Sam Mitchell Quotes (42 Quotes)

Jalen was a pro. In my year and a half, Jalen was great to me. It was great working with him. . . . New York is getting a good guy, a guy who can score. We're going to miss his scoring. But that's life in the NBA.

He's just tough ... he plays extremely hard, he's played for some good coaches, and he's a good player. I've talked to Larry Brown (who coached James in Detroit). Larry thinks the world of him, he's never had any problems anywhere he's played. We're hoping that improves our chemistry.

Every week we're going to get better. Obviously our young guys need time to grow and learn how to play at this level. The most difficult thing is going to be to have patience.

Do we want to win Of course, every time we step on the floor and play,

If they can make a buck fine, but they're not going to make it off my tickets.

It was everybody doubling him and just moving their feet and staying connected. The plan was not to leave him alone.

We've just got to make shots. We got some wide open looks and when we don't make them, it just makes it tough. When we make shots, we're a pretty decent basketball team but when those shots are not going in and the last few games those shots haven't been going in it's tough.

I think he's deserving. He's obviously one of the best power forwards in the NBA. Our record could be a lot worse if we didn't have Chris playing the way he's playing.

John Wooden said the best teacher is the bench, ... If I go that route, and I haven't decided, it won't be because I'm angry. It will be that we have to grab some people's attention. The only way to get people's attention is with playing time.

Other than winning the basketball game, I'm pleased with our effort,

It's tough when that team, as good as they are inside, is making 3s.

We just didn't make shots, ... Thirty-nine per cent, it's hard to win. I feel that we're a better shooting basketball team than what we showed. They shot 61 per cent in the first half and we're up three. Go figure.

We went to a zone and started to communicate. They had been posting us up and giving us trouble.

But no one feels sorry for us, and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to remember these beatings and give them back some day.

We didn't drive the ball to the basket. We're young and inexperienced and we just don't know how to win basketball games.

If I go that route, and I haven't decided, it won't be that I'm angry, it will be that we've got to grab some people's attention,

I've known guys who were awful practice players, but at game time, they were unbelievable. I know guys, if you saw them in practice and you saw them in the game, you would think they were two different people.

We're all hopeful that he can play and recover from this - for Alvin. He's worked hard, and he's a good basketball player and brings the type of attitude that you want to your team. I just this is one step in his comeback.

We're going to simplify a lot of the things that we do because we are young, we're going to try to get as good as we can in a few things and not try to be mediocre in a lot of things. I think if we can do that, we'll have some success.

I thought all the guys played well. The young guys played well when we had to give other guys rest.

I guess I'm getting my test on patience. I'm going to be patient, but it's tough.

He was very raw. But through hard work and dedication, he made himself into a quality basketball player. Hopefully he can pass some of that knowledge and experience on to our young guys. . . . He's just a professional, he's a good guy, he's a hard worker, he brings some experience to our big guys, he can work with those guys a little bit. Happy to have him.

You learn. If you're not capable of learning year to year, you don't last long.

I think Chris Webber showed in the second half of the Memphis game that he's still very capable of carrying a team.

I feel good, I'm happy for those guys in there, ... Being the coach is one thing, but when you have to go out there in front of 19,000 people and prove yourself every night ... those guys have to go out and be the focal point and hear the cheers and hear the boos and I'm proud of them.

Yes, they were 10-for-14 from the 3. You have to give that team something. They're just physically bigger than us at every position.

We're not going to just throw five guys on the court to throw five guys on the court. That's not what we're about. We're trying to win every basketball game and be competitive and have a chance to win. And, besides, just who would the team want to learn more about.

We can live with inexperience, guys making mistakes because of inexperience. I'm not disappointed in the effort of our guys.

As coaches, our thing is not necessarily wins and losses, it's how we play the basketball game. I worry about how we're playing the game and the records will take care of themselves.

I'm going to expect every player to be professional, to come out and do their job, ... What happened last year, happened last year, I'm not going to live in the past.

I think that kind of woke him up a bit. He was playing well. whatever it released in him, I can take seeing it in about another 50 games.

We talked about it this morning, before the game and at halftime that you have to take care of their fast-break baskets. When our guys get in the half court, they have to turn and look for the ball. I guess the altitude kept us from thinking.

I'm excited about this year. I'm not worried about wins and losses. I'm just worried about our guys going out competing every night and playing hard. And if we do those things and play together, we'll surprise people.

It's him being ready to shoot the ball and take advantage of the opportunity but it's moving the basketball ... and utilizing him in that corner.

Probably 80 per cent of it (is due to youth and inexperience). They come out with veteran guys who understand the league and know how to play. We come out with second-year guys, it's tough.

I can't fault the effort, but we made some mistakes. But they were mistakes because they were all trying to make a play.

They jumped on us the way they did, the only chance we had was to play that way. Obviously, we weren't going to stop them, so we had to make shots.

Sometimes some of our guys miss shots and kind of get down on themselves. The thing you've got to understand as a basketball player is that over the course of 82 games, you're going to have night when you don't shoot the ball well and you can't let that affect you on the other end.

In the TORONTO SUN, Steve Buffery writes that Raptors coach Sam Mitchell firmly believes, despite all of the gloom and doom predictions by various NBA pundits who predict that the Raptors are heading for the Atlantic Division basement, that his club can make it to the playoffs this year. And one of the reasons for that is that he has a full season as an NBA coach under his belt. ... expects his veterans to step up and the rookies to play well.

We just want to go out and just play hard and play with some confidence and make some shots, and that's been a lot of our problem,

It was disappointing the way we started the game. Hopefully all of our guys learn from it, that's a good basketball team.

The guys want to win, this is what we do and I hope people understand that. As bad as they want us to win, trust me, there's not one fan that comes to the game that wants to win more than myself and these players.