A $24-million bench-warmer

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – A $24-million bench-warmer
Raptors coach Sam Mitchell went on the defensive yesterday when asked if he would be disappointed if Kapono, the club’s most expensive, most heralded, off-season signing, did not turn out to be a regular starter at the small forward position — the lone starting spot still up for grabs.

Mitchell has said the last couple of days that Kapono may not be his starter at the three spot, that the job may go to another newcomer, Carlos Delfino, or the wildly inconsistent Joey Graham, or even to Jorge Garbajosa, whom Mitchell would prefer to play at power forward.

Raptors, Celtics put on more than just an exhibition game

globesports.com: Raptors, Celtics put on more than just an exhibition game
But where the Raptors’ visions of defending their Atlantic Division title looked most promising was when the second units were on the floor.

The Raptors put out Jose Calderon, Carlos Delfino, Joey Graham, Jorge Garbajosa and Rasho Nesterovic and benefitted against a Boston group that was still learning each other’s names.

“You pretty much know what Rasho and Garbo and Jose and those guys are going to give you,” said head coach Sam Mitchell. “I think we went up 10 or 12 with that group.”

Toronto pushed it’s advantage to 37-27 on the strength of a Delfino triple, but as the Celtics went back to their stars — all three played at least 19:30 in the first half, reflecting perhaps Boston’s desire to get them acclimated as quickly as possible — they managed to take a 43-40 lead into the half.

Sam has issues

TheStar.com | Sports | Sam has issues
Toronto faces Lottomatica Roma today, plays Real Madrid in Spain on Thursday and hosts Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania in Toronto on Oct. 17, giving them three of seven pre-season games against teams they very likely will never see again.

European teams tend to play different styles than NBA teams and the rules are a hybrid of NBA and FIBA, which rankles Mitchell.

“I would prefer to play against other NBA teams just so our guys can see other NBA personnel, but the schedule is what it is.”

The Raptors have played exhibition games against European teams for more than five years, although this is their first foray to Europe.

Euro invasion wearing thin

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Euro invasion wearing thin
The players are starting to look weary and Raptors coach Sam Mitchell is getting grumpier by the day, although, being the good solider that he is, insists he has no regrets about coming to Europe, nor does he wish he and his team were heading home after tonight’s game against local pro side Roma Lottomatica, instead of jetting off to Madrid for four more days.

While his words say one thing, his demeanor suggests something completely different. He lashed out at a Toronto reporter (in his unique, semi-serious way) when asked yesterday if he secretly wished the team’s Europe Live 2007 was coming to an end.

“I know why you asked me that, and it’s low-down and devious and underhanded, because you wanted me to say: ‘Yeah’, so you can write: ‘Mitchell’s tired of the trip,’” he said.

Raptors, Celtics Entertain Rome in Preseason Opener

RAPTORS: Raptors, Celtics Entertain Rome in Preseason Opener
Bargnani, last year’s top overall draft pick by Toronto, played his first game in his hometown in an NBA jersey and scored 13 points in less than 15 minutes.

“Andrea was pretty good. I probably could have done a better job at getting him back in, but I wanted to keep him fresh for tomorrow,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. “I know where Andrea’s at.”

T.J. Ford, who started at point guard for Toronto, led the Raptors with 15 points. Anthony Parker, Chris Bosh, Jason Kapono, and Bargnani rounded out the Raptors starting lineup.

The sold-out crowd of 11,118 at the Palalottomatica gave Bargnani a standing ovation when he came out for warmups and grew even louder when he scored six of the Raptors’ first eight points, including a three-pointer on his first attempt from the field.

Celtics working on transition offense

Celtics working on transition offense – The Boston Globe
Garnett, a 10-time All-Star, has said Mitchell taught him how to be a professional after entering the NBA out of high school.

Not long after the Celtics acquired Garnett in a blockbuster trade in July, he called Mitchell to tell him how ecstatic he was to be going to Boston. Garnett reiterated those feelings to Mitchell in Italy.

“[Garnett] loves being in Boston, loves his teammates,” said Mitchell, the winner of this year’s Red Auerbach Trophy as Coach of the Year. “He said if he knew the NBA was like this, he would have wanted to be traded a long time ago . . .

