Toronto Raptors - Sam Mitchel Fired

[K. Nader]

From NBA.com: Raptors fire coach Sam Mitchell; Triano takes over

Posted Dec 3 2008 5:46PM

TORONTO (AP) -- The Toronto Raptors have fired coach Sam Mitchell one day after the team absorbed an embarrassing loss at Denver.



Raptors' Official Release

Toronto Raptors President and GM Bryan Colangelo announced Wednesday that Sam Mitchell has been relieved of his duties as the team's head coach. Read Full Article

Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo says assistant Jay Triano has been promoted to interim coach. Triano's first game as coach is Friday night at Utah.

Colangelo calls Wednesday's move a difficult but necessary step.

Sam Mitchell Coaching Record
Season W L W-L %
2004-05 33 49 .402
2005-06 27 55 .329
2006-07 * 47 35 .573
2007-08 41 41 .500
2008-09 8 9 .471
Career 156 189 .452

*Named NBA Coach of the Year
Toronto is 8-9 after it lost 132-93 at Denver on Tuesday night -- the fifth-worst defeat in franchise history.

Mitchell was 156-189 in four-plus seasons as Raptors coach. He was honored as the NBA's coach of the year for the 2006-07 season.

Triano is in his seventh season on the Raptors' coaching staff. He becomes the seventh coach in franchise history.

[persian boy]

if Avery Johnson took over as headcoach it would be dopeeeeeee

[Bobbyrider]

Jay Triano is in for now, lets hope he can do well, by the way Kaveh jan it would be better if you merged the threads together with the Toronto Raptors Thread

[Türküm]

loser team

[K. Nader]

Jay Triano is in for now, lets hope he can do well, by the way Kaveh jan it would be better if you merged the threads together with the Toronto Raptors Thread

I would have posted it there, but I decided that I might as well make it as its own thread so people will actually see it - considering this is pretty big news.

[Bobbyrider]

^ True. However i think the raptors only have a small coaching problem which can be solved by Sam Mitchell, but a big trade would be nice to spark some energy to the raps.

[persian boy]

Sam Mitchell is good for bringing teams on the uprise. but he cant continue to make them great. which is why we need a good coach like avery johnson now who can lead us to better things

[Arian]

avery johnson to raps PLEASE!!!!!!!

[Behzad12]

sam got a lot of heat lately but personally i think he had a great run in toronto.

even though he let his team slip in the past few weeks, i still think he could have turned things around.

i guess BC isnt the type of GM to sit back and wait, and he shows it here when he makes the decision.