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It's been a long time since I've watched the Toronto Raptors be as thoroughly outclassed and outcoached as they were in yesterday's 118-103 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Celtics started the game on a 14-2 run and never looked back — making the Raptors look like a D-League team in the process. The Celtics dominated offensively (shooting 62 percent on the day) with some very simple plays that the Raptors inexplicably couldn't defend.
Kevin Garnett repeatedly screened Jose Calderon to give Rajon Rondo a clear path to the hoop — and nobody came to help. Now, we know Jose can't cover Rondo anyway, but maybe some of you can explain to me what any point guard is supposed to do in that situation if he doesn't get help. Mind you, the Raptors do know how to help on defense, but they just don't know the right moments to do it. How many times did Anthony Parker leave his man to help in the post, thus leaving Ray Allen unguarded on the perimeter? I'm no coaching genius, but I fail to see how it's ever a good idea to leave Ray Allen wide open behind the arc. That shot is like a layup for him — which is why he made five of his seven trey attempts.
This team is obviously not ready for primetime, and while some personnel changes are probably in order, the first thing that needs to happen is that Sam Mitchell's reign of error needs to be ended. I'm not trying to say that the Raptors' disappointing start is all Mitchell's fault — I'm well-aware of the deficiencies in the Raptors' roster that Bryan Colangelo needs to address. But Mitchell is not equipped to take this team to the next level and the Raptors need to act now while superior coaching candidates are still on the market.
Like many of you, my first pick to replace Mitchell would be ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy. Just one problem, though — he just signed a five-year contract with ESPN. I don't know if he has an "out" clause in his contract, but it doesn't seem like it when he said, "It was a very difficult decision to forego coaching for the next five years."
So who does that leave? A few names come to mind: Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike Fratello and Flip Saunders would all be upgrades. Hell, I'd be happy with just getting rid of Mitchell and letting Triano take the reins for a while to see if he can cut it. All I know is that the status quo is not working. The "Chris Bosh to New York in 2010" rumblings are already beginning, and the Raptors need to show him that they're committed to doing whatever it takes to make this team better.
(Side note: My colleague, Andrew, of Drunk Jays Fans keeps making the horribly unfunny joke that the Raptors should hand over the reins to Leo Rautens. I'm getting a vision of Chris Bosh being suspended for insubordination a week after Leo takes the job.)
I don't know if Colangelo is prepared to make this move during the season or if he's going to wait until the Raptors inevitably flame out in the playoffs, but there's no way Sam Mitchell can remain the coach of this team beyond this season. As awful as this is to say, I'm actually hoping that the Raptors don't make it to the second round of the playoffs (if Sam is still their coach) because that would make it difficult to justify his dismissal.
Winning the Coach of the Year award in 2007 might have been the worst thing that's happened to this franchise in recent years. It gave Mitchell protection that he never really deserved. The main reason the '06-07 Raptors improved so much over the previous year was that they had nine new players that played two-thirds of that team's minutes. Mitchell's coaching didn't improve, the talent did. And while I'm aware that every coach needs talent to win games, you can't convince me that Mitchell is the best guy available to get the most out of that talent.
I'm tired of watching this team make the same stupid mistakes over and over, game after game. We know the problem, so let's resolve it. 
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