Bryan Colangelo: “We have no intention of making a coaching change – period. It’s not an issue. He has three years left on his deal and what happened in the playoffs does not affect his status here. We lost to a very good basketball team.”
It begs the question: what’s the real deal? Surely, what happened in the playoffs isn’t enough to call for a coach’s job, especially after such a solid season…wait, this season was a FUCKING disaster. Read the rest of this entry »
A lot of depends on how you’re taught to read (and format), I guess…
Colangelo did answer one question Tuesday, pulling the rug out on the rumours surrounding head coach Sam Mitchell.
“All things should be put to rest right now when I say that I have absolutely no intention of making a coaching change at this time,” Colangelo said.
Media reports claimed Mitchell was on a shortlist of coaches being considered for the New York Knicks job, and that Colangelo had his eyes on Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni if he was fired by the Suns.
Colangelo called the rumours “ludicrous.
Bosh:
“We can win if I get 20 to 25 points and 12 rebounds. AP probably needs to score 16 to 20…Jose, well he just gotta be Jose man, 10-12 assists. TJ has to switch up the pace, score 10 or 15, have 6 assists. Read the rest of this entry »
Sam, prior to the meaningless game against Chicago: “We can’t say how many minutes each guy is going to play exactly, but for the minutes that you’re playing, we expect you to play the way Raptors play.”
Biting tongue.
I won’t.
No, I must.
“You mean, start the game indifferently, play at the opponents level, rebound lazily, defend at a whim, drive rarely and shoot soft jumpers often….aRRRRRRgH”
Sorry, HAD to. Had to.
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UPDATE 1: Sam quote played in-game: “”Everybody likes to win more games. Even the Boston Celtics would like to win more. We’ve had injuries. And um, then all different kinds of injuries. Garbo missed the whole season. We feel pretty good bout our basketball team - I still feel we haven’t played our best basketball. And last 4 games we’ve played good defense. Records don’t matter in the playoffs.”
(Except in the home-court advantage aspect right?)
The ABC analysts have pegged the Raptors’ strengths and weaknesses remarkably well (pointed criticism not often found by the home networks) in this ongoing game with the Pistons. Hubie Brown, whether you’re a fan of his style or not, is a veritable pundit of roundball; correctly, he has been harping on the Raptors lack of physicality.
Two perplexing, almost hilarious, in-game exchanges with Sam:
Fire Sam Mitchell visitors: I keep track of this stuff, mostly out of curiosity and I thought I’d share this as it was pretty fascinating. Italy, Slovenia and Spain are explainable but can anyone offer a theory on why there is a Polish firesammitchell following???
As the clock wound down, the embattled Sam Mitchell did his best not to smile.
Just two days ago, the red and black juggernaut known as the Toronto Raptors seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Greatly talented and expected to contend for a National Basketball Association championship, the Raptors had a 6-15 record in their last 21 games and were in danger of losing more than a playoff spot; their heroic coach Sam Mitchell was in the hot seat. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m still shell shocked, from the post-practice 5 minute Sam Mitchell interview I just listened to. [Yes, I’m editing some parts out, but no context imaginable can make these quotes sensible. ]
On game strategy and matchups: “We’ve been watching a lot of tape. It doesn’t matter who you play, it’s how you play…we haven’t made shatts.”
And then Sun-Tzu cryptic philosophy: “To get where you wanna go, you gotta beat whoever you gotta beat. If we’re making shatts, we can beat anybody.”
Read the rest of this entry »
A loss to a 50 win team - no big deal, but two potentially rhetorical comments Leo & Chuck provided during last night’s sham spoke to the level of anemia:
“For some reason, the Raptors came out flat.”
&
“You can’t have the opposing team laughing at you on your home floor.”
Answers: A) Reason: See domain name B) You can and you will.
Some award-winning quotes from Sam prior to tonight’s game against the Heat:
“Hey, Winning is hard even when you’re healthy, winning is VERY hard when you’re not”
Okayyy, so um, if it’s hard to win when your team is healthy…and being healthy is considered the norm, deductive logic then says this must be true:
(when Sam Mitchell is your head coach)
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On the 0-5 road trip: “Hey, we just didnt score enough…”
By the numbers, the Raptors’ sieve like defense conceded 117, 117, 137, 106 and 96 points respectively on the road-trip….and scoring was the problem?
(For the record, the Raps averaged 99.6 PPG on the trip, only 0.7 below their season average.)
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“We just didn’t get enough guys who played well…every team is going to have a stretch of 5 to 6 games where they won’t play well”
Understood. Wait, what???
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“I really admire what Pat Riley has done this year…he’s got a young team, you play for 2 things…no, 3 things: Pride, Playoffs, or a job next year. And he’s got those young guys playing for a job.”
An otherwise acceptable quote, except that when you’re on a 5 game losing streak, it might be a good idea not to voice your admiration for another coach whose team is 12-54. Unless you wanted to set the bar pretty low. So low, Muggsy couldn’t limbo underneath it.
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Suprisingly Brave Reporter: “Well its one thing to lose games, but to not be in the games at all, can one say…”
Bristling Interrupting Sam: “Well did you watch the games? with 7 minutes to go, we took the lead…I would argue ANGRILY that we did have a chance…. the Laker game we got back within 3…Denver we just got beat…Sacramento we had a chance…Utah we were in it. I’m not making excuses…but when Cleveland lost Lebron early…”
Phrased like that, a remarkably cogent point. Sorry for alluding to the opposite, Coach of the Year.
10 ways to get Sam Mitchell fired
Sam Mitchell is Hillary Clinton
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05 2nd, 2008| 