“I just think everybody does things a little different and he just enjoys it. When you’ve been in one place your whole career, you forget how other people do things and he’s never seen how other organizations work. I think he’s very impressed with the way Boston treats their players and how they do things.”

Trans-Atlantic rep battle

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Trans-Atlantic rep battle
“We’re always going to be under the radar, to a certain extent, because we’re in Toronto,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said yesterday. “I can’t remember the last time we played on a TNT game or an ABC game, so what’s new?”

Raptors now all friends

TheStar.com | Sports | Raptors now all friends
if there is one prevailing upgrade to this team, it’s the cohesion it should show on the court.

“I like our team. I like the way our makeup is,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said yesterday. “We may not have three all-stars we can throw out on the floor, but we’ve got nine, 10, 11 players and over the course of a game we think we can wear people down.”

And nine, 10, 11 players who should each know what the others are going to do.

CBSSports.com Coaches Rankings

National Basketball Association – CBSSports.com
14. Sam Mitchell, Toronto: Anyone who tells you they expected to see Mitchell still coaching the Raptors when last season began is a liar. He was as lame-duck as they come, unlikely to be retained with new GM Bryan Colangelo set to bring in his own guy, probably former Suns assistant Iavaroni. Instead, Mitchell wound up the NBA Coach of the Year, leading a young Toronto team filled with international players to a surprise Atlantic Division title. Players respect him as a straight shooter who works as hard as he expects them to.

Nesterovic not rocking the boat

TheStar.com | Sports | Nesterovic not rocking the boat
The veteran Raptors centre knows he’ll eventually cede his starting role to the emerging Andrea Bargnani, as early as the first game of this season. As an unselfish player he realizes that inevitability and what it will do to improve the team.

Publicly, he says he’s accepting of that role – “whatever Sam (Mitchell) thinks I can help the team with, I’m happy with,” he said – as a competitor he knows he has more to offer. It’s not his style to make waves or be disappointed.

“Every player has his ego and pride and tries to prove to everybody else that he can still play or that he can play,” the 31-year-old Nesterovic said. “I definitely want to prove that I’m still capable of playing at a high level.”

But where another player might show that desire with public ministrations, Nesterovic calmly gets himself going.

“Everybody shows it in a different way, it’s personal,” he said of the ego most athletes have to have. “Not everybody shows it by screaming, yelling, getting frustrated.

“Me? I don’t know how (it manifests itself). Probably just keeping to myself, concentrating on getting better, prove it quietly, not by words, but by actions.”

D the key for uptempo Raps

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – D the key for uptempo Raps
But head coach Sam Mitchell insisted that his main priority thus far at camp, which switches to Rome today after five days in Treviso, has been defence.

Toronto finished 16th overall in the NBA last season in opponent scoring, which was a huge improvement from the 2005-’06 campaign, when they finished second.

But Mitchell said his team will have to continue to improve if it hopes to advance past the first round of the playoffs this season.

Raptors Notebook

Raptors Notebook
And last night, almost 2,000 of them came to the Palaverde arena to watch the show, and they stood several times before the tip-off to applaud for Andrea Bargnani, Jorge Garbajosa and Raptors assistant general manager — and former Benetton chief — Maurizio Gherardini. Coach Sam Mitchell, tipping the hand he is expected to play at the start of the regular season, had Chris Bosh, Bargnani, T.J. Ford, Jason Kapono and Anthony Parker start for the “home” team.

Mitchell potshots must mean he’s enjoying himself

TheStar.com | Sports | Mitchell potshots must mean he’s enjoying himself
He sized up Juan Dixon, the shooting guard who was wearing an oversized pair of aviator-style shades: “Those are ugly sunglasses … y’all look like a bumble bee.”

He spoke into the lens as Chris Bosh, the all-star forward who has been a fervent videographer and photographer on this trip, pointed a minicam in the coach’s direction: “Whassup, young fella? You need a haircut.”

He singled out Jamario Moon, the training camp hopeful and fellow son of the U.S. south: “Hey Moon, do they have water down there in Alabama other than in the well?”

