Sam Mitchell for Coach of the Year!

Before you jump on my post and tell me I have totally lost it or really smoked up, understand where the statement stems from.

Coach Mitchell gets my vote for several reasons. For the way he handled Raefer Alston and his ridiculous, childish tantrums. For the way he handled Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall, veterans yes, but not always ready for prime time. For the way he stayed out of the basement with a rag tag assortment of players that upper management dropped into his lap. Being forced to play the likes of Pape Sow and those two sorrowful rejects we got for Vince Carter is enough to drive anyone to drink.

Most important for me though is that this coach is not afraid (Lenny) to speak the truth (not his own agenda, Butch) about what the team is and is not. The players were far too complacent in being used to coaches who could not step up to take the heat and really say what needs to be said when they know it will not make them popular inside or outside of the organization. Well, he gained a huge supporter in me tonight.

After squandering a fifteen point half time lead, the sorrowful Raptors let down there boisterous fans (McGreedy and Short-stacked Stoudamire are now off the hook). They roundly and soundly booed Vince. Yet, VC, sans dunks, dropped THIRTY-NINE embarrassing points on our ass. He did it with threes, jumpers, twists, banks and his usual dumb luck; and this was BEFORE he started to draw fouls in the fourth quarter. Jalen Rose summed it up best when asked after the game how he thought Vince handled the night. He said, "I couldn't care less how he handled it; I really couldn't. I am more concerned with why we didn't win this game tonight." Well said Jalen.

So, back to the coach, who answered the media in his usual frank style. He said, "Vince got his points, he had a good night. We should have won this game though if we only remembered to pass the ball. Pass the ball and run the plays the right way. I don't understand why our guys still cannot do that. And until they do understand or WE GET SOME GUYS IN HERE THAT CAN, we will be in this same place next year." I'm paraphrasing, of course, and you can hear his actual quote on any sports program for sure.

Basically, Coach Mitchell is challenging his players to step up and play to win in his system n his team. He is also challenging Peddie and Babcock to stop making boneheaded trades and get him some players that want to win, want to play in Toronto and want to conform to his system. The gauntlet is thrown, let's see who picks it up.

Kudos to you, Coach!