<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NEW YORK, April 24, 2007 ? Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell has been named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2006-07 season, the NBA announced today. In his third season as the Raptors? head coach, Mitchell totaled 394 points, including 49 first-place votes, from a panel of 128 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan was second with 301 points (39 first-place votes) and the Dallas Mavericks? Avery Johnson was third with 268 points (28 first-place votes). Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received. Mitchell, the first coach in Raptors history to receive the honor, led the Raptors to their first Atlantic Division title and a franchise-record-tying 47 wins. The sixth head coach in franchise history, Mitchell guided the team to an NBA-best 20-game improvement (27-55) over the 2005-06 season. The Raptors were 30-7 this season when they scored 100 or more points and 38-4 when they had a better (or same) field goal percentage than their opponents. </div> Full story
Well Deserved. And dont tell me the people that voted didnt know what they were doing.. GREAT CHOICE.... And for once, raps fan dont criticize this COY choice, lets enjoy it and be happy for Sam. The man did alot for this team this year. I really hope he comes back next year.. i like the work he did this year overall..
Congrats to Sam. Above all else, I have to admit he's built a great relationship with these players. Here's a nice article about it: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">TORONTO, April 23 — Twirling a toothpick in his mouth, Raptors Coach Sam Mitchell competed against T. J. Ford, his starting point guard, in a 3-point shooting competition after practice Monday afternoon. After grimacing and growling following his game-ending miss, a grinning Mitchell ambled toward reporters. It was difficult to tell that Toronto was a little more than 24 hours from Game 2 in its first-round N.B.A. playoffs series against the Nets. The Nets, after all, had stolen the home-court advantage from the young Raptors with a victory in Game 1 of this best-of-seven series. Yet Mitchell’s attitude should not come as a surprise. All season, his smile and moxie have helped him orchestrate the biggest turnaround in the N.B.A. and become one of the leading candidates for the coach of the year award, which will be announced Tuesday. In a Sports Illustrated poll of 248 N.B.A. players last year, Mitchell was voted the league’s worst coach. Around the same time, the Raptors hired Bryan Colangelo as their new president. New executives often hire new coaches, and Colangelo had every reason to fire Mitchell, who was leading the Raptors to a 27-55 record. But Mitchell kept his job and led the Raptors to 47 victories, their first Atlantic Division title and their first playoff appearance since 2002. On Monday, he put his situation in perspective. “I don’t have an aunt or an uncle, never met my grandparents,” he said. “My brother died at 24. I’ve been through a lot tougher things in life.” He shied away from taking credit for the team’s accomplishments. “At the end of the day, I go downstairs and I pull up my stats for the season,” Mitchell said. “I don’t have one rebound. I don’t have one assist. I didn’t score 1 point. I didn’t turn it over, either. I’m not oversimplifying what we do, but at the end of the day, the players got to make the plays.”</div> Source NY Times
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In a Sports Illustrated poll of 248 N.B.A. players last year, Mitchell was voted the league’s worst coach. Around the same time, the Raptors hired Bryan Colangelo as their new president.</div> Lol, worst coach of the year to Coach of the year. I personally don't feel Mitchell is that much different a coach from last year, the roster changed, I guess he made the Raptors play a faster pace early on.
Props to him for taking the Raptors to a franchise record-equalling 47 wins. Colangelo had a lot to do with it, obviously, but it is still well-deserved as you need a good coach to get the Ws.
<div class="quote_poster">Skiptomylue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> I personally don't feel Mitchell is that much different a coach from last year, the roster changed, I guess he made the Raptors play a faster pace early on.</div> Wrong it was Bryan Colangelo who pushed that whole 100 shots mantra and it was actually Sam Mitchell who turned the offense into a quote "hybrid". <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> The influx of new blood, however, did not pay immediate dividends. The Raptors sputtered to a 2-8 start with their new high-octane offense looking, well, not much different than the old one. The slow start prompted a film session with Colangelo and Mitchell. "While we were watching, I told Bryan that it wasn't that we weren't getting shots," Mitchell said. "We were getting wide-open shots. We just weren't making them." Mitchell decided to tinker with the Raptors running attack ("It's a hybrid [now]," says Ford), slowing it down just enough to give his new players, particularly the Europeans, time to adjust. "We took a step back," Mitchell said. "It takes a while for these guys to get comfortable in the NBA game. I think it helped them shoot the ball better.</div> link Moreover, one of the things you heard from raptors coaches and brass was "7 seconds or less" that phrase was popularized by the phoenix suns organization and documented in Jack McCallum's book "Seven Sconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns," a behind-the-scenes account of the Suns' 2005-06 season.