And he guffawed as he caught a glimpse of Steve Fruitman, the club’s director of basketball finance, who, in the style of a cartoon pirate, had wrapped his scalp in a bandana for protection on a sunny day. “Hey Fruits, you look like you’re on crack! … You’re the spitting image of Johnny Depp!”

Graham says this will be his big year

TheStar.com | Sports | Graham says this will be his big year
But there will come a time when Mitchell will have to avert his eyes when Graham’s on the court, and that’s been the story of the two-year career for the mercurial swingman.

“If you can figure it out, I’m going to tell you to resign and I will double your salary to sit behind the bench,” Mitchell told a reporter who wondered what it would take to get Graham to be consistently good instead of maddeningly inconsistent.

“And your whole thing would be, get Joey ready every game. I would double it, I’d triple it because I would make so much money when we win.

“There’s just things he can do physically that not a lot of guys in the NBA can’t do. Hopefully, this being his third year, that light came on. We’re hoping.”

Raps embrace Italy’s charm

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Raps embrace Italy’s charm
So when Mitchell whined to the European media in a conference call last week that holding training camp overseas was an inconvenience, a distraction, and everything else, Gherardini felt somewhat disappointed — and naturally so.

Mitchell, however, is now singing a totally different tune — to the extent that if the Treviso Chamber of Commerce needed an English-speaking spokesperson, he’d be the perfect guy.

“I would recommend to any NBA team that if you have the opportunity to go abroad for training camp for a couple of weeks, you should do it,” he said yesterday.

Talk about an about-face.

Mitchell’s Special moment

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Mitchell’s Special moment
The Raptors hosted a group of Special Olympic athletes from the Treviso area as part of the NBA Cares program following the team’s afternoon practice.

On hand were Chris Bosh, T.J. Ford, Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker, as well as coaches Sam Mitchell and Jay Triano.

For Mitchell, interacting with Special Olympians is close to his heart as he majored in special education at Mercer University.

“The thing is, these kids never complain,” he said. “And that makes you appreciate all the little things.”

NBA.com UK: Blog: Mark Woods

NBA.com UK: Blog: Mark Woods
Mitchell, however, isn’t quite buying into the programme. “We as basketball coaches don’t like change and we don’t like situations that you can’t control, and right now, going with your team to another country for training camp with an eight-hour flight, in unfamiliar circumstances, doing things totally different, you’re going to have to adapt,” he said.

“Because regardless of how everyone thinks and what everyone feels and how happy they may be, my job is to try and get this team ready to play. It just makes it more difficult when you’re not in your familiar surroundings. But that being said, it’s still an honour to be picked to go so we’re going to go and do the best that we can and try and keep our players focused.”

Raps in punishing practice schedule

TheStar.com | Sports | Raps in punishing practice schedule
That explains the repetitive nature of yesterday morning’s defence-oriented workout, which preceded a scrimmage last night. All indications are that the Raptors are still going to possess a high-powered offence; the improvement necessary to move from mere playoff participants to conference title contenders is going to come on the defensive end of the floor.

Bargnani appears poised to flourish on centre stage

TorontoSun.com – Basketball – Bargnani appears poised to flourish on centre stage
Head coach Sam Mitchell expects a heated training camp this week with two starting spots wide open.

The big fight will be at the centre position. Last year’s starter, the veteran Rasho Nesterovic, was replaced in the first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Nets by rookie Andrea Bargnani. Now it will be up to the 21-year-old Bargnani to out-perform the 10-year veteran Nesterovic this pre-season.

First workout

TheStar.com | Sports | Raps’ consiglieri Embry gets contract extension
The Raptors worked for nearly three hours in Treviso, Italy, last night to kick off the 2007-08 pre-season, a longer-than-usual run for a group that spent about eight hours in an airplane just getting to camp.

“It wasn’t too bad, not that long,” coach Sam Mitchell said.

There was very little contact work and a lot of instruction, according to those who got to sit through the session. The media is kept at bay until the final minutes – a lot of stretching and chatting was what everyone saw on Day 1 – but the workout included a lot of teaching of defensive principles, Mitchell said.