Sam Mitchell will not be with the Raptors until after the NBA all-star break, having returned to his Atlanta home Monday to be with his family after the death of his father-in-law, the team announced.
Mitchell will return to his head coaching duties for the Feb. 23 game against the Orlando Magic, giving him more than a week to spend with his wife, their four children and his wife’s family.
Assistant Mike Evans will be the acting head coach for Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs while Jay Triano will fill that role on Wednesday against the New Jersey Nets.
They were named to the jobs because Evans was in charge of the scouting report for the Spurs while Triano handled the Nets. Had the Raptors faced any of the teams that assistant Alex English is charged with scouting, he would have filled in as the head coach.
Team officials say Monday’s game was the first time in franchise history that someone other than the head coach filled in for an entire game.
Good for Jay! Is that the first time in NBA history a Canadian has head coached an NBA game?
Blogger's note: We all wondered the same thing and after scouring books and our minds, the answer is yes, we believe.
Posted by: GM | February 11, 2008 at 06:43 PM
Good morning Doug.
Read this and tell me about (i think Arenas don't know basketball, maybe he was drunk)
n a recent NBA.com blog, Gilbert Arenas broke down the Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol trade and also wrote about his thoughts on whether Jose Calderon was a true All-Star snub.
"Some people wanted Jose Calderon," wrote Arenas. "Jose Calderon? Who? Come on man, this is All-Star, people. When I’ve seen some of the names that are being thrown around on the ticker as snubs, it’s killing me. I understand Calderon has the best assist-turnover ratio in the league, but you know what’s funny? All back-up point guards have the best assist-turnover ratios. Screw it, Kevin Ollie should be an All-Star then! For like five or six years, Ollie was No. 1 in assist-turnover ratio!
"An All-Star is an All-Star! He’s playing at a high level. That means, if you take him off the team, that team should fall down if he’s that one guy. An All-Star means that he is dominating the game of basketball. It’s not even about numbers necessarily, it’s about dominating.
"I could probably say that Richard Jefferson got snubbed maybe Josh Smith too. His 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks puts him at No. 14. Richard Jefferson is No. 13. Turkoglu is No. 15. But, El Calderon? Come on.
"I’ve been loving the way he’s been playing for the last two years. When he first came into the league he was a little timid and scared to shoot the ball, but he’s taking over that team. But All-Star? He’s about 20 years away from being an All-Star"
Posted by: Appel | February 12, 2008 at 04:46 AM
Doug, you just had to bring out the ol' newspaper writing technique of one sentence per paragraph. It's a ridiculous one, as it implies each sentence isn't linked to the previous one.
Posted by: Adam | February 12, 2008 at 11:38 PM