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TORONTO — Despite reports to the contrary, Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell and club president and general manager Bryan Colangelo are on the same page as they try to put last season behind them and focus on the future.
“I met Sam [on Wednesday] and it was a normal, end-of-season meeting,” Colangelo said yesterday. “We discussed a lot of things – the season, the off-season, the state of the team, our relationship, everything. It was a good meeting and we both walked out of the room on the basis that he was coaching the team moving forward. I thought I put this to rest the other day, but let me say this: We have no intention of making a coaching change, period.”
Mitchell's future in Toronto was in the news again because of story on Yahoosports.com quoting unnamed sources that the two were engaged in “constant confrontations” this season over tactics, in particular the stalled development of sophomore centre Andrea Bargnani.
More hot-button was the report that Mitchell had played golf in Orlando last Sunday afternoon after practice, the day before the Raptors' season-ending loss to the Orlando Magic in the fifth game. On hearing the news, Colangelo “flipped out.”
Colangelo balked at the characterization. “I'm not going to talk about something that happened [on Sunday], but did I flip out?” he said. “No, I did not flip out.”
Mitchell acknowledged he changed the team's travel plans on Saturday. Originally, the team was going to practise in Toronto on Sunday morning and fly to Orlando in the afternoon. But Mitchell said he wanted to get an extra practice on the floor of the Amway Arena in Orlando. The Raptors were unable to arrange a flight out of Toronto on Saturday evening, so the decision was made to fly at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
Although one source close to the team suggested some players were unhappy at having to fly so early, Mitchell didn't see it as an issue.
“We were walking off the practice floor at 1:30 in Orlando,” Mitchell said. “That's the same time we would have been just getting to the airport if we practised at home. Now guys had the rest of the day to do what they wanted.”
As for what Mitchell did with his afternoon, his position was that it was no one's business but his own.
“What difference does it make what a coach or a player does with his down time?” Mitchell said. “If I took some hiking boots and went to a park for a hike to clear my head, is that okay? If I took a nap for the afternoon, is that okay? Some people like to lie by the pool and read a book. Well, guess what? I don't need a tan.”
He added that the deciding factor in the Raptors' loss to the Magic was talent, rather than tactics.
“We were right where we wanted to be,” Mitchell said. “Do you know how many defences we put in? How much film work we did? We didn't get tricked, we didn't get fooled. We knew what they were running. We knew their calls. My team was prepared and we didn't fold up and quit.
“This stuff has nothing to do with anything. We got beat by a better basketball team.”
Colangelo agreed.
“It's not an issue. He has three years left on his deal and what happened in the playoffs does not affect his status here. We lost to a very good basketball team.”
