31 minutes on opening night. They were willing to commit to CV early and were willing to deal with the ups and downs he was having as a rookie. What I don't understand is why they aren't doing the same with Bargnani?
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm suggesting they start Bargnani, but not play him starter minutes. Sort of like what the Lakers are doing with Bynum. They allow Bynum to play with the starting rotation, because he isn't the focus of a defense and improves his confidence when he does well. It also gives the starting 5 extra time to build some chemistry and learn how to play with one another. The Raptors didn't draft Bargnani to come off the bench, so the more time they can use him with the starting rotation, the faster the learning curve for improvement, and the faster the chemistry is developed with the other starters. Bargnani is already fundamentally sound. He's been playing for the premiere club in Italy, and has an advanced offensive game than most rookies who come into the league have. All he's lacking is timing, confidence, and experience. Last year the Raptors had Villanueva play 31 minutes on opening night. They were willing to commit to CV early and were willing to deal with the ups and downs he was having as a rookie. What I don't understand is why they aren't doing the same with Bargnani?</div> I can definitely agree with that. And if you're looking for an explanation for why it hasn't happened yet, just remember that the only thing on Sam Mitchell's mind right now is self-preservation.
It's kinda sad seeing that CV is better now than AB and may possibly be better in the future as well.
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It's kinda sad seeing that CV is better now than AB and may possibly be better in the future as well.</div> I don't know what you were expecting, I don't think there ever was a chance of Bargnani being better than Villaneuva this season. Obviously Bargnani is going to take time to develop. I wouldn't call those guys interchangable because Bargnani has enough size to play centre while CV doesn't. Considering the Bargnani is 7 feet tall, can shoot, put the ball on the floor, and finish on the run, i think there is enough there to say he has considerable tallent.
