Posted by nixluva:
I thought Mitchell showed a lot this year. Why change the Coach? To me I think it's a mistake to think they should be the Suns of the East. That team isn't made that way. Perhaps he's going to try and make further changes, but IF you have Parker, Bargnani and Garbo out there it's more of a halfcourt team IMO.
One announcer described the Raps as "light in the cakes". I would tend to agree. They are a finesse team and bigger more physical teams will always give them a hard time in the playoffs. A team with Big guards like the Nets is a bad matchup. TJ can get by anyone without help, but on the other end he can be abused.
Bosh finally showed up in the last game, but it bothered me how out of it he was mentally. For their sakes, they have to hope this was a one time poor showing. This is why you want to get your young players some playoff experience.
mitchell was an inherited coach. he motivates the players well but all season long, his sub patterns and play calling have come into question. mitchell has done a good job (and he's also learning) but i think colangelo has a vision and he will not waiver from it. mitchell, imho, is not part of the vision. if mitchell is kept, that's fine also, but colangelo did do the stand up thing and gave mitchell this season when he could've fired him after last. and mitchell earned his keep and will get a multi-year head coaching contract from some team. it worked out for both parties.
colangelo is going international in toronto. now, will it lead to a championship? probably not. very few teams have won rings. but it's a plan and he's going to stick to it. so far, in step one, it got them 47 wins and a division title. and he has shown that he will trade anyone to make sure his plan works.
the franchise player is bosh (and maybe soon will be bargnani) so they'll only go as far as these two will take them. that's the way it works in the nba. you go and draft your franchise player and hope they will become "great" enough to win a title. in toronto's case, the future is in the hands of bosh and bargnani. in boston, it's in the hands of jefferson and whomever they draft this season. in our case, it's in the hands of curry.
and they are not the suns of the east. the suns have the mvp, freak athlete in marion and amare.
the raptors are the international team of the league. their whole offense is based on ball movement. not the pg dribbling and finding the open man. it's based on the extra pass.
[Edited by - djsunyc on 05-05-2007 12:30 PM]
5/5/2007 7:02 AM