TSN turning point

April 24th, 2007. A dark day.

Smitch was named coach of the year. Inarguably a questionable award in itself, which can’t be linked causally on coaching merit alone. The sportswriters thought Mitchell beat Utah’s Jerry Sloan for the award.

In the Raptor’s case, personnel change more than coaching, was clearly the story.

The most used Toronto Raptors five man units in 05-06 were:

James-Peterson-Rose-Bonner-Bosh
James-Peterson-Graham-Bosh-Araujo
James-Peterson-Bonner-Villanueva-Bosh
James-Peterson-Villanueva-Bosh-Davis
James-Peterson-Rose-Villanueva-Bosh

Calderon was used sparingly, mostly because James was having a contract year, Rose was the incumbent incompetent and Mo P was the loyal lifetime Raptor.

Enter Bryan Colangelo and in 2006-2007, the most used units were:

Ford-Parker-Garbajosa-Bosh-Nesterovic
Ford-Jones-Parker-Garbajosa-Bosh
Ford-Parker-Graham-Bosh-Nesterovic
Calderon-Parker-Garbajosa-Bosh-Nesterovic

Hardly a dash of coaching genius(ok, he got them to play well together…1000’s of kindergarten teachers in sandboxes all through the continent are doing the same, at this very moment. Can we name them all co-winners this year?)

Case rested. If Mitchell doesn’t win the Auerbach, Colangelo doesn’t have unstated, yet league-wide pressure to re-sign him.

Let’s face it, a hyperanalytical GM with a nose for talent can’t POSSIBLY be on the same page as a tactically-blind former player who paid his dues, saying the right things, shmoozing his way to a coaching position. Actually forget same page, they aren’t in the same chapter, book, aisle, library or language.

The GM position in the NBA can be analagous to a blue-chip company’s CEO. The newswire is watching. No GM in the league, wants to be the one who didn’t resign the Coach of the Year. It doesn’t bode well for future hires, players or agents in conveying loyalty - a magnified character trait in this league, seeing as the coaching talent pool is realisticaly about 8 coaches deep.

So he did it, to avoid character suicide (and so Stern didn’t send the franchise back to Vancouver as a punishment.)

And so here we are. Damn you, April 24th, 2007. Damn you.