Sam Mitchel

The talk has been about Rob Babcock, Richard Peddie, Hoffa etc. But few have mentioned the work of Sam Mitchell. Perhaps the fact that he is still around says it all.

This guy, in his second year has done a terrific job. Many can coach when they have the horses and all wheels are moving together. But take a team with 3 rookies logging significant minutes, start the year at 1-15 and let's see where you go from there.

Sam Mitchel kept it together. He refused to panic, kept on teaching, kept on preaching fundamentals and here we are, 45 games into the schedule and the Raptors have played .500 ball since the disastrous start. The kids are developing and players like Mike James are playing better than he did under Van Gundy or Larry Brown. Chris Bosh has taken the next step to stardom and there is little doubt that of all the non playoff teams, the Raptors are headed in the right direction.

The one constant during this time has been Sam Mitchell and while he is not yet "Coach of the Year" material, he has done a fabulous job and deserves credit for turning this thing around.